Making music

[Shadow]

Does anybody here know of a program (doesn't necessarily have to be freeware) that would allow me to compose music on my PC (not Mac)? But I'm looking for something along the lines of GarageBand, which can make "real" music (piano, guitar, etc.). On second though, if you do know of a good "unreal" music maker, post the name as well...but I'm primarily looking for a "real" music player. Thanks.

 

EDIT: I just found out about Overture, but I'm not sure if it also plays back music, or if it's just for writing. They also have something called "Garritan Personal Orchestra", but I'm not sure if that's a program or just a big collection of samples.

Edited September 17, 2009 by Shadow

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Reason?

 

http://www.propellerheads.se/products/reason/

[Gilded]

Reason is awesome. I find it much more intuitive than other softwares like FL Studio or Cubase. It doesn't have VST (virtual studio technology) instrument support though, but it doesn't really need to. I do most of my composing on Reason, and use Acid Pro for final edits and mastering.

[Shadow]

Thanks, both of you

[dethfire]

Pro Tools and Audacity

[Syntho-sis]

Does anybody here know of a program (doesn't necessarily have to be freeware) that would allow me to compose music on my PC (not Mac)? But I'm looking for something along the lines of GarageBand, which can make "real" music (piano, guitar, etc.). On second though, if you do know of a good "unreal" music maker, post the name as well...but I'm primarily looking for a "real" music player. Thanks.

 

EDIT: I just found out about Overture, but I'm not sure if it also plays back music, or if it's just for writing. They also have something called "Garritan Personal Orchestra", but I'm not sure if that's a program or just a big collection of samples.

 

Friend of mine uses Floops to make music..Awesome program..Expensive though

[Bizza]

Ableton and CuBase, although CuBase is quite complex, but great for patching live equipment and then mixing around with it. Otherwise, Ableton is more easier. Good luck.

[bbrubaker]

Sony Acid has a neat, FREE little trial version.

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/products/acidfamily.asp

 

You can do wonderful things with plain ol' Audacity too.

[insane_alien]

my brother uses ardour http://ardour.org/ with his band. i've never used it so i can't personally couch for how good it is but he says it'll do what you want.

[Royston]

Does anybody here know of a program (doesn't necessarily have to be freeware) that would allow me to compose music on my PC (not Mac)? But I'm looking for something along the lines of GarageBand, which can make "real" music (piano, guitar, etc.). On second though, if you do know of a good "unreal" music maker, post the name as well...but I'm primarily looking for a "real" music player. Thanks.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by real and unreal.

 

Real as in recording live instruments, or using samples of real instruments ? The only snag with samples is the nuances of the instrument are limited, where obviously you don't have that issue with a real instrument, such as a guitar.

 

In any case, soft synths and the vast majority of hardware synths (bar analogue) are really just sample players, so there's not much of a distinction between real and unreal.

 

I use Cubase, but I use outboard kit such as synths, mixer and guitar et.c Fruity Loops http://flstudio.image-line.com/ is another suggestion (you could pick up an older copy), very easy to use, but I'm not entirely clear what you're after.

[Shadow]

"Unreal": Electronic dance music (Techno etc.)

"Real": Classics, Jazz, classical rock, etc.

 

Overture was exactly what I was looking for, but thanks for all the tips, I'm pretty sure I know a couple of people who'd like to know about them.

[Gilded]

I'd like to add that if you actually want to play back or render the music from notes to WAV or MP3 with very realistic brass, string, woodwind, guitar etc. sounds you're pretty much going to need sample libraries (recordings of the actual instruments). These can be huge (several DVDs worth of samples) and often cost hundreds of euros. These aren't really worth buying unless you're really committed to more classical or soundtrack music.