If you find any software that is not on the list, please post the name and a short description of the software, and a link to the homepage.
If you would like to express an opinion on a particular piece of software, please feel free to post.
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Prices are included (where available) for general reference, but may not be correct by the time you read this.
Please note that the text is simply copied from the home page of each software, I simply don't have the time or money to download and try these programs.
Studios, Sequencers, and Composers (Part 1) - multitrack programs which allow you to combine several different sound files or audio sequences to create songs.
Aero Studio $102
Aero Studio combines traditional piano roll/parameter automation editing with pattern editing (tracker style).
A pattern editor is like a spreadsheet style representation of your song data. Programming synths on the fly is a piece of cake.
ACID $400
ACID PRO software is the original loop-based music creation tool. Create music in minutes with over 1,000 included loops, or record your own tracks and enhance them with onboard tools.
ACID Music Studio software is our entry level loop-based music creation tool. If you want to make your own music or remixes, add soundtracks to videos, or burn your own songs onto CD, ACID Music Studio software is all you need.
Adobe Audition (originally CoolEdit) $299
Adobe® Audition™ 1.5 software is a professional audio editing environment. Designed for demanding audio and video professionals, Adobe Audition offers advanced audio mixing, editing, and effects processing capabilities. Its flexible workflow, combined with exceptional ease of use and precise tools, gives you the power to create rich, nuanced audio of the highest possible quality
Anvil Studio FREE
A free Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP program designed for people who want to:
# record music with MIDI and Audio equipment,
# compose music for MIDI and Audio equipment,
# Sequence music with MIDI equipment, or
# play with music using a computer and sound card.
Bhajis Loops $25
Lets you create elaborated sample based compositions on PalmOS© Handhelds. It takes advantage of the computing power of the ARM-powered devices and of the advanced sound manipulation features provided by the OS 5.0 to emulate a sequencer with numerous editing features, a sampler with a complete synthesis section and a complete range of audio plug-ins.
Buzz FREE
Buzz is the first ever "easy to use" free modular software based synthesizer. What this means is that the entire system is based on objects, which may be routed in a modular fashion, giving you the freedom to be as creative as you want.
CoolEdit (see Adobe Audition) $299
Cubase $800
Cubase is the perfect environment for any composer, songwriter and music producer. Regardless of how a creative person approaches music, Cubase offers the right tools for music creation. The clearly-structured Project Window and powerful editing tools support many different methods of music composition.
Digital Sound Planet Free - $266
Quartz AudioMaster Freeware will allow you to record, edit, mix, share and deliver your productions driving a fully integrated 4 tracks digital mixer, recorder, sound and time line editor in perfect synch with a 16 tracks MIDI sequencer.
Pay more for extra tracks, up to 128.
Fruity Loops Studio $260
FL Studio is a full-featured sequencer perfectly suited for creation of complex songs and realistic drum loops, with 32 bit internal mixing and advanced MIDI support. The resulting song or loop can be exported to a WAV/MP3 file and all MIDI events can be exported to a standard MIDI file.
FL Studio is a pattern based sequencer, which means you create your songs in pieces (patterns) using the Step Sequencer and the Piano Roll view and then weld those pieces together using the Playlist window (the Playlist also supports full-featured audio tracks with hardrrive streaming). Then you can add a wide range of effects to your instruments (reverb, phaser, flanger etc.) and route the resulting mixer tracks in any way you like to create complex mixing chains with ease.
Guitar Tracks Pro $209
Guitar Tracks Pro includes everything you need to deliver professional results—no expensive hardware is required. You get a 32-track digital recorder and virtual mixing console; IK Multimedia's Amplitube LE—a special edition of the leading guitar amp plug-in; high-quality effects; powerful looping tools with full ACID™-loop support; a chromatic-tuner; a metronome; and a complete library of backing tracks.
Hammerhead - Drum beat creator FREE
HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.
HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.
