Composing With Sounds : Musique Concrète all sounds can lead to music Useful software and where to find it

Home  |  What it's about  |  Where to begin  |  Software  |  Resources  |  Links  |  Musique Concrète - History  |  Contact Us

Software to go ... Depending on your computer platform, a number of software packages are available to you. Here are a few ideas to choose from, to get started: I have a PC running Windows I have a Macintosh I have a PC running Linux Free stuff: Free stuff: Free stuff:  Anvil Studio  You're in luck - your Mac comes with a great "starter studio" package in the form of GarageBand, part of Apple's iLife suite.  Tcl/TK Sound Studio is somewhat like a Linux-based equivalent to Adobe Audition.    Ardour is available for OS X users. [We recommend you make some donation towards the on-going development of this product!]  Ardour is the leading package for Linux users.   [We recommend you make some donation towards the on-going development of this product!] Audacity Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. Audacity Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. Audacity Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. Shareware: Shareware: Shareware:  Sound Studio [yes, that's its name...]  Sound Studio [yes, that's its name...]  Ardour is the leading package for Linux users.  [see recommendation above!] To buy: To Buy: To buy:  Steinberg Cubase  Steinberg Cubase    Ableton software  Ableton Software    Adobe Audition  Adobe Audition    Avid Pro Tools  Avid Pro Tools     Magix Music Maker  Apple Logic Studio / Logic Pro    Propellerhead Reason  Peopellerhead Reason   Mixcraft (has been described as "GarageBand for Windows")      Reaper  Reaper  Reaper If you have an Apple computer then you may well find it already contains an application called GarageBand.  GrargeBand is an excellent tool to start with, and allows you a lot of opportunity to get creative with sounds. A lot of the commercial software products can be bought in the UK from places like PMT, Dolphin Music, Studiospares, DV247 [Digital Village], ...  Reaper is available direct from the makers, and is available to try for a month first before you buy - so you can test it before you part with your money. You'll find very usable LE versions some products like Cubase, Ableton and others provided free with most of the Focusrite, E-MU, Yamaha and other makers' sound cards and interfaces; Likewise, many of the M-Audio sound cards and interfaces ship with starter-versions of Pro-Tools.  Shareware / Freeware downloads: If you want to try freeware versions, t's mostly your job to find the places to download freeware / shareware from [try to ensure it's legal!] - a good site to start is Tucows.   Audacity is best downloaded from their own site (you can find it here) to be sure you get a clean copy.  Audacity is a great tool to start with. Lite versions: Many of the "bought" packages are available as "lite" or low-cost versions [Ableton Live Lite, Cubase Essential 5, Pro Tools LE, for example]. It's also worth noting that many sound interfaces come with some very good, "lite" versions of commercial software bundled into the package.  Some of the boxes from Focusrite, E-MU, Presonus ... for example, come with bundled software potentially worth two or three times the price of the interface box or card.  On the other hand, Some of the Behringer interfaces give you very good hardware without the software, much cheaper.  So some of their "entry-level" inteface boxes, and a download of Audacity can give you a great introduction to "proper" studio kit at a very low price. Magazines: You may also find useful packages on the cover CDs of the following magazines: Music Tech Computer Music Future Music ... and there are some excellent magazines covering the more technical aspects of the sound studio and recording technique: Sound On Sound NB: Please Note: Many of the product names and manufacturer names quoted in this section are trade marks or registered trade marks of the associated companies.  ComposingWithSounds.co.uk, its authors and contributors are not affiliated with any of these companies. Please check back regularly; this page is under continual review.

© Copyright 2010-2015 musiqueconcrete.co.uk and © 2020 composingwithsounds.org.uk