[Meshaboo]

Hey guys,
Im really interested in music production. I'm thinking about majoring in it when I get to college. But first I want to "play around" and see if it's really right for me. I really don't know where to look for software, hence I'm a beginner lol. The only software I'm aware of is FL Studio. I'm not looking into a genre specific software (if that even exists), just something I can make pure music with. Can you guys give me any suggestions for beginner's software in the $150-$200 or less range? Also let me know if I need any type of MIDI controllers or any other extra stuff? Thanks!
I don't know if this helps, but I'm NOT a musician yet; I'm starting to learn the keyboard on my own.
 
EDIT: I have a PC, running Windows 7

 

[Adda]

Well FL Studio is a very good DAW, but probably best suited for electronic music.
The best advice I can give you is to chose wisely, once you have learned using a DAW, switching to another one is going to be difficult.

 

[Meshaboo]

ba-bump

 

[germanium]

Sony Sound Forge is an excellent DAW software & works well with Asus's cards. Different software works differently with different hardware so you need to find the best software to use with your hardware. I tried several different ones till I found one that allowed me to do what I wanted with my hardware so keep that in mind.
 
My recomendation is to download trial copies of any software you migh be interested in to try before you buy. Do not buy software that does not do what you need or not work well with your hardware. DAW software is expensive in most cases. The good ones cost hudreds to thousands of dollars. There are some freebees that work but are very limited in what they allow.

 

[rjaudio]

If you have a Mac, garageband is just fine for starting out, and it's free.  On the PC, there are a bunch of options, SAW, Sonar.  For better or worse (mostly worse) ProTools is the industry standard for Pop/Rock etc.  You may want to consider the basic versions of that which works on both mac and windows.
 

 

[DougofTheAbaci]

Second the suggestion of Garage Band. It's free and has some pretty high-end features, especially in the latest version. Plus, once you are ready to graduate there's Logic (Mac-only if memory serves) and Pro Tools (very Mac-friendly). I have a friend who masters albums for a living and even he was saying he was rather impressed with what Garage Band could do on a basic level.

 

[revolink24]

Some good audio production software

FL Studio
Adobe Audition
Cakewalk Sonar
Avid Pro Tools

Pick your poison. FL studio is good for creating/producing music with samples, Pro Tools and Audition are awesome for multitrack mixing and waveform editing.

 

[cifani090]

If you go to Cnet downloads, there should be some free software their for download.

 

 

[jiiteepee]

Reaper - http://www.reaper.fm/
 
Also, you can get some LT version of Ableton Live, Cakewalk Sonar or Steinberg Cubase when you buy some audio interface.
 
jiiteepee
 

 

[RexAeterna]

fl studio is great for beginners and advance users. it can be more complex than people give it credit for. i play around with fl studio every now and then and you can do more then hip-hop beats and electronic music you usually see people producing it with. you can do classical/movie/game compositions as well if you have the right plug-ins and VST's. it just takes time and practice.

i tried cubase and reason and i didn't like it much. great softwares but cubase and reason can be far much harder to understand compared to fl studio. lot of people use fl studio first then go to cubase or reason. i think fl studio tho is very good overall especially for your hobbiest and beginners.  

 

[Waqar]

Ableton Live

 

[Meshaboo]

Hey! I'm sooooo sorry for not replying sooner. School is taking a huge toll on me but now I finally have some free time. I'm still researching software... I'm about to download a trial version of Ableton Live. Thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate the help. And again I apologize!

 

[ychy]

I would recommend Ableton Live. It is so much better than FL Studio which I used to use until switching to Ableton

 

[Waqar]

And also look at the Novation launchpad or other ableton controllers, combined with ableton live is a powerful combo.

 

[Borgbox]

Ableton Live is my top DAW out of the ones I have; others being Cubase, FL Studio, Sound Forge.