So I was looking online for some free music software to mess around with. I was met with a surprising amount of options, though I am sure most is shit. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this and could lend a hand. Preferably, the depth will fall between a recorder and Mozart.

I am entirely aware that this might be fruitless, but I thought I'd try.

3/10/2008 10:35:03 PM

what exactly do you want the software to do

3/10/2008 10:38:17 PM

I would like to mess around with it to make music. Something like a free, and presumably, lesser quality fruity loops or garage band.

3/10/2008 10:43:49 PM

I mean how do you want to make the music? Recording it and then using software to arrange it, or using the software to actually make the sound, or both, or what.

3/10/2008 10:45:27 PM

I would want to make the music with the program, not simply record, import, and arrange it. Though the ability to import would be nice as well.

3/10/2008 10:49:39 PM

I use Finale to compose sheet music. It will output to midi to mp3. With the proper plugins, you can fool people into thinking that you hired a band or an orcestra to record the music you wrote.

3/10/2008 11:17:17 PM

sibelius is good for sheet music. it's not free.

i'm not particularly fond of finale, sibelius has more features and is easier to use.

fruityloops/reason/garageband/etc. are okay for looping and electronica.

there's really nothing FREE that does what you're talking about, or, at least, i don't know of anything.

torrents are your friend.

3/10/2008 11:32:07 PM

Not that I have, or currently do use torrents, but hypothetically, I understand that torrented programs that require activation codes or the like are a bitch. For instance, Fruity loops requires an activated copy of the software to save anything.

3/10/2008 11:57:00 PM

pirated software is usually fully functioning, otherwise it gets nuked

3/11/2008 2:54:07 AM