In Depth: Best music-making and music-editing software

In Depth: Best music-making and music-editing software: "

One realisation for those building a home recording studio: there are so many choices. It may seem easier to pay Noel Gallagher from Oasis to do the work.

The second most startling realisation is that you'll pay through the nose for some of the gear. One AKG microphone can cost a few thousand pounds, and audio mixing boards are horrendously expensive.

Fortunately, if you already have a high-powered PC (or know how to build one) with a dual-core processor and plenty of RAM, you already own a potential recording studio.

The inputs are there, plenty of software apps provide the necessary recording and mixing tools, and you can burn a CD or upload it to your favourite indie music store with ease.

Interestingly, music production is already PC-centric. Even the most high-end setups rely on apps such as Digi Design Pro Tools and Cubase. Creating audio loops, programming complex drum patterns, tweaking EQ settings in a final mixdown – these functions are all 'performed' behind an LCD.

The good news: you can easily patch together a fairly powerful music studio rig for hardly any cost, if you know which applications to use and have some technical know-how.

One example: Ardour for Linux and Mac OSX systems is free to download and use (although they ask for a small donation), but has high-end digital audio workstation features, such as VST plug-in support for adding instrument libraries and a non-linear audio editor for creating multi-track recordings.

Free audio tools are not crippled in any way; in fact, some of the best audio apps, such as Audacity and Fluid Synth are better than the commercial alternatives. So what are you waiting for? Noel Gallagher is a busy guy and that top-ten metalcore (or bagpipe-punk fusion) hit is just a mouse click away.

You can become an audio god in just a few simple steps: download these apps, setup your PC recording studio, break out that Fender Strat, belt out a few notes, and start dreaming of opening for Snow Patrol – or at least the pure enjoyment of working with powerful music applications, pumping out some mad tunes, and getting more bang out of your PC.

To become the next John Lennon clone, you'll need a powerful and fairly recent computer. Now, you might be surprised to learn the system doesn't need to be the absolute latest rig with an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM.

You can use (or build) any dual-core system that boasts about 4GB of RAM. You won't want to use an older computer with a single-core operating system, because the latest apps do take advantage of dual-core processing and the hyperthreading techniques, and benefit greatly from the faster clock rates in the most recent processors.

Most PCs also have plenty of mass storage for multi-track recording. In fact, you may want to downgrade to an earlier operating system (say, Microsoft Vista or even XP) because many audio apps have not released Windows 7 drivers yet.

Now, most of the audio latency that occurs in recordings – eg., the slight delay between the sounds you are generating with an instrument and how the clip is recorded – has more to do with the external hardware you use.

Any recent PC sound card is more than adequate for working with loops and drum patterns, but to record, for instance, vocals and acoustic guitar, you'll need an audio interface such as the Cakewalk UA-1G which has -inch connections for guitar and microphone, as well as handy input and output volume controls.

The way of the DAW

Okay, you've built or borrowed a recent system with a sound card. You also have a way to record instruments with an audio interface. Now to record your next opus, you'll need digital audio workstation (DAW) software, which are essentially the heart and soul of the music studio. Any loops, drums, samples or tracks you create will be assembled in the workstation.

The best DAW we have found is called Reaper, because it's powerful enough to record and mix a real song, one that you'll be proud to share with the world. Reaper is free to download and test, but the company suggests donating just £30 if you use it regularly.

The interface is highly intuitive: to add a track, you just right-click on the main screen and select 'Insert New Track'. There are VCR controls for recording analogue instruments, such as guitar and vocals.

Because the program supports VST, if you do purchase a commercial product such as Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4 that tool will appear from within Reaper so you can use the wide array of effects.

Ardour, which is only available on Linux and Mac, is another powerful DAW we highly recommend. One of the greatest strengths of this recording tool is its stability. The app hasn't gone down once in testing under Ubuntu Studio and has some pro-level features, such as unlimited undo for track effects. This means, if you record a new guitar lick and start tweaking the sound, adding a delay or distortion, you can undo all the changes back to the original track.

Ardour also lets you create unlimited audio tracks, although you'll find the program will slow down considerably if you add more than about 16 tracks.

Note by note

Rosegarden is a stark departure from both Reaper and Ardour. Instead of recording analogue tracks to create a full band sound (think: The Killers), this free application for Linux lets you create songs note by note.

In the editing window, you can click away to create notes where you want them. Then, you can build up the entire song, change keys and tempo, and view the notations. You can then print sheet music or even publish your song through a service such as BMI.

Audacity is another good recording tool for a home studio. Essentially, this venerable workhorse lets you edit the actual sound waveform (for example, for trimming out background noise), convert from one format to another (helpful if you find a loop in a different format from the one supported by your recording software), and even change the speed or pitch of the recording.

Fortunately, even though it sounds technical, Audacity provides a visual and easy-to-understand interface for editing audio clips.

One reason to use Audacity: if you have recorded the perfect drum section or guitar solo and then realised the clip has some extra hiss or audio artefacts, you can export the track as a WAV file from your recording software and then use Audacity to see those mistakes up close and remove them as needed.

A music studio isn't necessarily just for musicians who want to record instruments and put them together into a finished song. For those who have never learned an instrument, you can still create your own music, using loop libraries and beat samples you can download from the Internet, then assemble them into a complete song.

A PC audio workstation that uses free software is a good fit for the amateur composer or enthusiast, who may not want to spend huge amounts of money (or any at all) on their hobby but still wants to produce quality music.

A good place to start is at the Freesound Project offers hundreds of free loops and sound samples. You can download a huge selection under the Creative Commons licence, which means you can use any of its audio samples you want as long as you do not sell the finished song.

Freesound has a wide assortment of loops and samples, some of them strange (aliens chirping off in the distance) and even bewildering (one loop is nothing but an alarm repeating over and over), but the key here is that you can download a sample and then tweak it using Audacity or digital audio workstation software, such as Reaper.

For example, you may want to mess around with that odd alarm sound, but by lowering the pitch or changing it to a slow tempo, it can suddenly sound more like a bass part.

Beatmatch is another free collection of music, but one that's intended more for rappers and DJs, who are looking to add repeating drum loops and synth parts that work well for certain types of music, such as dance, house and techno music.

Beatmatch offers complete libraries, all of them that are free to use, so you can mix and match loops together, find several clips that are similar (eg., a loop that uses the same synth sound, but repeats at a different rate), and to inspire you to write new material.

Beatmatch also offers only high-quality AIFF and WAV samples, which is extremely helpful, since when you add these tones to your new song you won't have to put up with any distortion or hiss.

Philharmonia is another free loop compendium, but one that consists mainly of orchestral sound samples instead of the typical beat samples and drum loops. In Philharmonia, you can find, for example, a viola or woodwind sound that you can load into Rosegarden or Reaper and create a MIDI track.

Free-Loops.com and Sound Transit also offer a wide assortment of loops and samples for free, many of them without any licensing restrictions at all.

The desired effect

It's easy to download loops and samples, and import them into your digital audio workstation software, and create a final song you can upload to MySpace or some other online repository. For those who do not play an instrument, but want to do more than just mix 'n' match existing loops, you can use free audio software to actually create original audio tracks even if you do not play a single instrument.

FluidSynth, which is primarily a Linux tool and provides a powerful virtual synthesizer you can use to create original loops. For those proficient with source code and Linux, you can download the FluidSynth code and create your own application.

A shortcut, though, is to use one of the applications that already incorporates the FluidSynth code, such as Qsynth or Z-Maestro. These apps incorporate the virtual synth into the program so you can create fantastic sounds, such as a cascading bleep or a simple piano roll.

For those who want to skip all the hip-hop loops and beat-box emulators, Sonoma Wire Works T4 is a straight-up guitar-recording program that provides a wealth of guitar amp and virtual guitar pedals for creating distortions, delays and other axe-related effects.

The free software goes the extra step of showing you a virtual representation of the amp and pedal to help you get a visual clue as to how the effect will change your tone: for example, grungy and heavy or more like a light chorus.

This application also provides a simple DAW interface for adding guitar tracks and matching them with drum loops, and you can share your final songs with other Sonoma Wire Works users.

A drum machine can help you form the basis for a song as you layer other instruments and audio clips into a complete composition. One application for creating drums is called Hydrogen and it supports both Linux and Windows.

The main strength of this program is that it's easy to get to grips with so you can get a beat down quickly. Creating drum patterns can be a laborious process that doesn't seem that creative. With Hydrogen, you just click on a graph for each drum sound, click the 'Play' button, and you'll hear the drum pattern.

When you have programmed the drums the way you want, you can export the drum loop as a WAV or MIDI file. Want to go completely space-age and mimic the strangest indie bands around? (We're not sure if The Knife or Animal Collective use this tool, but they should).

Gnaural is a tone generator that works under Windows and Linux. It's quite unlike any other sound generator, in that you start with a basic droning audio clip and tweak the audio properties, repeat patterns, pitch and tempo.

It's a way to create a highly unique sound all your own, without relying on an original loop and trying to tweak the audio.

Putting it all together

Once you have the core components in place – the PC itself, the audio interface, DAW, loop libraries and sound generators – it's time to think a bit more globally.

For a home studio, you should think about where to do the recordings. Pick a quiet place in your home where you can lock the door and tune out the world. Also, you'll need enough space for all of the cables, microphones, instruments, keyboards, and extra gear for recording.

Another consideration is that you will need access to extra disk space – such as a network attached storage drive or a portable hard disk drive – because each track in the recording process can consume disk space quickly, and you will likely want to create versions of your songs, make backups, and re-use audio clips from other songs.

You'll need space for all your loop libraries and drum loops as well. And, for the most part, you will want to keep your main system clean of any extra data that could possibly slow down your hard drive You can also expand your current hardware once you have a basic DAW in place.

For example, Roland makes the V-Drums TD-4SX set that connects straight up to your PC and allows you to record real drums. This can dramatically improve the quality of a recording, because the drum sounds take on a more analogue, live-performance feel as opposed to the more programmed drum approach most people will recognise.

Upgrading to a condenser microphone, such as those made by Audio Technica or Neumann, can also significantly improve the overall quality of your computer recordings. In the end, recording is an excellent waste of time – even if you can't tell a tuning knob from a guitar pick.

With a wide array of free recording software, loop libraries that are just a few clicks away and extra tools for creating your own loops, anyone can become an audio deity.

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(Via TechRadar: All latest feeds.)