Anybody know of a good music making software for windows?

[gagan9514]

Hey guys,
I have a compaq laptop with Windows7 and I was wondering if anybody knows of a good music making software similar to Garageband on Macs. It should be easy to use (not too complicated) and it should work with windows 7 (64-bit if that matters ).
The price doesn't really matter. It can be free or expensive - i don't care. I should just be able to make good music with it.
P.S.
I'm not some "pro" at music making (in fact, this is my first time using such software [except for garageband]), so please make sure that it is (very) simple to use.
 

[BC_Programmer]

I like FruityLoops Studio myself.

[gagan9514]

FruityLoops?
Is it free? Or do I have to buy it?
And is it a pretty large program?
thx

[quaxo]

Acid Pro is quite good. I think version 4 was the best and easiest one (while it was still made by Sonic Foundry). Sony got a hold of it from version 5 onwards (now at version 7) and has ruined it in my opinion. I still use Acid Pro 4 for recording guitar and vocals, making drum tracks, and remixing songs (which it is excellent for).

Cakewalk is another good program. Not as easy as Acid Pro 4 (for me anyway), but still good and versatile.

I've heard many good things about FruityLoops, but never tried it.

None of those programs are free, but I believe there are trials for all of them if you want to try them out. Different programs will work well for different things though. Is there something in particular you're looking for? Can make a better recommendation that way.

Audacity is also a good program, and it's free. It's not as good as the pay programs, but it works well for a lot of people who just want to mess around. It's worth taking a look at.

[BC_Programmer]

FruityLoops?
Is it free? Or do I have to buy it?
And is it a pretty large program?
thx

It's not free, usually runs up quite a lot. I think there are free music sequencing apps like it available, but I'm not sure if there are any free ones. (unless you count the quaint little apps that let you bang about on an on-screen piano keyboard using MIDI)

It's definitely comprehensive, there's a demo on their homepage you could try:

http://flstudio.image-line.com/


And of course, there are WAVE type sound editors. Not really good for making music, but they have their uses. I used to use one called GoldWave, it used to be free, but I don't think it is anymore. I usually reach for Audacity when I need to edit waveform sound files.

[quaxo]

And of course, there are WAVE type sound editors. Not really good for making music, but they have their uses. I used to use one called GoldWave, it used to be free, but I don't think it is anymore. I usually reach for Audacity when I need to edit waveform sound files.

Audacity will also do MP3 with the Lame-MP3 codec which I believe is also available on their website (or at least a link to it).

[gagan9514]

Thanks for the reply guys. I already have audacity and i just use it for trimming music and stuff.
And I think I'll try the Acid Pro one. Might give Fruity Loops a try as well.
There's not really something specific that i'm looking for - just something to fool around with .
Thanks again!

[computeruler]

flstudio is a pretty good program.  Its worth the price

[BC_Programmer]

Audacity will also do MP3 with the Lame-MP3 codec which I believe is also available on their website (or at least a link to it).

yes... but Mp3 is just a compressed format for digital waveform sound, which is kinda what I meant, Audacity can open all sorts of different formats, but they are really all just some sort of waveform, either compressed (mp3, ogg, flac,voc) or uncompressed (riff/wav/aiff) Flstudio and so forth are full fledged sequence composition programs- (not sure about the others mentioned... they probably are as well, at least to some degree.

[kpac]

And on the more high-end scale, Adobe Soundbooth.

[computeruler]

I think he wants something with a bunch of different instruments in it and stuff.  Soundbooth doesnt have that.  Its an editor

[kpac]

Adobe® Soundbooth® CS4 software gives web designers, video editors, and other creative professionals the tools to create and polish audio, customize music, add sound effects, and do much more.

I haven't used it, but I assumed because it said "create" that you can "create" audio.

[patio]

Audition.

Be prepared to spend some cabbage...

[BC_Programmer]

I haven't used it, but I assumed because it said "create" that you can "create" audio.

Look at it this way; what they want is a "vector" audio program; that sounds like it's a "raster" audio program.

One works with instruments, tempo, etc. the other works with the pure waveform.

I don't know which one the adobe program is. Sounds like both, actually.

[patio]

Adobe makes Audition...i probably should have mentioned that.