MAKE MUSIC FOR FREE

They say the best things in life are free, right? Well, that applies to music production as well. There are literally thousands of free music-making apps and ‘freeware’ software titles out there, for Mac, PC and mobile devices. And they are getting better and better, often sounding as good as paid-for products.

So what exactly is freeware? With desktop music production, it refers to complete pieces of software that do a job without restrictions on saving, as you usually find on demo software. They are usually produced by a thriving community of developers who are keen musicians and experienced software producers. Some of these do it for fun, and others have paid-for titles that they sell alongside their free wares. Larger developers who make professional titles – think Native Instruments, u-he and many more – also have freeware, and many of these release it as a cut-down version of a paid-for product. It still works, but on a smaller scale, the thinking being that you’ll love it so much, that you’ll want to upgrade.

So we have complete titles produced by enthusiasts and cut-down titles advertising full, paid-for applications. A third category includes freeware titles that were once paid for; older titles, if you like. As we’ll see over the course of this article, some of these titles – from the likes of Tracktion, in particular – really are excellent (and not that old!).

So we’re going to reveal the best free software for desktop music production within several different musical genres. We’ll also detail a complete effects rack for your free virtual studio, so that once your free music production starts, you can mix and master the results to perfection. We’ll even reveal some free DAWs with which you can install and use all of the freeware we discuss, so you don’t even have to shell out on what can be the most costly part of music-making.

We’re not limiting our free music-making to the desktop/studio world, though. We’ll also look at the freeware world of iOS music making as there are plenty of free (or ridiculously cheap) ways of making music on your iPhone or iPad.

So however you make music, whether it’s in the studio or on the road, we’ll show you how you can start from scratch or expand on your current music making setup for no outlay. We are, of course, assuming you have a Mac, PC or iOS device, but now that expense is out the way,