imitone community

Evan

developer

From: Olympic Peninsula, WA

Registered: 2014-05-23

Website

Cheap & Free music software

Making music can be an expensive hobby!  I've made imitone affordable and I like to have recommendations for affordable or free software to use with it.

On Mac OS X, I recommend GarageBand, which works great with imitone and comes free with every Apple computer.

On Windows, I Recommend StageLight.  This is a free, easy-to-learn DAW with tutorials for musical beginners.  You can also get it for Mac OS X, iOS and Android.

Also recommended:  MuLab.

As far as Windows music apps go, it's one of the easiest to get started with.  The free version has a few limitations but can be used indefinitely.

Also recommended:  NanoStudio.

A free music production program for Windows and Mac, with non-free versions for iPad and iPhone.  It can handle multi-channel inputs easily and has a huge number of synthesizer presets included with it.  Much like GarageBand, it doesn't take much time at all to get off the ground and start having fun with it in conjunction with imitone.  The biggest drawbacks are that it can be a little hard to navigate and mostly provides synthetic/electroniuc sounds.

Also recommended:  Linux Multimedia Studio

An open-source, free DAW for Windows, Mac and Linux, it comes with a variety of built-in instruments and has been in development for some time.  My experience with it hasn't been super compelling, but it's in active development and improving all the time -- it looks as if many new features have been added in the last year.

I'm curious what others have discovered?

Musical Gym

Member

Registered: 2014-05-29

Re: Cheap & Free music software

Reaper (may be too well known to mention) can be used fully for free for evaluating; then a basic license is $40.
It's a great DAW.
I looked at Nanostudio, but it doesn't appear to come in a Win desktop pc version.

Last edited by Musical Gym (2015-02-01 15:56:11)

Yragael

Power Tester

From: Belgium

Registered: 2014-05-30

Website

Re: Cheap & Free music software

I looked at Nanostudio, but it doesn't appear to come in a Win desktop pc version.

but it is: Direct link >> http://downloads.blipinteractive2.co.uk … -Setup.exe
xp/vista/7/8

from: http://www.blipinteractive.co.uk/download.php

best

Last edited by Yragael (2015-02-01 17:55:03)

Musical Gym

Member

Registered: 2014-05-29

Re: Cheap & Free music software

Thanks for letting me know; I appreciate it.

Yragael

Power Tester

From: Belgium

Registered: 2014-05-30

Website

Re: Cheap & Free music software

You're welcome,

Another one free for windows, Open MODPLUG Tracker an old school tracker.

http://openmpt.org/

Tested and approved with imitone!

cheers

Musical Gym

Member

Registered: 2014-05-29

Re: Cheap & Free music software

thanks

Evan

developer

From: Olympic Peninsula, WA

Registered: 2014-05-23

Website

Re: Cheap & Free music software

Whoah, MPT supports MIDI inputs now?  That one takes me back...

Tbot

Member

Registered: 2015-06-14

Re: Cheap & Free music software

I don't know if you are still looking for cheap music programs, and I would be surprised if you weren't already aware of the programs I would suggest, but I'll answer anyway.  All free, and freely available.

Ardour 3, Audacity (which works on Win, OSX and Linux), Hydrogen - drum machine, Rosegarden, and while we're at it, WYSIWYG scoring program, MuseScore.

I'm sure I have left many out, and all of the ones I have mentioned are widely known.  But just in case it can be of use, there they are!

snicolaou2009@gmail.com

Member

Registered: 2016-05-17

Re: Cheap & Free music software

I just came across MidiEditor a freeware app for editing, playing and recording MIDI files.
It was exactly what I was looking for, for a newbie like me.
Setting it up was just a piece of cake.
Please try it, the website where you can download this wonderful piece of jem is
http://midieditor.sourceforge.net/

On the other hand, I would like to see a tutorial on how to fine tune imitone with all the musical terms explained- for us newbies who are neither professional musicians, nor do we have a good grasp of music theory.

I am sure you will find MidiEditor easy to use.

sn

Handmusician

Power Tester

From: North France

Registered: 2015-01-27

Re: Cheap & Free music software

there's also Sekaiju, sequencer editor like Midi Editor but no need to install and with more possibilities (musical score, routing, .ins support...). The problem is it's in japanese by default, but you just need to change the sekaiju.ini file (section [Language] userinterface=english) and it's done. I can even use it on linux and control it from my autoit scripts, a very multi-purposed one !

http://openmidiproject.osdn.jp/Sekaiju_en.html

Last edited by Handmusician (2016-11-04 19:01:35)

Handmusician

Power Tester

From: North France

Registered: 2015-01-27

Re: Cheap & Free music software

Now i'm using waveform 11 free version as DAW (unlimited tracks, vst support, no sounds repeatedly after a time...).
you can see Evan using waveform and explain how to configure with imitone and use plugin (from 4:30)here
I'm having fun myself with the external plugin Synth1 vst (free and tons of presets on the net).
Synth1 is pretty good for a freeware and starters (really cpu friendly, lot of possibilities, midi learn...) and legato mode especially is wonderful for imitone following voice with fluidity, that's where imitone really shines.
Acoustic instruments are not so good because of the lack of legato since voice is essentially legato. Though even legato instruments i've tested (kontakt like realivox blue, choir, strings...) are not really fluid (and even bad) with imitone (perhaps we need more parameters in legato-portamento modes ?).

Last edited by Handmusician (2021-12-03 10:23:25)