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Digital music making for free? Where do I start?

HeroT3
By HeroT3
in Audio
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Hi everyone! I'm sorry to bother you all but I've wanted to make digital music for a while now and many months have gone by without me being able to figure anything out. I'm probably just bad at research but regardless I'm asking for your help. I have tried softwares like audacity, which don't have a system where I can place notes where I want them to be, and softwares like Waveform where I don't know how to do anything. Is there any software out there where I can make midi tracks easily? I genuinely don't know where to start and I wanna make the kind of music you would hear in Terraria. I don't have any hardware except for my computer. Please let me know if anyone knows where I should start, thanks!

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I've used LMMS (https://lmms.io/) in the past which is a MIDI sequencer thingy, I don't know what to call it but it sounds like what you are looking for.

 

It's a fairly obscure piece of software, but awesome in my opinion.

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pythonmegapixel

into tech, public transport and architecture // amateur programmer // youtuber // beginner photographer

Thanks for reading all this by the way!

By the way, my desktop is a docked laptop. Get over it, No seriously, I have an exterrnal monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, ethernet and cooling fans all connected. Using it feels no different to a desktop, it works for several hours if the power goes out, and disconnecting just a few cables gives me something I can take on the go. There's enough power for all games I play and it even copes with basic (and some not-so-basic) video editing. Give it a go - you might just love it.

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Your best bet here is probably reaper. It has an infinite free trial that you can use until you decide that you like it. 

"Kieran just stole my girl!" - No-one

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https://www.ableton.com/en/trial/

Free for 90 days.

If you're good you can make a bunch of songs within that timeframe.

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From experience In music production Reaper is certainly where you want to start. The free trial never ends (though legally and morally you should buy it after your trial is up) and it's honestly my go-to for mixing and recording. Since you specifically say you'll be doing electronic music production I'd suggest eventually moving to FL (imo the MVP of midi and electronic production, come at me Ableton users with your inferior piano roll and lack of support for 32bit plugins)

 

As for actually getting your thoughts into the program, USB midi keyboards are stupid cheap secondhand and from experience hardware controls are always more organic than virtual ones.

 

If you have any further questions feel free to quite me or contact me directly because chances are if someone here recommends it I either own it or used to at some point and might be able to help you navigate the sea of production programs and how they function 😀

Sloth's the name, audio gear is the game
I'll do my best to lend a hand to anyone with audio questions, studio gear and value for money are my primary focus.
Click here for my Microphone and Interface guide, tips and recommendations
 

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