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Thu, Apr. 12th, 2012, 11:52 am
New Music Making On The Cheap

There is now a free version of Studio One for Mac and PC. One problem: It doesn't use VST plugins. Neither does their first commercial level above it, Studio One Artist. For some, that's a deal-breaker.

You can also get Ableton Live Lite 8 free if you have a free Soundcloud account. (And if you have a commercial version of Ableton, you get five free months of Soundcloud Pro.)

For what it's worth, having played with a number of DAWs over the past few weeks (I love Reaper, except for the routing), I think the most ass-kicking deal is Sonar X1 LE Starter Kit, which you can pick up for less than $45 this month at Cakewalk's download shop. You might want to drool a bit at Sonar X1's new Skylight interface, and maybe even try it without restrictions for thirty days. (Sorry, this one's Windows only.)

Any cool or cheap music stuff we should know about?

This entry was originally posted at http://filkertom.dreamwidth.org/1507550.html. You may comment there or here, although LJ tends to have a livelier conversation at this time.
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Thu, Apr. 12th, 2012 04:30 pm (UTC)
smallship1

I've found some really nice iPad apps--Synthtastic is nice, and free. Alchemy Synth Mobile isn't free, but has some nice sounds.
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Thu, Apr. 12th, 2012 04:35 pm (UTC)
keshlam2

FWIW, Cakewalk/Sonar have pretty good upgrade (and competetive-upgrade) prices. Depending on what sales are in progress, you can sometimes save money by buying the basic version first and then upgrading. Of course keeping it up to date, if you're so inclined, can be an ongoing cost... but a pro-level DAW setup using Sonar is surprisingly affordable.

(I've gone all the way to Sonar X1 Producer, plus some of the later "Pro Channel" add-ons and a few other plugins/synths. Massive overkill for what I've used it for, but well within my toy budget and I like the idea of having a full studio in the box.)

One warning: DAWs are like routers -- the woodworking kind, not the network kind. The basic tool is very reasonably priced given how wonderfully versitile it is. But the temptation to add Yet More bits/plugins/jigs/etc. can run that cost up rapidly if you aren't careful.
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Thu, Apr. 12th, 2012 04:37 pm (UTC)
keshlam2: My worst gripe...

... is that the Linux environment hasn't yet been tuned to the level needed for a really serious DAW, and that high-end DAW software isn't available for it. If I could get a version of Sonar that ran on Linux -- and an upgrade discount to cover the cost of moving over -- I'd punt Windows off my box except as a last-gasp virtual machine.
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Fri, Apr. 13th, 2012 02:28 am (UTC)
poltr1

I've started playing with Bristol on my Linux box. Problem is, I don't know JACK (www.jackaudio.com), and until I do, I can't get any sounds out of Bristol.

And of course, I gotta plug the Animoog for all the iPad users out there.
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