25
votes
Looking for the PC equivalent of Garage Band
Hey there musical types! I'm on the hunt for something I can use to create music that doesn't require a PhD in comp.sci and music theory. I downloaded LMMS and found myself immediately in the weeds, so I'm hoping someone out there can point me in a more elementary direction. The end goal is to create a theme track for my YouTube channel that has a good old fashioned 80s metal feel, if such an animal exists...
Thanks in advance!
Unfortunately there aren't that many good DAWs targeted at novices. If you do want to dive into a DAW however, I recommend Reaper (which is the WinRAR of DAWs, aka it has an indefinite evaluation period). It's not super easy to use, but also not terribly hard to learn, especially if you're not doing anything complex. If you do go this route, I also recommend the synth/plugin Dexed.
REAPER is such incredible value, even setting aside the evaluation period. I've been using it mostly for spoken-word editing (audiobooks and podcasts), but it's also my main tool for custom Rock Band songs.
As someone who loves Reaper and used Dexed, I think this is exactly something that OP is not looking for.
Reaper's GUI is fine, but it's a big application not aimed at people who want something simple like Garage Band. Dexed's GUI is imo outdated, and I doubt fm synthesis is what they're looking for (though sure, presets, but there are other great free synths with nice presets).
GarageBand is a pretty unique beast. The software side is somewhat simple... the thing that makes it easy to use is that it comes with a lot of sounds out of the box!
There are a lot of public-domain tracks out there which you might be able to use directly or build off of. But you need to find them on your own. This can take a lot of time...
Public domain samples and stems (short clips of songs or individual instruments; like those provided with GarageBand) on the internet are often mis-labeled as copyright free when they really aren't. You have to be careful if your track ever blows up in popularity but otherwise you should be fine.
There are also many free-to-use-with-attribution tracks which you could use directly. Kevin MacLeod makes a lot of great ones! But the author might ask that you not sample from or remix them.
If you have the sounds that you want and are ready to assemble them together you don't need a full DAW. Maybe look at Audacity... Personally, I find video editors more intuitive than most audio editors. DaVinci Resolve is free and supports multiple audio tracks so that might work for you: https://youtu.be/IVMMFv4K0To
edit: I just found this... I've never used it but let me know if it works better than Resolve if you decide to try it: https://www.audiotool.com/
Thanks for this! I checked out Audio tool.com, and was pleasantly surprised with the ease of use. It may be the thing I am looking for, if I can figure out a few more things. I was able to pick from a few little riffs they had on offer and loop them with a basic beat, then add an effect pedal to the mix that dirtied the sound a bit and made it sound more metal, so it does what it says on the tin at least
Awesome! How does it compare to Mixcraft? Someone else made that suggestion and I also agree that might be similar as well
I haven't tried mixcraft yet, but once I get a chance between shifts at work, I'll post the results here.
On another note, if I wanted to compose a riff myself, with a synth guitar, is there a tool I should be looking for that works like the rhythm box on audiotool? Something I can "click in" notes and chords for the sequencer to play? Don't know what to call what I'm looking for lol
yeah I think that's called the "piano roll". You would probably want to spend a couple hours to learn LMMS or REAPER as those are better suited for writing your own tracks from scratch
DAWs are a weird beast. There's still a lot of holdovers from a very vintage age of computing that are regarded as the top-of-the-line (REAPER comes to mind).
I've heard some good things about where the FOSS DAW Audour has gotten in recent years: https://ardour.org/ CDM had a recent rundown on the features in version 8 and a preview of the upcoming version 9: https://cdm.link/ardour-9-is-coming-and-8-is-great/
There's also the free version of Cakewalk, it requires an account and a launcher though: https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk
LMMS is great for somebody starting from nothing. It's a clone of FLStudio and has simplistic interfaces that let you get a lot done, but deeper features just under the surface. I could recommend suites of programs that would take a lot more time, skill and experience to get as much out of as you can get on LMMS with a few days of dedicated effort. As a complete suite, available for free, it's basically the closest thing to Garageband with built in synths, features, and all that.
A DAW is an instrument to learn you won't be making music instantly on anything until you've learned/gotten good at the process in general and have adaptable skills in this context. Since I assume you have none, you'll have a hard time with anything at first.
The only things I could recommend that have as much are paid options like FL Studio, Bitwig or Ableton. Otherwise it'll be a sparse daw and you'll be stuck hunting for VSTs and effects.
For that:
Reaper, SurgeXT or Vital for synth (one, or both are plenty, light CPU, very powerful), then you need whatever you want for processing guitar which you might have to google for. I would use Image Line Hardcore on Windows, but I already have a license for it.
I used a program back in the day when I would record my piano videos for YouTube called Mixcraft. It's been years since I've used it so I have no idea how it works these days, but it served me well for quite a bit.
+1 for Mixcraft. When I was in high school over a decade ago, I wanted to make music but I didn’t have access to a Mac at home to use Garage Band. So downloading Mixcraft was the next best thing. Way easier to get into compared to something like Reaper.
Computer scientists and music theorists are some of the last people I'd expect being handy at music production.
That said, are you recording instruments you own, or plan on relying on some kind synthesizer built into recording software? If you're recording instruments you own, Audacity might be worth a go (as stated in another comment), as it's fairly barebones. If you wanna rely on software synths... I think Ableton Live might be worth looking into. Certainly more complex, but they have pretty good tutorials. And, if you're serious about your music, ya might just have to learn yourself a thing. Was overwhelming for me at first, too, but.. hell, I learned enough to do some things!
In my experience electronic music production and DJing are both very popular amongst software engineers, for whatever reason.
Certainly, I don't discount that. But, I was thinking of computer scientists as, y'know, in the academic sense. Applied mathematicians with patches on their sports coat's elbows.
I recall back in the day using ACID to futz with making remixes, and I don't recall it being too bad as a beginner.
Also, shoutout to Alternative To for being one of the best sources for these kinds of questions, as scrolling through the list is what helped me remember.
My recommendations depend on what kind of music you are making. Are you recording audio mostly or you programming midi mostly?
As I mentioned, a simple kind of 80s metal style riff akin to Motley Crue/Poison/Whitesnake is what I'm after, with drums and a simple baseline.
I want to create something about 30-40 seconds long to use as theme music for my YouTube channel, and I have a few ideas for the main melody already in my head. I have basic knowledge of how to play piano, though it's entirely self taught and I am no way good lol.
I'd like to find something that would let me play with some basic chords and possibly construct the melody using either notation or an on-screen keyboard, etc.
So you definitely want midi plus an assortment of instruments. I think Reason Studios would be a good match for you. They have lots of good presets in the instruments and the quality is better than GarageBand. If you don't have a midi controller already, sometimes they come bundled with a slimmed down version of Reason (and Ableton Live typically). Alternatively, you could pay the monthly subscription to test it out. Your other option is BitWig, but that is much more complicated than Reason. GarageBand has kinda the sweetspot for simple to use though - nothing is as simple.