Until a few years ago, to be able to produce music through your pc or smartphone you needed to own tools suitable for music production that required a certain skill to be used properly. Often, it took years of practice to achieve your goals and, above all, it was necessary to have already developed musical skills.
How to make music with your PC
Pcs with Windows operating system are equipped with software to create music, so they do not allow you to record music or create backing tracks. Despite this lack, it is still possible to produce music through various programs that can be used for free. So, for beginners, it is not necessary to use expensive professional software, but there is the possibility to start using specific programs to create music bases suitable to test your creativity.
Programs to create music for free
The types of software used to create music are called Daw (Digital Audio Workstation). Daw programs initially started out as digital solutions for recording music but, over time, they have become full-fledged programs that are used to create backing tracks and songs even without playing an instrument. The use of a software that allows us to create our own compositions is, therefore, essential. Let’s see what are the best programs that can help us make music.
Free music program: Audacity
Audacity is one of the best audio editing programs available for free. It is an open source multi-platform that runs on various Windows, Mac and Linux systems. Its interface is easy to use and is available in English. Thanks to its numerous functions and filters, it allows you to cut, split, mix and perform many other editing operations on digital audio tracks. In order to install it on your computer, all you need to do is download the version compatible with your operating system.
Free music program: Tracktion T7
Tracktion T7 is a program that is released for free in the version prior to the one currently on the market. Tracktion T7, the version currently available for free, is feature-rich and is designed with the goal of making things simple. Tracktion T7 has an unlimited number of audio and MIDI tracks, can accommodate multiple plugins including VST and Audio Units.
Free Music Program: Pro Tools First
Pro Tools First is the free version of one of the most widely used programs in the audio industry. Unlike other free software, you don’t need to purchase a specific hardware component to use the free version but there are important limits on what you can do. You can use a maximum of 16 simultaneous instrument and voice tracks and four hardware inputs.
Free Music Program: Accordion
Accordion is a small, free software that allows you to compose music on your computer by simulating various musical instruments, from piano to guitar to drums. It does not allow you to record the songs you produce directly but it has a very clear and easy to use interface. This program is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Free Music Program: Logic Pro
Logic Pro is a historical software in the industry as it has been on the market since 1993. Logic Pro is one of the most comprehensive programs for programming music but is limited to the Mac Os platform only. The latest version has brought several new features that include a completely revamped interface and the ability to connect the software to your iPad to control many of the functions. Logic Pro allows you to create complex and virtuoso productions.
Free Music Program: MuLab
MuLab is a digital audio workstation with a very intuitive interface that helps you record, edit and create multitrack music with ease. The software supports MIDI files and comes with many useful tools such as equalizer, audio recording, reverb, synth, drums, etc. The free version of MuLab supports 8 VST plug-ins for each project, 4 tracks per composition, one MIDI input/output and 2 audio input/output.
Free Music Program: Encore
Encore is a program designed for professional musicians with which you can record music to digital scores and produce songs with your computer by creating or bringing back MIDI files. The interface is basic but extremely easy to use. The program is available for Windows and Mac systems and is available in a free 30-day trial version.
Free apps for creating music from smartphones and tablets
Aside from PC music programs, there are several apps that allow us to make music directly from our smartphones or tablets. These apps make it easy for anyone to compose music and allow the more experienced profiles to have professional-quality mixers and instruments at their disposal. Let’s take a look at some of the best apps for Android, iPhone and iPad that help you produce music for free.
Free App: n-Track
With this app you can record an unlimited number of audio and MIDI tracks in real time, and mix them to your liking during playback, using effects and transforming the track to then share it with other users via social. The operation is very simple, in fact, you just need to record a basic track with the microphone of your smartphone and then associate audio tracks to it or you can create a new melody using the internal keyboard of the phone or the virtual instruments provided by the application itself.
Free app: Loopy
Loopy is only available to iPhone and iPad owners but it is a very easy-to-use app for producing music and recording audio. Loopy offers a substantial amount of empty loops on which you can record and overlay sounds that can come from your iPhone’s microphone or other apps that use AudioCopy and AudioBus or even from recording instruments. You can then manipulate and edit sounds, change the tempo, merge tracks together and overdub recordings onto others. There’s MIDI control for using Loopy with a pedal, making it an ideal tool for live musicians and street performers.
Free App: Music Maker JAM
Music Maker JAM It’s a true virtual community for those who want to create music with their smartphones. To get started you have to sign up for the app and compose new songs choosing from over 200 packages of musical styles present. Music Maker Jam offers a wide variety of music genres, ranging from rap to rock, pop, blues, raggie, house, jazz and soundtracks. New songs can be recorded live with an eight-channel virtual mixer and sent to the web to be shared with the community and on the main social networks. Unfortunately, this app is only available on the Apple store.
Free App: Walk Band
Walk Band provides a real virtual musical instrument kit. With this app we have the possibility to use the instruments in a completely realistic way. The instruments you can use are the guitar, drum machine, piano and bass. The guitar has three types of sound: electric, steel and nylon strings. The drum machine and keyboard can make five types of sound: piano, synth, music box, rhodes and organ.
There are also different demo beats such as disco, rock, Latin rock, ballad, waltz and many more. Walk Band also has a multi-track synthesizer for different virtual instruments. This multi-track synthesizer can merge into one track in the same instrument. Walk Band also has a Music Zone where you can listen to, upload and share your music recordings. Quest’app ha anche plugin per il suono per ogni strumento virtuale supportato.
Le app per creare musica a pagamento
Le app viste finora hanno la possibilità di essere scaricate gratuitamente sui propri device e di essere sfruttate, nelle loro funzioni, completamente in modo gratuito. Alcune di queste danno la possibilità, tramite pagamento, di effettuare degli upgrade per sbloccare funzioni aggiuntive. Vediamo ora, quali sono le migliori app a pagamento per fare musica.
- Caustic 3 è una delle app maggiormente usate per la produzione musicale su sistemi Android e Ios. Quest’ultima propone una vasta quantità di strumenti che consentono di creare musica elettronica agevolmente grazie all’utilizzo di 14 macchine, fra cui vari beat box e sintetizzatori vocali. L’app può essere scaricata gratuitamente dal Google Play Store ma per poter esportare i brani composti in WAV, Ogg o MIDI è necessario acquistare il Caustic Unlock Key che costa 6,99 euro. Su App Store, invece, Caustic 3 non è disponibile in versione demo e va acquistata direttamente al costo di 10,99 euro.
- FL Studio Mobile è una applicazione adatta ai dispositivi Android e anche per iPhone, iPad, che propone una vasta scelta di strumenti per la composizione di tracce musicali da mobile. Inoltre offre un Sequencer a 99 tracce facile da usare, e la possibilità di usare vari kit di batteria in funzione del genere musicale. Altra funzione particolarmente apprezzata, è quella che permette di editare effetti in modo visuale e l’opzione per esportare o importare file MIDI o anche WAV e AAC. Si può acquistare l’app al prezzo di 17,99 euro su Google Play Store o di 14,99 euro sull’App Store.
- Flowerki è un’applicazione disponibile sia per Android che IOS che permette di imparare a suonare il pianoforte attraverso una serie di video lezioni e la possibilità di esercitarsi direttamente con il proprio strumento musicale. Risulta molto utile la funzione che aggiunge un modulo di riconoscimento audio attraverso il quale l’applicazione rileva l’esecuzione dell’esercitazione aiutando il pianista inesperto verso la corretta esecuzione del brano. Flowkey è disponibile in abbonamento, con piani mensili a partire da 19,99€.
- Audio Evolution Mobile Studio è un potente sequencer multi traccia audio/MIDI per Android e iOS in grado di supportare oltre 250 interfacce, USB audio/MIDI, strumenti virtuali, editing non lineare e non distruttivo, mix, effetti in tempo reale e l’automazione. Quest’app, sembra a tutti gli effetti un vero e proprio studio di registrazione. Tra le altre funzioni sottolineamo la riproduzione di tracce in loop, l’automatizione di tutti i parametri ed effetti del mixer, correzione della latenza, masterizzazione di file stereo WAV, AIFF, FLAC e OGG, monitoraggio del software audio USB , la conversione della frequenza di campionamento e la funzione metronomo. L’app è scaricabile al costo di 8,49 euro.