Need A Product Recommendation

[Ltrain]

Hi All:
I am interested in getting into music creation via the computer and trying to figure out what the best software product is for what I want to do. I'm just a beginner so I don't need anything over the top but don't mind paying a little more for something good. What I would like to be able to do is create music with different instruments e.g drum, guitar, keyboard, bass and have complete songs. I would also like to be able to edit, mix and/or arrange those creations. Mess around with other songs that I can import and then possibly create my own music that I can play bass with and create cd's or mp3s of music. I've been looking at the Cakewalk stuff and Sony Acid but wondered if anyone had some recomendations that might help me out.

 

[Fletch]

I'm a big fan of the Cakewalk stuff. They're fairly easy to get the hang of and for what you get quite affordable. I've been using Sonar Home Studio XL for a while now and it's been prefect. My guitar player liked it so much he out did me and got their entire Pro Suite. If I was to do it all over again I'd probably get Project5 to start with. You can record audio but it does so much more. It's totally addictive!!! You can get a download version for only $99 which makes it a no brainer.

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[hunta]

I use Cubase to do stuff like that, you could also use Ableton, Sonar, Reaper (I think), maybe Audacity. The key is getting VST instruments so you have access to the kinds of sounds you need. You can get VST instruments that sound just like pretty much anything, drums, orchestra, horns, synths, piano, etc...