Today one can create studio quality music right from their personal desktop or laptop. Ofcourse there are some amazing apps to create music from mobile devices but a desktop, if not a laptop, is still a standard for music creation. As working on these softwares often require large screen real estate, thus users crave for those large displays while using the below mentioned professional music creation softwares.
Pro Tools: The first DAW, the software that made music production digital, is an industry standard and a go to option for most sound engineers. Although not regarded as a composer's tool, Pro Tools is the mainstream industry software when it comes to sound/music recording, mixing and mastering worldwide. Avid, the company that develops ProTools is a household or rather say studio hold name across the globe. If you ever want to get into this field of sound nurturing and its engineering, you got to learn Pro Tools. It has a steep learning curve but once you get over it, it worth every second you spend learning the software. Pro Tools is also one of the most expensive DAWs out there but the best part is Avid has recently launched a free version of the software, Pro Tools | First. It's never been easier to get into the world of Avid systems. https://www.avid.com/pro-tools
Cubase: Steinberg is a big name in music technology industry. They first introduced VST (Virtual Studio Technology) and forever changed the way we create music. Cubase is the premium offering from Steinberg which is an all-round DAW, suitable for literally any kind of project. Cubase is also very popular among celebrated music composers like Hans Zimmer, Henry Gregson Williams and many more. Cubase is an extremely stable DAW and is capable of handling projects of every scale, right from a two track solo song upto big budget Hollywood score mockups. Although Cubase is a bit costly but Steinberg offers a lot of affordable versions of the software with trial versions for each of them. Give it a try, you will never regret the workflow experience of a DAW that's been around for more than 30 years now. https://new.steinberg.net/cubase/
Logic Pro X: Logic is perhaps the most popular all-round music production system in the world. The flagship DAW from Apple, is an industry standard and stands out as a neatly crafted, extremely intuitive, highly robust system for literally any kind of music production. An Apple designed graphic interface gives Logic undoubtedly the most visually appealing appearance. The workflow is super smooth and the latest updates make Logic more powerful than ever. Logic also comes with a free iPad app called 'Logic Remote' which allows user to control the DAW remotely. It feels the gap left by Pro Tools, Logic caters mostly to the composers and music producers alike. It has several composer friendly tools and an easy to learn interface with deep functionalities all hidden under the hood, so that it doesn't come in between the users and their creativity. Surprisingly, despite being offered from Apple, Logic Pro is one of the most affordable DAWs in the market. In this list of DAWs, Logic comes with the biggest sound resources, a whopping 58GB sample library to get you started right out of the box. If you make music on a Mac, then getting a copy of Logic Pro is something you will find hard to resist. Apple has recently started a free trial version of Logic Pro, so you can test the DAW before buying it from the Mac App Store. https://www.apple.com/in/logic-pro/
Ableton Live: Although this DAW has been popularly known by the name of its makers, Ableton, a German company. Live, their flagship DAW, as the name suggests, is specially designed for live performances. Ableton Live introduced a revolutionary clip based workflow which is very different from the traditional track based DAW workflows. This system allows users to experiment with different pieces of a song, live, yet completely in sync. This gives the ability to change the song structure the way you want in real time, with Live taking care of technical aspects of it like the start and end of the loops, etc. Ableton Live literally turns your computer into a live instrument with which you can perform on stage and deliver a memorable performance. Ableton Live quickly became extremely popular for dance music producers, disco jockeys, live performers and programmers. The DAW also provides track based system for that traditional workflow, so its now a full fledged professional DAW that's setting new standards everyday. Now,
Ableton Live Lite is the trimmed down version which comes free with most of the music hardwares like audio interfaces and midi controllers. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/
Digital Performer: This is perhaps the only DAW in this list that is specifically designed for film scoring. Digital Performer from MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn) has been the favourite DAW for several celebrated film composers for years, like Danny Elfman, Alan Menken, Alexandre Desplat, Howard Shore and many more. DP has also, undoubtedly, the steepest learning curve in the industry. But that's more because the set of features it offer to its users. The user interface is highly customisable and DP provides tons of features in every department a modern day DAW offers. You will surely be overwhelmed by the sheer number options you get for any function. Once you get over it, Digital Performer is highly rewarding and its sophisticated workflow will surely give you a premium feeling of using a robust and meticulously crafted software. MOTU offers a lite version of DP, known as Performer Lite, with every MOTU hardware. Although there is a free trial version of the software, MOTU doesn't offer any free, trimmed version of their flagship DAW. https://motu.com/en-us/products/software/dp/
Studio One: Persons Studio One ranks high when it comes to user workflow. Although comparatively new in the market, Studio One has quickly garnered a very loyal and fast growing user base due to its extremely fast and straight forward, drag and drop workflow. Ofcourse it boosts a very pristine audio engine, thanks to a hugely experienced company that Persons is, Studio One is a music producer's best friend. With every new version, Presonus introduces innovative and industry-first, composer friendly features (eg.scratchpad); these greatly enhances the overall workflow of the users. Studio One is one of the most promising DAW out there. Persons also offers a free version of the software as Studio One Prime which has enough perks to get you started. https://www.presonus.com/products/studio-one/
Bitwig Studio: Bitwig is one of the fastest growing DAWs and probably one of the brightest one as well among all the next gen DAWS that are inspired from live performance based workflows first introduced by Ableton Live. When Bitwig came, everybody was skeptical about the need of yet another DAW. But soon with superb functionalities, robust audio engines, regular updates and tie ups with several music hardware companies has led to massive rise in its popularity. https://www.bitwig.com
FL Studio: This DAW from Image Line has been around since time immemorial. The journey from Fruity Loops to FL Studio has been adventurous and today it is extremely popular among dance music producers. FL Studio comes with a massive collection of virtual instruments and plugins. FL Studio is undoubtedly one of the most popular DAWs out there. Even people who are not completely associated with music production recognises this software, thanks to its humble start during the early digital era. https://www.image-line.com
Cakewalk: If you are wondering why SONAR is not there in this list, then this is the reason behind it. Cakewalk, the new avatar of SONAR is the leading PC only DAW in the world. Cakewalk used to be the company that managed SONAR. Recently Bandlab purchased Cakewalk and renamed their software SONAR to simply, Cakewalk. The most surprising thing is, it is the only major DAW that is completely FREE. Without spending a penny, this is undoubtedly the most powerful and full-fledged DAW you can get in the market today. Although, this one is still only available for windows computers. So definitely check this one out. https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk
Reason: Earlier under Propellerhead, now under Reason Studios, this not just a standalone music making software. Reason is something more. Reason has introduced some revolutionary technologies like ReWire that has enhanced the way people make electronic and digital music. You can Reason as a DAW or as virtual instrument into some other DAW. The possibilities it creates are infinite. Reason has quite a different workflow than most of the DAWs out there. Its rack system takes a little bit of time to get used to but once you are in, you are welcomed with a plethora of instruments, libraries and effects to tune the sound you want. https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/product/reason-11/
Garageband: Garageband comes FREE with every Macintosh computer. This can easily be identified as the free or cut down version of Logic Pro X. Extremely easy to use but with limited functionalities. But Garageband has enough to get your creative juices flowing, comes loaded with a fantastic sample library and turns out to be an excellent way to get into the professional world of Apple's Logic Pro system for music production. https://www.apple.com/in/mac/garageband/
Swar Studio: A 64 bit digital audio workstation by Swar Systems, a Swiss company mainly known for their wide range of Indian instrument sample libraries. This DAW has grown steadily over the years and is designed to work perfectly with other Swar products and plugins.https://www.swarsystems.com/SwarStudio/
Nuendo: Another industry standard software for post production system by Steinberg. Nuendo has been extremely popular in post productions, sound re-recordings, soundtrack creation and everything in between. Although, honestly, Nuendo is more feature rich than Cubase but it is not so popular among music composers and programmers. Nevertheless, you can always check this heavyweight audio production and editing system, but just keep in mind the price tag that comes with it. https://new.steinberg.net/nuendo/
Audition: This is the audio recording system from none other than Adobe. An excellent program to record and edit audio. You can do great stuff to edit and perfect a recorded piece audio. Although not great fro music production, it has good capabilities for mixing and mastering sound. But it can be a handy tool in your arsenal when you are dealing with great amount of audio. https://www.adobe.com/in/products/audition/audio-mixing-mastering.html
Samplitude: Samplitude has been around since long long time. An excellent music production and editing system by Magix, Samplitude comes with a decent sample library that lets you create music straight away. https://www.magix.com/in/music/samplitude/
MixBus: Harrison Consoles brings to you their own DAW with excellent mixing workflow recreating some of the great capabilities from their own classic range of Harrison mixing consoles. One of the most affordable full fledged DAWs in this list, Mixbus can record, edit mix and master your songs with ease. You can also check out their more premium offering Mixbus 32C that emulates original Harrison 32C mixing console. Also one of the newest in this list, you will enjoy mixing your projects in this DAW, as that is the area where this DAW stands out, thanks to the Harrison's decades of experience in the world of mixing music. https://harrisonconsoles.com/product/mixbus/
Mixcraft: Acoustica's Mixcraft is often termed the Garageband for PC, and that's actually a good thing knowing how refined Garageband is. Mixcraft has a feel of its own, it sounds great, extremely easy to use and comes with great sounding instruments and effects. The interface is pretty straight forward but it works like magic. It is quite affordable and offer regular updates for its users. You will truly enjoy the sound that comes out from Mixcraft. Acoustic has really managed to create a fantastic audio engine. https://acoustica.com/mixcraft
Reaper: Cockos Reaper is a very popular DAW and has an extremely loyal user base. Highly customisable, reaper provides a solid platform to create any type of music. Over the years it has added some really cool stuff to its arsenal of effects and features. Cockos regularly updates its DAW and that makes Reaper a very neat option for music production. https://www.reaper.fm
LMMS: A full fledged DAW for a Linux computer system. LMMS is completely FREE and a great option to make music if you are using a linux os. It has all the basic functionalities of a proper DAW and lets you easily accomplish your musical tasks. https://lmms.io/lsp/
Audacity: An extremely popular, open source audio recording and editing software, used worldwide, Audacity is quite a versatile program in the field of computer audio. https://www.audacityteam.org
Tracktion: A fantastic and uprising, cross-platform digital audio workstation. Runs on both Mac and Windows as well as Linux, Tracktion has recently introduced some excellent features and effects that enhances both your creativity and workflow. https://www.tracktion.com
FolksFabric always recommends buying original softwares. If you don't want to spend money then use the free versions of the softwares. A piece of software is lot more than what it is. Tremendous amount of time, money, hard work and energy goes behind making these sophisticated applications. Treat them like any other product you would buy from a store. Buying softwares will give you a sense of loyalty, trust worthiness, honest lifestyle, fair practice and goodwill. If you are reading this blog about music making softwares, then you must be an artist in the first place. So an artist is always a person who deals with honesty, we believe it can't be otherwise. Buying a piece of software that helps you in your art is your way to give it back to the community who makes those tools for you. Let's cherish creativity and originality.