Music Software for my brother's game

Hi,

I am interested in purchasing a music composition program for me to create music for my brother's game. I would like to say that I am not interested in a program that only provides premade tracks for people who are not really composers. I am an actual composer and I would like something that will not limit me to what I can put into it. You may think that I am being very picky in what I am about to say but keep in mine that everything is not completely necessary.

I am looking for a music-making program that has a large assortment of traditional instruments (guitar, orchestra, drums, etc.) as well as techno instruments and sounds (like synthesizers). It is important that I am able to export to a wav or mp3 file so that it can be imported into other programs. Although not completely necessary, I want it to also be able to load pre-made MIDI files and export it using its own sounds. I want it to have high-quality audio and have the ability to add effects and filters to the music. Obviously, it needs to have multiple tracks and sound layering. It would be nice if it had an easy to understand interface that allows you to create notes quickly and easily.

All of these things are important, but if you know of a program that has at least 1 of these things tell me where I can find it.

Thanks in advance, I'm looking forward to participating in these forums! :D.

Firstly, welcome to YC, and I hope you enjoy yourself!

Finale and Sibelius are the ways to go. You write the notes, have a wide selection of instruments, and both Sibelius and Finale can upload MIDI files and turn them into scores (kinda messy though). As for exporting MP3 and WAV- I know Sibelius can export WAV and not MP3, but I don't know if Finale can export MP3. If in doubt, you can download Audacity, a sound editing program that lets you export MP3 files, for free. Just do a Google search and you can find it.

Now mind you, these programs are not cheap. Sibelius can between $300 and $500 (about three hundred sixty on the Sibelius website), and Finale is about the same.

The main differences between these two programs is the way that they are set up- both can do just about the same things, but just about everything in Finale is different than in Sibelius. I'll note that Sibelius takes a bit of time to get used to, while Finale is meant to be easy to use. Personally, I cant stand Finale- I tried it once and just about threw the computer out the window- but my composition teacher uses it fluently, and many people on this forum seem happy with it. It was simply the fact that I was so used to Sibelius that annoyed me when I tried Finale. In short, Both programs are good, but be prepared to get hooked to one, and only one.

Tell me if I helped!

How much money are you expecting to spend? That'll factor in significantly...

Personally, I don't use any program for playback purposes, though I prefer Finale for notation.

However, a quick glance at the software/hardware sub-forum garners these potentially enlightening threads:

• Best Composing Software
  
• Best Software For Playback Purposes
  
• Playing MIDI using soundfonts...
  
• Sibelius vs Finale
  
• GPO vs EWQLSO Silver
  

I'll note that Sibelius takes a bit of time to get used to, while Finale is meant to be easy to use.

Isn't it actually the other way around? Sibelius is supposedly the more intuitive and user-friendly program, while Finale is more robust and powerful.

:whistling:

Personally, I find Finale much easier to use, and it seems easier to do more with Finale.

Thanks for the replies, they were very helpful. I should have clarified that I needed the program for mostly playback/exporting purposes and that I would not like to spend more than 400-$500. I guess I'd be better off posting this in the finale forum but I tried out the finale demo and I found the sounds very thin and not realistic. I listened to some demo sounds and they sounded amazing. Are all the good sounds only available in the full version or is the demo version have all the sounds your going to get?

Ok

for FREE stuff.

Try googling "reaper" first of all. It's a shareware sequencer with no limits on the trial. The license is also DEAD cheap.

"audacity" is also free and rather good.

Next for synths and any plug-ins or drums, or instruments you want go to KVR: Virtual Instruments, Virtual Effects, VST Plugins, Audio Units (AU), DirectX (DX), Universal Binary Compatibility - Audio Plugin News, Reviews and Community and start searching.

For further instruments try googling "soundftonts" or "soundfontz" or "soundfonz" (not the last one really, but you never know...)

If you also need notes, there are cheaper notation software apart from Sibelius or Finale, but these are the top two really. Also both have relaly cheap academic versions, which is worth looking if you;re a student or bellow 18, or something like that... Finale 2008 is $600 and I have found it for $199 through a website for a limited amount of time (but they didn't ship in Europe, so I couldn;'t buy it :()

Paladin,

Nikolas is The Man to whom you need to speak about this stuff. Pay attention, he'll sort you out! ...also QCCowboy if you happen to catch him!

:thumbsup:

i wonder why people recommend notation software, i find notation completely usless in this case. all he needs is a sequencer with a couple of virtual instruments, which nikolas described well enough.

A few questions:Is there anything on kvraudio that will give you a package of instruments rather then just one? Each are very expensive and I do not know if they are for me. Also, is reaper capable of creating its own custom midi files rather than just layering recorded sounds?

Thanks again.

A few questions:Is there anything on kvraudio that will give you a package of instruments rather then just one? Each are very expensive and I do not know if they are for me.

Most of the plugins on KVR usually focus on one kind of instrument in particular as far as I know (eg - piano, strings, synthesizer, drums, etc.). Mind you, if you are after synthesizer sounds, many synths can make hundreds of totally different sounds. I suggest that you try Reaper and download some free/demo plugins from KVR and try them out.... nothing to lose.

If you are after a general package of instruments I am not sure that there are that many which are free.... you may want to search for a "General Midi" plugin or soundbank. I use Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 6. It comes with a General Midi synth called "TTS-1" which comes with a couple of hundred sounds, which is a fairly good start. If you get Home Studio XL, it comes with "Dimension LE", which has even more instrument sounds, many which are much more realistic. The next option up would be to buy something like "Dimension Pro" (more expensive - but still good value), which comes with about 1500 sounds.

Another option for general instrument sounds would be to get a soundfont player/plugin. Do a search for soundfonts - there should be hundreds available to download, and somebody might have put together a package of general sounds....

Also, is reaper capable of creating its own custom midi files rather than just layering recorded sounds?

I don't 100% understand your question. Reaper, like most sequencers, allows you to record both audio & midi tracks. With the midi tracks you edit them by using the piano-roll view, or you can record midi notes using a midi controller keyboard or similar. You can import and export midi files in most sequencers including Reaper. Hope that helps.

A LOT of things in kvraudio are free. Just uncheck the 'commercial' and 'unreleased' boxes and you're good to go.

And I don't understand the reaper question either...

Also, is reaper capable of creating its own custom midi files rather than just layering recorded sounds?

Yes, you have total freedom to create whatever you want, by triggering virtual instruments (VSTI's) with midi ^^

If you are after a general package of instruments I am not sure that there are that many which are free.... you may want to search for a "General Midi" plugin or soundbank. I use Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 6. It comes with a General Midi synth called "TTS-1" which comes with a couple of hundred sounds, which is a fairly good start. If you get Home Studio XL, it comes with "Dimension LE", which has even more instrument sounds, many which are much more realistic. The next option up would be to buy something like "Dimension Pro" (more expensive - but still good value), which comes with about 1500 sounds.

Another option for general instrument sounds would be to get a soundfont player/plugin. Do a search for soundfonts - there should be hundreds available to download, and somebody might have put together a package of general sounds....

i've experienced that propellerheads reason has a very versatile instrument library (ranging from synths to orchestral) which sound 'ok' aswell.