Choosing the best music software under $100

 

SONAR Home Studio	Fruity Loops

 

If you are choosing your first recording software you are probably facing many choices of product and many different technical terms and not sure what this all means. Do you go with a linear or non-linear sequencer or DAW? What are you really getting for your money? Is it future proof? What am I missing?


Under $100 recording software options

You can definitely get started recording and making music on your PC for under $100. Arguably the two most popular choices are Cakewalk's SONAR Home Studio and Image Line's FL Studio Fruity Loops, both are available for $99.

Of course you may decide you want a better sound card or to add a MIDI controller but these are optional. A basic built in PC sound card may not sound the best or do professional sample rates etc but it will get the job done. A MIDI controller is also handy for recording in performances or for writing different sections but again not 100% required.

Of course, the software is required as it is at the center of your PC recording studio.

 
SONAR Home Studio

At $99 this product claims to be all you need to record, edit and create music on the PC. If you are looking to record a guitar, vocals etc and want to create backing tracks for them then this is the software you should be looking at.

Think of SONAR Home Studio as a traditional recording studio in software complete with effects and instruments. SONAR Home Studio is made from the SONAR line of products so it has a string family and it's big brother SONAR Producer is used by many professionals everyday.

SONAR Home Studio is a good buy for those looking for:

"Studio in a box"

Great for recording linear tracks (think rock, pop, blues etc)

Good collection of virtual instruments included and audio effects

Basic editing of audio and MIDI means you will not have to upgrade to achieve basic tasks.

ACID loop support

FL Studio Fruity Loops

If you are looking to make non-linear or pattern based music or to create backing tracks for styles like hip-hop, electronica and so on Fruity Loops will probably be the better choice. Each sequencer has it's strengths and Fruity Loops is definitely strong at creating beats and backing tracks.

The product is pattern based so building songs is a simple as arranging different parts to create your song. You can make an intro, verse and chorus and then arrange them graphically to build you song. This is a great way of creating music if you like to work in sections.

If you are not a keyboard player or want some new inspiration Fruity Loops has a great built in arpeggiator that can easily create drum, bass, lead and synth lines for your songs. Think of it like having a session musician that can perform different parts for you at any time.

For programming beats the step sequencer is create and making a drum pattern is both easy and rewarding. Just click to fill in the beat and you have a drum track.

If you want to add linear audio recording you can by choosing the Producer Edition.

FL Studio Fruity Loops is great if you are looking for:

A beat production studio

Non-linear music production for hip-hop, techno etc

more interested in synths than audio recording

graphical arranging

So which do I choose?

Both products are great and either one can cover most of what the other can do. The difference is mainly in what you want to get out of the software. If you are a guitar player and vocalist and want to create some basic backing tracks and then record your guitar and voice, Home Studio would the best choice by far.

On the other hand, if you are wanting to create some arpeggiated bass lines, beats for hip-hop and so on then Fruity Loops is the way to go.

The next step up for both of these products let's delivers "the best of both worlds". SONAR Home Studio XL adds more virtual instruments, a step sequencer and effects. This expands the non-linear capabilities of the product and would be an ideal choice if you mainly record in a linear environment but want the ability to add some non-linear elements or you are simply looking for a richer library of virtual instruments.

Fl Studio Producer Edition adds audio recording and editing through Edision. You also get editing and more effects so you can take your non-linear electronic music environment and add linear based recording to it.

Even with the upgrades both SONAR Home Studio XL and FL Studio Producer hold true to their roots of being either more like a traditional studio or a electronic music production environment. The upgrades do allow you to get the basic functions of the others programs.