Garageband Alternative?

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:44 pm

Well, I've been getting really into recording recently, and I've been looking for a free alternative to garageband. I've used it on my sisters mac, and its very nice. Right now, I use the freeware version of KRISTAL Audio Engine. Its great for everything I need, but is lacking in a few areas. (Only 2 VST effects per track, No pan feature.. etc) I was wondering if anyone had any others? Please dont mention Audacity. I have it, and use it for a few other things.

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:16 pm

FL Studio?

I think the trial/free version is decent.

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 3:44 pm

What's wrong with audacity?

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:37 pm

Kurt_ wrote:What's wrong with audacity?

It's pretty limited, and I don't really like the interface.

@Harshboy: I'm installing now. Hopefully its good.

blackbox_dev · Post by **blackbox_dev** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 4:39 pm

It's not free, but the closest thing I've found to GarageBand on a PC is Acoustica Mixcraft. There's a trial available so you can try it out.

@Kurt_: I find Audacity really limiting. Although I guess that's to be expected since I use Cakewalk Sonar 7 PE

It's great for a free program though.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:40 pm

blackbox_dev wrote:It's not free, but the closest thing I've found to GarageBand on a PC is Acoustica Mixcraft. There's a trial available so you can try it out.

@Kurt_: I find Audacity really limiting. Although I guess that's to be expected since I use Cakewalk Sonar 7 PE It's great for a free program though.

Ya, I've used acoustica. It's pretty good. Annoying with the whole trial thing.

Post by **Triton** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:40 pm

FL studio or Ableton Live have my vote

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:46 pm

Does anyone know of ways to get the old free protools version?

edit: NOT COOL. they have free versions for OSX.. but not Windows..

Harshboy · Post by **Harshboy** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:27 pm

There's free versions of everything...if ya catch muh drift

Post by **bicostp** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:29 pm

ghosstt wrote:
Kurt_ wrote:What's wrong with audacity?
It's pretty limited, and I don't really like the interface.

It's for recording and cleaning audio up (which it's damn good at), it's not for sequencing.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:27 pm

bicostp wrote:
ghosstt wrote:
Kurt_ wrote:What's wrong with audacity?
It's pretty limited, and I don't really like the interface.
It's for recording and cleaning audio up (which it's damn good at), it's not for sequencing.

Well, I don't do any sequencing.(I'm assuming your talking about the electronic genre of music, and hip-hop and stuff). I'm just looking for a nice recorder that is simple to use, but is deep enough with good features, such as garage band. KRISTAL, which i use now, is really simple to use, but lacks a few features. Audacity to me, feels kinda clunky, though thats just my opinion. And I do agree, it works great for cleaning up audio. (Which is why I still have it on my computer)

Extreme_Jesus · Post by **Extreme_Jesus** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:53 am

ewww Kristal

i never got it working properly on my computer

If you want somethig better you might want to buy *cough*pirate*cough* a copy of something proper like cubase or pro tools or the like.

Rekarp · Post by **Rekarp** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:26 am

Programmers need food! Buy Software!

Super Cameraman · Post by **Super Cameraman** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:20 pm

The demo of FL Studio is really awesome. It can do anything the full version can do but save projects. It can save mp3's, wav's and midi's though, which is really nice. It's not as user friendly as Garage Band, mostly because it doesn't have as many loops (mainly just drums) but what it lacks in that it makes up in the variety of music you can create and the control over how it sounds.

ghosstt · Post by **ghosstt** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 1:55 pm

Super Cameraman wrote:The demo of FL Studio is really awesome. It can do anything the full version can do but save projects. It can save mp3's, wav's and midi's though, which is really nice. It's not as user friendly as Garage Band, mostly because it doesn't have as many loops (mainly just drums) but what it lacks in that it makes up in the variety of music you can create and the control over how it sounds.

Im a little confused as to how it works though.. In most programs, you can have each track, and then put them in order of how you want. (such as garage band. The tracks are in plain view, you can drag em.) In FLS, where exactly is that? The only place I found to record was the edison thing.. which Just has the track there, but you can place it with others?(possibly? I don't really know) Any good beginner guides would help. I'm just doing recordings with my guitar.