Is the expense worth it? Depends on what you want. With lots of effects and one of the best pitch-correction tools in the industry, there is a lot to recommend Cakewalk Sonar. The program uses ‘Lenses’ which help focus tasks such as adding vocals, drums, mixing or polishing. The menus are logical and only three layers deep and make short work of getting a tune down. The interface looks good and places the music at the center as you would expect. At $49, it is at the affordable end of a range of professional music production programs from Cakewalk. However, the documentation is great and there is a wide range of YouTube videos walking you through everything from setting up to publishing your finished track.Ĭakewalk Sonar is ideal for the beginner who wants to invest in a pro-level commercial program without bankrupting themselves. Considering this program is free and open source, it is hugely powerful.Īt first glance, the interface does look a little intimidating. LMMS has 32 and 64-bit instrument support, a Roland synthesizer, ZynAddSubFx synthesizer, sound effects emulators and a range of other tools. Import MIDI files or files from other music making software, add effects with plugins and the range of the many that are built in. It enables you to compose, sequence, mix, refine, edit and produce music from within a single interface. This is a free music making program that encapsulates everything to create music.

LMMS began life as a Linux program before expanding to include Windows and Mac. With the option to record in WAVE or Ogg Vorbis, stream your mixes directly to Shoutcast or Icecast and support for DJ hardware, it is difficult to imagine a more complete music making program for the DJ. While the learning curve is shallow to begin with, it will quickly ramp up once you start digging down. The menu is logical and only three layers deep yet offers access to hundreds of options. The layout is similar to these others, with the main tracks or channels in the center and the tools and effects around it.

I only played around with Mixxx for an hour but quickly got into the swing of things.

Best music production app for mac