Is there any free software that will help me create music for video?

[McLilith]

I've been using Tracktion for a long time, and I really love it. However, I'm having horrible luck with the video support in Tracktion. I finally got it to load videos, but it keeps losing synchronization between the audio and video. The video often pauses or stops playing, while the audio continues. It's extremely frustrating.

I want to create my own custom video clips, and create my own custom soundtracks for them. The soundtrack would be a combination of field recordings, custom-recorded Foley and FX audio, along with VSTi synthesizers playing background music. Tracktion does a great job with the audio side of things, but it won't reliably sync with my video while I'm working on my compositions.

My computer OS is Windows 10. What other free options do I have?

Will the new free version of Cakewalk support video?

I can continue using Tracktion for video scoring if I have to, but it's going to be extremely tedious.

[planetearth]

Yes, Cakewalk by BandLab supports video. It's basically the same version as SONAR Platinum, minus a few third-party plug-ins. You should have no problem with video, as long as your computer can handle the load.

Steve

[GreyLion]

You may want to check out the free version of Da Vinci Resolve. It's missing only a few high-end capabilities compared to the paid version. It's primarily a video program, but has an audio side with Fairlight integrated, including the ability to load VSTs. I've only fooled around with the previous version, and I think that it won't run VSTi's but you can record those in Tracktion, then do some extremely sophisticated post work in Resolve.

https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/produc ... ciresolve/

[lfm]

With this VST you can run video better in many hosts - no editing stuff - but just to make music score for it - perfect.

http://vidplayvst.com/index.htm

This runs with 20% less cpu in Cubase for me than their own video engine do.
You can run on full screen second monitor and any other size.

A new version addon write back and replace audio, or just use a video editing software like PowerDirector or similar. VidRenderVst.

https://vidplayvst.com/vidrender.htm

[BertKoor]

How's your workflow? Do you first finish an audio track and edit the video to that? Or is the editing of video finished first and you compose music around that? Or is it a mix of that and you edit both audio & video as you go?

If the audio always comes first, you should continue using Tracktion and look for a proper video editing program.

[THE INTRANCER]

If Davinci Resolve gives you problems, a great free alternative is https://fxhome.com/express and it can be expanded further with addon's if you need them. However, what's provided is quite extensive from the get go, and should cover much of your needs... from a standard level. It's lightweight, easy to learn / use and shares many similarities to After Effects. It's pretty stable too but if on any rare occasion, you do manage to crash it... you should be able to restore it easily the next time you run it, and giving it the project a new file name. There is a Pro paid for version which contains all the plugins..and possibly other differences... but the free version should do you though. Using other computer graphic applications and importing is a good way to give yourself more creative freedom with it.