Choosing a free DAW for beginners.

[Davias]

I just re-read the OP. I would furnish the starter studio computers with a choice of free daw, and a selection of the best freeware instruments and fx, already ready to run. As well as some freeware tools related to production like free wave editors and the likes.

[arkmabat]

A soundcard can be expensive and the OP asked for a free daw, so maybe it is not the route to take. As long as no multi-outputs/inputs are needed or midi in-out, if everything is made ITB, the built-in sound card should be enough.

I would say Podium Free too, fully function except the multi core but a beginner wouldn't wash his mix into fx and hundred synths so it should be ok, and it is always possible to render as someone said.

Mulab free is nice too because very easy GUI, but maybe lacking tracks (4 or 8 I think in the free version).

LMMS is nice but a bit less easy than the two others I felt, but you can export (or import ?) FL Studio projects. So it may be a good starter along FL Studio demo. Reaper demo is worth to check to have a fully functional daw able to mix down exports from FL Studio demo for example, but after the trial period you should buy it if you use it. also this is not the most easy DAW to start with.

Ohm Studio is out and free, I think the free version is providing everythning you need, but for now you need to be online to use it, but it may worth a check.

If tracking doesn't make you afraid, then OpenMPT is the way to go !

Modplug is great, not sure for beginners though. Ohm Studio may be the winner for ease of use.

[Numanoid]

No mention of Bitwig yet? Was??

[V'ger]

I would go with the FL Studio demo.

You can't save projects, but it's still fully featured, beginner-friendly, and it's easy enough to export MIDI and WAV.

So you have to compose and just leave it running till you're done with the song? What if it takes a couple weeks? Also what if the PC crashes, and well, you haven't saved it.

As he says; it can't be beat...

[BBFG#]

shouldn't this thread be in the Hosts section?

Probably

I just re-read the OP. I would furnish the starter studio computers with a choice of free daw, and a selection of the best freeware instruments and fx, already ready to run. As well as some freeware tools related to production like free wave editors and the likes.

Yes, this really is the idea.
The fact is it is more for absolute beginners in music too. Something that may sit and never get opened, or opened and wondered about, or inspire the youth into a new direction.
I sell these @ or below FMV, and don't hold out for a bigger profit. So who usually ends up buying these are low-income families for their children. The areas they live in are often considered to be 'at-risk' groups which have a high percentage of gang activity. It has been my experience that nothing has a greater power to direct them away from that than music. These families just as often have a casio or yamaha keyboard that may be kind of cheesy but has MIDI. The parents usually fit a profile of wanting to do the best for their kids without a budget to do so.

Only a couple of computers are duo-core, the rest are single core, most have 2gb ram (I think the one desktop has 2.5-3gb, but I will have to replace the HDD on it since it's sounding the 'death rattle').

So again, nothing with any demo/time limit. It's meant for immediate gratification and inspiration and being able to save their experiments is more important than trying to get a feature-rich produced product out.

LMMS, I've read the latest version (4.15) is buggy but the the previous version (4.13) is very stable. I also like that LMMS is multi-cross platform and I'll probably put it on my Linux Netbooks. Podium looks promising also. A couple of the others mentioned here, I'll be checking out later, as I'm off to do a bit of computer setup and maintenance for the recovery home today. (one of those computers will be set up for their state/county requirements to keep them open).

Thanks for your help here.
(BTW, the VSTs I've shortlisted for this are freeware I've picked up in links posted around here and that have a very small foot print on these systems.)

[Tricky-Loops]

What about MuLab Free?

It only has 4 tracks but that's enough to make some beats and rap over it or for playing guitar and recording some vocals...

LMMS is pretty fiddly, Podium Free is much easier to handle, in my experience...

[BBFG#]

What about MuLab Free?

It only has 4 tracks but that's enough to make some beats and rap over it or for playing guitar and recording some vocals...

LMMS is pretty fiddly, Podium Free is much easier to handle, in my experience...

MuLab is definitely on my list to check out later today.

[24MTS]

Hi all,

Just up to recently I used to use an old Pentium D 3.06, 2 gb ram, with Podium Free.
I can not recommend it enough! It is by far the most complete DAW that you can get for free. IMHO.

http://zynewave.com/podium-free/

The limitations are few, one can get easily around them. As a sample of what can be done with it, check these (and not only):

http://zynewave.com/category/videos/

BTW, I realize being my first post on KVR forum, the links above do not work... sorry for this.

[filtafreq]

STUDIO ONE FREE

[bharris22]

What about Samplitude Pro X Silver?

http://pro.magix.com/en/samplitude/midi ... h.730.html

Free, and should be a very good intro if they ever want to move ahead with full Samplitude or another DAW.

[emergeaudio]

Jeskola Buzz again - I used it few years ago on old 633MHZ Celeron PC computer; was working like a charm It's free, can load Vst plugins and as far as I know it has kind of piano roll as well (also Buzz is constantly updated) . But it's tracker so not very friendly for beginner though.
All the Lite versions of bigger DAW's have limitations. Question is which one can You live with?
Podium looks really promising in this case.

[xalama qo]

I'd go with Studio One Free. I have it installed here, and its benefits are:

- it's current and under development
- it comes with a rompler with a rather large selection of sounds
- it includes a decent sized pack of loops, so kids with little to no musical education will have ready made examples to drag'n'drop, ACID or Garageband style.
- it includes enough native effects to not be creatively stifling for a beginner.
- it's fairly affordable to upgrade for someone who really wants to take their music seriously... the old working at MacDonalds cliche springs to mind, and this also instills the value of work/effort and reward.

I agree that having a few flavours to try out is also beneficial, so I'd include ReBirth from the ReBirth Museum (free and a classic), and the FLStudio demo, if IL are happy for it to be distributed in that way. (assuming these families have no internet access, then why would they not agree to it?)

Might as well throw Acid Express in there for good measure

Kudos to you and your efforts to give these kids access to music, distraction from 'street-school' and motivation to better themselves and pursue their passions!

[dsan@mail.com]

Kudos to you and your efforts to give these kids access to music, distraction from 'street-school' and motivation to better themselves and pursue their passions!

Ditto what xalama qo says BBFG#

That's a great thing ya doin

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[Davias]

I would put LMMS, Podium, mulab, samplitude and fl studio demo, maybe u can write them a quick how-to/presentation text explaining to the kid that mulab has only 4 track, that lmms and podium are fully featured, that fl studio is powerful and easy but you can just export waves and midi to use in other daws, the limitations of samplitude.

Buzz and modplug, while explaining that these are trackers and differents, maybe for advanced users. Some kid might click with tracking more easily who knows ?

And don't forget a bunch of free samples to start with (especially one shot drums and loops since the vst instruments should suffice to produce melodies and the likes).

Studio one free for mixing and mastering what is produced with the other(s) daw since it have for limitation no use of 3rd party vst but I think u can have access to 32 bits mixing engine and unlimited tracks ?

Or maybe it is too complex ? but this is the way I would go, provide as many tools as possible without being overwhelming, as a kid I always (and still now) liked to have access as many toys as possible

Very nice idea indeed to help these kids

[chk071]

+1 for Podium Free. And a couple of low CPU usage freeware synths, like Synth1, Dune BE, Helix beta so that the lack of multicore support doesn't weigh so much.