GarageBand Alternatives?
 

Anything you guys reccomend that is like GarageBand? I do not have an Apple, but I would like a good music making program. Not afraid to spend a couple hundred if the program is really great.

Well there is a free to try software called reaper which has a hardcore following, and it's $60 if you like it. I haven't used it though. Then there's ableton, who's intro software download is $99. It doesn't look or feel anything like garageband or reaper, but you can achieve similar results. Then there's sonar, whose entry level software probably isn't much more expensive.

And it seems like all of these have trial versions, so trying before you buy would probably be a good idea.

I've heard of a popular high level music software called Cubase. I think it's really high-priced though.

Hi Matt
A fantastic alternative to Garageband is Band in a Box by PG Music. You simply type in the chords that you require in your song, select from the many styles in the program and export it to a number of output formats. It is far less expensive than Cubase.

If however if you require a general purpose sequencer Steinberg Cubase or Sonar by Cakewalk will be better. These packages have all the tools that you could ever require

Hope this helps
Cool Studios

Yes, Cubase, Ableton, Reason or try something like Sonic Producer. It also depends on what type of music are you planning to create?

Alternatively you can always get Magix Music Maker :D

I had energyXT 2.5 Demo or something a few years ago. It has a similar look to Garageband, but all of the preset instruments are good for weird electronica.

I would definitely recommend Ableton as well though. It's a bit more complicated and takes a bit of getting used to (like any program), but it's one of the best DAW's out there.

Apple Logic, espically coming from garageband, you'll be able to learn it very quickly and it has allot of depth to master. The stock plugins which is comes with are pretty good, as are the included software instruments, so you can start making music straight away. And, now Apple has gone solely App store, it's quite cheap, £130 or something like that. (It used to be closer to £300-£400.

Viable alternatives are Cubase, (version 7 has just been released), I have allot of experience with Pro-Tools which I heartily recommend, both of these are quite expensive though, around the £400 mark.

Other alternatives include the aforementioned Reaper, which appears to be fantastic and has a very passionate userbase and forum. Ableton Live, which I've never used extensively, I don't particularly like the workflow in it, because it's different, but it obviously works for a allot of people because it's very popular. Cakewalk Sonar, Presonus Studio One are some more DAWs.

Overall, I would say for someone like you coming from garageband, probably not looking to spend a fortune. Logic will offer you everything you need and more, at a very reasonable price.

Ableton is wayy overpriced

it's really not. i'm not a fan of the workflow in it, but even if it cost a thousand bucks, you're still saving tens of thousands on real studio gear. so much r&d goes into these DAWs that no one should complain about price. ableton is as capable as any other product on the market, and it also has things like time stretching down pat, which few other programs can boast.

all this aside, we all have the internet, and there are cracked versions of pretty much everything. the only one i've ever had a hard time finding a cracked version for is protools. but then again, i've been off the grid for over a year, so perhaps all that has changed.

There are LE versions of a lot of popular programs (ProTools, Cubase, etc) and some of them are bundled with HW interfaces. I haven't used anything but Logic in a long time so I can't make a good recommendation outside of that. I used Bnad-in-a-Box on PC ten years ago, but I'm not sure what it's evolved into. It was pretty cool at the time, but I looked at it more of a songwriting/idea partner, not really recording software. Maybe I just didn't use it to it's fullest extent.