Beat Making Software

[mkoenig]

Here is a primo list of the top beat making software and links to the demos.



Imageline Fruity Loops
Fruity Loops is one of my 2 favorite programs. It is so easy to use and comes with tons of vst's and sounds straight out of the box (or out of the download) It is somewhat of a resource hog so running to many plugins at 1x can make it run slow if you don't have more than 2GB RAM. I have 4GB and it still ticks on me sometimes.
DEMO

Reason
Reason is my all time favorite because if you know what you are doing you can do anything in reason. It is rather advanced however and if you have never used it before it can be a bit daunting to say the least. Id suggest getting a book. Our buddy Peff wrote Reason Power Tools (find it here at amazon) although im not sure if he has a version 4 out.
DEMO

Cakewalk
We've actually not used cakewalk that much so can't speak that much on it. Several associates say its great, and as the name may suggest a cakewalk.
DEMO

Acid Pro (more of an assembler/editor)
Acd like most of you was our first music production tool. Its ease of use and the number of free samples avaialble is amazing.
DEMO

Ableton Live
renews the core of Live with enhancements to the audio engine including 64-bit mix summing, new and improved devices with side-chaining capability, better MIDI timing and hardware integration.
DEMO

Steinberg Cubase (more of an assembler/editor)
Cubase is a computer program for music production/recording. The program offers recording, producing and mixing of sounds in order to make music production for distribution on CDs or the internet. Most of the facilities in recording studios are now available for computer owners using Cubase or other similar products.
DEMO

Pro Tools (more of an assembler/editor)
Pro Tools is a Digital Audio Workstation platform for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems, developed and manufactured by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, television and post production. Pro Tools has three types of systems; HD, LE, and M-powered. HD is the high-end package and is an integration of hardware and software. The hardware includes an external A/D converter and internal PCI or PCIe audio cards with onboard DSP.
DEMO

[K-Ta-Klysm]

IMO the best of these is ACID. Why?
It' EXCELLENT for sampling, the mixing in it is really easy, you can compose too, BUT the little bad thing is you have to get your 3rd party plugins (VST/i DX/i) in it if you want good sounds, or use the (MIDI)DLS synth for cheap sounds LOL.
Still...
(There is no best software, but the one you know how to use the best )

[mkoenig]

I too like Acid you can do so much or so little with it and it is a reliable tool for sure.

[V.o.x.e.d.Vision]

Try HammerHead Rhythm Station !
HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.

HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.

It can be found here:

Virtual Studio Technology (VST) 4 Free !: HammerHead Rhythm Station v1.0

I Enjoy it Very Much!
and for more free vsti's and fx, go here:

Virtual Studio Technology (VST) 4 Free !

[Mihai Sorohan]

I see that a lot of people post links to Rapidshare where is posted cracked software...not really the most legal solution...
Also, I see here a lot of demo software.
There are legal and free solutions to make music and mix your stuff.
A good FREE audio editor is Audacity, a free clone of Cool Edit, made originally for Linux OS, later got a Windows installer.
You can use Audacity to:
Record live audio - Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs - Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files - Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together - Change the speed or pitch of a recording - And more...

Hammerhead - Drum beat creator FREE
HammerHead is a simple TR-909-like drum computer program aiming at the dance-scene. You can use it to create perfect Techno loops, Jungle patterns or House beats, but it's also suitable for Hip Hop, Triphop, Rap, Industrial and almost any other music you can think of.
HammerHead features six separate channels, 29 built-in drum sounds, six complete breakbeats and the possibility to import six samples of your own. You can save your patterns to completely noise-free CD-quality wave files to use them with your sampler, tracker or sequencer program.
It's quite an old but still working, still sounding good and still up.

Kristal FREE
KRISTAL Audio Engine is a powerful multi-track recorder, audio sequencer and mixer - ideal for anyone wanting to get started with recording, mixing and mastering digital audio.
It is designed as a modular system. The main application provides a mixing console, while the audio sequencer, live audio input and so on are loaded as separate Plug-Ins.
Looks good, runs smoothly also on smaller CPU.
Features:
16 audio tracks
32 Bit floating point audio engine
44.1 to 192 kHz sample rate
3-band parametric EQ &
2 VST insert slots per channel
3 VST master effect slots
ASIO low latency audio driver support
4 KRISTAL Plug-In slots


Mu.Lab FREE
This comes in two versions, FREE and commercial (49 Euro).
MU.LAB Free (which is free to everyone!) has a 6 track limit, can only mixdown in 16 Bit and only supports 1 mono out for ReWired devices. But be sure: a creative soul can do A LOT with that!
Works under Windows, OsX and Linux (Linux not official but here's how to do it )

[lboogy7]

Originally Posted by mkoenig

Here is a primo list of the top beat making software and links to the demos.



Imageline Fruity Loops
Fruity Loops is one of my 2 favorite programs. It is so easy to use and comes with tons of vst's and sounds straight out of the box (or out of the download) It is somewhat of a resource hog so running to many plugins at 1x can make it run slow if you don't have more than 2GB RAM. I have 4GB and it still ticks on me sometimes.
DEMO

Reason
Reason is my all time favorite because if you know what you are doing you can do anything in reason. It is rather advanced however and if you have never used it before it can be a bit daunting to say the least. Id suggest getting a book. Our buddy Peff wrote Reason Power Tools (find it here at amazon) although im not sure if he has a version 4 out.
DEMO

Cakewalk
We've actually not used cakewalk that much so can't speak that much on it. Several associates say its great, and as the name may suggest a cakewalk.
DEMO

Acid Pro (more of an assembler/editor)
Acd like most of you was our first music production tool. Its ease of use and the number of free samples avaialble is amazing.
DEMO

Ableton Live
renews the core of Live with enhancements to the audio engine including 64-bit mix summing, new and improved devices with side-chaining capability, better MIDI timing and hardware integration.
DEMO

Steinberg Cubase (more of an assembler/editor)
Cubase is a computer program for music production/recording. The program offers recording, producing and mixing of sounds in order to make music production for distribution on CDs or the internet. Most of the facilities in recording studios are now available for computer owners using Cubase or other similar products.
No Demo

Pro Tools (more of an assembler/editor)
Pro Tools is a Digital Audio Workstation platform for Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems, developed and manufactured by Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, television and post production. Pro Tools has three types of systems; HD, LE, and M-powered. HD is the high-end package and is an integration of hardware and software. The hardware includes an external A/D converter and internal PCI or PCIe audio cards with onboard DSP.
No Demo

I think that Sonic Producer is a really good hip hop beat making software to use because it doesn't slow down your compute when you are using it. It also gives you access to Thousands of free sounds and samples from many different professional keyboards to use in your tracks.

The user interface is real easy to learn and it comes with video tutorials that teach you how to make beats so even if you are a beginner you would be making beats in minutes. You do have to buy sonic producer but it's really a good onetime investment which gives you to make beats from any computer that has internet access. It's a really hot piece of software!

[DoubleAAmazin]

No doubt, why waste your time with cracked software(which comes with a risk of a virus) when there is plenty of free software. Audacity is great. Also dont forget Propeller Head's Rebirth program, it is awesome and free to download at Rebirth Museum site along with a ton of mods.

[Iftikhar]

It is a reliable tool for sure.

[BigFoot]

Nice resources guys, another program that's good for beat making is MAGIX Music Maker 15


DOWNLOAD FREE TRIAL

MAGIX Music Maker 15 is great for composing all sorts of music including beats, packed with over 3000 loops and sounds.

Online software which looks promising is JamStudio, you can produce songs online using their website, not really specialized for beat making but good for having fun & getting the feel of producing.

[beatmaking]

i have used fruity loops, cubase and cyber sequencer

fruity loops is very easy to use for beginers. and very intuitive. the best program to start with.

cubase is very good but it is for advanced users.

cyber sequencer is very cheap. its the cheapest beat making software the best for its price and very easy to use. more info on: www.beatmakingsoftware.tv