With a sudden spurt in the success of “bedroom producers”, creating some sick tunes within the confines of your home has become a bright reality. Take for instance, the success stories of rappers such as Post Malone or Lil Pump among hip hop artistes who started out as independent producers. They made it big because they had some of the best beat making software at their disposal. If you too are a passionate music enthusiast who wants to fulfill your dream but doesn’t have enough resources to expend, then you can always make use of some of the best free beat making software for Mac and Windows PC listed in our roundup.
These free beat makers are intrinsically built to provide you the right melody creation tools that can compose some kickass groovy beats in a jiffy. Most of the entries on our list proffer sample music which can help navigate users learning the nitty-gritty of beat production and create solid hip hop beats.
Apr 06, 2020 Drumflow – Best Free Beat Maker Software for Mac. Drumflow is another beat making software for Mac. Drumflow is also a good beat creator and beat production software for beginners. It is available for both Windows and Mac platforms. It includes a wide array of sample files that you can use to get inspiration and make excellent music. Jun 23, 2020 The highly customizable beat making software, Cubase Elements, is another of the best beat making software. It loads up on features such as a huge loop library, templates and virtual instruments. Although this is a paid software, it is a budget-friendly one. Cubase Elements – Best Music Production Software. Apr 22, 2018 You can export music in multiple formats including flac,.ogg,.wav. A passionate user can create some of the best beat music with MuseScore. It is one of the best beat making software for beginners. You may also like 2 player unblocked games. DrumFlow is also available for both Windows and Mac OS and is the best software to make a beat.
How to choose the best free beat makers?
We handpicked all the amazing beat making software on our roundup based on several yardsticks. Numero unocriteria were definitely ease-of-use for beginners, followed closely by the abundant features these software possess. Not to mention, some of them cater to more experienced users and boast advanced features.
Lastly, the user interface was also considered for homing in on the best free beat makers that could inspire users to create some tasty, jaw-dropping bass-driven beats and drop sick bars. So, are you ready to find out the best free beat making software and download ’em all? Let’s get started.
Note: If you want to expand your pool of options, you might also want to check our list of the best free audio editing software.
1) Fruity Loops Studio (FL Studio Fruity Edition) [For PC & Mac]
If you are a complete novice who wants to learn the art of creating funky beats and create some professional sounding polyrhythms, look no further than FL Studio, which is considered as one of the best free beatmakers for beginners. It is available for both Windows and Mac OS X.
Coming on to the features, FL Studio is a powerhouse replete with everything that one would need to compose, arrange, edit, mix and master their professional-sounding beats. You can download various third-party plugins, drum loops, VSTs and even add some symphonic synths if you are an EDM producer.
It comes loaded with: keyboard controller, MIDI out, formula controller, and many more cool features. We were really impressed with the reworked and scalable interface which has a piano roll, and multi-touch functionality. Also, it allows real-time stretching to tweak the tempo and pitch variations.
Not to mention, the latest version of FL Studio, i.e. FL Studio 12 allows you to detach all the windows within the program for a seamless audio editing experience. Overall, even experienced beat aficionados will enjoy editing in FL Studio.
Note If you want to step up your game, you can buy the FL Studio Producer Edition.
2) GarageBand [Mac]
GarageBand is a solid DAW intrinsically designed for Mac and iOS devices. Some of the highlights of GarageBand have always been its resplendent collection of sample beats, AU plugins, drum loops, virtual session drummer, guitar loops and synth passages – all of which – make it one of the best free beat making software for Mac and Windows users.
In other words, it is a cohesive music creation studio that is fully equipped to compose some kickass beats on the fly. The interface is very soothing to the eyes and any beginner would be hooked right from the get-go. Moreover, you can also compose a sick layer-heavy song with up to 255 tracks thrown into the mix. That’s a lot of tracks!
GarageBand also boasts some nifty features including Flex Time for quickly changing the timing of an audio recording. In fact, you can also wirelessly play any GarageBand virtual instrument on your Mac by using an iPad via multi-Touch gestures. No need to download it since the full version comes packed inside your Mac.
3) MuseScore [Mac]
Ably assisted by an intuitive beat making technique, MuseScore is a music composition and notation software that packs some serious features that are a novelty in the free beat making software realm. For instance, it supports standardized plugin formats such as DSSI, LADSPA and VST.
MuseScore also boasts a stunning interface that is very easily navigable for beginners who want to craft some fire-worthy beats. You can drag and drop or import arranging of MIDI files, Plugins and plugin presets, Aux outputs and audio files.
Moreover, you can export your tunes in multiple formats such as .wav, .flac, .ogg, etc. MuseScore doubles up as a formidable MIDI/Audio sequencer that has some of the finest real-time record/playback credentials to edit unwanted mono/stereo parts instantly. If you can read/write music, MuseScore also proffers tablature creation for various virtual instruments.
4) Hotstepper [For PC and Mac]
Fans of drum sequencers who want to create some sublime bass-driven Hip hop drum patches can safely rely on Hotstepper which is a 12-channel beast of a drum sequencer. It boasts multiple sound samples, some of which are available in .hpa extension. Hotstepper also has a nifty BMP slider to fix the number of beats you wanna play per minute or adjust the tempo of the track. Not to mention, Wave stretching for automatically stretching a sound to the exact length of a beat.
Further, Hotstepper supports various third-party plugins for adjusting tempo, panorama position and pitch for every sound. You can also control the amount of delay or feedback you want in your mix. However, you can export the drum patterns exclusively in .wav format which could be a disappointment for most users.
5) DrumFlow[For PC and Mac]
Another powerful drum sequencer for Mac and Windows, Drumflow can create customized percussion parts and drum loops that can be exported to your MIDI editor. DrumFlow includes an array of sample files (around 127 drum banks) and 6 MIDI settings such as: reverberation, pitch coarse, chorus and filter values.
However, the novelty factor that makes DrumFlow one of the best free beat making software is that it can be used to create some original sounding drum loops which are a good respite from the same-old digitized drum loops that most DAWs can create.
You can also swing grooves to add more ‘groove’ and depth to your patterns. Plus, you can fiddle with drum setup parameters to adjust pitch and tone, add reverb, EG attack and delay, and stereo pan.
6) Hydrogen [For PC and Mac]
Hydrogen is an open-source drum machine that is compatible with both Mac and Windows. The first thing you will notice about Hydrogen’s intuitive interface is its modular layout as well as multi layer support for instruments (up to 16 samples for every instrument).
Therein, you can easily compose, edit, mix, and master your beats using robust features such as time stretch, pitch corrector, sample Editor for basic cut and loop functions and a Pattern-based sequencer which comes loaded with unlimited patterns that can be chained into a song.
Also, you can edit up to 192 ticks per pattern with variable pattern length and individual level per event. Moreover, since Hydrogen is a sample-based stereo audio engine, you can import sound samples in multiple formats such as .au, .aiff, .Wav, et al.
7) LMMS [For PC and Mac]
Another open-source entrant on our list, LMMS offers easy to use functionality thanks to its simple and intuitive interface for composing sick bars and beats. You can make use of its inbuilt song editor for composing some kickass tunes and it also comes loaded with a beat+bassline editor for amalgamating some great basslines and beats.
Plus, LMMS offers computer-controlled automation as well as complete user-defined track-based automation.
No to mention, a Piano Roll for crafting melodies as well as an FX mixer with 64 channels that can add hundreds of effects, thus expanding the mixing possibilities. In fact, LMMS allows you to expend a gamut of powerful VSTs and effect plugins that are compatible with MIDI, LADSPA, VST, SoundFont2, and GUS Patches. Moreover, you can even import FL Studio ® project files, and MIDI files. Lastly, users can output files in export formats ranging from WAV or OGG. Don’t forget to download the full version of this beast!
8) orDrumbox [For PC and Mac]
If you are a fan of layering polyrhythms in your drum beats, orDrumbox can come in quite handy in your composing endeavours. In fact, it is one of the best free beat making software for creating pattern-oriented songs as it assembles various patterns and determines the number of beats in each pattern (16 or 32, so forth).
orDrumbox comes loaded with some other fine features such as automatic sound assignations, arpeggiator, and expansive drum kits that can all be edited and deleted as per your whim. Further, you can make use of its Soft Synth for generating sounds via an analog synth emulation with hi pass/low pass filters and FM modulation.
9) HammerHead Rhythm Station [For PC only]
If you are instantly put off by complex interfaces, you might as well want to check out HammerHead rhythm station which boasts a simplistic interface that is just the right tool for beginners. Although available for only Windows users, HammerHead makes beat composition an effortless task. Since it is extremely simple and decluttered, it doesn’t offer much on the features front. In fact, it doesn’t need to!
All it boasts are 16 beat tracks, basic tempo control, and six channels to create unique beats. However, experienced beat creators might get dismayed by its minuscule effects and sample library. Nevertheless, HammerHead still is a lucrative option for beginners learning the ropes of a drum machine.
SEE ALSO: Best Free Karaoke Software for Windows and Mac
10) Ardour [For PC & Mac]
Rounding off our list of the best free beat making software for Mac and Windows is Ardour, a fully-featured digital audio workstation built on the lines of ProTools, and LogicPro. Ardour is deft at replacing analog or digital tape systems and proffers audio and MIDI multi-track recording/editing. Further, it boasts a vast library of AU plugins and third-party VST support with full sample-accurate automation and inline plugin control. Not to mention, it offers timeline-based non-linear editing for carrying out slick multi-track edits by allowing users to go back and forth their changes.
Rest assured, you wouldn’t regret a full version download of this monster. Moreover, Ardour can support any audio interface provided your OS supports it. In fact, it can also be used for editing soundtracks of videos on its interface. Also, users can export to numerous file formats including WAV, FLAC, CAF, BWF, AIFF, etc.
Best Beat Production Software For Mac
And…that’s a wrap! Did you like our roundup of the free beat makers for Mac and Windows? Did we miss out on any great software that you know of? Sound off in the comments and don’t forget to download full version of these beauties.
SEE ALSO: Best Free Screen Recorders for Mac
The momentous surge of the Internet has transformed the music production landscape in ways aplenty. Gone are the days when a budding musician had to depend on a music label for crafting some sublime music. Now anyone can create beautiful melodies confined in the realms of their home and put out their songs for the world to marvel at. Thanks to modern music production software, creating music has become so ridiculously easy! However, getting hold of a decent music production tool can be a daunting task. Especially when there are so many expensive software lingering on the internet. So, how can an aspiring songwriter find and download a decent free music production software? By going through our list of the best free music production software for beginners, of course!
How To Choose The Best Free Music Production Software For Beginners?
The free programs or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) that we have handpicked offer an abundant collection of free synths and VSTs that are compatible with a modern OS, be it Mac OS X or Windows (7, 8, 8.1), and Windows 10. For selecting a suitable music creation program, do give credence to the responsiveness of the user interface as well as ease-of-use. Luckily, all the programs in our roundup of the best free music production software meet all the aforementioned criteria.
No matter if you are seeking a powerful all-encompassing DAW, a robust synth + electronic drum machine or a free sampler program, all the programs mentioned in our list will make it easier to select what you’re scouting for. You can also download the full version of these goodies for free! So, are you ready to find out the best free music production software for beginners? Let’s get started.
Note: If you are a budding hip-hop, or EDM producer, you might as well want to check out our roundup of the best free beat making software for Windows and Mac.
1) Tracktion 6 [For PC & Mac]
If you are seeking a full-fledged DAW that delivers the goods no matter what genre of music you create, Tracktion 6 is a behemoth that can’t be overlooked. For starters, it supports loads of AU plugins as well as VSTs that can be further enriched through Tracktion’s brilliant automation tool which allows users to automate any parameter on a plugin.
In fact, it won’t be a hassle to sift through hundreds of plugins thanks to a nifty plugin management system. Coming onto the intuitive single-screen interface, any novice can learn the ropes of song composition, recording, editing, mixing and mastering with ease and grace in no time.
Some of the highlights of Tracktion 6 comprise: beat time correction tool kit, Z-Plane’s elastique pro time-stretch algorithm, tape-style start/stop effects, a robust “super comp” audio compiling tool, and Warp-time audio editing features. All together, Tracktion 6 is a formidable workflow-oriented tool for music production.
2) GarageBand [For Mac]
GarageBand has been a staple of Macs since time immemorial, and still remains one of the best free music production software for beginners who want to create some great sounding music. What’s more, the GarageBand UI seems very smooth and responsive wherein you can rack up to 255 tracks, add a virtual session drummer and suss out hundreds of AU plugins, electronic synth pads, guitar and drum loops.
In fact, GarageBand also offers a realistic array of amp emulators traversing genres such as Indie, Grunge, Classic Rock and Metalcore if you are into guitar-based music production. So much so, you can also revel in presets for guitar, voice, and percussion sounds to create, record, edit and share your sick tunes worldwide.
What’s more, GarageBand is a brilliant stepping stone for beginners who, once they have honed their skills, can get hold of the elder brother of GarageBand i.e. Logic Pro for more advanced music production features.
3) Reaper [For PC & Mac]
To be precise, Reaper is not intrinsically ‘free’, but the weird part is you can still use it. Makes sense? Well, Reaper offers a 60-days trial period, but you won’t be coaxed to shell out the nominal $60 fee for full access after that period is over, so you can use it all you want. Reaper proffers powerful MIDI routing to multiple media formats at any bit depth and sample rate. Not to mention, a crafty Notation Reader for reading and writing music, and real-time FX processing. Also, Reaper is pretty efficient for users with low spec computers since it doesn’t hog the memory. Besides, it can even produce songs with over 100 layers of audio tracks in the mix.
But, the real novelty factor for Reaper is its seamless integration of third-party VSTs, AU plugins, MIDI plugins, real-time pitch shifting, auto plugin delay compensation, real-time stretch, et al. Also, the number of customization options that Reaper offers are very impressive, in the sense, that it empowers every user to craft music whichever way they want. What’s more, you can revel in ReSurround for spatial visualization and process stereo and multichannel audio (up to 64 channels).
Novices will find the customizability of Reaper’s drag and drop layout very enticing considering its outboard windows can be docked, shown, or hidden on a separate monitor. Also, it is very easy to overdub, record multiple takes and loops, or punch in and out thanks to simple resizing, trim, and glue tools which promise a lot of accessibility to beginners.
4) Ableton Live 9 Lite [For PC & Mac]
Despite being a limited edition suite, Ableton Live 9 Lite is one of the best free music production software for beginners to fiddling with. You can use up to eight recording tracks on the lite version for MIDI sequencing and harness an eclectic collection of SFX (drum sampler, EQ, delay, chorus, reverb, compressor, etc.) as well as AUs and VSTs to create professional-quality audio.
Moreover, you can even pair up MIDI equipment such as keyboards with Ableton Live Lite 9. What’s more, it is also compatible with the Export live set feature of many iOS apps so that you can play your EDM set on the go, anywhere.
Beginners will find Ableton Live 9 Lite’s fast and intuitive workflow-based interface fairly easy to write and record music with as well for producing their own songs. Some other spellbinding features of Ableton Live 9 include Analog-modeled filters designed on the lines of vintage hardware models, inbuilt slicing and warping capabilities, and more.
5) LMMS [For Mac & Windows]
If simplicity of interface were to be the sole criteria for choosing a DAW for beginners, then LMMS takes the crown. It’s still suitable for all levels of electronic music producers, but there is something “familiar” about the layout that hooks you right in. LMMS boasts five editors for creating melodies (Song Editor), an FX editor for your own mixes apart from a Beat + Bassline Editor for rendering those groovy beats.
LMMS also has a gamut of instrument synthesizers (including emulations of Roland TB-303), and native multichannel support for Soundfont for quality instrument patches and banks. Moreover, LMMS is renowned for its compatibility with other DAW files and support for drop-in VSTs and LADSPA plug-ins with which you can incorporate a multitude of extra effects into the music track.
Of course, you can also use the usual fare: piano-roll editor, inbuilt compressor, distortion and bass enhancer, limiter, delay, reverb, and spectrum analyzer. Lastly, you can export your files into WAV, MP3, and AIFF formats as well as import MIDI files from different music production software such as Hydrogen.
6) DarkWave Studio (For PC Only)
A slick alternative for PC users, DarkWave Studio doesn’t consume much storage space, but it is a powerhouse of rich features such as Pattern Editor, Virtual Studio, Multitrack Hard Disk Recorder and Sequence Editor. We were very impressed with the Sequence Editor which allows users to line up patterns that can be played in any arrangement. In fact, you can also mix all the track patterns together.
DarkWave is also renowned for supporting all kinds of ASIO audio drivers and VSTs that provide a variety of instruments to choose from on its slick drag and drop interface. What else injects DarkWave Studio into our roundup of the best free music production software? DarkWave Studio includes 19 different plugins which can be harnessed to add virtual effects to your tracks. However, some beginners might find DarkWave a little bit complex viz-a-viz dealing with many separate windows and menus.
7) Ardour [For Mac & PC]
Ardour is a unique DAW that piqued our interest in many ways. For starters, it supports a large swathe of VSTs, AU plugins, FX plugins which are pivotal for audio enhancement in every DAW. The USP, herein, lies in Ardour’s ability to automate parameters within the plugins.
In fact, the mixing console of Ardour is one of the best in the industry in terms of flexibility and ease-of-use thanks to a well-defined and soothing interface that hardly looks like a hotchpotch of random widgets and buttons.
Also, Ardour is a non-linear editor (with virtual stacking for showing overlapping regions) like some programs on our list of the best free music production software for beginners. Which means that multi-track MIDI editing becomes an easy affair. Moreover, Ardour can also be used to edit the soundtrack of a video with a frame-by-frame timeline of the video displaying by the side in a separate monitor window.
Beat Making Programs For Mac Free
8) Hydrogen [For Mac Only]
For those budding musicians who are on a tight budget, but yet seek a nifty program with a modular interface to create beats, Hydrogen fits the bill just right. It is a great free option for creating and customizing your rhythm-based songs. Although Hydrogen is not riddled with as many features as some expensive DAWs on the market, it gets the job done especially if your sole focus is on sampling drum beats.
Don’t be fooled by its limited features, Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine that comes loaded with a pattern-based sequencer which can blend in hordes of patterns into a song. There is also a sample editor with cut and loop options as well as advanced tab tempo, time-stretch and pitch corrector. Of course, there is MIDI input support and rendering options available for formats such as AIFF, WAV, FLAC, OGG, et al.
9) MULab [For Mac & PC]
If you are on the lookout for a top-notch modular synth and effects engine, MULab is a surefire no-brainer and one of the best free music production software for beginners looking to create, record, edit and render multi-track audio and EDM tracks. The modular interface of MULab is flexible enough to support audio, MIDI playback and automation parts. Coming onto the programmable synths and drums, you can harness the MuSynth workhorse synth/sampler (a library of world-class synths) and MuDrum module for tweaking sampled drum loops.
MULab’s intuitive visual routing options including a streamlined and versatile mixing desk making it a cinch for you to carry out edits that are normally complex and time-consuming. For instance, its automation parts let you swiftly automate any parameter, as well as provide auto mono/stereo handling. Some other highlights include an arpeggiator, step sequencer, and many more.
10) Audacity [For Mac & PC]
What would a lineup of the best free music production software for beginners be bereft of a mere mention of Audacity? It is compatible with a plenty of VSTs and boasts some features (pitch corrector, delay) that are essential for a beginner learning the ropes of audio production. Also, Audacity is a multitrack audio editor with options to edit mono and stereo files separately. Sporting a simple and easy-to-pick-up interface, Audacity can invariably process audio files, edit samples, songs, and export files into numerous formats such as WAV, MP3, AIFF, FLAC, etc.
However, unlike other programs(DAWs) in our list of the best free music production software for beginners, Audacity is actually an open-source digital audio editor, not a digital audio workstation (DAW). Its primary pursuit is to manipulate audio data instead of helping users organize loads of different audio waveforms into a coherent mix. Also, it lacks many features that can be found in a full version DAW. On the bright side, you can at least download and set it up quickly.
And…that’s a wrap! Did you like our roundup of the best free music production software for beginners? Did we miss out on any great software that you know of? Sound off in the comments and don’t forget to download full version of these beauties.