Suggested Free and Affordable Software

Here’s a few top recommendations from the music department to get you started with a DAW, some studio resources, and a few other tools you might like to explore on your own.

Shortlist:

Audacity (recording and editing software with effects like Paul stretch and noise reduction)

Reaper (open-source, full-featured, free demo/affordable audio editor)

VLC (multimedia player)

Studio Resources

Steinert and Granoff: meme-studio-help

MultiMedia labs: for more information go to: https://sites.google.com/brown.edu/multimedia-labs-new-site/home

There are also recording and workstation resources at the digital scholarship lab at the Rockefeller Library

Brown/CIS software server

https://www.brown.edu/information-technology/software/

Audio Analysis Applications

For analyzing audio in various ways

EAnalysis (sound-based music analysis application)

Orban Loudness Meter (real-time and offline loudness unit meter and analyzer)

Sonic Visualiser (application for viewing and analyzing the contents of music audio files)

SPEAR (FFT-based audio analyzer with editing and resynthesis capabilities)

Audio Editors / DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)

For recording and editing audio

Audacity (recording and editing software with effects like Paul stretch and noise reduction)

Reaper (open-source, full-featured, free demo/affordable audio editor)

oceanaudio (fast and functional audio editor)

Soundtrap (web-based interface that allows two or more people to collaboratively build music together.

WavePad (full-featured audio and music editor)

Audio Routing Tools

For routing audio between applications, ie - sending interfaces to Zoom, or real time collaboration.

JACK (audio connection kit for applications to communicate with each other)

Soundflower (MacOS system extension that allows applications to pass audio to other applications)

QjackCtl (simple Qt application for controlling the JACK sound server daemon)

BlackHole (audio routing between applications up to 16 channels, works great on apple silicon)

Digital Signal Processing Tools

For engineering, prototyping, and simulating audio signals

FreeMat (environment for rapid engineering, scientific prototyping and data processing)

GNU Octave (mathematics-oriented syntax with built-in plotting and visualization tools)

LiveSPICE (SPICE-like circuit simulation tool for live audio signals)

LTspice (high performance SPICE simulator, schematic capture and waveform viewer)

MacSpice 3 (electronic circuit simulator and analyzer for OSX)

DJ Software

For mixing tracks, beat matching, and applying audio effects

Mixxx (DJ application)

Impulse Response Libraries

For convolution reverbs

Open Acoustic Impulse Response (Open AIR) Library

EchoThief

Media Players

For playing audio and video files

VLC (multimedia player)

Notation Software

For creating scores

Denemo (LilyPond-based music notation program for rapid notation entry)

Frescobaldi (LilyPond-based sheet music text editor)

LilyPond (music engraving program)

MuseScore (music notation software)

Plugins

Plugin Effects (for processing sound in host applications)

KVR (database of plugins and apps, with option to filter for free ones)

Voxengo (suite of audio effect plugins)

VST 4 FREE (database of free VST instruments, effects, and MIDI plugins)

Blue Ripple 3OA Core (collection of plug-ins for creating 3D sound spatialization effects)

Tokyo Dawn Records (TDR makes some great free plugins--check out TDR Nova (dynamic EQ), TDR Kotelnikov + TDR

Molotek (2 great compressors)

TAL Software (Free Plugins include: Chorus, Reverb, Vocoder)

MeldaProduction (Melda has a suite of free plugins, nice free autotune plugin)

UAD Spark (Regular subscription is 20/month, but they run a 3 months for $1 promotion for first time users two or three times a year (summer/black friday/christmas). a lot of great plugins––really nice emulations of vintage hardware (1176, la2a/3a, fairchild compressors, studer tape machine, pultec eqs, etc) check it out!

Plugin Hosts (for running plugins without a Digital Audio Workstation)

Pedalboard2 (VST and AudioUnits host with MIDI and OSC control, designed for live use)

VSTHost (free VST host for Windows)

Plugin Builders (for designing your own plugins)

SonicBirth (AudioUnit designing application)

Programming Environments

For creating instruments, sounds, compositions, interactive systems, etc.

ChucK (strongly-timed, concurrent, and on-the-fly music programming language)

Csound (sound and music computing system)

Gibber (creative coding environment for audiovisual performance and composition)

Nyquist (sound synthesis and composition language)

Pure Data (visual programming language for multimedia)

SuperCollider (platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition)

Rhythm Tools

for creating and playing rhythmic patterns

Braid (Python module for livecoding polyrhythms)

Euclidean Pattern Generator (Java application for creating Euclidean rhythms)

Hydrogen (advanced drum machine and pattern editor)

HY-Slicer Free by HY-Plugins (load in an audio sample and then slice it into up to 32 sections, more info here: https://bedroomproducersblog.com/2018/06/15/hy-slicer/)

MT Power Drums - drum composition tool - VST, AU.

Sequencers/Digital Audio Workstations

for composing on a timeline with audio and MIDI

Aria Maestosa (open-source midi sequencer/editor)

Helio (linear-based sequencer with a clean interface)

LMMS (sound generation system, synthesizer, beat/baseline editor and MIDI control system)

LNX_Studio (digital audio workstation created in the SuperCollider language)

MusE (MIDI/Audio sequencer with recording and editing capabilities)

Reaper (digital audio production application for Windows and OS X)

SunVox (small, fast and powerful modular synthesizer with pattern-based sequencer)

Software Synthesizers

for generating digital audio

Bfxr (computer game sound effects generator)

Dexed (plugin synth closely modeled on the Yamaha DX7, also serves as a midi cartridge manager for the DX7)

FB3300 (powerful VST synth simulating the KORG PS-3300 Polyphonic Synthesizer from 1977)

Helm - subtractive synth

Synth 1 - VST/AU synth. Find 64 bit version (unless using 32 bit version of Reaper). 32 bit version only works with 32 bit version of Reaper.

MT Power Drums - drum composition tool - VST, AU.

Vital Audio - "Spectral warping wavetable synth"

Sample Library + VST Subscription Services

NOT FREE, but affordable

ComposerCloud from EastWest (Access to thousands of instruments and VSTs. A standard tool for film-scoring. Student pricing of $10 per month for an annual license or $20 for one month)

SPLICE (Access to 2 million+ samples, loops, and VSTs. $8 per month)

Sound Processing Applications

for processing sound in various ways

Cecilia (audio signal processing environment)

Guitarix (virtual guitar amplifier)

Soundgrain (graphical interface for controlling granular sound synthesis)

Soundhack (spectral sound processing application)

Spatium (modular software tools for sound spatialization)

Sound Libraries

for finding sound samples

Internet Archive (millions of audio samples, videos, books, etc.)

British Library Sounds (sound and video recordings from all over the world)

Freesound (collaborative database of sounds)

Philharmonia Orchestra Sound Samples (orchestral sound samples)

BBC Sound Effects

LABS by Spitfire Audio (free VSTs + sound libraries from an amazing company)

KOMPLETE Start (free selection of VSTs, Instruments, and FX from Native Instruments)

KONTAKT 6 Player (free application that runs all Native Instruments' KONTAKT instruments, as well as a large number of instruments from other companies. Included with KOMPLETE Start.)

SSD5 FREE (A very powerful Drum Kit Virtual Instrument, free version includes only one sampled acoustic drum kit, but has all other features of full version)