Affordable Software for Creative Musicians

Kimberly C. Walls, May 5, 2001

updated last: February 17, 2002

* = my choices for economy and utility

MIDI Sequencing Software

*Cakewalk Express 8 http://www.cakewalk.com $29 Windows 95/98/NT Pentium 120 MHz, 16 MB RAM. Includes audio tracks. Can save as WAV! If you don't have a cable, get the Cakewalk® MIDI Music Pack instead for $42.

Cakewalk Metro SE http://www.cakewalk.com $29 Power PC/iMac with 8MB of RAM or more OMS and Quicktime Mac OS system 7.0 or later 32 MB or greater (realtime effects require more). Includes audio tracks.

Master Tracks Pro http://www.gvox.com $66 ed. price, PC Windows 3.1, 3.11, or Win 9x; Macintosh Classic II or better System 7 Systems newer than 7.6.x not recommended. High-end MIDI editing only one track at a time. No audio tracks. POOR SUPPORT...PRODUCT MAY BE DISCONTINUED AT TIMES

*MIDIGraphy http://member.nifty.ne.jp/mmaeda/e/macos.html $20 by M. Maeda (TOTONTA) Macintosh only. It does everything except a tempo track and notation. Available at many shareware sites. (no audio tracks nor notation)

Notation Software

*Finale NotePad http://www.codamusic.com Freeware, Macintosh: PowerPC or better System 7.6.1 or higher, 32 MB recommended; Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP, 32 MB recommended. Limited, but enough for most students. Fully compatible with Mac and Windows Finale products. May save a Web page and upload to share or sel with other Windows users.

*PrintMusic Millenium Edition http://www.codamusic.com $69.95 WELL worth the money! All the features of NotePad plus more. It will import scanned scores and notate live performances via microphone.

MusicTime Deluxe http://www.gvox.com $66 ed. price, PC Windows 9X; Power Mac or G3 recommended System 7.5.3 or newer.POOR SUPPORT...PRODUCT MAY BE DISCONTINUED AT TIMES.

Digital Audio Cakewalk Music Creator $29 Windows 95/98/Me Pentium 300 64 MB RAM Windows NT 4.0 Pentium 300 or higher 64 MB RAM Record edit audio, MIDI, AVI files, notation, scrolling lyrics. Cakewalk Pyro needed to burn CDs, make MP3s ($39)

*MicroLogic AV http://www.emagic.de $89 PC Pentium II 300 MHz, 64 MB RAM; Mac 604/200 or higher, OS 88.6 or higher, 64 MB RAM. This one is nice because it works well on either Mac or PC and a variety of systems. MIDI, audio, and notation.

Sonic Foundry Sound Forge XP http://www.sonicfoundry.com/ $59.95 Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, NT, XP, 200 MHz, 32 MB. The standard for inexpensive audio editing on Windows computers.

*Windows 95/NT Sound Recorder Free...comes with your Windows computer Link to instructions at http://kmh.yeungnam-c.ac.kr/Multimedia/Task-Sound1.html by George and Mike Steffanos, SK Web Construction Company and Dave Krauss, Michigan State University

*SimpleSound Free...comes with your Mac.

*QuickTime Pro http://www.apple.com/quicktime $30 Use it to combine video, audio, MIDI and more. Plays and converts everything (almost).

*Pro Tools FREE! http://www.digidesign.com/ Free. Mac: G3 or iMac, Mac OS v9.0 & v8.6, 192 MB recommended. Windows: Celeron or Pentium, Windows Me or Windows 98, Second Edition 192 MB recommended. Will save as Quicktime or RealAudio! This is the standard editing program used in studios. Also will record and edit MIDI.

Other Software

*Band in a Box http://www.pgmusic.com $88. Look for $150 5-packs. The one program other than MIDI/Digital Audio that the music teacher MUST have! Create accompaniments by typing in chord names and selecting styles. Then, sing or play along and save it all as an MP3!

*Netscape Communicator v. 4.x http://www.netscape.com Free. Easy to make Web pages.

Virtual Drummer http://www.virtualdrummer.com $10 Macintosh only. Cool and easy way to create drum tracks on a grid.