Best Free Music Recording Software For Mac
There’s a plethora of Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) available out there ranging from the massively expensive, feature packed professional studio software to the free and simple that offer basic editing with four-tracks. But just because the top DAWs cost a pretty penny doesn’t mean that some of the free alternatives on the market don’t offer some valuable tools and some of the most efficient recording and editing software out there. Here’s a list of the top 10 DAWs we know available for free. MU.Lab Our list starts with MuLab from MuTools, a little known but brilliant DAW that combines simplicity and efficiency to create a fantastic free package. MuLab provides an easy interface to record, create and edit multi-track music with excellent efficiency and enough hidden features in it’s ‘right click menus’ to make most free DAWs blush. MuLab may seem bare of features, owing to its simple, user-friendly design but what it hides under the hood should be enough to satisfy those looking for more than a recording program.
MuLab supports MIDI and audio recording and features its own reverb, EQ, sample player, drum set, synth and more. MuLab is available for Windows and Mac OSX for free from: Tracktion 4 Tracktion 4 was offered as a free music making program for Behringer customers in 2013 but earlier this year was made free for everyone. Though there are newer versions Tracktion 4 is the only one available for free, however with its fast audio editing and mix workflow Tracktion 4 should keep most satisfied. Tracktion 4 is compatible with VST plugins and surprisingly video files, which you can edit the audio file of in the DAW.
The user interface can hold a little bit of a learning curve when you first start but once you adjust you’ll see Tracktion 4 has one of the most streamlined interfaces you’ve used. Tracktion 4 is available for Mac, Windows and Linux (older versions may not work) for free after signing up with Tracktion here: Audacity What would a top list of free DAWs be without Audacity. Quicktime download mac os x. For the uninitiated Audacity is a free, open source DAW that takes audio recording to its basics.
Try one of our many free professional music recording software specifically. Music recording software for Windows or Mac available for free to download. Looking for the best Mac music-production software? We compare the best alternatives to Apple's free music-making app GarageBand. Usually you'll use a music program to record and arrange parts.
It has seen massive popularity despite its lack of features and basic design. With Audacity you can create multi-track recordings and edit them with effects for removing noise, stretching time, correcting pitch etc. However Audacity has some drawbacks such as its destructive editing, so effects applied are permanent, as well as it’s software being too basic for proper music recording hence its popularity with speech recording. Despite all this Audacity remains one of the most popular and easiest to use DAWs ever created. Audacity is available for free on Windows, Mac, Linux and other OS’s from here: You may have heard of the PreSonus Studio One DAW but did you know that PreSonus had released a free version? PreSonus Studio One Prime is the stripped down, free little brother to the professional DAWs but what it loses in features isn’t lost in overall design and functionality.
Studio One Prime is intended as a trial for experienced users but also as a fully working DAW for beginners. Though some of the features it loses do hurt its usability, such as inability to import MP3 files, with Studio One Prime you get the interface and basic features of a professional DAW. To read more about it you can see our blog post: Studio One 3 Prime is available for free on Windows and Mac from here: Or check it out this great bundle of hardware that you can get with a fuller version of Studio One: Ardour Ardour was designed to be an all-in-one program for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering audio and MIDI projects. Ardour aims to give you complete control and flexibility with recording allowing you to produce CDs, mix video soundtracks and more packed into a free package of multi-track recording software. Ardour is packed with features for editing is compatible with a wide range of equipment and plugins. Ardour is highly versatile and in-depth for a free DAW but it does fall back on a complete lack of inbuilt effects and instruments as well as not being available for Windows.
The free version also caps you at about 10 minutes on tracks but for a minimum price of $1 you can access all the features as well as some updates. Ardour is available for free on Mac and Linux from here: Soundtrap Soundtrap is a very interesting DAW and probably not the software you will use to record your album on, but it is definitely worth checking out. First of all Soundtrap is an in-browser DAW so you don’t have to install anything or even leave your web page to use it. Secondly Soundtrap has collaborative options for you to record and talk with people around the world (this is optional though and you can use Soundtrap as a generic DAW).