Which Software For A Beginer

so far i have used a demo version of traktion 3, (which is nice and easy to use) and a demo of ableton live 8 (of which i really need to stop being a stereotypical man and look at the manual!)
I'm basically looking for something that is cheap, easy to use for someone with very little knowledge of music production, and basically just want to make his own music as a hobby (but who knows what the future may bring!)
If it helps I enjoy a very wide spectrum of dance music genres.
Your help fellow music lovers would be greatly appreciated - and possible that you may even see (hear) a few of my attempts on this very site. thank you.

2 cheap and easy software recommendations from me are Magix or ejay...

http://www.reaper.fm/

Can't rcommend it highley enough. Fairly easy to get started with more than enough depth to keep you interested once your more proficient also anything you wanna know, just do a topic search in the Cockos forums, I've not been let down yet.

Simon

The question I have for you is about your approach.

Do you want to make music laid out the same way you'd write something? In other words, is your approach a linear one, where you know where the beginning, middle, and end are when you sit down to sketch things out?

Or are you more of the type that wants to mix things in a live approach?

I'm from the latter camp, and started playing with this medium with stand alone Max MSP programs which are available for free on the web.

If you've got the time, try out a lot of things and see what works best for your own approach.

thanks for the help - in response I guess I enjoy live and linear production. I appreciate the structure of linear, but is also good to let loose and just jam with some samples every now and then.
I will have a look at the recommendations.

a good way to start with making loop based music is Sony Acid Music Studio ... it's one of the easiest to use and cheapest programs with a pretty good quality ...
I recommend to download the free Acid Xpress, it's version of the Music Studio limited to 10 tracks per song, but fully functionable ...

peace, rei

Yes i use Sony Acid and it works Great and it's cheap and simple to use can't go wrong.

ejay is what you need its very easy to use and very cheap :)

ejay is the best for new starters that was my first music maker that i made music on and magix aswell. they are the best for a novice users. and now i make music on fruity loops 9 download the demo of fl just to try it out you will be surprised at how easy it is to use. at first you will be confused as i was when i downloaded the demo but it takes a matter of days to get use to it. it took about 3 days for me from there i was hooked on fl9 so i purchased the whole program. i have ablton live 8 i use that for mastering and live dj sets. but i think i am going off subject here so ejay and magix music maker is good......peace

I think really, when all is said and done, it's just whatever feels best to the user. I hate Ableton with a passion, and I don't think I would like Reason either, from the sound of it, but I haven't really used it, so I couldn't say for sure. I prefer using FL Studio, because I learned on it first and know most of the program inside and out, plus it's built in vst's are pretty good as well.

Many people will disagree with me, and many others will agree. Find what works for you, I say try every demo you can until you are comfortable with one, that one is most likely the one for you.

I'm with rei4real, I started with Sony Acid Xpress as this company tends to have high quality products and it's a good way to try something for free. After a few months I bought the Sony Acid Music Maker, found it for $50 and it's been good to me, easy to use, good layout, not intimidating and a good beginner value. It's nice to be able to reuse what I created in the 1st and not lose them with the 2nd which can happen when switching brands. Had Magix Music Maker 15 years ago and liked it too, haven't used it since though. - DF

correction... I'm using Sony Acid Music Studio 7.0

@D fury. yea sony really is my protege. or am i HIS protege. lol i agree completely. ive used nothing but sony acid. ive recently upgraded to the sony acid pro 7. outta this world. if i had a mac though, id go with protools. and use garage band to compose.

I use Fl studio and I find it matches your requirements best.Ive used cubase,reason 4,acid pro,and ableton and I find Fruity loops is the easiest to use to make any kind of music.It has a very basic interface

it is ALL dependent on YOUR personal preferences me friend...

i've used Cubase, SONAR Cakewalk, Magix Music Maker, and
FL Studio 9...

out of those i would 100% say that Magix & FL Studio 9
were easier to use than the other 2. The learnin' curve
for FL is a bit steeper than Magix, but once you get the
hang of it, FL's ability to operate with a HUGE library
of VSTi & plugins makes it more powerful...

BUT Magix was simple and the interface was NOT intimidatin'
enough for me to close the program when i started sooo...

just TEST everythin' out and choose what you feel fits
your workflow best
^.^

Peace from LA

Sonar is not good for beginners, its a bit intimidating, though less than it used to be (i got some pretty old versions)

I started with audacity... it's free and if your a sample user it's simple.. you can also use it to record...

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

check it out

I use ableton, it can be used by a novice and by an expert.As your skill improves you and avail yourself to all that it has to offer. You can download it for free and see if you like it,in the free version saving files has been disabled but you can see what it has to offer. There are tons of videos on youtube on how to use it,trust me it's easy to use.

FL Studio suits well for both beginners and more advanced users

Yeah, I started with FL Studio 4 and still at it with 9. Good stuff, be you a beginner or whatever.

Do u know how to rewire a track via fruit loop 9

@percy
https://www.looperman.com/forum/thread/113062
check that out

only one thing ill ever use sony acid simple easy and looks after you well

reason 4.0 all day long .........

j

I personally started off with Cubase (Seriously DON'T get it if you aren't all hardcore music "knowledgy" yet, I got it simply because it was the most user friendly, and one of the most advanced, so when I learned a lot, I wouldn't have to buy a better program :P)

But before Cubase for actual sample based pure digital stuff, I used Noteworthy Composer, if there's anything that can teach you about MIDI Notation, it would be that.

There are a few OpenSource (ie. Free) ones that are actually pretty decent such as LMMS (Linux MultiMedia Studio, which ironically is also available for Windows. Their page is here: http://lmms.sourceforge.net/)

Basically I'd experiment with different ones, find out which one feels right for you ^_^