Mediaboss Marketing

Whether youre a veteran musician or a wannabe songwriter, theres never been a better time to pursue your ever-growing/burgeoning love of making music. Be it YouTube tutorials, Twitch-based jams, or sampling apps on your smartphone, technology has taken the studio and condensed it into our pockets.

Thing is, access to the very best music editing software doesnt have to come with the price tag youre already imagining. These days theres a veritable ocean of free software out there just waiting to turn your musical musings into chart-topping bangers. Here are the best five options, just for you.

A feature-packed workstation for making music from scratch, or editing samples and tracks

It's long outgrown its Linux roots (its title is now an archaic acronym for Linux MultiMedia Studio), but LMMS remains one of the most popular free music editing suites on PC and beyond. And when we say suite, we really mean it. Its one of the most comprehensive audio workstations weve ever tested, and one that doesnt cut corners the features and utilities either.

Not only can it be used to edit and manipulate existing samples and tracks, it can be utilised to create songs entirely from scratch. Within its scores of menus, submenus and sliders youll find a whole host of trackers, sequencers and synthesizers to muck about with.

Its also one of the simplest setups weve ever used, with four separate elements: an FX Mixer for controlling the volume on each track of your song, a song editor for creating your musical masterpiece, a controller rack for specific audio tweaks, and a beat/bassline editor for building those all important drum tracks.

LMMS even supports an impressive number of popular plugins across multiple platforms, including SoundFont (SF2) files, Virtual Studio Technology (VST), Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) and Linux Audio Developer's Simple Plugin API (LADSPA).

Download here: LMMS

Designed with professional musicians and DJs in mind, but accessible enough for newcomers

Much like LMMS, VirtualDJ is one of the oldest open source music workstations out there, and there's a good reason why it's secured such a prolonged tenure: its one of the best ways to start making music for free right now.

Originally designed back in 2003 for mobile and club DJs to write and edit tracks and playlists in a live setting, VDJ is all about giving you the access to its in-depth features without making you feel like youre sifting through a swamp of indiscernible knobs and sliders.

You can use it with a variety of setups, so if youre an experienced DJ or musician you can connect it up to your MIDI controller or DJ mixer of choice and immediately get tweaking and hitting notes to your hearts content. Alternatively, if hardware isnt an option, you can simply load up a CDJ plugin and start using existing tracks to pull and loop samples.

The latest version, VirtualDJ 8, is easily the strongest iteration yet, offering the ability to record, edit and mixes digital audio from a wide range of sources. That now includes video as well.

Oh, and did we mention it's free for home use? Bargain.

Download here: VirtualDJ

In development since 1993, Rosegarden is a brilliant music-making tool powerful and easy to use

Remember how we mentioned LMMS and Virtual DJ are some of the longest running music editing series ever? Well, they may be long in a variety of teeth, but theyre practically newborn compared to the elder statesman that is Rosegarden. The original version of the software was launched way back in 1993, and over those years the popular audio suite has evolved multiple times to ensure its still one of the most robust workstations you dont have to buy.

Like most old school audio suites, Rosegarden was first built on Linux before being unleashed on PC, and comes with enough features and utilities to rival even the most up-to-date version of Cubase. For a start, its one of the simplest tools you can get for creating and editing your own tracks and includes its own score-writer and MIDI sequencer for all your EDM needs.

Rosegarden works with most MIDI controllers and MIDI devices so there are plenty of ways to create and record audio from scratch, as well as supporting a raft of DSSI synths and audio plugins. Add to that the ability to export in a ton of file types (and a variety of languages included as standard) and Rosegarden remains one impressive suite of free music-making wonders.

Download here: Rosegarden

Audacity is much more than a tool for editing podcasts it's also ideal for musicians of all levels

While its become synonymous with non-music releases in the last decade (thanks mainly to its close association with rise of podcasting), Audacity remains a brilliantly accessible digital audio workstation thats perfect for songwriters of all skill and experience levels.

So what do you get in this free music-making suite? For a start, you can rip tracks direct from CD, import them in a variety of formats (WAV, AIF and MP3 are all included, naturally), and that all-important multitrack mixing comes as standard.

The current version of Audacity supports an impressively large array of digital effects and plugins, so you can start manipulating everything from beats and basslines to melodies and samples. Audacity will keep you embedded in its digital suite thanks to one of the simplest and most intuitive graphical interfaces on the scene (thanks mostly to the brilliant wxWidgets software library).

TLDR: youll be hard-pressed to find an audio workstation as malleable and rewarding as this for free anywhere else.

Download here: Audacity

A free drum machine that's become a firm favorite in the online music-making community

Sometimes you just need to find the right beat. You could be trying to find the best track to for your hip hop lyrics, or laying down the foundation for the best drum and bass song ever made whatever your need, its clear you need a digital drum machine with all the trimmings. Thats where Hydrogen comes in, a free Windows app thats become one of the go-to drum machines in the music-making community.

Created by Italian programmer Alessandro Comix Cominu in 2016, Hydrogen might be a relative newcomer on the beat building scene but its nonetheless a great place to start learning from scratch (or innovate on the skills you already have). Hydrogen is all about marrying the deep complexity of most other drum machine suites with a setup thats just as accessible for relative newcomers.

This pattern-based sequencer offers a treasure trove of beats and utilities including humanization utilities, multi-layer instrumentation, the ability to play more than one pattern at once, and much more. In short, youll struggle to find more options in an accessible format without parting with some serious moolah. Its available for Windows, Linux and OS X, though the PC version is still in open beta.

Download here: Hydrogen

Continue reading here:
The best free music-making software 2017 - TechRadar

Create your own modular system, for free.

If youve ever wanted to get into modular synthesis but dont have the cash to start your own system, a new piece of free software could be the answer.

Automatonism is a new modular synthesizer madein the Pure Data programming language by PhD studentJohan Eriksson. It has a basic interface, but sportsan impressive67 built-in modules that can be patched together to create wild sounds and sequences.

The interface looks a little overwhelming, butEriksson has designed it to be as easy to understand as possible. It doesnt need any prior knowledge of Pure Data to work, and mimics the signal flow of the popular Eurorack format.It also allows you to build and modify your own modules if you want to go deeper.

To make things easier for beginners,Erickson has created a series of synth recipes with presets to get you started and accompanying tutorial videos. They detail a simple subtractive synth, a west coast system and one explaining how to use a clock module to make rhythms.

Automatonism isnt the only modular synth available in software, but unlike NIs Reaktor 6,Ericksons system is completely free and totally open source. It needsPure Data to be installed to run, but thats also free to download.

If you want to know what kind of music can be made with Automatonism, Erickson has a seven track album available at Bandcamp. Find theAutomatonismsoftware and a guide to installing and using it here.

Read next: Cloudlab 200t is a free Buchla-inspired modular system for Reaktor

More here:
Automatonism gives you an awesome free modular synth in software - FACT

Enlarge / It finally exists.

Blizzard Entertainment

A long-rumored StarCraft remaster for computers was finally unveiled on Saturday by Blizzard Entertainment, set for launch in "summer 2017." No pricing info was announced, but Blizzard has confirmed quite a few other details about the 4K-friendly release.

For one, it will be preceded by a patch to the 19-year-old StarCraft: Brood Warclient, and this new 1.18a client will reportedly not change the mechanics of the game. To prove that out, this patched version will still be able to connect to players using the existing 1.16 patch (which came out all the way back in 2009). Among other tweaks, like better compatibility with newer versions of Windows, the new patch will include two important updates: the ability to connect to and play against owners of the upcoming remastered version, and the change to a wholly free product. Once the patch goes live, the original StarCraftAnthologywill be free-as-in-beer to download and play in both single- and multiplayer modes.

Some of the original designs, like the Carrier, look a little weird in this redrawn form.

Here's the original Carrier design, for comparison's sake.

But other refreshed designs, like the Overlord, look quite good with more detail and new art.

Old Overlord.

New Zealots.

Old Zealots.

Original Marines.

New Marines. Move out.

The new Hydra.

The OG Hydra.

This actually looks like the right way to redraw the very '90s sci-fi design of the Battlecruiser.

Original Battlecruiser.

Blizzard fed the patch's details to the community site TeamLiquid, and these indicatethat the patch (and the associated price change) will launch first for Windows players on March 30.

If you pay for the remaster, which will launch on both Mac and PC, you'll get the exact same game logic and content as the original game, only with completely redrawn 2D graphicsdesigned to scale for 4K resolutions and widescreen ratios. Whether the redrawn artwill be your cup of tea is another question; early footage includes some monsters, ships, and buildings that look a little odd when directly compared to the original sprites. The remaster will also fully retouch the assets of the game's six campaigns, complete with new "comic book" intro panels and re-recorded dialogue.

StarCraft remaster trailer

Preview videos advertise the ability to zoom heavily into the new 2D sprites and also far out to view the entire battlefield, but it's unclear whether this zooming will be allowed in online play. We'll have to wait for Blizzard to show us more footage, which we hope will also clear upwhether these redrawn assets are ultimately the right fit.

Read more:
StarCraft remaster unveiled, and original SD version becomes free-as-in-beer - Ars Technica

Forbes

Google's New Free Software To Speed Up The Internet Forbes The common JPEG could be about to get a lot smaller thanks to Google's new software. This could lead not only to a faster Web, but also to direct savings on storage costs for everyone from hosting services to hobbyist photographers and especially ... and more »

Read the rest here:
Google's New Free Software To Speed Up The Internet - Forbes

There are few things as frustrating as losing important data on your PC. Whether the information was accidentally deleted, lost, or formatted away, the recovery often required solutions that cost time, money and effort. Today, the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free 11.0 is a free recovery software system that promises to bring back lost data on your laptop, computer, or removable device fast.

The recovery software is downloaded to your computer and can be used to get back files, images, and video from several different devices which include the following;

The hard drive data recovery software works for many different situations that range from accidental deletion to hard drive failure to system crash, RAW partition, formatting difficulties, loss of partition and more. What helps make this software so effective is its versatility. This means that your original data may be retrieved under the most common of deletion circumstances.

There is a quick-scan mode which helps find data that has been accidentally deleted where a fast recovery is possible. And, there is a deep-scan mode that makes it possible to bring back documents, files, images, and media that have seemingly been thoroughly deleted such as with formatting.

There are several advantages to the EaseUS Data Recovery software, especially for those with little to no experience in using such software before.

Easy to Use: The entire point of this recovery software system is that it takes you through step-by-step in the recovery process. All you need to know is the type of files that you want to retrieve so that the software can start searching for them. The simplified process makes it easy for anyone to get back their deleted files.

Saves Time: You can bring in or export out the scanning results whenever you need them. This means that you can import the scanning results that you have saved while continuing with the recovery without having to rescan yet again.

Preview Before Recovery: As part of the recovery process, you can preview the files that the software has identified before having them recovered. That way, if you have misidentified what you want, it makes it far easier to change and get the right files for your recovery effort.

Price: Its really hard to beat free and all you need to do is download the software system into your computer. However, you can upgrade to a more advanced EaseUS Data Recovery software level that provides you with additional features. Of course, you can stick to the free version if you want with no further obligation.

There are good reasons to have this software system on your PC, laptop, or another compatible device, but the bottom line is that this is a free recovery system that can save your files that accidentally get deleted. Few people think of the consequences of losing precious files until the worst occurs, so you can preempt that by downloading this simple, easy-to-use software recovery system. The EaseUS Data Recovery software free is perfect for getting back what you have lost on your computer, laptop, or device.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free 11.0

Follow this link:
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a free software that backs up your digital life - KnowTechie