The Best Choices for Music Sequencing and Looping Software for PC - an Online Discussion

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The Best Choices for Music Sequencing and Looping Software for PC - an Online Discussion

Posted by Thomas J. West on May 7, 2010 at 10:10 AM

*graur razvan ionut, FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Alright, here's the situation. I bleed music for a living. I have been a computer geek since the age of 5 starting with my first Sears Pong game for the TV. I have been an avid Finale user for over 15 years. I have used Audacity a few times for various simple purposes. I have never used GarageBand (can't afford a Mac) or any other looping software for more than 10 minutes at a time.

My good friends at #MusEdChat and I recently discussed integrating music technology into the traditional Performing Ensemble Program at a public school. Now, I'm WAY ahead of the curve in many aspects of that (for example, one of my new proposed projects I'm pitching to my higher-ups is to establish an online Suzuki Strings Program for our Cyber School Kindergarten students), I have never had the need of learning or using Music Sequencing Software such as SONAR, Qbase, Reason, etc. After the discussion this past week on the chat, I am convinced that students in a high school music curriculum need to be exposed not only to Finale and Sibelius, but also to sequencing.

I have an old, outdated copy of Cakewalk SONAR on my computer at home, and I have worked my way through a few tutorials. I understand that SONAR is a professional level program and can do just about anything, similar to Finale and Sibelius for notation. Like Finale and Sibelius, (and Photoshop - that program still confounds me), there is a steep learning curve in order to start using the software. One must learn new terminology in addition to learning a new piece of software - I have no formal training in audio engineering or recording, so most of what I know about it (like what the term "pan" means) I've learned through observation and experimentation.

Opening the Floor for Discussion

Here are some leading questions I have about music sequencing/looping software. Please leave comments on this blog page (it allows you to log in using a Facebook ID once you click on "Leave Comment") or if you'd rather not bother with leaving a comment, send me a message via my website contact page.

Which music sequencing and/or looping software should I purchase a site license for in my 6-station PC lab? What are the advantages and disadvantages of that software in terms of secondary level music education?
What suggestions do you have for learning more about audio engineering, sequencing, and composing music through non-notational software?
What kinds of basic skills for music sequencing do students need to learn in order to use music sequencing software to compose music?
Are there other kinds of music composition/arranging software or web tools that I should be considering for inclusion in a music performance classroom?

I appreciate any and all suggestions you can make, regardless of their brevity. Thank you!

Categories: Music Technology, Music Composition, Recommendations

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5 Comments

Reply Dave Hoffman

03:56 PM on May 07, 2010

I'm not sure exactly how you intend to use it in a performance class, but I'll try to give some input. If you had Macs, I think Logic (or even Garage Band) would be the best option, but you have PCs.

I think there are two pretty good options for you. My favorite would be Reason w/Record. While I am not crazy about the GUI for the sequencer part, it is a very solid program that offers some cool advantages. While I don't like the sequencer view much, the rack view is very cool, and easier to grasp for many because it looks like hardware. It is great for teaching gain staging and hooking up analog equipment, due to the excellent modeling in the back of the rack view. It is also pretty flexible but can grow with the student as their needs expand. For instance, if you only want to work with loops, the Dr:REX player will do that. Want to explore subtractive synthesis? Add a Subtractor to the rack. Want to write some beats? The Drum Module is pretty good! Just want samples to fill in parts that are missing? The NN-XT has pretty good sounds available. But there is also the opportunity to work with effects. And now if you get the bundle with Record, which is very reasonable priced, you can record any live audio into your project as well, and treat it with the same effects available on the MIDI side. It doesn't allow any outside effects in plug-in formats, but as an all-in-one solution I think it is very good solution. You can also get VERY deep into synthesis if you want or if you have a student with a jones for it.

The other possibility is one I find students to be more familiar with: FL Studio. I haven't used that in my lab, but many of my students have it on their home computer, probably illegally downloaded from torrents. It is an excellent sequencer program from what I have seen.

For learning, there are tons of tutorials out there, both written and video. I have gotten a lot out of having a subscription at groove3.com. And I have read a TON of books. Just about anything by Bobby Owsinski is good. The Hal Leonard series is good as well.

The skills needed to use sequencing are specific to each software, but also very similar across software programs. Basically they can get started with very little prior knowledge. Teach them about structure and form, and start with loops so they can concentrate on architecture instead of harmony and rhythm. As they get more comfortable with the software, you can teach those concepts and apply them in other layers.

As for songwriting software, take a look at SongFrame. I'm not sure it is exactly what you'd want for a performance class, but it is one of very few that really work on songwriting.

Even though I have a Mac lab, I'd be very interested in what others say. Many of my students have PCs at home and ask for suggestions all the time. Maybe someone else has other ideas!

Hope that helps!

Reply Thomas J. West

04:03 PM on May 07, 2010

Thanks, Dave. One of the less expensive options I've learned about from a few others is MixCraft 5 for PC. It seems at first glance to be comparable to GarageBand in most aspects. I'm going to have to upgrade the RAM on my classroom computers though - it needs 2GB! Is that typical of Reason will run on a half GB, with 1 GB recommended. SoundTree has a great collection to compare: http://store.soundtree.com/digital-audio-and-sequencing.html

Anyone else?

Reply Jim Frankel

04:46 PM on May 07, 2010

Tom -
A site license of Mixcraft 5 would be my very strong suggestion. It does absolutely everything you need it to do - including a ton of great features not available on other more expensive titles - and the price is incredibly low (contact Robin Hodson for a quote as it is truly amazing once you buy more that 10 copies - robinh@soundtree.com).
Try the demo out at www.acoustica.com.

Hope this helps.
Jim

Reply Thomas J. West

06:25 PM on May 07, 2010

Hi Jim. I figured I'd get your input on this one. MixCraft so far has been winning the straw poll hands down. I'll just have to talk to my IT folks about boosting the RAM in those workstations first. I'll be sure to let you know when we're ready to do this.