Music Maker for commercial use?

[MRColourblock]

Hey guys, I'm looking for a music maker like musicshake, just for commercial use. I've been working with musicshake for a while now but I wanna make my first commercial game, but in the terms of musicshake is stated that I'm not allowed to use my music in any commercial purpose. I hope you can recommend me one

MRColourblock.

 

[TheoAllen]

There's Anvil Studio that free to use. However, it only produce midi in its free version

 

[whitesphere]

There is LMMS (which runs on Windows despite its name) which is free and can record MIDI, or you can arrange the notes manually.  It also works with sound samples and has a "Kicker" which you can use to create drum beats, and it comes with dozens of virtual instruments.  It's a good choice if you're tight on cash.

I'm working with Magix Music Maker 2015 Professional ($99 on Steam) which seems to be a flexible program that comes with hundreds of virtual instruments and a huge number of sound loops.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

I use LMMS myself. I haven't found a reason to pay out quite yet. The reasons might exist. They just haven't dawned on me yet.

 

[whitesphere]

The biggest thing I wish LMMS had was "MIDI Step recording."  When I'm ready to start composing, I'm sure my piano playing abilities will be very slow (just started that as well), so it'll be very handy to tell the program "Record this chord as if I were playing it as 8th notes".  Maybe the next version of LMMS will add that, since the website does say they're working on a major revision to it.

But LMMS is a fantastic program, for sure.  There are also tons of free virtual instruments if you Google for "free virtual instruments".  If you get them, be sure to use the 32-bit version of LMMS, since the site I found has 32-bit virtual instruments.   And having heard MsLittlefish's music, you can clearly do great music with it.

I'd also recommend a basic USB MIDI controller since it seems to be a lot easier to play chords with that than assembling them note by note.  The one I use cost $70 from Amazon.com, so the basic MIDI controllers have come down dramatically from what they used to cost (in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars).

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Ah, so you're using a midi controller, Whitesphere? I really should invest in one. I still like using notation software to write my midis for the most part. Perhaps out of habit. But for me writing in sheet music form is very useful for me because of my classical training, but I'm a very visual person as well. I write my midis in Finale and then put them into LMMS to add my VSTs and such.

However, midi controllers work inside notation software as well. I already draft out my music on piano often so it's a bit of nonsense that I don't have one.

I have other samples nowadays but if anyone ever needs recommendations for my favorite free plugins, just shoot me a PM and I'll be more than happy to point you to them.

 

[whitesphere]

Here is a good MIDI controller that costs $79, MsLittlefish.  Since you're already good with the piano, this should work well for you.  It is the 49 key controller:

http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Q49-49-Key-Keyboard-Controller/dp/B0038YX3BS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1414676423&sr=8-2&keywords=usb+midi+controller

It does not require batteries, since it draws power from the USB port.

To use it in LMMS, plug the controller into your Windows machine, let it install the MIDI Controller device drivers.   It should detect as a general MIDI Controller, so it should work in any version of Windows.

Then start LMMS, click on the gear icon for the channel(s) you want to drive and select "MIDI" then "Input" and your controller should be available.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Thank you. I'll look into that! It wouldn't certainly speed a few things up.

 

[Jonnie91]

Thank you. I'll look into that! It wouldn't certainly speed a few things up.

Might I make another suggestion with regards to a keyboard I personally use this one. I know that you use Kontakt, and this keyboard not only contains Pitch & Mod Wheel (which is highly important for writing realistic strings) but also has other dials, which you can assign to various filters/effects so you can modulate parameters live on the fly (which I personally prefer, as it feels just a smidgen more realistic)

I'm working with Magix Music Maker 2015 Professional ($99 on Steam) which seems to be a flexible program that comes with hundreds of virtual instruments and a huge number of sound loops.

I'll point out, that for commercial use, the soundloops that are contained within Magix(not the VST instruments) cannot be used for commercial use (without additional purchase)! 

To go back to the question. If you have alittle bit of money to spend I'd suggest: 

Cockos Reaper (The one I first used)

Sonar X3

These two will give you EVERYTHING you really need! LMMS is an alternative if you have zero money!  

with regards to instruments and VST's DSK Music is a perfect place to start! 

I wish you the best of luck! Enjoy your musical journey ^_^

 

[whitesphere]

Aaah, thanks for the heads-up, Jonnie91.  I never knew that about the soundloops.  I guess I'll stay away from using those in anything I care to ever publish (once I get to that point).   Or just roll my own, since a "soundloop" is just a small sample.

I think it's pretty bogus though --- "Yes, you can make commercial music with this product, but, oh yeah these soundloops we include with the product are NOT included with the cost of the product."

 

[Jonnie91]

I think it's pretty bogus though --- "Yes, you can make commercial music with this product, but, oh yeah these soundloops we include with the product are NOT included with the cost of the product."

Yeah...quite a few people weren't happy with that what makes it worse is that it wasn't made too clear!

 

[Shaz]

I've moved this thread to Program and Utility Discussion. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.

 

[riki9999]

I use Aria Maestosa, which is open source. You can export your sequences to MIDI.

(VXA does support MIDI for BGM, although you will have to type in *.mid or *.* at first when importing so you can actually select the MIDI file. You could type in the path of the MIDI file directly too.)

You could also use OpenMPT, also open source. It's a MOD music tracker. You could export to OGG. It doesn't come with its own samples though, so you will need to find some that could be commercially used.

Both tools support MIDI input.

 

[BoluBolu]

FL Studio and Cubase, I use them a lot depending on my mood, those two are great especially if you can afford external plugins, some plugins like EWQL, Nexus, Abbey, The Giant, Vengeance is pricey, but it's worth it, but FL Studio and Cubase itself is not free(and can be costy) and if you like to produce midi(they produce mainly Wav or mp3) those two DAW is not for that purpose although you can always convert it to midi or ogg.