it's amazing what you can get for free and just because it's free doesn't mean you need
to compromise so in this video i'm looking at 10 of the best free daws for windows in 2022
and i have a couple of bonuses near the end plus i have a little bit of advice near the end about
how to pick the best doll for you so if you're a beginner be sure to stick around for that now
there's three free digital audio workstations that are completely unlimited meaning they don't have
a track limitation you can bring in your own third-party plugins so there's no limitations
in these ones and that's what we're going to check out first starting with tracktion waveform free and
what i love about this program is that they've really thought about how to make the workflow
quick and easy some daws can get in your way and feel a little clunky with multiple screens
or views to navigate between but Vaveform free puts everything that you need on the one screen
and the difference between the free version and the pro version is mostly the additional
instruments and plugins that come with the pro version and there are a couple of features but
these are just some added bonus things nothing's going to get in your way from making music this
daw is completely unlimited you just don't get those extra goodies that you may or may not want
the next free unlimited daw is cakewalk by banlab and this one used to be a premium paid for program
it was known as sonar platinum so it's full of advanced features and it continually gets updated
with new features that are being added all the time it comes with some decent effects including
a very cool pro channel strip on every track with even more effects available like console and tape
emulation eq compression saturation modulation and reverb and you can save these pro channel strip
settings so you can easily load them up onto other tracks allowing you to save lots of time
there's an excellent guitar amp sim called th3 plus some standard instruments that can get you
started the user interface and workflow can feel a little clunky at times but once you get used to it
it's not really an issue the third free piece of unlimited music making software is soundbridge
now i haven't worked with this one as much as the others but what i've noticed is that it has
a nice sleek modern workflow to it that can have you making music quickly soundbridge does include
some decent effects and probably the best free drum machine plugin out there and it's called
rip mix and this also includes several drum kits with it so you can start making beats
right away and another thing to note with this one is that it's available in 32-bit or
64-bit options so if you're looking for a 32-bit daw soundbridge might be the choice for you as
there aren't too many 32-bit options anymore now here's a few free music making programs
that aren't limited because they're free they're just limited by design but on their own they might
be the best programs for you and we'll start with LMMS this one has a similar workflow to fl
studio which makes it easy to program music with virtual instruments and to use virtual effects you
can bring in your own third-party effects these are the ones that you might buy or find for free
and the big limitation of this program is that you can't record audio into it so you can record audio
into another program and then bring it in through a sampler but if you just want to start making
music with virtual instruments like drums or maybe some synths or whatever other virtual instrument
you might have this program can be excellent for you now another free daw that's very similar to
the last one this one is the stargate daw and i can see this one growing more and more as it goes
along again if you want to create music with virtual instruments and audio samples this one
might be for you it's pretty easy to use once you get used to the simple user interface navigation
programming midi in the piano roll is extremely easy and putting together your songs is easy too
so like in the previous LMMS program there's no internal audio recording in this one but you can
bring in audio samples and things recorded outside of the program and i actually think
that it's easier to put together a drum pattern from drum samples in this one but unlike lmms you
can't bring in your own third-party instruments or effects into this one however it does come with
a decent suite of instruments and effects so you might not need them anyway now this next freedom
might pair well with the previous two this one is audacity and this one is all about working with
audio there's no midi capabilities in audacity so if you're only wanting to work with audio
and you have no need for midi this one might be for you it's one of the easiest programs to get
started with in terms of recording and there are a lot of people that use this as their main daw
it doesn't have built-in asio support so you may experience some latency if you're trying to
monitor what you're recording while you record it audacity is a very solid audio recorder and
editor i use it for all of my videos and i've never had an issue with it now let's take a look
at a couple of programs that are starter versions of their big program so there are some limitations
in these compared to their paid counterparts but these can still be great choices because people
can work within these limitations and first we'll start with presonus studio one prime
which is the free version of their incredible digital audio workstation it allows you to
have as many tracks as you need and it comes with some excellent effects plugins including
the Ampire guitar amp sim plus you also get the presence xt sample player instrument which
has a ton of great sounds in it you basically get everything you need to record and mix your tracks
inside the box and this is good because the one limitation that this one has is you can't
bring in third-party plug-ins now the workflow of presonus studio one prime is very quick it gives
you easy access to everything that you're going to need without having to click around too much
or switch screens so you can just focus on making music which is what this is all about the next
free digital audio workstation is magix music maker free this one is fairly easy to get started
with it includes some great virtual instruments and effects along with a decent guitar amp
simulator called vandal se you also get one free soundpool with this which is like a big loop pack
and it includes loops that work very well together you can record and edit midi record and edit audio
but you do have an 8 track limitation in the free version and also you can't add any third
party effects to magix music maker free but for beginners it can be a great daw to start out with
one thing to keep in mind is that any music that you create using the included soundpool
you can't monetize you're free to post your music online wherever you want but you aren't allowed
to sell it unless you purchase a commercial license for the sound pool and typically those
go for around 12 but if you're just using the included instruments or anything that you record
into it you're fine to sell your music and do whatever you want with your music it's only those
soundpools that are the concern now let's take a look at a couple of free music making programs
that are mainly focused on creating beats but they can be used for other genres of music as well and
we're going to start with akai mpc beats if you're familiar with the hardware akai mpc this one gives
you a similar workflow but with the added benefit that it's in the software world so editing can be
a lot easier mpc beats is very easy to use you can record audio into it but you only get two
audio tracks per project and for instrument tracks you can have up to eight in a project
so that's a total of ten tracks altogether which is quite a few for beat creating it does include
some nice drum kits and instruments but you can also bring in your own vst instruments as well
plus akai mpc beats includes over 80 quality effects plugins and just like the instruments
you can also bring in your own vst effects this next one is kind of similar to mpc beats this one
is serato studio this is fairly straightforward beat making software for beginners djs and even
advanced users its simple user interface makes it quick and easy to start making beats and you
get a selection of pre-made drum patterns to help inspire you or come up with your own in the easy
to use step sequencer you also get a selection of drum loops drum kits instruments and effects there
are some limitations in the free version like you can only have one audio track four decks and four
scenes but you can still create great beats and do dj edits within these limitations also in the free
version you can only export to mp3 also to note in this free version is you can only export to
mp3 all right now for a couple of bonus free daws and we'll start with Reaper this one technically
isn't free but it is extremely affordable at just 60 however if you want to get started with reaper
and you're low on funds you can download the 60 day demo and continue using it fully unlocked even
after the 60 days are up you just get a little five second pop-up screen every time you load up
the software reminding you to purchase a license and if you do end up using reaper full-time
please purchase a license from them it helps them to improve their daw so it will help you now what
you get with reaper is a completely unlimited daw with an insane amount of effects included with
it but there are no instruments however you can bring in your own vst instruments and vst effects
if you like the workflow isn't the fastest but it isn't terrible and you can customize things
to suit your needs now this next one is free but it comes with bundles so maybe software bundles
it'll come with audio interfaces midi controllers that sort of thing so if you've purchased any of
those things check to see if you got a license for Ableton Live Lite you get the exact same
workflow as the full version of Ableton Live but you can only use up to eight tracks and two bosses
now i did do two videos where i made entire songs in Ableton Live Lite and working within the
eight tracks is possible and it helps to keep you focused on the important stuff you do get some of
the instruments and effects with this free version of Ableton Live and they're great starters but you
can also bring in your own third party plugins too now my advice for picking the best daw for
you is to download two or three maybe even four of these and give each one a good little test drive
to see which one you like the best and then once you find that one program that you really like
stick with it and try to really learn that program and get over that initial learning curve all of
these programs are going to have a learning curve and there's going to be times early on where you
think it's too overwhelming but don't give up just stick with it you're going to get over that
initial learning phase where it becomes you're just making music in the software and not trying
to figure out how to do things in the software now another piece of advice is to use whatever program
you think is best don't worry about what other people say is best so if you have somebody who's
telling you whatever program you chose they say it's garbage if it works the best for you use that
program whatever program they use is probably best for them but maybe it's not best for you
you're creating music for people and people aren't listening for whatever DAW you decided to use
they're listening to the cool vibes that you're creating in that daw and any of these programs
that i just mentioned can help you to create those cool vibes you just gotta figure out the right one
for you now check out over 83 free vst plugins by clicking the video on the screen and if you
liked this video please give it a thumbs up also subscribe to the channel for more videos like this
thank you so much for watching for Audio Tech TV i'm Zane keep creating and we'll talk soon