I want to start a band.
Can anyone recommend some professional music recording software for Mac/PC?
I've found Cakewalk, but are there any others that are better?
Many thanks!
There's Audacity, which is free.
"you're out looking for kicks, and somebody starts passing out the weaponised hallucinogensÂ…"
It's a lot of software for music production out there. If you would describe more specifically what you want to do, for instance, do you need MIDI, do you have interface/card and microphones/preamps? Programs themselves do not make music.
Cakewalk - are you referring to Sonar? That is very powerful piece of software. It doesn't exist for Mac, though.
There can't be "better", only better FOR YOU. With your needs, which we don't know anything about.
Here are some of DAW choices.
Cubase and Nuendo are both cross-platform and are the choice for many pros in the field of music and post-production. Cubase has different "varieties" to fit every pocket and level of knowledge.
Samplitude works only on Windows machines but a lot of people count it as the best DAW ever. There are also different kinds of it for the different price.
Digital Performer (DP) is Mac-only DAW, I can't tell you much more about it except that I know some die-hard fans of it.
Ableton Live is cross platform as far as I know, can't tell you much either.
Obvious choice would be ProTools, but that requires their own hardware.
Logic works only on Mac and is the station of choice for many pros, from composers to arrangers to engineers.
If you want to just try yourself at first without spending money, then Mac already has Garage Band within iLife package. For Windows there are some choices too, but I'm not that familiar with them. Many sound cards nowadays come with software included in the package, so if you'd buy a card/interface, something will be there.
Audacity, recommended in the above post, in my opinion has only one plus - it's free. Working with it for me was a nightmare, I'd rather pay for something better