Music Creation Software Compared - Garageband Alternatives

The amateur music production industry is pretty much dominated by the Mac program: Garageband. Garageband allows you to use loops, virtual instruments, and real instruments with a MIDI connection. This tool is great and simple, but it's for Mac only. Let's take a look at 2 other PC alternatives!

1. Propellerhead's Reason

Reason is probably the most advanced and in depth tool for music creation. It has the most amount of VIs and synth instruments I've ever seen, plus some cool drum loops too. And it makes for some really cool tracks! Click here for some indie house music made with Reason

The drawback is that it seems to be marketed for professional music producers. It has a *cough* hefty *cough* price tag of $449. Plus you need to dish out additional cash on a piano keyboard. I only recommend this program if you've got money saved up for a shopping spree (or a really good antivirus, *hint**hint*)



2. Acoustica's Mixcraft

I consider Mixcraft to be Garageband's cheaper (you have to buy a Mac for Garageband) more effective cousin. It works just about the same, except the user interface is even simpler! You can add virtual instrument tracks, drag in loops, and make your own loops in the same menu! It's also much cheaper than Reason, with ultra-low price tag (depends on what version you get.) You can also use MIDI instruments like in garageband. This is what I use, and I personally recommend it!