Audio / Music Programs

Adobe Audition 1.5

$299 download (30-day free trial) from Adobe
 

Adobe Audition is a professional-level digital audio editing environment at an affordable price.

With this digital audio workshop (DAW) you can do advanced recording, editing, mixing and effects rendering. It may lack some features and capabilities offered by more expensive programs, but for most users interested in setting up a home studio this program should more than meet your needs.

For those familiar with Cool-Edit Pro, this is the same program which has continued to be enhanced by Adobe since they purchased Cool Edit from Syntrillium software a few years ago.

JAMMER Pro 6

$129 download (Free demo) from Soundtrek
 

JAMMER Professional 6 is music composition software that you can use to create musical accompaniment and full arrangements in a wide variety of styles.

You only need to know some basics about music such as time signature and chord progressions to use Jammer Pro. You do not have to be able to read music to be able to get great results and produce your own background music and accompaniment trax.

You start by entering some chords on JAMMER's lead sheet, pick a musical style and then press the Compose button. JAMMER instantly creates and plays full arrangements of accompaniment in the style you have chosen.

JAMMER uses complex algorithms (mathematical formulas) to create the various parts with its own built-in “studio musicians.” The result is that each time you hit the Compose button, the program re-calculates the parts and you get a different version with variations depending on a number of different user-definable parameters.

Choose from hundreds of assorted intros, grooves, breaks and endings to produce your songs. Use as many styles as you like in a single song and then mix your final masterpiece sing JAMMER's 256 track graphic mixer.

There is another program on the market called Band-in-a-Box that is similar in some ways and different in others. Some people prefer BiaB and some prefer JAMMER. Both programs have their strengths and weaknesses. I have tried BiaB a little bit, and for my purposes, I think JAMMER is the better program.

The demo version has unlimited time usage, but you cannot save your work.