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This is a list of notable software for creating, performing, learning, analyzing, researching, broadcasting and editing music. This article only includes software, not services. For streaming services such as iHeartRadio, Pandora, Prime Music, and Spotify, see Comparison of on-demand streaming music services. For storage, uploading, downloading and streaming of music via the cloud, see Comparison of online music lockers. Although this field is only 46 years old, this list does not include discontinued historic or legacy software, with the exception of trackers that are still supported.[1][2] For example, the company Ars Nova produces music education software, and its software program Practica Musica has remnants of the historic Palestrina software. Practica will be listed here, but not Palestrina.[3] If a program fits dozens of categories, such as a comprehensive DAW or a foundation programming language (e.g. Pure Data), listing is limited to its top three categories.
Types of music software
CD ripping software
Choir and learn-to-sing software
- This section includes both choir software and learn-to-sing software. For music learning software, see music education software.
DJ software
Digital audio workstation (DAW) software
Computer music software
This section only includes software, not services. For services programs like Spotify, Pandora, Prime Music, etc. see Comparison of on-demand streaming music services. Likewise, list includes music RSS apps, widgets and software, but for a list of actual feeds, see Comparison of feed aggregators. For music broadcast software lists in the cloud, see Content delivery network and Comparison of online music lockers.
Lyrics and Vocals
MIDI plug-ins
Music analysis software
Music circuit software
Music composing software
Music education software
- EarMaster
- InstrumentChamp (video game for also acoustic guitar, and piano, drum, sax and trumpet; multiplayer)
- MuseScore
- Reaktor (software creation of nearly every instrument; reverse engineering encouraged)
- Rocksmith (video game with emphasis on instructional aspects; unique in that controller can be any electric guitar w/ 1/4" jack)
- Synthesia (video game with piano instruction aspects)
- WaveSurfer (studies of acoustic phonetics)
- Yousician (educational game to learn to play guitar and piano)
Music gaming software
Music mathematics software
Music notation software
Music player software
Music research software
Music technology, synthesis and o/s software
Music visualization software
- Advanced Visualization Studio (Justin Frankel) (platform: Windows)
- Cthugha (1993, Kevin "Zaph" Burfitt) (platform: DOS)
- Magic Music Visuals (2012-2017, Color & Music, LLC) (platforms: Windows, OS X)
- MilkDrop (2001-2012, Ryan Geiss) reimplemented as projectM (platforms: Windows, Linux, Android)
- Neon (2004, Jeff Minter and Ivan Zorzin) (platform: Xbox 360)
- Psychedelia, (1984, Jeff Minter), an early "light synthesizer", did not use audio input but was designed to create visualizations in accompaniment to music.
- Pure Data (e.g. visualization of incoming music signals)
- G-Force (2000, Andy O'Meara, SoundSpectrum) (platforms: Windows)
- Virtual Light Machine (1990, Jeff Minter) (platform: Atari Jaguar)
- Visual Music Tone Painter (1992-2004)[8]
- Vsxu (2003-2014, Vovoid) (platforms: Windows, Linux)
Drums and Percussion
Guitar
Piano
Pipe organ
- Hauptwerk produces audio in response to MIDI signal from attached keyboard or from a MIDI sequencer[9]
Robotic music software
Samplers and Sequencers
Soundtrack creation software
Trackers
Virtual Synthesizer and Studio Software
See also
Notes
References
- ^ "Short History of Computer Music". UCSC.edu. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ "The 14 pieces of software that shaped modern music". FactMag.com. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ Walter B. Hewlett, Computing in Musicology, 1990, p. 112, Stanford Music Lab, Menlo Park, CA. Ars Nova (educational music software company, not music style) is at Ars Nova Software
- ^ FL Studio 12 Accessed October 27, 2011.
- ^ "Sound and Sonification--Wolfram Language Documentation". Retrieved 2017.
- ^ From the article, this also is a DAW.
- ^ "Music & Math". Retrieved 2017.
- ^ "Intelligence, new visions of artificial intelligence in practice". 11. Association for Computing Machinery. 2000.
- ^ Thomas Wichmann, The Hauptwerk Computer Program, Review in "The American Organist" 2004 July
- ^ VST plug-ins