Best Music Production Software

Compare the Top Music Production Software as of November 2025

What is Music Production Software?

Music production software enables musicians, producers, and creatives to make music. Music production software offers powerful features for professional music creation, recording, and more. Compare and read user reviews of the best Music Production software currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

  • 1
    Reaper

    Reaper

    Cockos

    REAPER's full, flexible feature set and renowned stability have found a home wherever digital audio is used: commercial and home studios, broadcast, location recording, education, science and research, sound design, game development, and more. REAPER's full, flexible feature set and renowned stability have found a home wherever digital audio is used: commercial and home studios, broadcast, location recording, education, science and research, sound design, game development, and more. From mission-critical professional environments to students' laptops, there is a single version of REAPER, fully featured with no artificial limitations. You can evaluate REAPER in full for 60 days. A REAPER license is affordably priced and DRM-free.
  • 2
    Audacity

    Audacity

    Audacity

    Free, open source, cross-platform audio software. Audacity is an easy-to-use, multi-track audio editor and recorder for Windows, macOS, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. Developed by a group of volunteers as open source. Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from other media. Import, edit, and combine sound files. Export your recordings in many different file formats, including multiple files at once. Supports 16-bit, 24-bit and 32-bit. Sample rates and formats are converted using high-quality resampling and dithering. Support for LADSPA, LV2, Nyquist, VST and Audio Unit effect plug-ins. Nyquist effects can be easily modified in a text editor – or you can even write your own plug-in. Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste and Delete. Also unlimited sequential Undo (and Redo) in the session to go back any number of steps. Real-time preview of LADSPA, LV2, VST and Audio Unit (macOS) effects. Plug-in Manager handles plug-in installation.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 3
    Ableton Live
    Live organizes multiple passes of an audio or MIDI performance into individual takes. Pick the best moments of each performance and combine them to create your perfect take. Or approach sound design in a new way by splicing together random samples from your library. Link two or more tracks to edit their content simultaneously. This makes editing multi-tracked instruments or performances with multiple musicians easy and fast whilst keeping everything in time across tracks. This feature also works for MIDI tracks. Plug in your MPE-capable controller and immediately add bends, slides and pressure for each individual note in a chord. Add subtle expression variations, morph between chords and create evolving sonic textures. MPE stands for MIDI Polyphonic Expression. This way of using MIDI allows MPE-capable devices to control multiple parameters of every note in real-time for more expressive instrumental performances.
  • 4
    PreSonus Studio One

    PreSonus Studio One

    PreSonus Audio Electronics

    Record, produce, mix, master, and perform all from a single, intuitive application. Designed with ease of use at its core, Studio One® 5 is your creative partner from studio to stage. The Start Page provides what you need to begin your creative process, including a dashboard with all your songs, projects, and shows, plus a personalized user profile that allows you to add custom metadata to all your creations. Test out remix ideas or just capture a synth riff without affecting your arrangement or creating a new session. Patterns reinvent step sequencing, letting you effortlessly create drums, basslines, and synth leads using variable sequence lengths, unlimited variations, and more. Edit multitrack drums blazingly fast thanks to advanced transient detection, slicing, and time-stretching.
  • 5
    Reason

    Reason

    Reason Studios

    Reason is a powerful collection of fantastic instruments, synthesizers and effects for you to create endless amazing sounds and music. Use it as a plugin with your favorite DAW or produce music in Reason standalone. Sound Packs are like musical building blocks that just sound perfect together. Sound Packs are filled with Reason patches (aka presets) that are powerful combinations of various Reason devices, made by world-class sound designers. With new Sound Packs every week, you’ve always got somewhere to turn for some inspiration.
  • 6
    Cubase

    Cubase

    Steinberg Media Technologies

    Do you want to start creating your own music, bring your production up to a professional level, or streamline your workflow for short deadlines? Whatever you need, Cubase helps you to reach your full creative potential. From Hollywood blockbuster composers and Billboard Hot 100 producers right through to keen beginners, the world of music production trusts the comprehensive feature set, straightforward tools and unrivaled sound of our acclaimed music production software.
  • 7
    Pro Tools
    Your talent and artistry know no bounds. Take your sound further with software and hardware that let you focus on what you do best. Meet Pro Tools. Get everything you need to make beats, write songs, record vocals and instruments, and mix studio-quality music that’s ready to be heard across the world’s most popular streaming platforms. Pro Tools makes music creation fast and fluid, providing the GRAMMY® winning DAW toolset and plugins the pros use to create your favorite songs and albums. Build up songs quickly and create more realistic-sounding tracks with easy-to-use MIDI tools. Add loops that auto-conform to your session tempo. And freely create and experiment without stopping playback. Share ideas and work on projects with anyone, anywhere, with Cloud Collaboration. And take your music to any producer or studio around the world, as the Pro Tools session format is the industry’s universal language.
  • 8
    iZotope Suite
    At iZotope, we’re obsessed with great sound. Our intelligent audio technology helps musicians, music producers, and audio post engineers focus on their craft rather than the tech behind it. We design award-winning software, plug-ins, hardware, and mobile apps powered by the highest quality audio processing, machine learning, and strikingly intuitive interfaces. In media production environments, where budgets are tight and timelines are even tighter, sound is often forced to take a backseat to picture. From flawed location sound to prohibitively expensive ADR to loudness requirements in final delivery, sound quality is compromised too often. iZotope products distinguish themselves by solving seemingly unsolvable audio challenges like these and doing so in a way that’s proven to save both time and money.
    Starting Price: $19.99 per month
  • 9
    HOFA SYSTEM
    It’s time to create your own channel strips & FX. HOFA SYSTEM offers you 32 high-end plugins, that you can use in your DAW or connect them with each other in the revolutionary SYSTEM environment. For mixing, mastering and sound design. With premium dynamics, EQs, reverbs, FX, modulation and saturation effects and utilities. Intuitive and fast workflow for multiband, mid/side, parallel and dual mono routings. All plugins can be used as inserts and within HOFA SYSTEM. Buy now and get 3 upcoming plugins for free! It has never been easier or faster to change the signal flow of your plugin chain. You can use multiband, mid/side, parallel and dual mono tools anywhere, just drag and drop the plugins around. You want to use an equalizer only on the side signal? Or saturate the signal above 200 Hz? No problem, SYSTEM can do that in no time. More than 300 carefully selected presets not only provide you with a starting point for your own creations, they also sound great!
    Starting Price: $169.90 one-time payment
  • 10
    VCV RACK

    VCV RACK

    VCV RACK

    VCV RACK simulates a modular synthesizer where each module itself can be a challenge to simulate on a modern computer, whether it’s a virtual analog model with hundreds of analog components to simulate, or a digital module designed to be run on an ARM microprocessor similar to your smart phone’s. A common patch of a hundred modules can require billions of floating point calculations per second to simulate and millions of 2D path elements to draw using OpenGL. Use VCV Recorder to record audio or video. It operates in engine “time”, not real-time, and therefore does not record real-time audio hiccups/stuttering. This means that any hiccups/stuttering you hear in real time will not be present when the recording is played back. Plugins extend VCV RACK functionality by adding one or more modules to use in your patch. Plugins are typically installed via the VCV Library. Save, share, edit, and move around selections of modules.
    Starting Price: $19 per month
  • 11
    AudioThing

    AudioThing

    AudioThing

    AudioThing is an audio software company focused on audio plugins (VST2, VST3, AU, AAX). We are committed to developing professional yet affordable products for every kind of composer, producer and sound designer. We offer a wide range of audio plugins, including vintage tape and valve emulations, analog tape echos, analog drum machine emulations, complex convolution processing effects, and more. Our copy protection is simple and user-friendly, no iLok, no dongles, no internet required. To activate a plugin you can choose between online and offline authorization. Create an account, log in through the plugin to activate, or download your license file for offline activation. Motor is a plugin effect that uses side-chaining to combine signals in new and interesting ways. Put in any two signals and they will dance around each other like courting birds drunk on fermented cherries.
    Starting Price: $35 one-time payment
  • 12
    Blindfold EQ

    Blindfold EQ

    AudioThing

    Blindfold EQ, a plugin designed for you to mix with your ears. Blindfold EQ is a freeware EQ plugin inspired by a quote by Matt Wallace from the book Recording Unhinged by Sylvia Massy. It has 4 bands (LowShelf, LowMid, HighMid, HighShelf), but each knob is blind. There are no indicators or numbers to show frequency values, gain values or Q values. Multi-band resonant filter, lightweight on CPU, preset system with randomizer. Blindfold EQ is a freeware plugin. Just put your email address in the form to get your download links. No connection required to activate. We offer a wide range of audio plugins, including vintage tape and valve emulations, analog tape echos, analog drum machine emulations, complex convolution processing effects, and more. We are committed to developing professional yet affordable products for every kind of composer, producer and sound designer.
  • 13
    Roland Cloud
    Roland Cloud is an evolving cloud-based suite of software synthesizers, drum machines, and sampled instruments for modern creators. Harness the vast power of the ZEN-Core Synthesis System and dive deep into the world of custom sound design with ZENOLOGY Pro. For nearly fifty years, Roland has delivered memorable, genre-defining sounds. And a big part of that sonic footprint is our unique approach to effects processing. The swirling JUNO chorus, feedback-drenched tape echo, and other sounds have left their mark on countless tracks over the decades, and with ZENOLOGY FX, you can now add that flavor to any keyboard sound or instrument track right inside your DAW. With over 90 processors to choose from, there's a wealth of ways to make your synth sounds come alive. Add delays to arps, larger-than-life modulation effects to chord progressions, and twist and distort basses and lead tones that leap from the speakers.
  • 14
    Kontakt

    Kontakt

    Native Instruments

    Imagine any sound, Kontakt lets you find it, create it, and transform it. The latest edition of our revolutionary sampling platform combines a brand-new set of intelligent tools with countless sound design options, redefining how you generate ideas and make music. Kontakt hosts the world’s largest range of virtual instruments. With thousands of libraries, it's the gateway to quality sound from Native Instruments, our official partners, and scores of indie developers. Plus, everything is completely tweakable, so you can make any sound your own. Our most feature-packed release yet is here to transform the way you generate, modulate, and playback sound. Plus, it’s packed with performance updates so you can work faster than ever. Tools add a completely new layer of creative features to get the ideas flowing. They also work with any Kontakt instrument, old and new. For our first drop, we’re launching MIDI content and randomization features with chords and phrases.
    Starting Price: $299 one-time payment
  • 15
    Bitwig Studio
    Bitwig Studio inspires you to take greater control of your music, giving you access to every aspect of your production. Streamline your creative process and quickly evolve your ideas into complete songs, tracks, and compositions. Record and arrange, improvise and perform, or do it all at once. Linear and non-linear workflows for sound design, recording, live performance, and beyond. Enjoy over 10 GB (and counting) of world-class sound content from Bitwig and selected partners. The modulation system in Bitwig Studio allows you to use Macro controls, Note Expressions, LFOs, and Envelopes to modulate any device, VST plug-in, or hardware parameter. With 30+ modulators (and counting) the potential for creative expression is endless.
  • 16
    Soundminer

    Soundminer

    Avosound

    Contemporary media production demands efficient and intuitive workflows. Soundminer offers powerful programs that interface with archiving and production software. The Soundminer programs offer comprehensive tools and features for the administration of audio material (both music and sound files). Even large archives are easily and efficiently administered and browsed thanks to the unified metadata structure of many sound effects and music labels. Modern workflows not only demand a dependable search engine for the archive, they also need the complete and guaranteed integration of Soundminer programs with industry-standard production systems. You can search for sound files with Soundminer and transfer them directly to your editing system. It's simple and uncomplicated. The Soundminer versions offer a multitude of features to administrate sound and music archives.
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