10 replies to this topic

[azwestdevil72]

I have a friend whom I am building a Windows 7 PC for. He is a Mac user, but his G5 machine is dying on him, and it can go literally at any minute. He is a musician (guitarist) and records his sessions, so he uses Garage Band heavily. Until he can afford a new Apple computer, he will be using this PC I am building him.

Would anyone out there be able to recommend a good Windows PC application that has a similar functionality and interface to Garage Band? I have done a little digging around and I did find Sony Acid Pro 7. I would like to know if this is the closest app out there to a PC equivalent to Garage Band, or if there is anything closer and\or better? Since I am donating my time and a few spare parts and I am building this PC for him free of charge, I am sure he wouldn't mind if he had to drop a little coin for such an application, if one exists.

Thank you!

[unluckycharm]

I've never used Garage Band, so don't know a similar one. You might try to install a virtual machine for mac and then install Garage Band.

If you want a better answer to your question, I would post it to the Gearslutz forum for computers and DAWs.

http://www.gearslutz...usic-computers/

I personally use Sonar 8.5, which is quite good as a DAW & works well with a Windows PC.

[Jacki O.]

I use Adobe Audition at work, it's similar to GarageBand, but i've only used GarageBand sparingly. it's adobe so it can be expensive, or maybe you can find a way to get a free version...?

[raubhimself]

Reaper is a popular cheap/free DAW. Audacity is free/open-source and can handle basic audio needs quite well.

[mig50]

cooleditpro 4 life

[John MFer]

Reaper is a popular cheap/free DAW. Audacity is free/open-source and can handle basic audio needs quite well.

I was just talking to someone else about Reaper. He was very happy with it.

A couple years ago I was searching around and someone suggested Acoustica Mixcraft. I downloaded a trial and liked it.

[mothrock]

Reaper rules.

The license is cheap, and I think it has a free trial too. They are probably the only platform out there that has their pricing right.

I've done some decent recordings on it (by my standards). Garage band is a bit simplistic, I don't think there is anything that simple and straight forward that runs on windows. Audacity is pretty close, but can be a bugger getting audio interfaces to work with it.

[azwestdevil72]

thank you all for the wonderful suggestions, guys. I think I will recommend the Adobe cool edit\audition to him, and also let him know of the other suggestions you all have made, too.

One last question:

Has anyone worked with Sony Acid? How does that rate, if yes?

[Tony]

You might also try a program called audacity. I believe it's free. Limited functionality, but free. So if he just needs some basic stuff then that might cover him. I'm pretty sure it doesn't have all the virtual instruments like GarageBand does, though. Good luck.

[hexaclopsclopsclops]

.

One last question:

Has anyone worked with Sony Acid? How does that rate, if yes?

I've used Sony Acid a bit, it's like GarageBand, but maybe a little more pro-oriented. You can download a demo of it that runs for 30 days (I believe). I use their two-track editor, sound forge, all the time for cleaning up tracks from band practice. It's great.

[azwestdevil72]

Well, I finished the PC this morning. I went ahead and installed audacity since it was free, and I book marked the sites to the various DAWs listed in this thread, for my friend to look at and decide what he wants to do. Thanks again everyone for your suggestions.