There are many beat programs out there. Some have been recognized for numerous years and used in professional recordings. Others are new and permit you to study and create your personalised tracks on-line without needing to install anything.
Before you look at any beat programs firstly consider how you learn most effectively and how you can achieve your goal as easily and rapidly as possible.
What type of learner are you? Do you develop well from studying books and manuals? Are you more visual and pick things up from watching video recordings? Do you learn best from simply getting in there and doing it?
How much time, exertion and expense can you put into becoming a practiced beat maker?
Your choices are fairly large and vary from intricate high end music production software programs to free open source programs, there are also web browser based beat programs at varying prices.
Free vs. Paid
Everyone wants something for nothing and free is always nice – but like anything that’s free there’s always a catch. With music production computer software the free ones come in 2 flavours – time restricted demo versions of paid products or open source and shareware.
If you are a skilled computer user and resourceful when it comes to finding information the open source shareware route might just be for you. You’ll need to be able to install and teach yourself the package – and if it goes wrong there’s no support. Also – and this is the worst downfall with free beat programs – you don’t get any samples to use.
The benefits of paid products are that the good ones will include good (video) training, royalty-free samples you can use to create tracks that you can sell commercially, good support and if you’re fortunate a money back guarantee.
At the end of the day your journey from novice to seasoned beat maker can be long or short.
So how much is good value?
Now depending on what level of dedication you’re willing to put in you can spend a lot or a little at the outset of your journey. High end packages cost hundreds of dollars whereas some beginner packages cost fewer than 30 bucks.
What’s right for your budget and time depends on your individualized situation. A novice computer software will get you up and working fast but may lack some of the more subtle and intricate features of professional standard beat programs. High end software programs take longer to learn, are complicated to set up but you’re laying a solid base.
Only you can determine what will best suit your unique needs. Recall your goal of learning how to make beats speedily and easily and keep that in mind when looking at beat programs. Ask yourself questions like “do I need these extra features?” and “am I just paying more for the brand here?” Keep your focus on your goal and you’ll be listening to your own beats on the radio and in the clubs in no time.