(Examples: EQ, compression, delay, reverb, and modulation.) Other plugins, like spectrum analyzers, don’t impact your sound directly but are helpful when assessing your mix and pinpointing problems. Some plugins are used to shape the sound of your different tracks in the mix. (If you want to know more, however, here’s a good primer.) They come in different formats - AU, VST2, VST3, AAX - although you generally won’t need to bother with hemming and hawing over which version to pick. Meanwhile, audio effects plugins are components that can be used in your DAW to create, change, or monitor specific sounds. Different DAWs excel in different areas, although most fundamentally do the same things. Basically, everything you need to create a hit. You use the shovels and buckets (plugins) inside the sandbox (DAW) to sculpt and put together sand (sounds) which results in a sandcastle (a song!).ĭAWs are where you build your songs, program drums and synth parts, record vocals, apply FX, and more. Think of it like this: a DAW is a sandbox, while each shovel and bucket inside the sandbox is a plugin. If you’re a beginner and don’t know the difference between DAW and plugin, that’s totally fine.

Many of them can hold their own against software that costs hundreds of dollars. The internet also has countless free music plugins you can use inside a DAW to sculpt your sounds when producing. In addition to free trials for professional DAW software like Ableton 11, Pro Tools, and FL Studio, there are excellent DAWs you can download and use completely for free, with no limitations.

Luckily, it’s never been easier, or less expensive, to get the right DAW that gets the job done. That generally means a digital audio workstation, or DAW. If you make music with a laptop, the first, and most important item you need in your creative toolkit is music production software.

Music producing software free pc