The first thing to know when you want to make beats is that there’s rarely software dedicated to just beat making. You’ll find several $30 programs all over the Internet claiming to be the best beat maker software, but the truth is that if you’re serious about making music, it’s best to save up and invest in a product you can develop your skills in.
Since you’re here, it means you’re interested in music production, and beat making, so we recommend that you check out warbeats.com and futureproducers.com. Both of those sites have good communities worth checking out. Head to their forums, and you’ll find people who are just as passionate as you.
The best advice we can give you on beat making software is that you start out small, learn everything about the program you choose, and you’ll know when it’s time to expand. We’ll be talking about two of the best beat making software programs available that are worth your time and money.
FL Studio
FL Studio is a simple to use beat making software, and it goes beyond that. You’ll easily be making your loops and beats within minutes after you download it. What’s cool about is that you pay for it once, and you get unlimited lifetime updates. So any future versions will be yours to download for free.
Many people use FL Studio, and you can find tutorials easily. In fact, if you decide to get this software we recommend checking out tutorials from warbeats. You’ll find them here:
http://warbeats.com/Community/Forums/aff/79
http://www.youtube.com/user/nfxbeats
FL Studio express costs $49, and their regular version is $99. You won’t need anything more if you get their standard version. What’s most important is that you have a platform where you can get creative, get the music flowing, and learn as much as you can about the software.
Reason
Reason will give you a more complex user interface, and more options, so if you’re more experienced this will be a good upgrade from any initial beat making software programs you might have invested in. It costs $349 and it’s available for both windows and mac users.
We would highly recommend just trying them both out, and judge for yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for hip hop beat making software or otherwise. FL Studio and Reason both have a demo version of their product, so head over to their site and make the investment that makes most sense to you.