MusicRadar

DAWs such as GarageBand enable you to record, edit and arrange music.

View in gallery

Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio 7 £79

A fully-featured PC DAW with support for third-party plug-ins, music notation and some cool built-in instruments. A good choice if you want to get your head down and get seriously involved with your music.

Magix Music Maker 14 £50

Music Maker is a great value PC DAW. It's geared towards getting you making music straight away, and comes with some fantastic effects, instruments and samples. However, it lacks third-party plug-in support.

Image-Line FL Studio Express $49

FL Studio is a PC DAW that's designed for making dance-based music, and FL Studio Express is a stripped-down version. It's the cheapest DAW here and a breeze to use.

Apple GarageBand '08 £55

If you've got a Mac, you'll know all about this already, as it comes bundled with all new models. It's arguably most user-friendly DAW there is.

For more advice, check out The Computer Music Special Beginner's Guide (volume 32) which is on sale now.

Around the web: