14 Best Open Source Music Making Software for Linux

Are you a music producer and use Linux as your primary operating system, then music production is going to become easy for you after reading this article.

There are good music production software in Linux just as it is in Windows and Mac OS, though a few features may vary but the underlying functionalities mostly are the same.

Here, I will look at some free and open source software that you can use for music production purposes or music creation.

1. Audacity

It is free, open source and also a cross platform application for audio recording and editing. Therefore it can run on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and other operating systems. Audacity has the some of the following features:

1. Records live audio through a microphone, a mixer or from other media.
2. Import and export files from and to different sound formats.
3. Copy, cut, paste, delete options for easy editing.
4. Large range of keyboard shortcuts.
5. Add sound effects.
6. Extensible with various plug-ins and many more.

Visit: Audacity Homepage

2. Cecilia

It is an audio signal processing software that allows users to do sound exploration and music composition, and it is intended for use by sound designers. It can run on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.

It allows you to create a customized GUI by following a simple syntax. Cecilia has in-built modules that allow users to add sound effects and also for synthesis.

Visit: Cecilia Homepage

3. Mixxx

This is a music mixing software that can help you become a professional DJ. It is available on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. It can help you test you audio after complete production by mixing it with other audio files while listening to it.

Therefore having it in a studio can be so helpful just in case the user is also a sound producer.

It has some of the following features:

1. Four decks with advanced controls.
2. In-built sound effects.
3. Quad sampler decks.
4. Designer skins.
5. Record and broadcast functionality.
6. DJ hardware support and many more.

Visit: Mixxx Homepage

4. Ardour

It is available on Linux and Mac OS X and allows you to record, edit, mix and master audio and MIDI projects. It can be used by musicians, soundtrack editors and composers.

Ardour has some of the following features:

1. Flexible recording.
2. Unlimited multichannel tracks.
3. Importing and exporting audio files of different formats.
4. Extensible through plug-ins and In-line plug-in control .
5. Automation and many more.

Visit: Ardour Homepage

5. Hydrogen Drum Machine

It is an advanced drum sampler developed for Linux and Mac OS X operating systems though it is still experimental in OS X.

Hydrogen machine has some of the following features:

1. User friendly and modular
2. Fast and intuitive GUI
3. Pattern based sequencer
4. Multilayer instrument support
5. Jack audio connection kit
6. Import and export drum kits and also export audio files to different formats plus many more

Visit: Hydrogen Drum Machine Homepage

6. Guitarix

This is a virtual guitar amplifier and is available on Linux but can be built to work on BSD and Mac OS X. It runs on the Jack audio connection kit and works by taking signal from a guitar and processes it mono amp and a rack section. It also has in-built modules to allow you add effects to the rack.

Visit: Guitarix Homepage

7. Rosegarden

It is a music composing and editing application available on Linux and it is intended for use by music composers, musicians can can be used in a home or small scale recording environments.

Great understanding of music notations makes it interesting for users who know and understand music notations. Furthermore, it also has some basic support for digital audio.

Visit: Rosegarden Homepage

8. Qtractor

It is an audio Audio/MIDI multi track sequencer designed specifically for personal home studios. It runs on Linux as the target operating system.

It has some the following features:

1. Use of Jack Audio Connection Kit for audio and Advanced Linux Sound Architecture sequencer for MIDI as multimedia infrastructures.
2. Support for different audio formats such as WAV, MP3, AIFF, OGG and many more.
3. In-built mixer and monitor controls.
4. Loop recording.
5. MIDI clip editor.
6. Non-destructive and non-linear editing.
7. Extensible through unlimited number of plug-Ins plus many more.

Visit: Qtractor Homepage

9. LMMS

LMMS (Let’s Make Music) is a free, open source and cross-platform software for making music on your computer, made by musicians, for musicians. It comes with a user-friendly and modern interface.

LMMS also comes with playback instruments, samples and plugins. It is bundled with ready-to-use content such as a collection of instrument and effect plugins, presets and samples to VST and SoundFont support.

10. MuseScore

MuseScore is also a free, open source and easy to use, yet powerful tool for creating, playing and printing beautiful sheet music. It supports input via MIDI keyboard and also supports exporting to and from other programs via MusicXML, MIDI and more.

11. Smart Mix Player

Smart Mix Player is a free and configurable auto DJ player for Linux and Windows. All you need to do is configure it let the player mix songs automatically.

It plays audio files as a non stop mix; unlike other commonly used music mixing software out there that mix songs at the end, Smart Mix mixes like a real DJ.

12. Renoise [Not Open Source]

Renoise is a premium, powerful, cross-platform, and fully-featured Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) with a unique top-down approach.

Renoise features a wide range of modern features that allow you to record, compose, edit, process and render production-quality audio using a tracker-based approach. Importantly, it comes with Redux, a powerful yet affordable sampler and sequencer in the VST/AU format.

13. Virtual DJ [Not Open Source]

Virtual DJ is a premium, powerful, widely used, feature-rich and highly-configurable music mixing software. Many DJ hardware devices such as those from ‘Pioneer’ include built-in support for ‘Virtual DJ’. Unfortunately, Virtual DJ is designed to run on Windows and Mac OS X only.

To run Virtual DJ on GNU/Linux, you can use Wine, a tool that lets you run some of MS Windows software on GNU/Linux.

14. Aria Maestosa

Aria Maestosa is a free and open-source midi sequencer and editor for Linux, that enables you to compose, edit and play midi files with a few easy clicks in a user-friendly interface providing score, keyboard, guitar, drum and controller views.

Summary

There are lot of music making and mixing software out there for the Linux operating system, we have just looked a few. You can let us know of what you are using by leaving a comment or make give some additional information on the ones we have looked at.

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