LMMS • Forums

musikbear wrote:i was f.i. quite unhappy with the fact that the start-offer diddent include piano-roll, and that instruments like Sytrus, also was a separate buy (this was when i last looked a.m.a)
147$ for the max-pack, is a real surprise for me.

Here is an up-to-date feature comparison among the different FL versions: http://www.image-line.com/flstudio-feature-comparison/
Notice that the basic edition include piano roll
I also think that free Sytrus would be nice, but it is very powerful and worth every cent IMO. You get what you pay for.

For someone serious about production I would recommend starting with the Producer Edition. FL is not only one of the cheaper DAWs to get started with, they also offer free updates (as I have mentioned before). There are very few other companies that offer that. Some make you purchase the entire next version, some charge a fee to upgrade. I would like to point out that most other DAWs function like modern OS upgrade schemes. You buy the software, then get bug updates until the next version is revealed, often with many new features. LMMS differs a bit because each "major" release is more of an incremental upgrade with bug fixes strewn in.

datahead8888 wrote:That's probably too expensive now. I'm mainly interested in writing music for retro games I create, though, so I might be able to skimp on instruments for now.

Same reason why I started with LMMS! However, that estimate is off if you are a frugal buyer and patient enough to wait for sales. FL's lower versions come with capable synths that easily match what comes with LMMS. The real powerhouses like Sytrus and Harmor blow what is in LMMS away, and their price reflects that. However, if you are looking into this as more of a side hobby, LMMS should work fine for you.

datahead8888 wrote:is there another free DAW you would suggest, or is a paid DAW probably the best way to go?

For free, your options are limited. I've seen nice things about Ardour, but it does not run on Windows if that matters to you. If you are serious about music creation and want to really get into producing, I think that getting a paid DAW is the eventual way to go, but LMMS is a great way to learn the ropes without thinning your wallet too much. From what it sounds like, I would recommend sticking with LMMS for the time being. You lose nothing but time this way, and generally speaking music production's concepts and methods are universal among DAWs.

You lose nothing but time this way, and generally speaking music production's concepts and methods are universal among DAWs.

Would you say that knowing the UI/workflow of a given DAW is not a major time investment and that a good musician who is very experienced with one DAW will be able to quickly transition to another DAW?

Instruments are another matter, though that's more a question of availability. As far as experience goes, one will probably always be experimenting with new instruments in any DAW.

I've seen nice things about Ardour, but it does not run on Windows if that matters to you.

I have to use Windows in order to use the Unity game engine now. Rebooting to Linux each time with my dual boot is a bit of a hassle. I could look into a VM, but I'm a bit worried about getting the audio devices working through the VM. I'd only want to pursue a VM if the advantages far outweigh the trouble.

Ahhh, I thought I recognised you, well your user name that is.
You're datahead8888 from the Unity Forums.

Welcome to the Lmms Forums dude.

datahead8888 wrote:My primary skills are in computer programming and creative writing. I basically want to be able to create something reasonable for retro games I design.

If you want to make Retro sounding music for your games on the run, use these following Lmms plugins.

Nescaline= Has Nintendoey sounding sounds.
sfxr= Can make tons of cool Mario sounding effects, and old school plane shooter laser shot sounds etc.
Free boy= Can make Gameboy sounding sounds.

You can also make your own sounds, with the other internal plugins as well. eg. Triple Oscillator etc.
Tons of possibilities, Enjoy.

Ardour is Linux only, they even advice you to not use windwos vst. Not sure I like that advice, although I can see for some part why they say this.

I'd still say the $99 FL version is a killer deal. There are so many free great VST instruments and plugins you'd be hard pressed to actually need to buy anything for a long time.

As a completely different option for a DAW is Reaper. It doesn't come with any instruments but the functionality and features are superb. A bit of a learning curve but worth it.
The evaluation version is fully working and not limited in anyway. The trial doesn't expire.... they trust you to be honest and pay the meager $60 or $225 (for professional use). With the $60 version you are allowed to make $20k/year.

Again, the number of free quality instruments and effect plugs is amazing. Download either or both and spend some time with them. Download some free instruments from vst4free.com and play around.
LMMS is still a fine option too.

Is LMMS Similar to FL Studio?

In term of the core of the User Interface program Between LMMS and Fruity Loops 5 and old are quite similar.
in term of money you pay for FL studio, you'll pay for engine, developer, instrument and workshop with strong VSTi's that coming with it.
The Audio Engine is totally different, FL studio deals with Microsoft Direct x Audio engine that perform very powerful on windows platform on very large and complex projects while LMMS use another Audio engine perform on multi operating system. it did fair in small project but, crashed a lot on complex and large project.
Here's an example project
https://lmms.io/lsp/?action=show&file=7616
If you have windows OS and add more claps beats after the red beat bar, you'll end with crash. whatever what spec of your PC is powerful core i7 or weak like Atom clover trail Z2730
and also the drum presents . although both LMMS and FL have free drum samples but, they're different in term of quality. FL drum samples are recorded well but most LMMS drum samples sounds clunky to minimize storage.

The good thing about LMMS over Fruity Loops that LMMS is for experiment (people who interested on it will share projects, sample and theme) you can get excited and get a lot of experiences before you get into pay and found a lot of Criticisms and usually no roll back.