Which Beat Programs are Simple to Apply and Fast to Pick Up?

There are a great many beat programs out there. Some have been recognised for many years and utilized in professional recordings. Others are new and let you study and make your individualised beats online without having to install anything.

Before you look at any beat programs first think about how you learn most effectively and how you can accomplish your goal as easily and speedily as doable.

What kind of learner are you? Do you learn well from studying books and manuals? Are you more visual and pick things up from watching videos? Do you learn better from just getting in there and doing it?

How much time, effort and money can you put into becoming a good beat maker?

Your selections are pretty large and vary from intricate high end music production software packages to free open source programs, there are also web browser based beat programs at varying costs.

Free vs. Paid

Everyone wants something for nothing and free is always nice - but like anything that's free there's always a catch. With music production software the free ones come in two flavors - time limited demonstration versions of paid products or open source and shareware.

If you are a expert computer user and resourceful when it comes to finding information the open source shareware route might just be for you. You'll need to be able to set up and teach yourself the software - and if it goes wrong there's no support. Also - and this is the greatest downfall with free beat programs - you don't get any samples to use.

The benefits of paid products are that the good ones will include good (video) training, royalty-free samples you can use to make tracks that you can sell commercially, good support and if you're fortunate a money back guarantee.

Ultimately your journey from novice to fully fledged beat maker can be time-consuming or compact.

So how much is good value?

Now depending on what level of dedication you're willing to put in you can spend a lot or a little at the beginning of your journey. High end packages cost hundreds of dollars whereas some starter software programs cost less than 30 bucks.

What's appropriate for your budget and time depends on your individualised situation. A beginner computer software will get you up and running quick but may lack some of the more subtle and intricate features of professional standard beat programs. High end packages take longer to learn, are fiddly to set up but you're laying a solid foundation.

Only you can decide what will best suit your unique requirements. Recollect your goal of learning how to make beats quickly and easily and keep that in mind when looking at beat programs. Ask yourself questions like "do I want these additional features?" and "am I merely paying more for the brand name here?" Keep your mind on your goal and you'll be listening to your own tracks on the radio and in the clubs in no time.

Peter Webber reviews beat making software on his dot-funk web site which is targeted at helping the novice musician train the necessary skills to create and produce their own music using a computer and the web.