iPhone / iPod Touch Music Apps

If you have an iPhone or a iPod Touch then you can run this 909 app and tap out some beats. It's also worth checking out the over at Create Digital Music blog which lists most of the apps you can use to make music on your iPhone or a iPod Touch.

Crazy programs that you have to program

I would love to learn SuperCollider, I downloaded it ages ago but didn't have the patience. It's free though which is nice.

Max/MSP is used by quite a few people such as the guys in Autechre and Radiohead. I also like what I have read about Jitter which is part of Max/MSP now.

Reaktor is also widely used and would be great to learn.

And check out the Pure Data score for Hans-Christoph Steiner's Solitude down the bottom of this page. That looks amazing! Pure Data is also free.

Anyway there is a list of these types of apps here with a few more I didn't mention.

Make Music With Linux (mostly for free)

Linux is a whole different OS to Windows and OSX. You can download Ubuntu Studio (or any other Linux OS) for free and you probably should install the OS on a separate partion on your hard drive, that way you can keep your current OS.

So now you need some apps. The good news is that there are those that will easily replace your old Windows/OSX programs, and there are some which are also on Windows and OSX as well. For example if you use Audacity or Renoise (€49) then you are in luck because you can get Linux versions of those.
Then if you like Pro Tools you might be interested in Ardour, which some say is better than Pro Tools.

energyXT2 is probably one of the most impressive looking DAWs around, unfortunately it costs money (€19-49 depending on the version you choose) but it's still cheap, and it runs on Windows and OSX as well which is handy if you ever want to switch back.

There is ZynAddSubFX, which is an impressive looking synth.

For drum machine needs there is Hydrogen.

And there is also Rosegarden for MIDI work.

Of course there are heaps more (there's a list here) but these seem to be among the best. Unfortunately there does seem to be a bit of a problem with running VST's on Linux thatnks to Steinberg which I don't fully understand how to fix.
But there is a bit of information about using VST's here(you can also find out VST compatibility info here). Unfortunately in my search for more information that made some form of sense, I mostly found outdated info, though there is this informative article.

Basic 64

If you want to play with some c64 sounds then de la Mancha have you covered with the Basic 64.

And Even More Glitch VST's

2 Rule Filter by 2 Rule (Windows only?) FREE!

Daft Funk by Klanglabs (Windows) FREE!

Glitch by Klanglabs (Windows) FREE!

Truc by de la Mancha (Windows) FREE!

Pudding by TWEAKBENCH (Windows) FREE!

Sideslip by TWEAKBENCH (Windows) FREE!

InstaJungle by Laurence Davies (Windows and OSX) FREE!

Scuzzphut6.5 lite by Scuzzphut (Windows only?) FREE!

Ring Thing by de la Mancha (Windows) FREE!

Oatmeal - FREE Vst

Head over to KVR and read and download some Oatmeal.

The Interrupter - FREE Vst's!

Top: Analogic Delay, and Bottom: Wow & Flutter. Both are free VST's from The Interrupter, and there are some more where they came from too. They are Windows only.