Music software - step up from Audacity?

[cornflakegirl]

DS1 is 8 and loves messing around with music. We have Audacity on the computer and he likes recording himself on the piano or singing and then changing the tempo or overlaying tracks. We have an electronic piano, but it's very basic, only 3 voices, no bells or whistles. I'm wondering if there is any music software that would allow him to do a bit more than Audacity - maybe different instrument sounds, create a percussion track, different effects?

[Ferguson]

I'm no longer up-to-date with things - twenty years ago ran a keyboard club with Yr6 children, using their own keyboards, and connecting to the school's Clavinova via MIDI.

However, the Sibelius range of music software is probably the best there is.

You should be able to access additional sounds via Internet I would have thought.

This shows a bit about Sibelius: www.avid.com/US/products/SibeliusFirst/students

I think it's about £80, but you might get cheaper via your school.

[cornflakegirl]

Ooh, thanks for that - I'd heard of Sibelius, but thought it was  - didn't know there was a student version. Will check it out!

[Ferguson]

Hi again - We had Sibelius 6 twenty years ago, when our son was ten. In those days Sibelius was a niche 'cottage industry' in Cambridge, and only ran on Acorn RiscOS computers. It was created by twin brothers, Ben and John Finn (hence 'Sibelius' name) who were studying music at university, but there was no music software to do what they wanted, so they wrote their own.

They sold it to many studios and professional musicians, including Hollywood composers. Because most people had PCs or Macs, they sold the Acorn computer 'bundled' with the programs. (Acorn computers were far easier to use than PCs, didn't 'lock up', and six of them were used in the original "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on TV).

When we had a query once, and phoned the Cambridge office, it was one of the twins who resolved the problem for us! Later, it was converted to run on PCs and Macs. It is now part of the American AVID company, and I see on their website Avid are providing NBC with software for the Sochi Winter Olympics. They also do 'ProTools', the professional recording studio software.

If by any chance you can involve DS school, they can often buy things at favourable prices and without VAT.

This is more about the pricing structure: www.sibelius.com/buy/gb_edu_single.html