Top 10 Audio Production Software Review

See the TopTenREVIEWS comparison chart to compare feature sets, specifications and see why we ranked the products the way we did.

Click to see the full side-by-side comparison chart for the best audio production software.

In the last decade, no audio production software program or digital audio workstation has charted as much territory and built as loyal a following as "TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award" winner Ableton Live. And for good reason. Ableton has continually kept an eye to the future and an ear towards its users, adding and improving tools and features, expanding plugin and MIDI support, all while fine-tuning the user interface and workflow to make for a truly unique program that is as much an instrument for live performances as it is a tool for audio production.

Click for full Ableton Live review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

Here's a challenge: ask a music producer what program they use and see how many don't say Reason. You might hear some "Pro Tools" "Ableton" and other programs mentioned, but odds are Reason will rank high on the list. Why? Well, for one, "TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award" winner Reason is about as close to a real, fully-equipped music studio as a software program can get. With synthesizers, samplers, loopers, professional-quality mastering tools and a gamut of mixing and composition features, Reason is almost all you'd ever need to get your track from zero to 160 (BPM) in ten seconds flat.

Click for full Reason review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

Native Instruments is one of the few audio production hardware manufacturers to successfully transition into DJ, audio production and digital workstation software. And, to be fair, they have done quite well for themselves. "TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award" winner KORE, Native Instruments' music production software suite, is further proof of this.

Click for full KORE review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

The name might have changed, but the audio production software program formerly known as FruityLoops, FL Studio, is still one of the premiere software programs for music producers and performers. Combining its tried and true automated workflow and patterned music sequencer with a wide range of effects and synthesizers that are typically sold separately from Image-Line, FL Studio XXL Bundle has finally undergone a transition from a handy loop-generator to a full-featured music production program.

Click for full FL Studio Producer review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

For more than the last two decades, Pro Tools has been a driving force in audio production software and digital audio workstations. Not content to rest on its laurels while new comers like Ableton and Reason gained traction and early competitors like FruityLoops evolved and expanded, Pro Tools has finally come full circle back to hardware with its specially-designed Pro Tools M-Powered edition, which brings Pro Tools LE functionality to the popular M-Audio devices.

Click for full Pro Tools M-Powered review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

When Roland purchased a major share of Cakewalk (now operating as "Cakewalk by Roland"), a probing question was prompted: what do you get when the company responsible for some of the most celebrated hardware synthesizers and samplers combines with Cakewalk, a well-known, albeit lesser-loved music production software manufacturer? Would it lean heavier on the external controllers and MIDI hardware devices?

Click for full Sonar Producer review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

For years, few of the most popular audio production software programs were available for the Mac. Users either had to run a parallel platform, which often delivers shaky results at best, or run one of the handful of programs that had been designed for the platform. That all changed in 2002, the year Apple acquired Emagic. Logic Pro was the first to be released, but, two years later, Apple released an economical, compact version named Apple Logic Express.

Click for full Apple Logic Express review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

Sony's ACID Music Studio is a good starting point for new and emerging music producers. Beginning with its price and moving onto its built-in tutorials that guide users through every process (should they want/need it) each step of the way, it's easy to see why ACID Music Studio has become a well-traveled stepping stone for producers of all stripes. It's fairly bare-bones in comparison to other audio production software programs and Digital Audio Workstations featured on this site, but has enough fat to chew even for producers with a few years behind the boards. And, though it's a program that is almost designed to be grown out of, it can be upgraded to Sony's ACID Pro. For a price, of course.

Click for full ACID Music Studio review, specs, screenshots, video demos and the best deals.

n-Track has made serious improvements in its recent version upgrades. The interface is more intuitive and user-friendly. Workflows can be customized even further. Also, VST, DXi and hardware plugin support has been expanded along with support for ReWire technology, meaning signals from other programs, including REASON, Ableton Live, Fruityloops and others, can be mixed in real-time for additional plugins and effects.

Remember your first bike? Sure you do. It wasn't the shiniest or the fanciest tool in the box, but it was the one you probably learned the most on. Whether that was riding down some church stairs or launching off the neighborhood ramp or just getting from point A to point B without falling, it was this bike that you think of with fondness, even nostalgia.