Production — DAWs, plugins, routing

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DAWs & editors (verify pricing on site)

Tool	Best for	Official
Audacity	Recording, basic edit	audacityteam.org
Reaper	Full DAW (trial / license on site)	reaper.fm
LMMS	Beat making, FOSS	lmms.io
BandLab	Browser DAW	bandlab.com
GarageBand	macOS / iOS	apple.com/garageband
Cakewalk by BandLab	Windows DAW	bandlab.com/products/cakewalk
Ardour	FOSS multitrack	ardour.org
Waveform Free	Tracktion	tracktion.com/products/waveform-free
Studio One (Prime / trial)	Presonus	presonus.com/products/studio-one
SoundBridge	Lightweight DAW	soundbridge.io
Bitwig Studio (trial)	Clip-based production	bitwig.com
Qtractor	FOSS Linux DAW	qtractor.sourceforge.io

Edu discounts: edu-pricing.md

Free instruments & plugins

Resource	Official
Spitfire Audio (free tier)	spitfireaudio.com
Native Instruments Komplete Start	native-instruments.com/komplete-start
Vital (synth)	vital.audio
Surge XT	surge-synthesizer.github.io
Helm	tytel.org/helm
Dexed (FM synth)	asb2m10.github.io/dexed
Hydrogen (drums)	hydrogen-music.org
ZynAddSubFX / Zyn-Fusion	zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.io

MIDI, routing & utilities

Tool	Use	Official
VCVRack (free core)	Modular synthesis	vcvrack.com
Carla	Plugin host / routing	kxstudio.linuxaudio.org/Carla
JACK Audio	Low-latency routing (Linux/macOS)	jackaudio.org
Voicemeeter (Windows)	Virtual mixer for stream/podcast	vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter
BlackHole (macOS)	Virtual audio device	existential.audio/blackhole
FFmpeg	Convert / trim / loudness (CLI)	ffmpeg.org
SoX	Swiss-army audio CLI	sourceforge.net/projects/sox