Make Beats on Your PC: Download LMMS, the Free Music Studio

LMMS is a good first step into music production. It lets you build songs from melodies, beats and samples on your own computer, without buying a commercial studio program first.

The main tools

• One interface for the whole song: Sequence, compose, mix and automate in the same window.
• Beat+Bassline Editor: Build beats and consolidate instrument tracks.
• Piano Roll Editor: Fine-tune patterns, notes, chords and melodies, or play them with a typing or MIDI keyboard.
• Automation: Track-based automation as well as computer-controlled automation sources.
• Instruments and effects: Choose from built-in synthesizers and effect plugins, presets and samples, with support for VST plugins and SoundFonts.
• Import: Open MIDI files and Hydrogen project files.

Download and install

1. The Download button opens the official download page on lmms.io.
2. Select your system, Windows, macOS or Linux, and download the latest stable version.
3. macOS: The download page notes that macOS 10.14 Mojave or newer needs the build marked for those versions, because the older 10.13 build is buggy there.
4. Linux: An AppImage is offered; many distributions also package LMMS.

The same page lists alpha and nightly builds of the upcoming 1.3 release. These are pre-release software, so stability may suffer; beginners are better off with the stable version.

First steps

Start a new project, build a beat in the Beat+Bassline Editor and add a synthesizer track for the melody. Draw notes in the Piano Roll Editor and press play. SoundFont (SF2), Giga (GIG) and Gravis UltraSound (GUS) instrument banks can be loaded too, which opens up a large library of free sounds.

LMMS is developed by volunteers and is completely free.