When it comes to making musical compositions, it is possible to obtain great help through the use of workstations on our computer. Through the use of this type of programs we will have an ally with which we can give free rein to our imagination and composition skills to obtain the desired result. One of the options that we can use is DarkWave Studio, a free program that we are going to talk about next.
DarkWave Studio is a program created by ExperimentalScene, a company with more than 15 years of experience in the development of audio software. We are talking about a digital audio workstation for Windows. We’re specifically talking about an all-in-one application, since it’s not for nothing that it has a virtual studio, a pattern editor, a sequence editor, and a multitrack hard disk recorder. It also has support for VST/VSTi instrument and effect plug-ins. It is an application compatible with both x64 and x86 versions of Windows, and it is optimized to work with the most current computers.
The main characteristics that we should know about DarkWave are the following:
- Natively compatible with Windows x64 and x86.
- VST plugin support, unlimitedly expandable by using instrument and effect plugins.
- Full 64-bit double precision floating point audio processing.
- Low latency DirectSound and ASIO audio output support.
- Full Duplex DirectSound support for low latency input and output.
Thanks to its support for ASIO Audio Drivers and VST Plugins, it allows us to use a wide variety of musical instruments to work with them. In addition, it includes a large number of effects that will help us in our musical productions.
Virtual Studio DarkWave Studio
Once we run the application, we find its main menu, with a complete interface in English , which can hinder our beginnings, since we will have to spend a good deal of time learning to master all its functions, especially if we have never touched a program of this type. Its appearance is elegant and attractive thanks to its dark tones.
Principal functions
At the top we find four tabs where the main functions of this program are divided, such as:
- Virtual Modular Studio – Features a modular design. This allows us to connect different machines in an ad-hoc way (virtual cables), this being the interface that we are going to use to be able to carry out our music production tasks.
- Pattern editor : allows us to quickly create and modify audio patterns. It will only be necessary one click allows you to add or delete notes. Along with this we have support for dragging and dropping elements, so it will be easy for us to move the notes from one place to another.
- Sequence editor : we will be able to place patterns in a row to play them on each control track within any arrangement. Another possibility is to reuse the patterns so you can quickly create remix projects.
- Hard disk multitrack recorder : allows us to record any output from any machine and record it in a 16-bit WAV and 32-bit PCM file, which allows us a post-production edition of the highest quality, facilitating our work. In addition, it will be of great help to us for converting to MP3, FLAC or other audio files.
Setting
To adjust the settings of DarkWave Studio, once we start the program we click on the “View” and “Options” tab and a window will appear with its default settings for audio devices. We will find DirectSound as the default audio driver , although it is also compatible with “Null” (Silent), “Windows Waveform Audio” and “ASIO”, although the latter is disabled by default.
For most cases DirectSound is the right choice. The Null driver will be useful for specific cases where we do not want to use any sound card. The Windows Waveform option is slower so it’s not very useful. By default, the output device is set by default to the one configured in Windows, although we can choose another if we wish.
Both the output and input bitstreams should be set to 16, which is CD quality. Internally, DarkWave Studio uses 64-bit audio data, but from input to output devices, 16-bit is the best option. Output Channels and Input Channels allow us to choose the number of channels for input and output devices.
DarkWave Studio
DarkWave Studio is a music workstation that we can download for free from the developer’s website . It is natively compatible with different editions of Windows for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. It has an installation version and a portable version, which we can save and run from any external storage device such as a pen drive or hard drive.
Its latest available version is 5.9.4 corresponding to November 17, 2020, so it has been a year and a half without receiving updates. The application does not have advertising nor does it try to install unwanted software, so it is a completely safe program. Internet connection is required to complete the installation.
Other alternatives for creating music
If we are looking for a studio to create music, we should also take into account the following alternatives to DarkWave Studio:
LMMS
We are talking about an open source, free and multiplatform application, with which we obtain a great music study tool. It stands out for having a large number of editing tools, a wide variety of melodies and tones, as well as a complete synthesizer with which you can mix all kinds of sounds and songs in a simple way. In addition, it offers compatibility with MIDI keyboards and VTS plugin. We can download LMMS for free from its website.
Ableton Live Lite
We are talking about a reduced and free version of one of the best programs that exist to make music, such as Ableton Live. This Lite version offers up to 8 recording tracks and has a wide variety of effects and tools to create music. Its main drawback is that it will be necessary to dedicate time to learn to master all the functions it incorporates. We can download it for free from this link to its main website .
