I’m Kayla. I make beats in a tiny room with a crooked lamp and a coffee ring on my desk. I’ve tried a bunch of EDM music apps. I’ve used them on late nights, on slow mornings, and during those weird 15-minute bursts between meetings.
I didn’t test them once. I lived in them. And I made real tracks.
If you want to hear the rough mixes I cooked up in each DAW while you read, they’re streaming for free on DeliPlayer.
Quick note on my setup: MacBook Air M1 (16 GB), an older Windows PC in the closet, Focusrite 2i2, ATH-M50x headphones, Launchkey Mini, and a dusty Push 2. I grab samples from Splice.
Sometimes, though, I go hunting for weirder spoken-word chops that aren’t in the usual sample packs. One late-night dig led me to a cheeky French vocal titled “Je montre mon minou.” You can audition the original clip at Je montre mon minou to snag a playful phrase that could add instant attitude to a breakdown or riser.
When I’m gig-hopping through upstate New York—Buffalo, Rochester, and the smaller Batavia club circuit—I sometimes need to track down a last-minute vocalist or hype MC. A surprisingly useful place to spot local nightlife talent is the Backpage-style classifieds at Backpage Batavia, where you can post a quick call-out or browse listings to lock in performers and keep the after-hours energy flowing.
I keep Valhalla Room and OTT on speed dial. You know what? That’s enough to get loud. If you’re curious, here’s what I need to make beats on a daily basis.
Here’s what actually happened.
Ableton Live: My Weeknight Workhorse
I made a 124 BPM house track called “Cherry Soda” in Ableton Live. Kick from a KSHMR pack. Clap from Goldbaby. Bass with Serum. The whole thing felt like stacking Lego pieces. (Ableton is still one of the best electronic music software I actually use, for good reason.) I used Session View first. I jammed loops, then sent the good ones to Arrangement.
- Sidechain: stock Compressor, 4:1, fast release, ghost kick on a muted track. Clean pump.
- Drums: Drum Rack made it simple. I color-coded pads red for kicks, blue for hats.
- FX: Auto Filter sweep into Echo. I recorded knob moves by hand. Messy, but fun.
Live is fast. Until it isn’t. When I ran six Serum tracks, three Valhalla rooms, and RC-20, my CPU started to pant. Not dead, but heavy. Push 2 helped with note repeat and clip launching, though. I finished “Cherry Soda” in two nights and still made it to bed at a decent hour. That counts.
FL Studio: The Piano Roll Is The Star
For a 150 BPM future bass thing (“Paper Kites”), I used FL Studio on my old Windows box. The Piano Roll feels like cheating. Slide notes for 808s? Easy. Ghost notes for chords? Also easy. I drew those big, glittery chords in minutes.
Image-Line is even pushing FL beyond the desktop: FL Studio Web is on the way, which could make that legendary Piano Roll accessible from any browser.
- Patterns make sense for EDM. One pattern for drums, one for bass, one for plucks.
- Gross Beat gave me tasty stutters on the drop. I used the “Gater 1” preset, then tweaked.
- Edison was handy for quick sample chops right on the track.
If you’re just starting out, FL lands on every list of good music software for beginners and I can see why. But recording long vocals felt clunky. Also, the file browser still feels like a junk drawer. I mean, it works. But I lost a snare for 10 minutes. I swear it was named “Snare_22” and then… gone.
Logic Pro: Smooth… But Also A Little Fussy
I tried to be all classy and finished a clean mix of “Paper Kites” in Logic on my Mac. It sounded tight. Alchemy is a beast. I layered a soft pad with a plucky attack and filtered it with a slow LFO. The stock EQ is sharp. ChromaVerb gave me that big room tail.
Logic often tops the charts when folks ask what software music producers use. Logic is calm. Stable. I could stack 60 tracks and it just kept going. Buses look neat. The new Live Loops grid helped me sketch a drop fast.
But little things tripped me up. Tiny sidechain menus. Automation points that never land where I click. I still use it for mixing because the stereo image tools feel pro, even when I’m half asleep.
Bitwig Studio: The Mod Squad
“Basement Four” was my 132 BPM techno loop. I built it in Bitwig. The modulator system is wild. I slapped a random LFO on a low-pass filter, then tied that to the drum bus. The hats breathed like the track had lungs. The Grid let me build a weird kick synth with two oscillators and a soft clipper. It knocked.
Bitwig pushes me to try odd stuff. Sometimes I went too far. I ended up with seven modulators on one pad sound. It sounded like a robot coughing glitter. Cool… for two bars. Then I pared it back.
Smaller community. Fewer starter templates. But if you love sound design, it’s candy.
Reason: Cable Nerd Heaven, Used As A Plugin
Reason on its own felt a bit cramped on my screen. But Reason Rack inside Ableton? That clicked. I used Subtractor for a tight bass and the Chord players for quick ideas. Flipping the rack and dragging cables scratches a real itch. I built a Combinator for a Reese bass: two saws, slight detune, Scream 4 on “Tape,” then a soft low shelf. Thick.
Still, the UI can feel small. And it can sip CPU more than I’d like.
Serato Studio: Idea Machine
When I had 20 minutes before a call, I tried Serato Studio. I tossed in an old acapella, hit auto-key, and made a fast house flip. The drum patterns were quick. The stems tool got me clean vocals in seconds. It’s almost too easy. Serato Studio almost feels like the desktop sibling to the best app to make beats from my phone.
But mixing and routing are basic. It’s great to sketch. I wouldn’t master in it.
Synths and Stuff I Lean On
- Serum for bass and leads. I love the “WD-WubBass” wavetable for growls.
- Sylenth1 for classic supersaws. Less CPU, still huge.
- Vital for weird pads when I’m broke or picky.
- Kick 2 to shape my kicks so they fight the bass less.
- OTT (yes, the meme is true) for snap on mids.
- Valhalla Room for space. Small plate on drums. Big hall on vocals, but short.
Need even more sonic firepower? I bookmarked MusicRadar’s guide to the best synth plugins for lush polyphonic textures when I went hunting for fresh tones.
One quick test: in Ableton on my M1, six Serum tracks, five Valhalla instances, and RC-20 hit around half CPU at 128 buffer. In Logic, same stack felt lighter. In FL on the old PC, it groaned a bit. Fair.
Who Should Use What?
- New on Windows and love patterns: FL Studio
- Mac user on a budget and want a full kit: Logic Pro
- Live looping, quick ideas, and performance: Ableton Live
- Sound design rabbit holes and crazy mod stuff: Bitwig Studio
- You love racks and cables (or want cool players in any app): Reason
- You flip samples fast and just want ideas: Serato Studio
Little Gripes I Noted
- Ableton Live froze once while scanning a weird VST3. I had to trash the cache.
- FL Studio still shows some plugins in a separate window that feels old.
- Logic hides useful menus in tiny spots.
- Bitwig’s Grid can eat time. Fun time, but still time.
- Reason Rack can chug if I stack too many Scream units.
- Serato Studio exports stems slower than