In this post we’ll be taking a look at some of the best online music maker apps on the market. Online apps you can use to produce your tracks without needing a powerful computer or a large storage space.
It’s natural that, with technology advancing and everything become more and more cloud-based, an online digital audio workstation could probably become the standard solution for music production in the future.
Let’s take a closer look a look what these options are 🙂
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Intro: Online DAW
The main purpose of a digital audio workstation is to record or load audio tracks to be mixed and arranged into a song.
A DAW can also be used to make your own music, or edit someone else’s music. They often come with various plugins necessary to achieve certain desirable effects. But besides the popular paid versions that we normally download on our computers of laptops for professional use, there exist other options on the internet if you’re in search for an online music maker. Here are just a few of them.
NOTE:
All of these options are free, with subscription payment options for a few for advanced features.
Best Online Music Maker
1 – Soundtrap
Soundtrap is interesting because not only is it an online music studio, but also an educational platform for students and teachers. It is an online learning tool that enables teachers to follow the STEAM curriculum through music and podcasts, integrated into the online web app or mobile device app. In addition to the online web app, as we mentioned, there is also the ability to use it on various devices, which you can share with others and collaborate with on creative projects for your music.
The interface is simple, designed for ease of use and understanding. You don’t need to know how add VSTs or some of the other technical aspects of music production, it is simply a tool for creativity. You can even record directly from your computer or device’s mic, and also plug your MIDI instruments into it.
For educational use by teachers and students, it can be integrated into Google Classroom, Schoology, as well as others.
It comes with a host of its own virtual instruments, plugins, loops, and sounds, which you can use right away without the need for installation.
It is free to try. In the free version, called Soundtrap BASICS, you have up to 5 projects which you can work on, access to, 790 loops, and 190 instruments and sounds. All for $0.
There are three paid versions.
The Pro version increases the amounts of the projects to 50 projects, gives you access to 2020 loops, and 250 instruments and sounds.
With Premium, you can save an unlimited number of projects, have access to all their loops (3270)+, instruments (420+), and sounds.
What makes this option amazing, though, are the really cool features that you wouldn’t expect from such a platform, such as an autotuner called ‘Antares Auto-Tune’, a feature that allows you to go back to a previously saved version of a project called ‘Time Restore’, plus the ability to add automation to your tracks.
The best version though is called Supreme which has all the features of Premium, but adds Priority Mixing, and the ability to download your files at high-quality professional level.
Demonstration
2 – Audiotool
Audiotool (a name very familiar to Pro Tools), is a powerful music production software that’s hosted online and can be used from within your browser, with no need for any installation. It uses a cloud-based system, so all your music and files are stored for you access wherever you go. It is also advertised as having its own publishing platform, meaning you can you share your music and tracks directly to YouTube, SoundCloud, and Facebook. They have premium loops provided by Loopmasters, and some great online VSTs like Heisenberg, Machiniste, Bassline, and Beatbox 8 & 9, just to name a few.
The online community seems to be really helpful and geared toward learning and collaboration. There is a forum, which is integrated with the online software, so if you have a problem, or need some inspiration, a community of producers and music makers are there to feed ideas and inspiration for your next music. You can even listen to the latest releases on Audiotools, which is great, because now you get to not only make music, but be part of a group of people making music and enjoying each other’s works. It is free to join so give it a try.
3 – Soundation
Soundation is an online studio software that offers the capabilities of a DAW, but online. It comes with a free version and three paid versions. You can use it if you need a web-based music maker and editor to make your tracks if don’t have the resources to do so.
If you go with paid, you can always cancel, even after you’ve made your music. Just remember to save them to your local HD first! Whenever you need the paid features, just pay via PayPal once again for the monthly plan and you have it for a month to use.
This option seems particularly suited for people new to music production in general. It has a community with other music makers and producers that you can collaborate with and share ideas.
With the free version, you get virtual instruments, audio effects over 700 loops and sound effects, and the ability to save an unlimited number of songs of your own.
The Intro version gives you the ability to record live audio, import audio, store up to 100MB of content.
The Power version has the same as the Intro and Free version combined, plus 20 soundsets, and an increase in storage of 2GB.
Finally, the Premium version adds on an extra 3 GB of storage to give you your a total of 5 GB of storage.
4 – Looplabs
Another online solution for music makers is Looplaps, which gives you an online studio for you to upload and arrange your audio files for music production. There is a help page where you can learn how to use the various features of Looplabs.
The online software seems to be in continual development, though, but I see it developing into a very promising music production web app.
Listen to some of the music being made now on Looplabs. It is free to join as there is no paid membership, although that may change in the future as it comes out of beta… yet. Hurry and start using it!
5 – AudioSauna
AudioSauna is the most basic out of all of the previously mentioned online music maker web apps so far, it is a completely free to use online DAW that’s geared toward beginners, or if you need somewhere to quickly get some ideas down.
It has some good FM analog synthesizers, and sampler with drum sounds, and some other instruments. You can also load on your own sounds. Unlike the options mentioned above, though, it doesn’t have a community or offers collaborative support. I like to think of it as the online notepad of music production, a nice place to get some basic ideas down before working on a piece of music.
Demonstration
6 – HTML5 Drum 
Machine
HTML5 Drum Machine is perfect you like experimenting with creating new beats. Or you just need a quick beat to work out some lyrical and musical ideas, or simply to jam, practice, or rehearse to.
It’s just like the name says. It’s an online web app built using HTML5, so it’s not flash based (something which would be great for people who are on devices that don’t support flash). You can use it to churn out beats of the fly, whether Hip Hop, Electro, House, Acoustic, or Techno, as there are five kit options to choose from to generate beats. When you’re done, you can export the patterns into WAV format loops of your own.
7 – Acid Machine
Acid Machine is great for generating bass loops, synth loops, and or drum loops. You get a combination of these instruments, plus the ability to add four effects for each unit (delay, chorus, distortion, filter).
The nice thing about it is that the instruments, the synths in particular, and based on the real-life Roland TB-303, which you can use the piano roll to create melodic lines. If you just want to find new ideas for sounds and loops, you can hit randomizer for some inspiration.
All-in-all, it’s a pretty good web app if you ever need one to compose some loops for new ideas, or just to have fun with.
If you like it, you can also buy the app here.
Some Thoughts on Free Online Music Makers
All of these are very good options for people interested in an online digital audio workstation. The benefits of having one are low cost and low maintenance.
Once you’re at a point in your music making however, you’ll need to acquire a good music production software (like Ableton or Logic) that can handle the power needed to make professional quality music.
But when it comes to basic editing, learning, collaborating, and generally having fun doing what you love, these online music makers I think are the best ones that exist out there.
Some Pro and Cons of using an Online Music Maker App
Pros
- They are cheap, oftentimes free.
- For the top five that were mentioned, everything is cloud-based, which means you don’t have to worry about hard drive crashes and losing your precious recordings.
- There is no need to learn how to program your DAW, computer, or doing optimizations, as everything is done within your browser.
- For many of the options, you get to collaborate with other musicians, and hence make friends and get exposure to new musical ideas, which will be good for you once you advance.
- If you’re an advanced producer, simply having a portable solution to note down your ideas on the fly is a great option. It means you can be away from your music, or work, or anything related to your studio, so your mind will be free to have fun creating new ideas when you’re on your web browser playing with one of these online tools
Cons
- Well, you won’t be able to work with the higher-quality files you may sometimes need.
- Your favourite plugins won’t be on any of these apps.
- You just won’t have the power of a music production digital audio workstation.
Final Thoughts
I hope you found this post useful. Comment down below if you have any questions or comment. Otherwise, share it with your friends, or anyone you think might need an online app to make music with. And if you have any experience with the software mentioned, please let us know, we’d love to hear your experience!
