Garageband alternatives

It’s fun planning for a new year. All the things you want to achieve this year. One of which is creating more videos. And videos need music. And music usually has copyright problems.

So I need a music program to create my own music. I have a lovely Roland touch-sensitive electric keyboard, which I haven’t played for around 3 years since my dad gave me his mum’s upright piano, which plays beautifully. So I have something to connect to my laptop, assuming the music program has a midi interface. Although dad taught me to read music in Kindergarten, I’ve only done 1 year of formal music theory (in 1976), so my knowledge is a little casual.

Hunting around, I’ve found this list of Garageband alternatives:

Mixcraft
M-Audio’s Session
Sony’s Acid Music Studio – they also have Acid Pro for Pros, or Super Duper Music Looper for kids.
FL Studio – formerly known as Fruity Loops
Steinberg’s Sequel
Magix Samplitude
Magix Music Maker 14
Reaper
Reason

They all seem to have a version at around the $US40-50 price point.
And all seem to have free downloads.

Each one seems to have it’s supporters online. And the more I research, the more I find it hard to decide.

The main selling points for me are the availability of sample loops to drag and drop.
And the ability to connect to my piano keyboard.

I was leaning towards the Sony products, but the Mixcraft description says that it is compatible with the Sony loop library. They all look really good. But I think Mixcraft is the go.

Happy to hear opinions before I buy the full version.