Like you said in your concluding sentence, no one application would suit both of us, is quite true. What I am comfortable with, she might not be. But in her case, she will definitely need the professional grade sound production software, just like I chose to go with Vegas Pro.

If she's doing music production and composition, Apple Logic Pro is a top-drawer DAW used industry-wide. It's a huge value at $199 if she already owns a MacBook or iMac and comes with a ton of software-insturments and built-in effects. Ease-of-use is moderate to difficult, but it's a wonderfully powerful program with a slick, modern interface, and recently received a pretty significant version-upgrade with more Ableton-style features. This application is macOS-only.

On the PC side, the $149 Acoustica Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio is kind of like the "Vegas" of DAWs: It's super-easy to learn, nearly as capable as the more well-known DAWs, and comes with a well-stocked stable of software-instruments (including the excellent Memorymoon ME80, a software-emulation of the heralded Yamaha CS80 analog polysynth), as well as a decent variety of effects. This application is PC-only.

I own both and actually enjoy using Mixcraft more, but my go-to DAW is Apple Logic. Note that there's a huge support community for Apple Logic since its user-base is so large; Mixcraft on the other hand, hardly anyone's seen heard of it, so user-support is minimal.

I'm having a hard time understanding your daughter's struggles, it kind of sounds like you may be, being fed a line of bull. If she's saying she can't make music because a lack of presets, then ask yourself can you not make videos if the video plugins don't include presets?

I will make it clear.

My daughter had developed an interest in learning music, typically Guitar. Then she was small, and we also had no idea about music. We then purchased a baby Guitar for her, relatively somewhat smaller than the normal Guitar. We then put her in a local music class nearby our home. She went there for around a year or two and due to strong grasping power, she learned & mastered both base & electric Guitar very quickly.

Later, I purchased Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface for my daughter, and it was fairly new for her, just like video editing is new for me. Then she didn't have the complete understanding on how to use the software, though the hardware part was self-explanatory. My only mistake, that I should have purchased a dedicated hardware interface for her rather than this computer based device.

But the change came when we moved her to a proper music institute, which happens to be a sub-franchise of the "Trinity College of London". That is when she learned more about the audio production software and complained that the software we have at home is lacking all the required presets etc.

Since her prior experience with playing Guitar was too good, she was directly admitted to the 5th or 6th level out of the 10 levels of the course. So far, she has completed the two levels for which there is a practical & theoretical exam conducted directly by the Trinity College of London in Bombay (also called as Mumbai) and she has scored out of marks in both the exams.

During this period, she also developed interest in singing, and now she is practising both singing & guitar. In Dec 2019, she asked me to buy her a professional keyboard for practising singing. So I bought her Roland EX-20 keyboard, and she plays it very well.

Last year, the exams couldn't be conducted due to the Covid-19 situation, and I am unsure if it will be conducted this year also. I believe in another 2 years, she will be become a certified Trinity College of London musician.

This is one of her videos uploaded on the music institute's YouTube channel -

If she's doing music production and composition, Apple Logic Pro is a top-drawer DAW used industry-wide. It's a huge value at $199 if she already owns a MacBook or iMac and comes with a ton of software-insturments and built-in effects. Ease-of-use is moderate to difficult, but it's a wonderfully powerful program with a slick, modern interface, and recently received a pretty significant version-upgrade with more Ableton-style features. This application is macOS-only.

On the PC side, the $149 Acoustica Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio is kind of like the "Vegas" of DAWs: It's super-easy to learn, nearly as capable as the more well-known DAWs, and comes with a well-stocked stable of software-instruments (including the excellent Memorymoon ME80, a software-emulation of the heralded Yamaha CS80 analog polysynth), as well as a decent variety of effects. This application is PC-only.

I own both and actually enjoy using Mixcraft more, but my go-to DAW is Apple Logic. Note that there's a huge support community for Apple Logic since its user-base is so large; Mixcraft on the other hand, hardly anyone's seen heard of it, so user-support is minimal.

Thank you @studio-4 for your input.

A few days ago, I told my daughter that once I get a new desktop computer for myself, I will give her my laptop. She said she wouldn't settle anywhere below MacBook Pro.

Mac's are really very costly here in India, though we can find a good deal on the used one's, but I would prefer buying her a brand new only.

Once she is on the Mac, the sky will be the limit.

I have anyway forwarded your message to her also so that she knows the types of sound production software's out there.

Thank you once again.

Oh yes, and these two also:

Thanks for the additional details. I guess I would need to better understand which music production software she is using now.

She obviously has a very good background education in music as you describe and thanks for sharing. However, just so you are aware, being a musician in regards to song writing production and Audio engineering production are 2 very different skill sets with some cross-overs. For example, I went to school for audio engineering. Along with that education I had a "basic music theory" introduction class. That class in no way got me to a level where I can listen to a song and say, "That is written in the key of G-major" but it did allow me to understand the fundamentals of that is how music is written where I'm willing to bet based on your daughter's education she has that ability. What my audio engineering education and further developed skill set, allows me to do is listen to an audio mix and identify in a matter of seconds, "That vocal sounds dull" or it has "Too much siblance" and I can pull up an EQ plugin and know exactly which frequency ranges to adjust and by how much to adjust it on the EQ without having to use any presets. Now continuing on with that same example, if your daughter is saying she can't use a particular music production software because it doesn't have an EQ preset which is labeled "Reduce Siblance", then that is just due to she hasn't had that same type of listener trainer.....it's a very different training than being able to identify a key of a song. Just the same as I have not had the further listener training which allows me to listen to a song and identify within a matter of seconds which key signature it is written in.

A preset in my example which was labeled "reduce siblance" may help her reduce those obstacles of being able to listen and provide a starting point of what to adjust but by no means will it have the settings to best fit the actual source audio to make it fit correctly into the mix, further adjustments will always be needed to that preset. Presets just put her in the range of what more experienced audio engineers already know and have developed through many hours spent of audio listener training but by no means are these type of presets necessary or even useful to those with more experience. This also applies to compressors, gates and reverbs. I don't really need a preset with any of those types of plugins and often is the case, using built-in presets increases the amount of time I'm actually making adjustments.

I worked with a studio engineer who teaches advanced music theory classes and is currently a professor at a local college. He can play instruments, write songs, sit down and start playing along with a band without ever have practiced or heard the song previously. However, he wasn't a very good studio mix engineer or mastering engineer because he just didn't have those chops developed which are very different skill sets as I mentioned.

Dude, you didn't tell us your daughter shreds! She's awesome! She has excellent technique and her speed will increase rapidly as she progresses. Soon, she'll be another Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai (or, more apropos, a young Orianthi).

Your Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is perfect for her. It will plug right into her MacBook Pro. Ideally, she would want to mic a speaker-cabinet powered by a tube-amp for that sound. It's simply the best way to record rock guitar with natural tube-distortion. Forget cabinet-sims and Line6 digital pedals—this method is the real deal—it just sounds amazing.

Select a low-end, $150 Audio-Technica large-diaphragm condenser mic, or the old stand-by, a Shure SM57 dynamic mic for $99 (used to mic guitar cabinets on 1,000s of uber-famous records; e.g., Pink Floyd, etc.); either one will do the trick. A large-diaphragm condenser mic will give that super-crisp sparkle on the high-end for a great high-fidelity sound, while the SM57 will capture that meaty mid-range and accept any ultra-high volume input.

Just place the mic near the speaker-cone and plug it into the Focusrite. Plug its USB cable into the Mac and tell Logic that's what you want it to listen to for an audio-input, and voila! Pro-level, multitrack, professional recording/mastering at her fingertips. In looped-mode, she can practice a riff over and over until she nails it, and Logic automatically saves each "take." When finished, she just chooses the best one.

Logic's built-in reverbs (e.g., Chromaverb), EQs, and modulation-effects (e.g., phase, flange, chorus) are actually quite good and should be plenty for her to get started. If she craves premium reverbs, the Eventide Black Hole pedal (hardware) uses the exact same algorithm as the $7,000 Eventide H9000. I have one for synths and it sounds great—huge and deep (also has "infinite-mode"). UAD, Valhalla, and Soundtoys' software reverb plug-ins are also very popular and almost always 50%-off on Black Friday every year.

Below is my favorite Orinathi/Steve Vai clip—tell her I said, she will soon be that good.

I haven't heard of any other NLE or DAW doing this, as this type of bundling is most common in the consumer market and they tend to carry over the same value-added products from version to version (i.e. Corel VideoStudio and Cyberlink PowerDirector) - only upgrading the version of the included products as the version they include becomes obsolete.

Lots of people did have this issue with some included VEGAS additions, though, like bundled versions of ProDAD Mercalli. This generally has not been an issue with toher prodcts.

Rather, it's less of an issue because the products tend to be specifically typecast as being specific to a specific product up-front (i.e. TH3 and BREVERB "Cakewalk Editions").

Most other NLEs do not bundle many third party products, as they tend to have kept their native FX packages (both Audio and Video) fairly up-to-date. MAGIX tends to bundle products in lieu of spending resources further developing what is already there.

This is why they throw Sound Forge Pro, Melodyne Essential and SpectraLayers Pro into Samplitude Pro X Suite, for example. Samplitude has Destructive Wave, Pitch/Time Editing (Elastic Audio) and Spectral Editing native in the DAW, but it's actually cheaper to just bundle the 3rd party products than develop what is there to be comparable to them. And it makes the package look jam packed, so there is marketing benefits in doing so.

@Former user, actually, this problem is with the entire software industry except a few who maintain their standards. They do a cross promotion and 99% of the times, the free goodies offered as a package are often limited or outdated versions of the software which means that people are either forced to upgrade them or use them on "as is where is basis".

But this not only happens with the paid software, it also happens with free the software. For e.g. when you install some free software, 2-3 other software programs also get installed. They trick the user so cleverly that the user keeps on clicking next without reading anything until they see several other icons on their desktop. That's why I always read each and every screen of the setup wizard and immediately untick the additional software options.

However, there are certain companies who do engage in cross promotion, for e.g. Adobe since they have their own products range.

Now in case of Vegas Pro 18, I purchased it some 2 days ago, and it came bundled with Sound Forge 14, iZotope RX 7 Elements, Boris FX Particle Illusion Standalone, NewBlue Elements 3 Overlay and ActionVFX Clip Pack. But after installing them, I realized that they were limited versions and asking me to upgrade to a higher version. Since I am new to video editing, I will have to learn the purpose of these free goodies. If they are not worth (except Sound Forge), I will simply uninstall them and stick with the core component.

And guess what happens when I run Vegas Pro 18 & Sound Forge Pro 14, they both show me offers to upgrade to higher variant or version.

And that's how the software industry run by doing a cross promotion and bundling limited version software programs so that the user (especially with no knowledge or idea) are forced to upgrade to unlock the advanced features.

Thanks for the additional details. I guess I would need to better understand which music production software she is using now.

She obviously has a very good background education in music as you describe and thanks for sharing. However, just so you are aware, being a musician in regards to song writing production and Audio engineering production are 2 very different skill sets with some cross-overs.

All I know for now is that she is using Pro Tools in her music institute. At home, she isn't using anything. She just practises singing, keyboard and guitar.

Actually, she told me that her music teacher is asking if she would be interested in Avid certified audio engineering course. But the course fees is very high, so I asked her to postpone it for now. As it is, she still has to clear 2-3 levels of the Trinity College of London music course and each exam costs nearly $200 apart from the course fees.

Apart from the music, she is also very good in academics. She has chosen Economics & Physiology as her main subjects. In the last month, she gave her BA 2nd year final exams and next year she will complete her BA 3rd year. Most probably, she will be doing her MA in Physiology from here only post which I plan to send her to UK for higher education and to pursue her career in music. Hopefully, she will do audio engineering in UK itself.

But right from the beginning, I have always told her one thing, follow your passion for music but at the same time, study as much as you can because you never know what will happen in the future, and you should always have a backup option ready.

Time will only tell where she will be three years from now after she completes her MA.

Dude, you didn't tell us your daughter shreds! She's awesome! She has excellent technique and her speed will increase rapidly as she progresses. Soon, she'll be another Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai (or, more apropos, a young Orianthi).

Thanks, really appreciate your prediction :-)

Your Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is perfect for her. It will plug right into her MacBook Pro. Ideally, she would want to mic a speaker-cabinet powered by a tube-amp for that sound. It's simply the best way to record rock guitar with natural tube-distortion. Forget cabinet-sims and Line6 digital pedals—this method is the real deal—it just sounds amazing.

Select a low-end, $150 Audio-Technica large-diaphragm condenser mic, or the old stand-by, a Shure SM57 dynamic mic (used to mic guitar cabinets on 1,000s of uber-famous records; e.g., Pink Floyd, etc.); either one will do the trick. A large-diaphragm condenser mic will give that super-crisp sparkle on the high-end for a great high-fidelity sound, while SM57 will capture that meaty mid-range and accept any ultra-high volume input.

Just place the mic near the speaker-cone and plug it into the Focusrite. Plug its USB cable into the Mac and tell Logic that's what you want it to listen to for an audio-input, and voila! Pro-level, multitrack, professional recording/mastering at her fingertips. In looped-mode, she can practice a riff over and over until she nails it, and Logic automatically saves each "take." When finished, she just chooses the best one.

Thanks for the awesome tips. I keep passing her the information I receive from the members. After all, experience does matters. Thanks once again.

About the cross-grades: It's actually more common among pro DAW products; most of the major DAWs offer them (or at least used to), making the investment in one a costless-transaction should you decide to switch to another. I considered this when I went with Apple Logic. There was a $200 credit on a cross-grade for another DAW (I've forgotten which one), so if I didn't like Logic and chose the other, I didn't lose any money,

Although ProTools once was the industry-standard for recording studios, Apple Logic is fast becoming a new contender. Though a large section of the pro industry still uses ProTools, Apple Logic has been steadily encroaching into their market share and has been used in the production of 1,000s of hit records.

For owners of macOS machines, Logic is a no-brainer. It's deep, so the learning curve can be a bit steep, but its UI is intuitive enough for savvy users to catch on relatively quickly, even without referring to a manual. Though I've never used it, I believe ProTools is less beginner-friendly.

I will try to look for an affordable tube-amp to recommend, because for whatever reason, US-made guitar amps cost a fortune to those overseas; e.g., a $2,500 Mesa/Boogie amp sells for like $5,000 in Australia—I have no idea why. Here's a path to Valhalla for your daughter for a cool Logic-driven recording set-up that doesn't cost an arm and a leg yet will complete handily with any pro recording studio:

1. A low-power tube-amp (e.g., 1W/5W/20W). Hughes & Kettner may be a better deal for you since they're a German-based company. There may be others. According to her song-choice in the video, she would want a "high-gain" tube-amp; i.e., not a Fender. If money is no object, the Soldano SLO-100 is the best rock guitar amp on the planet (I own one I bought used for $1,500). STAY AWAY FROM DIGITAL/SOLID-STATE AMPS.

2. Choose either the Shure SM57 dynamic mic for $99, or get the Audio-Technica AT2035 large-diaphragm condenser mic for $149. Either is excellent for recording guitar. I have an SM57 and an AT3035 (discontinued, about $300), and they both sound great. DO NOT RECORD DIRECT TO INTERFACE—MIC A SPEAKER. It just won't sound nearly as good, no matter what the manufactures of digital cab-sims claim (software and hardware). A tube-based preamp may be used for direct-recording (i.e., no mic), and is another way to go, but they cost as much as a low-end tube-amp and speaker (about $700).

3. Either buy a combo amp (amp and speaker in same unit), or a head and a separate speaker cabinet. Speaker cabinets from Marshall are actually pretty inexpensive and worth considering since they're now made in China, and they have that signature Celstron-speaker sound. Their budget 4x12 cabinets sell for only $299 here at US Guitar Center retail outlets; though, the Marshall 2x12 is a better-quality cabinet (I have both). A 1x12 is more than enough for bedroom recording, but the 2x12 looks ultra-cool and is large enough to place a full-sized head on it.

4. Get a $15 On Stage short mic stand to hold the mic next to the speaker cone.

5. Apple Logic Pro: $199.

6. I see in the video she's using a digital FX-wah pedal (a Line6 perhaps?). Maybe for her birthday, get her a Dunlop MC404 CAE wah-pedal ($169). It's from their "custom shop" and it's their best wah. Here's an excerpt from the product description: "custom wah effects-pedal with dual-Fasel inductors and built-in MXR MC-401 boost/llne-driver effect." This is the best wah-pedal on the market since its dual-inductors allow you to place the notch-filter within an extra-wide frequency-range. It's made by the original creators of the wah, so it's the real thing. Again, best wah on the planet.

Thank you so much for the awesome information. It has completely relieved me of all the efforts that I would otherwise have to put into researching as to which devices, equipments and accessories to purchase for my daughter. This shopping list will help my daughter with her home sound studio, and she will be able to make the most of it.

Thank you once again.

e.g., a $2,500 Mesa/Boogie amp sells for like $5,000 in Australia—I have no idea why.

That's fairly much the case with almost 'everything' in Australia (my home country) - almost everything is more expensive here in AU even when taking into account the prevailing USD/Euro/AUD exchange rate plus GST issues.

A few years ago, Amazon limited Australians to buying only through Amazon AU - everywhere else Amazon overseas was geo-blocked. The same products that used to be available through Amazon US turned out to be about 50% or more higher in real terms via Amazon AU. And the entire product line in AU was barely 10% of that available internationally. Amazon soon came to their senses and abandoned geo-blocking in AU.

Many overseas companies geo-block their own products in Australia so that their AU distributors can continue charging greatly inflated prices. Over the years, some overseas companies have claimed freight as a reason for the increased cost. If the product is made in China or other SE Asian countries, then the factory is closer to Australia than it is to the USA or Europe, Why then is it more expensive to freight here? Answer: profit.

As an example, the Shure SM57 at $99 USD (as mentioned above) is on sale from a very good local audio seller at $165 AUD (down from $229 AUD). That's $127 USD on sale as against $176 USD when not on sale.

Many overseas companies geo-block their own products in Australia so that their AU distributors can continue charging greatly inflated prices. Over the years, some overseas companies have claimed freight as a reason for the increased cost. If the product is made in China or other SE Asian countries, then the factory is closer to Australia than it is to the USA or Europe, Why then is it more expensive to freight here? Answer: profit.

You are absolutely correct. People who have been ruling this industry don't want the competition to ruin their well established business. Thus, it's the end-users who are left handicapped and with no choice but to buy the goods at ruled prices.

However, here in India, we have a lot of competition and the prices are so competitive that sellers are literally working on just 2-5% profit margin. The logic is simple, they follow an old British saying "Less profit, more sales". So they make more in one day than the bigger sellers would do in one week.

When I was in the computers business, I often used to visit Lamington Road in Bombay (now Mumbai). It is to be noted that sellers do business in small rooms, even bathrooms inside the mansions, have a tremendous turnover. Most of the business is done over telephones and physical business is almost null.

But that was not the case here in India in the 80s and mid of 90s. Sellers have made exceptional margins by just selling one computer, as compared to earning the equivalent margin by selling a minimum of 20 computers. It was all because of the competition that the computers and other electronics goods became so cheap.

So basically in that period and earlier, companies like Intel, Microsoft etc didn't have any physical presence in India. Everything was imported or smuggled and the CPU's & Ram's, HDD, M/B's, Cabinets, Monitors etc used to be called as tray products, i.e.non-boxed products, without bill and without warranty.

But until these companies realized the huge potential in India, they were quick to set up their offices and branches in India and officially started shipping their products then called as boxed products which came with bill and with warranty.

And then the whole scenario changed as other international companies also emerged in India and today the situation is that everything is very cheap & competitive.

Man, I really feel for you guys! All of that sucks. I'm sometimes amazed how cheap stuff is here. Back in 2006, I was really into guitar amps, and I was just blown away how much those in Australia (and apparently, India) have to pay for American-built amps. For the record, here are some of the best high-gain amps:

• Soldano.
• Framus.
• Mesa/Boogie.
• Hughes & Kettner.
• Marshall.
• EVH.
• Peavey.

Most of the above are premium-brands with very premium prices, with Peavey being the least costly high-gain amp. I have a Peavey 6505, and it has gain for infinity. Not the cleanest gain (Soldano wins here), and can get pretty muddy, but it's about the highest-gain amp you can get at that price. Their least-expensive head (amp only—no speaker) is the Peavey 6505 Mini Head 20/5/1-watt tube head for $599USD.

There may be other brands; e.g., Bugera and Egnator, but I've never played those. The 20/5/1-Watt configuration has become popular in recent years since a 1-Watt amp is plenty loud for bedroom jamming/recording. They build a power-soak circuit into the amp so it's really a 20-Watt amp (which is still uber-loud). Most amps sound best at '11' but even a 1-Watt amp at full-volume will quickly have your neighbors calling the police to complain.

Ideally, you would want a 1-Watt boutique amp (also expensive). As long as it's a tube-amp, and has a high-gain design, it should sound good. The lesser amps (e.g., Orange), simply don't have enough gain to get that metal crunch, but are priced more reasonably. Adding an overdrive pedal can help, but nothing beats the sound of a native high-gain amp; i.e., a good tube-amp doesn't need any pedals to sound great!

I just checked Sweetwater for tube-amp combos (amp with built-in speaker). Marshall makes a 1-Watt tube combo for $399USD. There are several other 1-Watt tube-amps (this is what you want) for $299-$399USD, but I've never played them. Stay away from Fender and Vox and anything with a tweed case—these are not high-gain amps. The $299 Blackstar may do the trick, but again, I'm not sure if it's a high-gain amp or not. The $399 Marshall DSL1CR 1x8" 1-Watt tube combo amp may be the ticket.

So here's the recipe for recording great-sounding rock guitar:

1. Marshall DSL1CR 1-Watt tube combo amp with 8" speaker ($399).
2. Shure SM57 mic ($99) + On Stage short mic stand ($15).
3. Your Focusrite interface.
4. Apple Logic ($199).

The Marshall comes equipped with an 8" Celestion speaker which should be fine. From the manufacturer's product description, "From glassy cleans to bone-rattling crunch to blistering high-gain, your wish is the Marshall DSL1CR's command." It has rave-reviews, so this is probably the amp for your daughter (and your wallet).

Unless I missed something, I'd also like to know which version of SoundForge would be included with Vegas Pro 19. I suspect 14 but, already owning it, there is no need for the extra expense unless...