There is so much tech out there to use in music classrooms. It can be overwhelming to sift through it all. So here is a list of apps you can use in your classrooms to help enhance your tech offerings or introduce learners to music tech for the first time. Some overlap exists here because some of the apps or software packages might have multiple functions. This list was curated from Technology for Unleashing Creativity and has been updated to show new versions, names, or apps that didn't previously exist. This will be updated regularly, so check back often! These are some of the best apps and software for your music classroom out there so see what you might be able to use in your classroom. The best part? Most of these are free!
Legend:
$ - Paid
d/l - Download required
DAWs
GarageBand (for Mac and iOS devices)
Audacity (d/l)
Reason ($, d/l)
FL Studio ($, d/l)
Cubase ($, d/l)
Ableton Live ($, d/l)
Ableton Live Lite (Free with hardware purchase)
Pro Tools ($, d/l) (Mac and iOS only)
Logic Pro ($, d/l)
Mixcraft ($, d/l)
Cakewalk by BandLab (d/l)
Notation and Chart Software
Sibelius ($, d/l)
Sibelius First (d/l)
Dorico ($, d/l)
Dorico SE (d/l)
Finale ($, d/l)
Finale NotePad (d/l)
MuseScore (d/l)
ScoreCloud (d/l)
Noteflight Learn ($)
Music Snippet (formerly Flat for Docs)
1Chart - Nashville Numbers (iOS only)
MIDI Sequencers and Drum Machines
Drumbit Plus ($, d/l)
ROLAND50.studio (formerly 808303.studio)
Mathigon (Music function)
Song Maker (Sequencer)
Shared Piano (Virtual Instrument)
Rhythm (Drum Machine)
Arpeggios (Sequencer)
Kandinsky (Sequencer)
Melody Maker (Sequencer)
Sound Waves (Western Theory Practice)
Voice Spinner (Sampler)
Spectogram (Sound Wave)
Harmonics (Western Theory Practice)
Piano Roll (Sampler)
Oscillators (Sound waves)
Strings (Harmonics)
Chords (Western Theory Practice)
Muted.io
Virtual Piano (Virtual Instrument)
Lil Beat Maker (Drum Machine)
Super Simple Sequencer (Sequencer)
Mini Music Machine (Sequencer)
Guitar Fretboard (Virtual Instrument)
Online Xylophone (Virtual Instrument)
Pentatonic Exploration (Virtual Instrument)
Western Theory Practice
Tuners
Loopers and Looping
Loopy HD (iOS only)
Loopify (Android)
BandLab for Mobile (d/l)
GarageBand Live Loops (included in GarageBand)
Ableton Link (included in Ableton Live)
GroovePad (Android)
Quantiloop (iOS)
Virtual Instruments
WebSID (Commodore 64 emulator)
ChordChord (paid version)
Touchless and Accessible Virtual Instruments
Seeing Music (Visualizations)
Music Coding
BitBucket (paid versions)
GitHub Education ($)
Virtual Audio Routing and Virtual Loopback
VoiceMeeter (d/l)
LoopBack (Mac only)
LoopMIDI (d/l)
OBS (d/l)
Audacity Loopback (built-in feature in Audacity)
Video
OBS (d/l)
WeVideo (paid version for teachers)
Da Vinci Resolve (d/l)
Final Cut Pro (Mac only)
iMovie (Mac & Windows)
Adobe Premier Pro Student ($, d/l)
BandLab for Mobile (d/l)
Canva for Education (paid version free for teachers)
Cyborg Llama (Online Rehearsal)
Acapella App (iOS)
Loom (paid version free for teachers)
Screencastify (paid version)
Pitch-correction Software and Apps
GSnap (VST) (d/l)
Soundtrap for Education (AutoTune) ($)
Voloco (d/l)
Tune Me (d/l)
AutoRap (d/l)