Well, my first question to you would be: what music experience do you have? If you have very limited experience, then programs such as Pro DJ, or any of the eJay series, would be great for you - you can drag and drop samples, play with volume and other effects, and then create a wav file of it at the end. All of these prgrams are very cheap (I think Pro DJ is about £5 (US$8).

The main downside to this is that you''ll only ever make dance music from these programs.

As for sound effects, that''s a bit different. All you need is a sample editor (windoze tends to come with a simple editor anyway, but you should be able to get a free/cheap one on the web) and some ideas. It''s usually a hell of a lot easier to edit someone else''s sounds, so be on the lookout for ROYALTY-FREE sounds. With no royalty attached to it, you can use them freely in your games. As a start, you can visit http://www.mtlc.net/freesamples/freesamples.php - they give away a free sample every day.

There are loads of people on boards who can help you with any specific problems. Though I can''t stress enough that music composing and sound design are two separate jobs (usually... )and come with their own set of skills to learn.

Feel free to email me if you want a chat about any of this. My email is barry@ryerson-sound.com

Good luck!!



Barry Ryerson
Head of Audio Development
Ryerson Sound Solutions
URL:http://www.ryerson-sound.com