I'm looking for some sound effect software, but unsure where to find some good sources. What sound effect programs (free or paid) would you suggest that hold a vast library of sounds? At the moment, I'm not looking into actual sound effect producers, but merely some software that other developers would suggest/recommend.
I create my sounds in Garageband, and then edit them in Audacity. One comes with a Mac, the other is free. So no additional costs.
If you want the free route, the choices are limited. As mentioned above, for 8-Bit retro style sound effects definitely check out SFXR (CFXR for Mac OSX and iOS). This is a real simple to use application that was made by developers for developers. Audacity is also a useful free tool for waveform editing and it comes with some effects processing that can be useful as well. Reaper is a full fledged music production studio that is free to try a full uncrippled version. If you like it you are encouraged to buy a license. This is a much better program than garage band. If you want to go the expensive paid route, try Propellerheads Reason which has all kinds of synths and samplers and sequencers and a huge library of free refills online I'll look around the web for some others and if I find anything I'll post it here.
Not quite sure what you mean by "better". I think "more advanced" would be a better description as I think Garageband is an amazing piece of software engineering when it comes to UI and balancing more advanced features with basic ones. An alternative to Reaper would of course also be Apple's Logic Express which might be a better choice if moving up from G.B...
as a professional sound designer i would suggest to you the free programs that the guys above suggested. if you want to delve more into this subject then i would suggest to go over to http://desiningsound.com which is a great place to start getting ideas on this subject. also the super book for sound effects is The Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers. for the pro and amateur alike. hope i helped you in any way
I'll add my suggestion here since it hasn't been mentioned. I use FL Studio (aka Fruity Loops for those who remember the old school days) for all my...sounds/bg music. It's probably similar to the full fledged music production studios listed already. I've just been using it for years and it really packs everything I need for lots of different projects I've done. The best part, for me at least, is I put in the up-front cost and got the Producer Version...updates for life, hell yeah! http://flstudio.image-line.com/
