For hardcore music aficionados, scouring the Internet these days for music software is like searching for the Holy Grail - full of clues but often leading to nowhere.

With DRM (digital rights management) software installed all over the place, the software Mecca called the Internet is now a tightly held fortress. This is similar to what has happened to Greenhills Shopping Center, which used to be the center of IT freedom - err, piracy - in the country before the Optical Media Board decided to clamp down on it.

However, there's always an exemption to every rule. In the real world, people now go to Quiapo to quench their thirst for everything bootlegged. On the Web, there are carefully hidden sites that offer the same thing. That is, if you find them.

But hunting for music software need not be a hide-and-seek affair. Unless you've been living under a rock, there are now freeware and shareware on the Internet that spare you the hassle of doing a pirate's job.

Shareware's quaint "Try it and if you find it useful please donate" approach has always made an appealing way to get hold of music software. Recently, the development of the Internet has changed the dynamic somewhat: downloadable demos of just about every application and plug-in on the market are readily available, and easier e-payment has pulled a lot of shareware more into the demoware category.

Still, some unique and affordable music software remains - you just have to know where to look. For this feature, we've selected titles that cater to Windows and Mac users. There are titles that are freeware (full-featured, free software), shareware (a few features are omitted but the software is still useful even if unregistered), or demoware (gives you a taste of its capabilities but you'll need to buy the full version to get any practical usage). Find one (or more) that suits your needs.

SAMPLE ORGANIZATION
Audio routing utilities and a generic soundcard driver that can only be described as miraculous?

ASIO4ALL for PC
ASIO4ALL is a low-latency, hardware- independent Audio Stream In/Out driver (ASIO). It sits between your soundcard's native Window's driver (WDM) and your audio applications, working its magic on top of Windows rather than at the more risky driver level. The result is stable operation and easy removal when it's no longer required. www.asio4all.com

JackTools for Mac
JackTools has two components: an OS X CoreAudio driver and Jack Server - a background program that manages connections between applications to and from the soundcard. It can connect any number of different applications to a single hardware audio device; it also allows applications to send and receive audio to and from each other. www.jackosx.com

Soundflower for Mac
Soundflower lets you route the outputs of any core audio program to the inputs of another. Need to record an iTunes radio show? Just set the output of iTunes to Soundfloower and then inputs of GarageBand to Soundfloower and record away. How about sending the output of Garageband to an audio editor rather than iTunes? Just route the output of GarageBand to the input of Audacity or your favorite audio editor. www.cycling74.com/products/soundflower.html

AUDIO PROCESSING
File conversion, batch operation, and more

SoX for Mac
SoX is an old-school program that shuns flashy graphical user interface in favor of command line operation. Aside from converting various audio files into other formats, SoX can also apply various effects to these files during conversion. http://sox.sourceforge.net

PLUG-IN HOSTING
Who says you need a sequencer to use your favorite plug-ins when you've got?

VSTHost and SaviHost for PC
These two sibling programs offer an important and useful service - they run VST instruments without the hassle of using a host sequencer. They can be particularly handy for using software instruments on stage, or if you just want to play for fun or practice. www.hermannseib.com/english

MIDI TOOLS
Take control of your midi setup with these tools

MIDI-OX & MIDI Yoke for PC
MIDI-OX is a real "Swiss army knife" package that brings together a number of useful utilities. The MIDI monitor shows MIDI activity on any port; the SysEx file manager lets you send, receive, load, and save SysEx messages; and the software can also play MIDI files. The patchbay feature, however, is the heart of MIDI-OX; with it you can filter messages and connect any input to any output. www.midiox.com

MIDI Monitor and SysEx Librarian for Mac
MIDI Monitor enables you to view MIDI data as it flows in and out of your physical MIDI ports or between applications. You can choose which ports to display and filter out unwanted information. SysEx Librarian lets you capture System Exclusive (SysEx) messages sent by MIDI devices and save them as files. www.snoize.com

SAMPLE ORGANIZATION
If you have too many samples in your computer, you need to stay on top of your sound library. Here are two titles you might want to consider:

Loop Horse for PC
Need a software to help you collect, copy, archive, and delete sound files? Then try Loop Horse. It makes light work of gathering samples at the start of a project, reorganizing a sample library's folder layout, and choosing files to copy from sample CDs or DVDs. www.loophorse.com

Sample Catalog for PC
This software uses a catalog system to store information about each file, including assigning descriptive categories. Each catalog contains "libraries" that contain sound files or other libraries. www.geocities.com/samplecatalog

MULTITRACK AUDIO EDITING
Cut up your sample audio or compose full tracks using these editors

HyperEngine-AV for Mac
Once a commercial product, HyperEngine-AV is now offered as freeware. It's "trackless" so you can place audio clips anywhere you see fit on the arrange page. It's also a video and text editor, but musicians may care to ignore those features. www.arboretum.corm

Audacity for PC/MAC
Here's a multitrack audio editor that's compatible with a large number of file formats. Each of its tracks can operate at different sample rates, and it handles all the conversion for you during playback and mixing. It also offers digital signal processing commands, and supports VST plug-in effects. http://audacity.sourceforge.net