Hi Folks,
Well, the title actually asks my question. I intend to produce a slide show being a union of my two favourite hobbies: playing the guitar and photography to post it on YT. I need some advice what software would be best for such a job (preferably a free program), and it would be nice if it didn’t have a particularly steep learning curve. Any help will be gratefully appreciated.
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You’re definitely after video editing software.
It might help to know what sort of computing platform you’re using. Windows, Mac, Linux, tablet (iOS or Android), etc?
That’s going to affect the options you have. That said, I’m on Windows and I use two programs.
I use Magix Movie Studio 2025 Platinum. It is a paid program that I have used since it was owned by Sony. Personally, I think it was better back then (it has lost functionality but the old version doesn’t like new hardware anymore).
I also use Open Shot Video Editor. This one is an open source (free) program with an easier learning curve. It is less capable, but it has one capability that the Magix software critically lacks (it can access video files stored on a network-accessible hard drive on a different computer in my home network).
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I’m on Windows, too. The Open Shot Video Editor you mentioned sounds promising and I’ll definitely give it a try as my task is probably relatively simple, so a video-creating program should cope with it with ease.
Thank you very much for the suggestion, very likely it’s all I’ll ever need.
Hi Tomasz, davinci resolve is free. DaVinci Resolve | Blackmagic Design
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It’s certainly worth a look in your case. I use the network drive capability because I have a camera in an owl roost/nest box in my backyard and I have a 2nd computer that is dedicated to handling that video feed. The camera is down right now (damn squirrels) so I’m not running the computer and its feed (I am waiting for the owl to go elsewhere before I crack open the box and replace the camera). But when it’s working and the owl is present, I use OBS on that computer to livestream to youtube and to simultaneously save recorded video onto a separate hard drive.
I will use my main computer (it’s more powerful) to access those archived video files and clip out short bits to save onto my youtube channel (I have a youtube channel specifically for the owl box) for later. Those files are too big to move to the other computer for editing, so I need my video software to be able to access them on the drive where they’re stored and chop them up into smaller pieces before doing anything else with them.
Open Shot does that job well. I actually don’t use these programs much at all for music stuff. I record myself straight into OBS and so far I haven’t recorded anything worth editing further. And most of the time I delete what I’ve recorded, anyway.
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Thanks! I’ll check out DaVinci Resolve, too 
Oh, yeah, I’ve heard good things about the OBS, but, allegedly, it’s not a simplest piece of software for a beginner.
well it doesn’t really do what you’re asking for. as for how complicated it is…it depends. if you want to stream video and have flexibility with different sources and overlays, it is the standard as I understand it. And that’s not exactly a beginner request.
One thing I’ve used OBS for is to record myself playing along with a backing track (and record the backing track also). Sure, you could record your backing track with the same mic you’d use for vocals, but audio quality is kinda iffy on that. what I’ve done is to play the audio through monitor headphones connected to my audio interface and use the mp3 of the song as its own audio “source” in OBS so it records straight from the mp3 allowing me to set volume levels and such so it balances well with the sound of my guitar. And while I’m doing that with the audio, I’m using a video feed from the camera on an old cell phone because let’s face it, you have to spend quite a lot of money to get a better video recording device than a phone camera. There might be easier ways to do what I’ve done with it, but it works with stuff I already have.
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Thanks so much for the time taken to make things clear to me. Let me also clarify what I want to do more specifically. I intend to make a slide show of my still photography with pictures changing every, let’s say, 15 seconds, and add my music in the background, not necessarily synchronized with the shifting slides. I want the whole show to last up to 10 minutes, no longer. Do you think the Open Shot Video Editor would allow me to do just that?
I’m pretty sure. It uses a timeline storyboard sort of function so you could just drop your photos in there, set the time each one displays, and set up transitions from one photo to another. It would be a little more tedious but adjusting the timing so your transitions synchronize with the music is an option if you want it.
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Thanks a million for your help, friend.
If you’ve got PowerPoint, you can drop in music or video files and have them play with a slide or during transitions etc.
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Not sure what DAW you are using, Tomasz. I use Reaper and I can drop images into a track and render an MP4. That’s how I’d go about a simple slideshow now.
For just that use case I’d search for the simplest possible video editor. The old MS Movie Maker would do the trick. Not sure if there is an equivalent.
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Not a TRUE DAW, actually, just Audacity, perfectly suitable for my musical endeavours. I’ve never used the Movie Maker, but why not try it, too… Thanks, David.
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I will add Kdenlive to the mix. Free, pretty comprehensive, and easy to use.
Cheers,
Keith