Best Simple Multi-track Audio recorder for PC

[precious37]

Hi all,

I have been asked to set up someone's home studio. It is their first one and she is running a PC for software. Being a Mac guy, I need advice on a solid but straightforward audio multi-track recording piece of software. No midi whatsoever is involved in the setup.

She is loading in various two-track devices (CD, MD, Turntable mixer, etc.) one at a time, editing them and then mixing them down to stereo for CD burning. It's a pretty simple setup hardware-wise but I am unfamiliar with PC recording software.

Anything that might involve a loop creation device would be a big plus but not necessary.

Thanks,
Chris

[TimOBrien]

If you want to mess with loops you really can't go wrong with starting out with Sonic Foundry's Acid Music ($30-40). Nice thing about ACID is that you can change a loop's beat-per-minute timing without changing the pitch of the loop. Very handy. You can even do simple multitracking in it.

For audio multitracking.... go over to www.n-track.com and check out N-Track Studio. It's only $39 and has features like the big boys 10 times the price. Great software. There is a downloadable demo and manual on the site.

I'm using both of these to do my music. She'll also need a simple audio editor... I use SoundForge5 from Sonic Foundry but it is a bit expensive. If you get out to a bookstore and grab the October issue of "Computer Music" magazine (www.computermusic.co.uk) , they gave away a 2-channel editor - soundprobe - for FREE. Good magazine for beginners anyway and well worth the price for all the samples and programs they give away with it.