I've written several articles now that sing the praises of the open source program called Audacity. Let's review the main limitations...the "things you can't do" in Audacity.
Audacity Cannot Record MIDI. MIDI files can be opened in the beta version of Audacity. But it cannot be recorded/created. Audacity Doesn't Support VSTi. Virtual instruments are fabulous, and will allow you to play drums, piano, violin, etc. from a midi keyboard. You Cannot Record Multiple Tracks at One Time. This is primarily a limitation of the sound card in the $5.00 studio, which is usually a single channel card. Even if you have a multi-channel card, the only way it will work with Audacity is if it has a single Windows (no support for ASIO) "WDM" drive for multi-channel. Reaper is designed to be multi-track studio, do recording, mixing, multi-tracking, track effects, etc. are its specialty. n-Track Studio has been around longer than Reaper and is designed to do the same basic functions of recording and mixing multiple tracks along with track effects. You can find tutorials on the web for all three programs, audacity, Reaper, and n-Track Studio. Home Brew Audio is one such source of these tutorials.
Audacity Cannot Record MIDI. MIDI files can be opened in the beta version of Audacity. But it cannot be recorded/created. Audacity Doesn't Support VSTi. Virtual instruments are fabulous, and will allow you to play drums, piano, violin, etc. from a midi keyboard. You Cannot Record Multiple Tracks at One Time. This is primarily a limitation of the sound card in the $5.00 studio, which is usually a single channel card. Even if you have a multi-channel card, the only way it will work with Audacity is if it has a single Windows (no support for ASIO) "WDM" drive for multi-channel. Reaper is designed to be multi-track studio, do recording, mixing, multi-tracking, track effects, etc. are its specialty. n-Track Studio has been around longer than Reaper and is designed to do the same basic functions of recording and mixing multiple tracks along with track effects. You can find tutorials on the web for all three programs, audacity, Reaper, and n-Track Studio. Home Brew Audio is one such source of these tutorials.
The top recording programs are all amazing at what they let you do in editing and recording your music, and that's the bottom line. It's a joke listening to people arguing about their favorite program, defending it and putting down everything else.
There's a handful of great, professional audio recording software out there and it's all amazing. The top ones I constantly see in studios being used by people actually recording professional cd's for commercial use:
Pro Tools
Logic Pro
Digital Performer
Cakewalk
Cubase
My personal choice for favorite recording software has become Pro Tools. I had the opportunity to sit beside an engineer who was recording one of my cd's. I didn't learn everything but later when I bought my rig for my home studio I got what he had and the whole learning curve was very small.
There's a handful of great, professional audio recording software out there and it's all amazing. The top ones I constantly see in studios being used by people actually recording professional cd's for commercial use:
Pro Tools
Logic Pro
Digital Performer
Cakewalk
Cubase
My personal choice for favorite recording software has become Pro Tools. I had the opportunity to sit beside an engineer who was recording one of my cd's. I didn't learn everything but later when I bought my rig for my home studio I got what he had and the whole learning curve was very small.