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[bentwookie]

.

 

[pulse8]

If you're running Win98, I think Pro Tools has a free program.

I don't know if they've made a free one for Win2k/XP yet.

Link

 

[tweakmm]

ProTools

 

[crumpet19]

Cool Edit Pro v.2.0 or later (if there is a later version)

 

[bentwookie]

are these similar to soundedit?

 

[Stealth1024]

Cool Edit Pro v2 is an awesome program and is highly reccomended for both stereo and multi-track recording.

 

[TranceNation]

have you tried Reason

 

[thomsbrain]

bwahaha, the real Pro Tools is not free. A good Pro Tools setup runs around $5000-$10000. pretty far from free. for us mere mortals, there is Pro Tools LE which is still pretty rocking and can be had for less than $1000. Cakewalk Pro Audio is another good program, very powerful. It's around $300.
It's worth it to have some sort of decent audio card with a breakout box. Check recording catalogs or musiciansfriend.com or americanmusical.com for some good options.
The key with audio is processing power. Real-time plugins eat cpu time like crazy. Pro Tools uses DSP cards to handle that though, so you can get by with an older CPU. Pro Tools LE and most other solutions use the CPU.

 

[pulse8]

bwahaha, the real Pro Tools is not free.

You must have missed my link to the Pro Tools Free edition.

 

[43st]

Open source program that I like... Audacity

 

[skypilot]

If you are looking for something pretty professional, go with Steinberg Nuendo!

 

[yellowperil]

Pro Tools Free is pretty good (if you have Win98). The biggest plus I think is that it has MIDI support and comes with plugins for EQ, compression, reverb, and some other stuff. I think it's limited to 8 tracks.

I used CEP 2 for a while and while it had its strengths (wave editor, excellent noise reduction feature) it crashed *way* too often, especially when accessing plugins. I switched to Sonic Foundry Vegas and haven't had any problems since. It's even easier to use IMO than CEP.

If you want the most features, I would look at Steinberg Cubase, Emagic Logic Audio, or Cakewalk Sonar.