What hardware do I need to mix mulitple tracks of audio?

[techs]

One of my customers wants to mix mulitple tracks of audio together. Say play a guitar and record it, then sing something and add it to the guitar track. She has a Dell with Soundmax on board audio. I don't see any Soundmax software with that model that would do this.
She has WinXp Home edition on P4 2.4 ghz.
Can I download a freebie program to do this? Or should I put in an old Soundblaster Live pci card I have laying around and will it have the software needed.
Thanks!

Moved at OP's request.
Moderator allisolm

 

[dbarton]

This pro quality software that will do it.

http://www.acidplanet.com/downloads/xpress/

 

[Ken g6]

I believe Audacity can do that.

 

[DanceMan]

You should just need software. Even crappy onboard audio should work fine.

You can use Reaper, which is free for evaulative purposes and is not limited, but does ask if you continue using it, that you pay $50.00 for non-commercial license.

Programs like Audacity might work for this, but multi-tracking programs like Reaper, Energy XT, Sonar Home Studio and Magix Studio, are better for multi-track mixing because they will have more features that relate to 'music' processing, rather than 'sound' processing.

 

[sswingle]

Adobe Soundbooth is another than can do it, and easy to use.

 

[Modelworks]

If they want to do it right I would go with this:

http://www.americanmusical.com...m--i-EMU-1616MPCI-LIST

You plug the microphones into the xlr jacks directly and can record up to 16 tracks at once.

Onboard audio or even a regular sound card is not going to sound anywhere near as good when you start dealing with singing into microphones and recording guitars.
It also comes with cubase and cakewalk + other software which by itself is over $150.

I have used american musical for years, great service, and I like that they will spread the cost over 3 months same as cash, no credit check, just need to buy with a credit/debit card.