Multitrack mixing on my MacBook?
mannybolone
Los Angeles, CA 15,025 Posts
For years, I've used an external, digital 4-track to make my mixtapes but I figure - I have a fairly powerful laptop and I end up mastering the mix from my 4-track to my laptop anyway so why not cut out the middle man? Any recommendations on software? I don't think I need something as powerful as pro tools and frankly, I want something with a really easy learning curve. The main feature is that I need to be able to able to punch in on a separate track while still listening to the existing tracks; I've found that this isn't possible with Garageband (at least, not when I tried it a couple of years back) nor with Soundstudio 3, my usual sound editing software.Any suggestions? One complicating factor (maybe) is that I might want to simultaneously run Microwave while doing all this. Thanks!
Comments
Anyway, it's pretty simple to use and definitely allows for "punching-in" and monitoring with an interface. I don't use Microwave ... does it use a Firewire interface? If so, you'd want a USB audio interface as I believe you only have one Firewire port (I only have one on my MacBook Pro).
The less expensive interfaces tend to be 2 channel. Do you ever need to record more than 2 channels at once? That's when things start to get a bit pricey.
http://reaper.fm/
I don't think the OSX version is officially out yet. Though, I'd look into it.
- spidey