Hi Everyone 
I was looking for a simple ( notepad like ) audio recorder to
record simple song ideas ( guitar and voice ).
I stumbled upon Audacity and I liked the price ( Free !). So I
downloaded version 1.2.6 ( listed as stable ) and decided to have a
a go with it.
I am using it with a Dell Inspiron 2650 Laptop ( 1.7 Gghz ) and
a Behringer UCA202 USB audio interface, nothin fancy. After a few
recordings and playbacks ( which were impressive )I decided to try a
slightly more elaborate multitrack recording. I gotta say it turned
out really nice.
As a multitracker it is limited in functionality when compared
to N-Track, but it seems to do what it does quite well. Sound quality
was excellent, ease of use was great. I encountered no glitches,
lockups, or freezes at any time.
I am seriously eyeballing this program now. It is open source
software and has alot of knowledgeable folks involved in the writing
of it, so I hear.
Does anyone else out there have much experience with it ? What
do yall think of it ?
Thanks,
Ted
Why not stick with n-Track?
"why not stick with n-track?"
LMFAO. Wow, let me count the ways. Seriously tho… I’ve been an on and off again user of N for several years now. About a year ago I got so fed up with the updates, crashes, glitches, fixes, etc. etc. that I opened up the wallet and converted everything to ProTools and bought a Mac. Best move I ever made. Talk about a stable platform.
I recently wanted to give a drum prog a try, an unfortunately for me, it’s not Mac compliant so I thought I’d give it a whirl on N. Wow, now I remember every reason why I switched to ProTools. I’ve had it with N. You get what you pay for, and I guess if all you’ve got to spend is $50 or so, then N is exactly the right prog for you. I’ve finally come to realize, once and for all, N…for any purpose I’ll ever need…just flat sucks.
I’ll stick with PT for my recording, and find another PC based prog for using Jamstix with. N just flat sucks. I know “some” people get it to work, but looking at a time vs. money basis, you’re spending thousands to make a ten cent program do what a couple of hundred bucks could get you with a mac and PT. Just my $.02
Have fun N users! I wish you luck! (you’re gonna need it).
Crash different. 
Sigh…
D
If Audicity work for you and it’s free - why not use it?
If you need to record and mix multiple tracks, give Ntrack a try.
I think it works great.
As to the guy knocking Ntrack - he must have had a really hard time with the version he was using.
If someone has a valid problem this forum is the place to talk about how to fix it and look for a cure - if you just want to tell others that you can’t use Ntrack - Ok I guess you can do that too, but why bother?
I hear Protools is a great program. But so it Ntrack.
I have used Ntrack from version 2 and Never had problems that did not get fixed.
Version 4 caused some folks problems (I did not have them), but I see little about problems with version 5.
I have from time to time tried out other programs and some are quite good, but because I didn’t have fewer problems, usually more, and there was no one to help me get answers or a fix.
If I have a problem with Ntrack and the forum can’t help a polite note to Flavio will get a polite response and usually a fix.
If I have a suggestion on something I think would make Ntrack work better, he listens, and if he thinks it’s worth while, he adds the feature. The other audio software I have used had no way to get help and if I got someone to listen to my problem, they more often then not couldn’t fix it.
I hope you give Ntrack a try, I recommend it. 
"why not stick with n-track?"
LMFAO. Wow, let me count the ways. Seriously tho... I've been an on and off again user of N for several years now. About a year ago I got so fed up with the updates, crashes, glitches, fixes, etc. etc. that I opened up the wallet and converted everything to ProTools and bought a Mac. Best move I ever made. Talk about a stable platform.
I recently wanted to give a drum prog a try, an unfortunately for me, it's not Mac compliant so I thought I'd give it a whirl on N. Wow, now I remember every reason why I switched to ProTools. I've had it with N. You get what you pay for, and I guess if all you've got to spend is $50 or so, then N is exactly the right prog for you. I've finally come to realize, once and for all, N..for any purpose I'll ever need...just flat sucks.
I'll stick with PT for my recording, and find another PC based prog for using Jamstix with. N just flat sucks. I know "some" people get it to work, but looking at a time vs. money basis, you're spending thousands to make a ten cent program do what a couple of hundred bucks could get you with a mac and PT. Just my $.02
Have fun N users! I wish you luck! (you're gonna need it).
Gunner, there are always compatibility issues with any software (trust me - I work for a company that installs software for banks and government institutions). Partly it's a matter of luck I guess - is there anything else on your system that will cause conflits; partly it's the method of working- perhaps that particular feature or button press sequence is what causes problems? Sometimes it's a conflict between the thousands of lines of code in the BIOS with the thousands of lines of code in the graphic card and the code in the soundcard driver etc, etc.
You seem to have made your choice - that's good, use whatever works for you, but I see that your post count is pretty low suggesting that you may not have asked about your problems here. I would encourage anybody who is having issues to be brave and post them here no matter how seemling basic and stupid. The is a ton of wealth and experience that may just help rather than struggling on alone.
Xon
As for Audacity, I’ve always found it to be stuck somewhere between a proper DAW and a Wav editor - sort of doing neither well IMO.
If you want an alternative there are better bets (again IMO)… try the one that rhymes with “sleeper”.
if Jamstix is that important ? why the H*LL use ProToole in the first place - the program dont work with PT so blame anything but the operator - Jamstix does not work with Tracktion and the latest Version is so buggy it doesnt seem to work with anything - seems ITS THE SINGER NOT THE SONG thats at fault here -
Dr J
Well, gunner, I asked Mr. Roberts, and not you, after all. Bit of anger there, methinks. Dr J has it right: it’s the singer, not the song.
Hi Guys
Thanks for the replies gents, and on the weekend even, very impressive
This all started when my desktop PC ( with N track on it ) went on the fritz. I am trying to save money right now so I decided not to get the desktop fixed,I am not doing any big project songs right now so being without a full blown DAW is not catastrophic. Instead I decided to look for a simple application that I could use on my laptop to save song ideas and make simple recordings. I was concerned that the modest resources available on my laptop might be taxed with a full blown DAW application, so I started looking for something lighter.
When I started using Audacity I was kinda struck by its:
1)
simplicity
( looks like it is mainly designed to be a wave editor )
2)
ease of use ( quite intuitive I thought )
3)
sound quality
4)
stability
( no problems with my setup )
5)
minimal CPU usage and stress
6)
small footprint
I have found some ways to workaround it’s DAW limitations and do some decent multitracking with it, this has changed my perspective and caused me to rethink my approach to multitracking. I think I am now interested in trying to keep things as simple as possible when recording and mixing so I can spend less time on the technicalities/learning curve and more time on the song and arrangement. I am still keeping an eye on quality of course.
The reason I posted here is that I wanted to see if some other folks here on the forum have had any experience with Audacity before I committed much more time to it. If their are some major issues with it, it would be nice to know that up front.
I have seen the pros and cons of other DAW applications discussed
by N-Track users that have tried them, so I thought I would see if I could get any input on this one.
I have always found the forum here very helpful and have found answers here to many questions I have had in the past.
Rock On Dudes
Ted
Audacity if free. You have nothing to lose by trying it. Use what works for you, and since Audacity is free then the only plunge you have to make is whatever multi-track song files it saves. That’s not much of a loss since the waves it creates can be imported into n-Tracks or whatever other wave-editor-multi-track-app you chose to use.
I know some folks have had major difficulties with n-Tracks but I also know many have had almost not problems with it. With that in mind we should be more open minded when discussing other (and potentially competing) apps here. If n-Tracks had been released by a big company with lots of testers (and likewise cost hundreds of dollars) that story may be different. We should expect more in the way of fixing compatibility issues when company resourses are much more than one guy with whatever machines he can afford.
Hi phoo:
That’s a nice reply to this thread…
AND…
Where would n-Track and it’s users be if this Board applied a “Closed Shop” approach to other editors and their users?
I have belonged to and have subscribed to the Audacity Board/Forum for several years now… I get notifications and mail-outs from their server every day…
I get the chance to see what issues their members are chatting about on a Day-to-Day basis… and how they resolve the issues that confront them…
Bill…
Jamstix does not work with Tracktion and the latest Version is so buggy it doesnt seem to work with anything -
There's another blanket statement you might want to re-think Doc. JamStix works beautifully with Cubase LE, Reaper, Sonar 4LE and I even had it working for a short spell in n-Track a few n builds ago.
I know some folks have had major difficulties with n-Tracks but I also know many have had almost not problems with it. With that in mind we should be more open minded when discussing other (and potentially competing) apps here. If n-Tracks had been released by a big company with lots of testers (and likewise cost hundreds of dollars) that story may be different. We should expect more in the way of fixing compatibility issues when company resourses are much more than one guy with whatever machines he can afford.
Right on phoo. I can be very patient with n-Track. I have what... 75 bucks tied up in it? Big deal. Now if I had dropped SIX HUNDRED dollars or more for Cubase SX4, Sonar 7 etc... and had these kinds of problems and had to wait months and months for a patch or worse... pay for an annual "upgrade" to fix it, I'd be pissed and rightfully so I would think.
Thank goodness for guys like Flavio Antonioli, Justin Frankel, Christophe Thibault and a whole host of other "little" guys for sticking it in the eye of the "big" boys.
D
Oh… by the way, Ted? Audacity seems to be a fine little program. I keep it installed on my laptops for wav editing on the road and have never had a problem with it. I never used it for a multi-tracker though…
Best of luck to you!
D
Hi Guys, 
Thanks everyone for your additional input. I am really enjoying the simplicity and ease of use Audacity.
The help files are well written and easy to understand also.
Ted
Friend of mine in our Band is using Audacity at an impressive level. However, Audacity has severe multi-track limitations. I am a Cubasis (iOS) user and got used to their UI. BUT: For crying out loud - I could NOT get Cubasis to record multi-track from our Behringer X32 Rack mixer. Here then comes n-track. First attempt and WOW - it worked. BUT: n-track as a DAW UI is not my cup of tea - so I export the 10 WAV files I recorded from n-track into Cubasis - and all is well!