Best Multi-Track Recording Software For Newbies, Simple, effective, inexpensive, for OS X Options

[Dadoo]

Wanting to make decent multi-track recordings at home with my own music equipment and software and computer. I have an iMac 600 MHz with 512 MB of RAM and I'm running OS 10.2.8. I have the Audiophile USB sound interface. Would want to record music with vocals or without sometimes. Would like to be able to burn to standard CD format (AIFF). Thanks for voting, and thanks for any additional comments!

[Dadoo]

Have had a bit of time to try out Tracktion for Mac. So far, it has been fairly easy to use and seems to produce good results, although the demo puts in a periodic "hiss" which interrupts the recorded sound occasionally. I like the ease of adding filters or effects to tracks or individual clips. It seems to have a very easy learning curve, based on my very limited experience in this and the short length of time I have had to work with this program and achieve some results.

A couple of questions, though, if I may. The sound level seems to be low. I'm putting my bass and guitar directly into my Audiophile USB interface. Should I be running it through a pre-amp first? If so, what pre-amp works well for computer recording? I do have a PA system, would that work as a pre-amp or is it too powerful?

Also, how do you get the recording to go on both left and right of the stereo sound when you only have individual left and right input jacks on the USB interface?

Thanks again!

[Stuarta]

Traktion is a great piece of software and relatively inexpensive and easy to use. I voted for Metro, it has been around in one form or another for years and the support is really good. I have not had a great deal of luck wit hMackie support and I do have quite a bit of Mackie gear.

Please do not try and use your PA as a pre Amp for your Bass input, you will at the best get a misearable sound, and may blow some stuff up.

If you are going to go Direct Injection where you don't mike up the bass amp (and I don't blame you it is a hassle, even if the sound is great).

There are several ways t oget the bass into your interface without blowing it up and gainining a bunch of sounds as well.

Line 6 make the Bass Pod and it has a Direct injection out and it will emulate a ton of different bass cabinets and amps, plus give you some neat sound effects.

There may also be a setting on your Interface that can be set from say +4Dbu to -10Dbu which would give you quite a sound boost. If you are trying to go DI (Direct Injection) into your Interface, you need to ensure that at least one of the inputs is a Hi Z input as it is really not a good idea plugging a bass or a guitar directly into line input, especially one of those that is switchable between Micropone with Phantom Power and regular line.
I know you are just getting it together , but a good set of Pods or similar can first of all save you a lot of heartbreak, plus they can give you a ton of sounds you would have to tie down your CPU trying to reproduce. There are a lot of DI boxes out there, some are specific like the Damage Control boxes, and some are more generalized like the Line 6 gear.

If you already have your own sound and like it, then you really need to ne miking your amp up as that is the only way you will get the real sound of your stage performances.

If you are experimenting then the Virtual Amps and Cabinets that you can find around these days can be a reall buzz and save you a fortune.