Alternative for Audacity?

Marais

New member
Hello to all,

Just finished two days recording on my SONY VAIO VGN-AW 11S with 4G of RAM
Used Audacity.
It works fine for about 5 takes.
If you have a large file - a piece of music that last around 5 minutes starting on take 6 all RAM is totally used up.
This means one waits longer and longer with each take to save, do basic tasks like naming tracks, etc.
I started chopping sessions up into two parts.

On the other hand I record and do post prod at home on my Mac with Logic Pro X in only has 2 Gigs more memory so I don't think this is the issue, as Audacity recommends 4 Gigs of memory.

On Windows 10.

Any recommendations for a better recording tool for PC that won't get so annoyingly slow after just a few takes?

Thanks a million!12718155_10153528595664436_4533361246597556861_n.jpg
 
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Yeah. +1 for Reaper. Audacity's good for really minimal stuff (recording a quick, 1-track thing; normalizing), but if you want to do any serious multi-track recording a full-featured DAW like Reaper is the way to go. (Of which, Reaper is the cheapest!)
 
Thank y'all! I bought Reaper. Now delving in.
One annoying feature though is it doesn't just recognize a stereo input. You have to manually set it and then duplicate track to avoid each and every time to tell that it indeed is stereo.
This is not the case with Logic Pro X. Just set preferences to input mics 1 +2 and all tracks are stereo...
I've joined the Reaper forum and maybe they'll have tips.
In any case it is much much better it seems than Audacity.
Also BTW the SONY VAIO VGN-AW 11S doesn't seem to have anything more than 2G RAM chips - two slots so now more memory it seems.
But I think Reaper will do the job.
 
One annoying feature though is it doesn't just recognize a stereo input. You have to manually set it and then duplicate track to avoid each and every time to tell that it indeed is stereo.
This is not the case with Logic Pro X. Just set preferences to input mics 1 +2 and all tracks are stereo...


Reaper's default is to set each input as mono, and to the first channel of your interface, and initialises with no tracks. From memory, Logic opens with a set of mono inputs, with each corresponding to the channels of your interface. You selected mono or stereo by toggling a button on the track. (I don't know about current versions of Logic. The last I used was pre-Mac Logic 5.1.)

There are pros and cons with each default. The Logic default makes for a very quick multi-track start-up. The Reaper makes for a very quick do-what-ever-you-want start up. Reaper doesn't care what you use a track for (midi, audio), whereas Logic does (or did).

Nevertheless, it is relatively easy to make Reaper behave like Logic.

Open up Reaper.

Create a bunch of tracks.

Set each track to be stereo (or mono), and to correspond top the interface channels.

Save as a template.

When you stat a new project, just load the template and there you have the whole thing before your eyes.

Note that the template doesn't just have to be an arrangement of inputs. You can create effects tracks (e.g. reverb), tracks with vsti that you use a lot, tracks with fx with your favourite settings and so on, and save all that as a template.
 
I like programs that don't make assumptions about what it thinks I want to do. Setting up an input track takes a few clicks. Simples.
 
Thank you Gecko Zzed! That will make life simple.
If I need to remember each and every time in a classical recording context where from time to time we have as many as 50 takes in a session to click to set up the stereo, surely I'll forget and have to restart the session. Not very good for concentration for the musician!
So I think the fault of this program compared to Pro Tools, Logic Pro X and even Audacity is just this - too many clicks to set up a track.

At least for what I'm using it for.
On the other hand this all started as Audacity gets slower and slower the more tracks you add.
This is not the case at all in Logic Pro.

I'll be using Reaper regularly and certainly will find joys and sorrows.
But I will still keep to editing on Logic...

Thanks to all!
 
Dittos to Reaper also. I recorded on desk type all in one MTR's for years. When I first made the jump, I bought a cheap m-audio interface that had PT express bundled with it and... (I don't want to make the Pro Tools users out there mad cause all of this is subjective) but needless to say it wasn't for me. So I bought a Focusrite Scarlette 18i8 and tried Reaper and haven't looked back. There may be better DAW's out there, but for the money and excellent support you get on their forum, I don't think you can beat it.
 
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