I have just aquired a g3 ibook 600mhz 384 ram 20 gig hard drive cd burner, I'm looking for a freeware program i can do multitrack recording on, very simple, I am using an imic into a USB and have been getting terrible sound on audacity and can't figure out how to add tracks...also want to be able to burn cds of what i record. Any suggestions? Thanks!

might it be possible the horrible sound might be a result of the i-mic? i haven't used audacity but i'd check that mic out in different settings before i rushed to conclude that the problem lie with the software.

mcc>

Regarding the iMic, I would also suggest checking all your settings. Are you running your iBook on battery power or plugging in when recording? I've heard on a number of occasions about people having noise/static issues when recording while the laptop was plugged in which disappeared after they unplugged.

Regarding Audacity, on the menu bar click on Project>New Audio Track to add new tracks.

If you want to try some other free sequencers, go to the software section of this site for Ardour, Luna Free, or Pro Tools Free.

http://www.macmusic.org/software/cat.php/lang/en/id/7014/

Hope this helps.

Ron

The Imic has one input with a switch to match the impedance of what you plug into it. What are you recording? Vocals with microphone? (Is the mic of good quality and low impedance?) Or an instrument like electric guitar? Make sure the switch is set properly. Because the Imic is inexpensive, the microphone "pre-amp" that's built into it doesn't always provide a good quality recording. You can move the switch to "Line Level" and follow this advice from Griffin-

"ADVANCED RECORDING TECHNIQUES
If you’re not satisfied with the quality level you get with the more basic recording approaches, there are alternatives. They require additional equipment, because the final iMic Input signal must be Line Level. For vocals, you’ll be using low impedance microphones and some type of mic pre-amp (stand-alone or mixer). For instruments, you’re running from the Line Out of either your mixer or your amp. You will need some type of mixer if you want to record any two or more inputs simultaneously, In these cases, you’ll be going from “Line Out” on the mixer to “Line In” on the iMic, which means the switch will be pushed toward the microphone icon. Follow the steps in STEP 2 OS X– Setting up the iMic and recording to assure you’ve got input. Obviously, at this point you’re using advanced software and you’ll need to familiarize yourself with how that software sees USB Audio. We’ve tested the range of professional level digital audio software available for the Macintosh, and all of it is compatible with the iMic.

If you don’t have a mic pre-amp or mixer, you can use a Line Level Transformer coupled with a 1/4” to 1/8” adapter (both available at electronic stores such as Radio Shack). It’s not an elegant solution, but should work fine."

Whatever software you record into,... adjust the volume, input level, so that it's not too loud? Too much volume = distortion.

The Imic (only one input) can only record one track, stereo or mono at a time. Your software will need the ability to import the tracks, created one at a time, then combine them.

Freeware. Besides the other responses, I could recommend Harmony Assistant? I like it. Although I use it for music composition, it has many capabilities for recording too. It's available for download with minimum attributes, for free online. (But! The free version will not let you save your project unfortunately.)

http://www.myriad-online.com/en/products/harmony.htm

While you're on their website to check it out, search their manual for Harmony Assistant for "Digital Audio Tracks". This will explain how to combine multiple single tracks.

Once you're satisfied with your recording, save it as a file type, that Itunes or your CD burning software will recognize, import it to that application, (I use Itunes), then you can burn it to CD from there.

This post has been edited by jce44: Sun 6 Aug 2006, 14:56

The iMic is - frankly - rubbish. Audacity is capable of entirely professional recordings. You should change the former, but not necessarily the latter.