http://ardour.org/
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/
http://www.digitalsoundplanet.com/SoftwareHouse/Products/Audio_Master/Freeware/freeware.phtml

Ardour is the only open source software. It also only runs on Linux or OS-X.

Exactly.

Ardour, I've used and like. JACK (which it needs) has been (is being) ported to Windows - Ardour isn't. I cba porting it myself.

Kristal as mentioned isn't open source and although I'd love to simply update it, the "K2" new version which is afaik in development hasn't been updated in a long time.

I have the installer for that last link sitting in my "Stuff" folder, but for some reason I haven't installed it.
(Better not get my hopes up)

I seem to be suffering from having tried just about every free audio app out there, and found nothing I like.

Codemonkey,
I know their "Stupid Ambitions", but Do you know the saying?
"You get what you pay for."
Believe me, I have spent a small fortune on my little studio, not to mention all the time I have spent working on recording tunes. I bought a new macbook last year along with a presonus firestudio and I use Logic Pro. After paying $1000 for Logic 7, two months later they dropped the price down to $500 when they released Logic 8 and I had to just deal with it and pay the $200 to upgrade to Lp8. So I paid $1200 for my Logic. And yes, it was worth every penny to me because it works and it sounds better than I expected it too. If you want to find support for what DAW you choose you will have to pay for it because thats how it works. I would suggest you earn the money to buy the best software you like, its the only way to go if you heart is really into the music. Free software finds its way to the trash eventually. My suggestion is to use your precious time wisely.

Oh, I disagree with that, jammster.

You get what you pay for is changing. Nearly all I use is open source and free software and it's all stable and just good. Firefox, Adium, Google Apps, Quicksilver, Growl. Everything except Logic at this point.

But I'd like to try out Ardour. It looks solid.

Means you gotta run linux, Jack, pray that it works with your soundcard, oh, and work out how to get LASH installed and working unless you want to re-patch your entire Jack config EVERY time you load it.

Apparently it's aimed at PT users.
But this is the thing: I'm sick of daft interfaces that get in the way of things, and either use midnight blue, or Windows grey.

I know I should just pay for a proper app, but I wonder why...
£300 just to get 3 more features than in Kristal?

DAWs shouldn't sound different btw...
Supplied stock plugins, yes, but the audio engine shouldn't.

I kinda agree with you get what you pay for - but IMO pay includes the concept of time.
However I do silly amounts of voluntary work.

Codemonkey wrote:
DAWs shouldn't sound different btw...
Supplied stock plugins, yes, but the audio engine shouldn't.

I'd be surprised if they sounded the same. Remember that each has its own code, and may do things a "bit" differently....(ahem).

The way they do the math might not be exactly the same. The level meters may not be "calibrated" exactly the same. The panning may be finer or coarser. The buses may be a bit off from each other.

ANYthing that changes in a computer program may affect something else.
The raw information of a file taken from this program and opened in another may be exactly the same, which would lead anyone to assume that it should sound the same, but the way it's processed subsequently may not be.

Or, am I a "bit" off? :wink:

Kapt.Krunch

Ah, yes. Now I do understand.
Thanks for enlightening me, I've been way, way behind on the latest computer scene, trying to catch up to you. I had been using an old 8100 ppc from 1998-2007 so I have been catching up lately. I hope the open source software such as Ardour gets the support it needs to get drivers developed. Remember these computers are still a "young" technology. After they have been around long enough they will hopefully program easier.
I have to admit the open source world is great because everything is shared and not monopolized.

By the way Stephen, what a cool website! Nice songs! Keep up the good work, Bret

Mhmm, at this point, the commercial DAWs are going to have a significant advantage over the open source, but perhaps we'll see more of an interest in open source DAWs with both the open source movement and the low budget home studio movement.

Could be wrong, though. Maybe we'll always have to give our moneys for a good DAW.

"We are currently seeking developers who are interested in Porting Koblo Studio to Linux. You can download all the source code here:"

http://koblo.com/studio

Just another stone in the pond.

The amount of editors out there staggers me...

But I get the impression they're all the same featureless crap.

Ardour isn't the one with no drivers ;) Steinberg won't let VST SDKs be dished out, ALSA provides the backend which doesn't work with your soundcard and Ardour only provides support for control surfaces.

Another to look into: Rosegarden.
A different shade of grey to the rest of the apps, provides decent support for stuff. More MIDI focused.