Since there does not seem to be a good forum for this on 8notes, nothing very MIDI or computer based I will pose the question in this forum since multi track recording is central to composition since it involves the combination of many parts onto individual tracks to compose a song.

One of the problems I have run across over and over again in digital audio multitrack recording software is the ability to do very many tracks before and mix and keep them separate and record them all at the same time. Invariably 2 stereo tracks seems to be the realistic limit (meaning 4 tracks actually, 2 tracks would be stereo). Then the software wants to "bounce" these tracks together to get another track. Eventually even with digital bouncing, there are sound quality issues in the recording. This is really a problem because you cannot remix the individual tracks later to do a final mix down.

I have a pretty decent up to speed computer with 1.5 GB of RAM, Pentium 4 2.8 GHz, 160 GB of IDE Hard Disk (7200 RPM). I run 128 MB Video card ATI, and basically keep it stripped down clean with no unwanted software, malware, adware, spyware, viruses, etc. I know my computer is clean, and is NOT the issue here. I built it myself, and it has a Biostar Main board and I am using a Creative Labs 128 Gold PCI sound card with Wave table synthesis running GS sound assignments. I also plug in via the MIDI port as needed for recording MIDI data and sequencing. I use Cubasis 3.3 and Cubase 4.4 depending on what I am trying to do. Neither pull off the multi track recording trick very well. I have tried also a whole list of others and still have many installed, I will name some here later...

I have tried at least 30 different softwares that are suppose to do multi-track recording, and none actually pull it off to any acceptable degree. I am still forced to go back to the old analog cassette 4-track if I want to multi-track, and/or use my MIDI sequencers to do the real multi-track work. I know there are also digital hard disk multi trackers but those will cost me much more money ( I saw a cheap 8 tracker for about 400.00), and since I already spent over 10K, I need a price wise solution.

What software is out there that could run on a computer like mine, and do at least 8 tracks (4 stereo) tracks, and is not going to cost me over 100 dollars? I must be able to mix all the tracks individually and after they are recorded. I need to be able to mix in MIDI as well (at least 32 tracks) (something that Cubase does very well. I need 44 KHz or better quality. I have heard of software that can pull this off, like Creamware, and yet even though I have seen demos of this, none have actually been able to work as well when I buy them and get them home. They have issues with multi tracking. They want to bounce the tracks and they lose quality or get muddy after the bounce. I have not found a good one yet. Does any one have any suggestions? I really need a decent recorder that can record 5 minutes straight and not lock up the computer, freak out, cut out, shut off the track, and basically just do the job.

Thank you for any suggestions.

As part of my research into getting multi track recording done on a computer, I have also learned about break out boxes like the Layla which can do 8, 16 or even 24 tracks before anything ever gets to the computer. These little gems can cost used over 200.00 and not quite what I want. I want to see the software pull this off. This is something I have not seen from any of the softwares that record audio data. Just because there are individual waves created doesn't mean they are all mixable. My brother explained some things about the Layla, and it does seem to work with the software to pull this off. he Layla uses it'w own computer interface card, and works independent from the sound card. This is probably why it works when the others do not on my system. I am pretty sure now there is no software that can do what I am trying to do with a basic sound card. I will have to consider a hard disk recorder or something like the Layla.