Multitrack Hard Disk Recorders

Unlike MixMagic, a digital multitrack recorder records what you play, on either a synthesizer or some other electronic instrument, or what you record with a microphone. You record to each track separately. Normally you play back previously recorded tracks while recording the next track. Hardware-based multitrack recorders can costs thousands of dollars and digital multitrack recorders even more. With Linux, however, a free alternative to expensive hardware is almost always available:

Audacity: cross-platform multitrack audio editor

ecasound: sound-processing, multitrack recording and mixing

hdrbench: tool to measure real-world audio multitrack HD recording

PROTUX: free professional audio tools for Linux

This short list represents the current offering of multitrack recording applications distributed under the GPL. So how do you use a multitrack recorder? The specific process required of each application would certainly be too much to go into here, but in a nutshell you would do the following:

1. Record audio to track 1.

2. Play back track 1 while recording track 2.

3. Play back tracks 1 and 2 while recording track 3.

4. And so on until you have all your tracks recorded.

If this seems a bit wasteful to you, I couldn't agree more. But multitracking has a purpose and a place. For someone with just one synthesizer, it's a way to record a song that a single synthesizer couldn't possibly do if it were being played by a MIDI file. The point is, use whatever tools you need to get the job done.