Audio (Music) Recording Software for Mac?

[ahrenba]

Hey Guys,

I just got my first mac, and am looking to find a good audio recording/editing program for it.

I record vocals and guitar. On the PC I used Adobe Audition and Ableton Live.

What are the equivalents of these programs on a mac?

Note: I know about Audacity, but I am looking for something a little more full-featured (VST effects, etc.)

 

[1visitor]

Not sure, but I think Ableton Live has a Mac version.

No equivalent for Audition, sorry. It seems Adobe found it too hard to build a Mac-version, and found it a questionable benefit given the dominance of Logic and Pro Tools in the Mac realm. So instead they decided to push Soundbooth (which apparently does for Premiere what Soundtrack does for Final Cut, an audio resource for video/film makers).
You can use Audition with a BootCamp XP. It also works in virtualized XP, at least for not very demanding tasks.

I'm sure there are plenty recording programs for OSX, but my guess is if you want the capability of Audition you might have to recur to the top pro stuff like Logic (for audio AND MIDI) or Pro Tools (audio).
If you'd rather not use XP at all, I'd say try stuff like SoundStudio and similar ones, and check if you can live without Audition's ways.
Meanwhile, until you decide on which one serves you, the free GarageBand can do the job for simple stuff.
Hope this helps.

 

[rhythmicaljim]

Recording Software for a G3

Hey Folks.

I also recently aquired my first mac. However Its a slightly old G3 imac. Still agreat machine though, but I am finding it difficult to get advice as to what music recording software there is available for it. I know it's too old to run garage band but surely there must be someting out there for it. It is currently running OSX V10.3.9 and has 768MB SD RAM.

Can anyone help?

Regards
J.

 

[1visitor]

old G3 imac.
I am finding it difficult to get advice as to what music recording software
It is currently running OSX V10.3.9 and has 768MB SD RAM.
J.

I have never used a pre-intel Mac, but I suggest that you search Google and Apple's download section for audio software that runs with your OSX version (Panther, right ?). For every software description there is a parte that says "requirements". From what I've heard there are many good choices, which might only face problems with recent hardware, so if you intend to buy any external audio or MIDI device, you should also check for its compatibility with your OSX version

 

[mperkins37]

Soundstudio http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=5012 is a very well rounded program that is on the cheap. I used it a bit before getting Final Cut Studio.

 

[BoxOfSnoo]

Reaper (http://reaper.fm ) has a beta version of the Mac software, it's definitely full-featured. Tiger and higher only though.

 

[1visitor]

Yes, Reaper is coming on very strong.
It still has issues to cover but the speed at which it's being developed is very impressive and what it already does is a lot. The author is the genius who created WinAmp.
It is a very light and fast program (I believe it can be run from a pen-drive) which does audio and MIDI and accepts VST and VSTi plugins.

The trial version is fully functional and it technically doesn't expire.
It's very cheap and it already has a large community of users.

But: Reaper is nowhere near Audition in terms of built-in audio capabilities.
It is mostly a sequencer, so either on Mac or PC it will require some audio-dedicated add-on for many tasks.

An other alternative you might consider is buying a piece of hardware that you have a use for (like a Zoom Pedal, a Presonus or Tascam sound card) which comes bundled with Cubase LE or LE4. It's a good software, and being free doesn't hurt. I have LE which seems OK although I'm considering the Logic route (if I can justify the investment). LE4 is more capable but I hear it's less friendly to install, while the other versions of Cubase even require you to use a physical dongle.

MU.LAB is an other option, and it has a free version (6 tracks, 16-bit).

But really, if you don't need to export to MIDI, GarageBand comes free with OSX and could possibly do the job until you decide to comit and pay for a better software (read: Logic Express is not too expensive and has most of the essential features of the full Logic Studio, in version 8, not version 7).