Topic: good software?

[ropscot]

I was just wondering what some good recording software is, right now I use a mini disc and need something to upload with, but soon I plan on useing my laptop, also what is a good sound card to use for my laptop, also I will be running from the sb to  a mixer to do a matrix mix
thanks
Ron

[dklein]

I'll let others with more experience address the soundcard question.  I'd suggest you search the archives as this is a regular question.  As a minidisc taper you might be interested in picking up a used minidisc deck with a digital output and and CMI 8738 based soundcard so you can do digital, bit-perfect transfers.  Or just grab a Nomad Jukebox to replace your minidisc since the $ are close to the same.  Otherwise, you're taking the analog out and going back into the digital domain again with a soundcard.

For recording software, if you don't plan on doing any editing, CDWave will do the trick and help you track out your recording so you can burn to cd.  If you do plan on editing, the popular choices for a pc are Cool Edit Pro (my fave), Wavelab and Soundforge.  Each have their own fanbase.

For your laptop, most folks seem to go with an outboard unit vs. a soundcard.  What's your budget?