List of Free or Open Source DAWs, Sequencers, and Hosts for Windows:

[LBN]

Macaw - free AND open source
http://code.google.com/p/macaw/

A list of features:

* Multitrack MIDI Sequencer.
* Clip based sequencer.
* Sampler - load soundfonts, edit soundfonts.
* Synth - load plugins.
* Load VST plugins.
* Edit waves.
* Help file.
* Import MP3, Ogg, AIFF, Voc, WAV etc...
* Export whole song to MP3, OGG or make samples per key or split to the soundfont editor.

[herodotus]

Kristal
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Kristal is NOT a DAW! It is more like Audacity than anything else. It is only an audio editor from what I can see.

Actually, Kristal is a Multi-track recorder/editor, with limited editing and easy mixing functionality. Audacity is for working with single tracks.

And my buddy has a standalone hardware device that has the exact same functionality as Kristal, and it's manufacturer (Yamaha) calls it a DAW.

[beltrom]

Audacity is for working with single tracks.

Not necessarily, Audacity can do multitrack recording.

[captain caveman]

Nice idea if it wasn't for the pathetic "reviews" attached.

[RunBeerRun]

Audacity is awesome, certainly designed for multiple tracks. You can't record 2 tracks at once, assuming your have a limited amount of hands to begin with.

[Deathbliss]

Removed by poster

[herodotus]

Audacity is for working with single tracks.

Not necessarily, Audacity can do multitrack recording.

Sure, but it's hardly a convenient mixing environment.

I will admit, though, that it really is an astonishingly useful application.

[Deathbliss]

Removed by poster

[Deathbliss]

Removed by poster

[sunhome]

Revisit - might be a possibility
http://www.nashnet.co.uk/english/revisit/

[audiojunkie]

I'm really, really surprised that no one has mentioned Ardour. It has the potential to be the most.........oh, wait............

--Sean

[:x]Yeah it looks like an awesome program, for OSX and Linux, neither of which I have installed on my laptop, and neither of which I would ever run.

I've been using Windows for 11 years or so. It's not out of loyalty or anything. It's the OS I used when I got my first real computer (outside the TRS 80 I had). It's the OS I understand and I don't have to spend much time learning in subsequent versions.

When they make a free OS that I can play any game released for Windows on, that's intuitive, easy to use and has the support of a huge community behind it, I'll install it and leave Windows behind forever. But until that day comes I only care about stuff I can install on the OS I'm stuck with.[/:x]

Sekaiju, Macaw, Svar Tracker, and SEQ24 have all been added to my list. I found four of those myself last night while Googling around, but Svar Tracker is one I never found. Thank you for these suggestions. I will install them and provide comments later (welcome or not).
- Deathbliss

--Sean

[audiojunkie]

I'd never heard of it before today, but PacificV's Mcaw looks pretty interesting.

--Sean

[Deathbliss]

Updated.

[spacedad]

you forgot tunafish and friends...
http://www.brambos.com/archive.html
and another one you'll hate.
http://openmpt.org/

[bullshark]

Deathbliss most of the ones you state as "This is not a DAW" is exactly what they are hahaha
What do people think a Digital Audio Workstation is exactly hahaha

NAS

Well to my mind a DAW AKA Sequencer AKA Host (these terms seem to be used interchangeably) is a piece of software where you can create music.

That's wrong, plain and simple. The term DAW is an acronym, come from

Digital
Audio
Workstation

as NAS pointed out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_workstation

So a sequencer is software that is part of, and runs on, a DAW, so's an audio editor. I understand that the terms are used interchangeably amongst the KVR population, but the world doesn't revolve around KVR and it doesn't make it right.

Oh, and so this post stays on topic, Reaper also has a free version, available here: http://www.cockos.com/reaper/download-old.php?ver=0x