Looking for old school audio multitrack with features

[yul]

Hey guys, it looks like I have a huge blind spot on this subject and need to catch up please.

My DAW (Mulab) supports audio but manipulation is limited.

I am looking for basic stuff... timeline, multi track, audio editing (including reverse if possible), copy/paste/split, effects (vst, non destroying) etc..

I tried Audacity but it's almost unusable to me. It looks like Acid is the starting point here.

Is there anything in between or in the freeware, open source world?

Thanks so much

[Etienne1973]

If you're serious about multi tracking and manipulating audio events then you could consider free Tracktion 7 with its ease of use.

[dellboy]

Peasy - Bandlab Cakewalk Sonar.

And its free.

https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk

[whyterabbyt]

If you're serious about multi tracking and manipulating audio events then you could consider free Tracktion 7 with its ease of use.

If going down the Tracktion route, possibly better to wait until the next free version of Waveform, based on the Waveform 11 code, comes out. Its in beta, shouldnt be long.

However I agree with dellboy that Sonar fulfills the stated criteria well.

[Etienne1973]

If register @ BandLab is no deal breaker for you then Sonar is worth a closer look. Me, myself hesitate to be a gear of this platform. I don't know why. Maybe because it doesn't match my definition of real freedom.

[Winstontaneous]

If you're serious about multi tracking and manipulating audio events then you could consider free Tracktion 7 with its ease of use.

FWIW I was a loyal Tracktion user almost from the beginning, but gave up on it by T7/T8 due to bugginess.

REAPER has a learning curve (and is quite polarizing) but you can use just its basic features.

[oneway]

If it has to be free just go with REAPER and you don’t have to use all the advanced features. The only real learning curve is the initial setup- to make it into an intuitive old school audio multitrack DAW experience you’ll have to change a lot of the default settings and deal with its rather convoluted setup process but after that it’s low maintenance.

[yul]

Thanks so much guys! I will have a look. It seems like the candidates are all the ones I have worked with in the past to some extent. I will revisit these. Cheers

[bk]

If it has to be free just go with REAPER and you don’t have to use all the advanced features.

Reaper isn't free.

[dellboy]

If register @ BandLab is no deal breaker for you then Sonar is worth a closer look. Me, myself hesitate to be a gear of this platform. I don't know why. Maybe because it doesn't match my definition of real freedom.

You have to register to get Tracktion 7 so whats different about registering to get Bandlab Sonar ?

[oneway]

If it has to be free just go with REAPER and you don’t have to use all the advanced features.

Reaper isn't free.

Yeah I know it's not free (I own a license) but it might as well be, $60 is nothing. Plus it has that whole nag screens system- unsurprisingly tons of "die hard" REAPER uses still haven't paid for it.

[replicant X]

deleted

[Schmidi]

I've really gotten good use out of Mixcraft lately. I think it checks all of your boxes.