n-Track Studio 5.0.6

On the totem pole of audio utilities, I think n-Track Studio 5 is just about three-fourths of the way up, but it’s priced like an audio utility closer to the bottom of the pole at $54 (standard version). Looking and feeling something like a shareware version of Apple’s GarageBand, n-Track is a full-featured audio mixer that gets better and better with each update.

At its heart, n-Track is a multiline recorder and mixer, limited only by your PC hardware. If you have five sound cards (16- or 24-bit), for example, n-Track can record five stereo lines at once at up to a 192KHz sampling rate. Once recorded, you can add other MIDI files on their own tracks and then mix down all of them into a single WAV file.

Although n-Track isn’t really a sound editor (you’ll still need Audacity or Sound Forge for some conversion and most editing duties), it comes with all of the filters you need to add reverb and echo, alter pitch without altering speed (or vice versa), or adjust volume (either manually or automatically). In addition, n-Track applies real-time audio effects nondestructively, so you can always go back to your unaltered source WAV files. You can also add DirectX and VST plug-ins for other effects.

The latest beta adds several small bug fixes and tweaks to existing features. If you haven’t checked out n-Track lately, you will be surprised by its many GUI enhancements, including full skinning options, dockable and (sometimes) resizable palettes, and a better drag and drop environment. Active development of n-Track Studio continues, so if you need a feature or discover a bug, there is a good chance you will get a response quickly.

URL: www.ntrack.com