DAW simultaneous input count

[Ian Rae]

At present I'm using Ableton Live Lite to record myself at home, but it's limited to 4 inputs at a time, as is Pro Tools First.

What free or cheap software would give me, say, 8 so I can record our band rehearsals? Is Reaper a candidate?

Thanks

[Nicholas Cox]

Cubase LE can do up to 8 tracks simultaneously. I haven’t used it but it looks decent for free software.

[Ian Rae]

Thanks - will investigate

[Jack Stoner]

Cakewalk by BandLab (formerly Sonar) is a full feature DAW and on a par with ProTools, Studio One, etc. It is free and is kept up to date or features added usually every other month.

Cakewalk has unlimited tracks, MIDI, even includes a version of Melodyne (pitch correction).

I have both Cakewalk and Studio One 4.6 Professional but Cakewalk does everything I need. I've used Sonar/Cakewalk for over 10 years in my studio.

In order to get Cakewalk, you must register and download the BandLab Assistant and then you download Cakewalk via the Assistant.

https://www.bandlab.com/products/desktop/assistant

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

There is also a very good Cakewalk forum
https://discuss.cakewalk.com/

[Tony Prior]

The Reaper forums say YES , as many inputs as you have available from a single interface. Keep in mind , it has to be a discreet 8 track interface. In the published Reaper specs there is no mention of how many ACTIVE recording inputs are available, they just say multiple.


I've never bothered to address this personally, I only use a 4 Input PCI Interface with both PT-8 and PT-12, I believe neither of which have any limitations up to the 256 available tracks . I can upgrade to a 10 input PCI interface but never had the need.

I use a 16 track Zoom R16 ( 8 simultaneous) if I need more than 4 simultaneous inputs/tracks. I've used it maybe twice in the last 7 or 8 years.

Focusrite has some interesting multiple input interfaces available but its unknown what amount of PC resources are required to use them all at the same time. When tracking LIVE, resources can get used up in a hurry. So its a balancing act.

[mtulbert]

Reaper will allow as many inputs as you have available as Tony mentioned. They can all be active. I have recorded 15 tracks at once with no problem. Be cautioned that it also depends on the horsepower of your computer to be able to process the signals coming in.

[Ian Rae]

Thanks, everyone. It seems either Cakewalk or Reaper would do what I want. We're all locked down here, so plenty of time to try both if I want to.

I don't want to do a lot of fancy post-production ; I just want to be able to do a bit of quick rebalancing of rehearsal recordings when we are allowed to get together again. In the short term I need all 6 inputs from my Focusrite box, and in the longer term maybe 10 from something larger.

I have recorded 15 tracks at once with no problem. Be cautioned that it also depends on the horsepower of your computer to be able to process the signals coming in.

I understand the trade-off involved - I'll just have to suck it and see

[Jack Stoner]

Unless you are doing a lot of MIDI, CPU/Memory isn't a big issue. I've done 30 plus tracks and never reached 8GB of memory use, with Cakewalk. That was all "analog" tracks with VST's of some type on most tracks. I had a demo project in old Sonar that was 114 tracks and many MIDI and it too never peaked over 8GB of RAM with an early i7 3770 CPU and Win 7.

[Ian Rae]

I shall be dealing exclusively in recorded audio tracks - I don't use midi at all.

[Edward Efira]

You can use GarageBand, free for mac users.

[Ian Rae]

I'm Windows. I just downloaded Reaper and watched a basic tutorial. I figure I can already do everything I need to. I may try Cakewalk as well out of curiosity.

Thanks to all who contributed - without this forum I'd still be going round in circles!