What programs/software are similar to Garage Band?

Question

but i want it p.c compatable and maybe cheaper?

Answer 1

I think you should look at Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/GuitarTracksPro/features.asp
It looks pretty full-featured for $100 (Musician's Friend) http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Cakewalk-Guitar-Tracks-Pro-3?sku=704988&src=00633

Cheaper? How about free.

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

With Audacity you can:

* Record from microphone, line input, or other sources
* Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings
* Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware)
* Monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording with level meters

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/features

Sony's (Sonic Foundry) Acid products are useful too. You can download and try for free, but only the Pro version supports multitrack audio recording. Their VEGAS product is cool too, but you can only record four audio tracks unless you get the "Production" version.

http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/products/showproduct.asp?PID=971&FeatureID=8359

There's a lot out there; which one to choose depends on price versus feature-set. Most of these require Windows XP, and you WILL need a reasonably fast computer with plenty RAM and (especially) a fast hard drive. I would recommend a second drive, because the primary drive tends to keep moving the heads to perform housekeeping (operating system) tasks. Probably not a problem with 2 or 4 tracks but becomes a problem after you've added a bunch of overdub tracks.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Acid (I believe it's on version 5.0)
www.acidplanet.com

Enjoy.