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In case you have not heard, you can get a FREE version of Digidesign’s ProTool. There are some limits as to what the program can do. Most notiably you cannot use Digidesign hardware to record audio. Just built in Macintosh sound. I’ve been using this program for the last couple of weeks and well….It’s a nice program, but it’s not really a creative environment. If you have some stuff you’ve done via another midi program and want to add live audio with it this is the program hands down. It’s really cool. The effects and audio editing you can do are extensive. Even with this free software, you’re not really limited except for the number of tracks. The plugins included work great. Its a great program to master a song/arrangement/cd.

What I don’t like about this program is the midi end of it. Basically, I think the midi editing sucks. It’s not a very creative environment where you can see where all your tracks are coming in, and actually see music notation rather than “graphic midi” editing. Anything Midi I’ve been creating I have to do on something else. Usually Cakewalk. I just ordered Digital Performer to become the focus of my virtual studio. Digital Performer because the environment seems so much more coheasive than ProTools. I can edit my midi stuff with actual notation, etc, etc. And I can do digital audio. I can even, I believe, transfer my Performer files to ProTools. We’ll see.

Digidesign Protools free is cool, works great. But if your looking to use it as a sequencer, or want to use live audio and midi, you might consider something else. I think the midi editing really hampers the program. But the audio editing you can do with this free version of ProTools makes it something you should atleast download if it will run on your system (192 Megs Ram, HD space, etc).