May Birthdays 
I'm taking a little break from Audacity (which has been a bit too crash-happy lately) and I'm trying out something else called Ardour. My needs are very basic (I simply record on a field recorder, and then transfer the WAV files to my DAW for editing and mixing), but I think this may also fit the bill for more professional projects too... especially if you don't want to spend any bills for software.
[image](http://ardour.org/files/mixbus_osx_new_tiny.png)Ardour is a digital audio workstation. You can use it to record, edit and mix multi-track audio. You can produce your own CDs, mix video soundtracks, or just experiment with new ideas about music and sound.
Ardour capabilities include: multichannel recording, non-destructive editing with unlimited undo/redo, full automation support, a powerful mixer, unlimited tracks/busses/plugins, timecode synchronization, and hardware control from surfaces like the Mackie Control Universal. If you've been looking for a tool similar to ProTools, Nuendo, Pyramix, or Sequoia, you might have found it.
Above all, Ardour strives to meet the needs of professional users. This means implementing all the "hard stuff" that other DAWs ( even some leading commercial apps ) handle incorrectly or not at all. Ardour has a completely flexible " anything to anywhere" routing system, and will allow as many physical I/O ports as your system allows.
Ardour supports a wide range of audio-for-video features such as video-synced playback and pullup/pulldown sample rates. You will also find powerful features such as "persistent undo", multi-language support, and destructive track punching modes that aren't available on other platforms.
The Linux version can be downloaded from the main Ardour download page.
Although Ardour is available for download and use without cost, the makers request that people make a donation to help support their work.
It's a nice little freebie, but alas, only works on Linux and OS X right now. I don't know how it compares to higher-end DAW software, but it's probably your best choice if you're on Linux like I am. Thumbs up!
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