Hi Mick.

I've tried a bunch of different shareware editors--never made up my mind to put the money out for the full version yet, but if I did, of the ones I've used, it would definitely be CoolEdit. Basically its designed as a media production tool, (I edited Emily's radio play with it. The tryout version is fully functional for 30 days I think, another big plus. It is not a multitracker in the $70 version, you have to pay another $30 for a 4-track version, then there's a fully professional unlimited tracks (I think) for about $250.

It's a good program though and lots of people use it. Other ones I have tried include

• N-Track (just OK)
• GoldWave (OK)
• Acoustica -- a very nice interface and SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED, as the name implies, for acoustic recording. BUT it changes the attributes of your WAV files in a somewhat controversial manner which make them unreadable by many other sound editors.
• Wave Flow -- slow but non-destructive

  I haven't gotten into multi-tracking on the computer--it's too hard to twitch controls and play at the same time.

  Be interesting to hear the results if your plan comes to fruition--my experience is that recordings need a centralized producer/engineer to hear, suggest, and record, for both artistic and technical reasons. You need a pretty strong artistic and technical bond with someone to work out an arrangement without being in the same room...

  All the best buddy, hi to Mary Lou and Ciara.

  W-O