Advice for simple dependable live stereo recording app?

[philbrown]

I have some clients who are best selling authors and tour the world doing live seminars. They record everything and sell it later as CD's, mp3's etc. They've always recorded and edited in Peak, on various Mac laptops but Peak has become so unstable for their purposes (actually it's never been too dependable) that we need to make a change. DP is so WAAAAY overkill for these folks who are not that technically savvy (and don't want or have time to be). So we're looking at recording to something like a Zoom H4N which would work, but would add extra time copying large files over USB to their already unbelievably hectic schedule. OR - do you guys know of a really simple recording app that is rock-solid dependable? All it needs to do is record a 70 minute long 16 bit stereo wav file from the Macbook Pro line-ins to the internal hard drive. Peak has been locking up regularly even doing that simple task.

Any ideas appreciated!!
Phil

[BradLyons]

Actually, Garage Band would work just fine for that....and it's free. As to Peak locking up, I can't say it's Peak---but rather it's most likely the internal hard-drive of that computer.

[gearboy]

Reaper (just a stereo track, free trial)
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/ + http://www.rogueamoeba.com/fission/
Audacity.

Jeff

[philbrown]

Thanks for the ideas, guys.
Thought of Reaper but hadn't considered Garageband. I've never even opened Garageband! I keep hearing about Reaper but haven't downloaded it yet. I'll give it a look.
As to the hard drive, well these lockups have persisted across probably 7-8 computers over 8-9 years and goes clear back to OS9. No version of Peak has ever been completely stable on any of those machines. Tech support never has much more to offer than trashing prefs as far as solutions. I've always suspected file size/lengths since these are 70 minute files but have never been able to pin it down completely. Actually that's not the latest issue, because the computer is locking up just a few minutes into the recording.

Thanks again
Phil

[philbrown]

Reaper (just a stereo track, free trial)
http://www.rogueamoeba.com/audiohijackpro/ + http://www.rogueamoeba.com/fission/
Audacity.

Jeff

Thanks Jeff!
I forwarded those links on.

[BradLyons]

Thanks for the ideas, guys.
Thought of Reaper but hadn't considered Garageband. I've never even opened Garageband! I keep hearing about Reaper but haven't downloaded it yet. I'll give it a look.
As to the hard drive, well these lockups have persisted across probably 7-8 computers over 8-9 years and goes clear back to OS9. No version of Peak has ever been completely stable on any of those machines. Tech support never has much more to offer than trashing prefs as far as solutions. I've always suspected file size/lengths since these are 70 minute files but have never been able to pin it down completely. Actually that's not the latest issue, because the computer is locking up just a few minutes into the recording.

Thanks again
Phil

Buy a Glyph drive from me, if it doesn't fix it---send it back for a full refund. I'd be shocked if that doesn't fix it.

[dickhauser]

I have some clients who are best selling authors and tour the world doing live seminars. They record everything and sell it later as CD's, mp3's etc.
Phil

Folks on the mailing list really liked "Boom Recorder":

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/a ... order.html

Haven't tried it myself, but seems to fit the bill you're talking about if it's not so feature rich that the client will be turned off.