Audiofile Engineering

I run this on Macbook Pro i7 with 8gb ram with OSX 10.6 and an RME Fireface800. So far I have had zero compatibility issues. The manual is decent enough but the software is simple enough that I only looked in the manual to find an answer to my issue I am having, but alas there was no mention of it. The configuration is very simple. It is a stand alone mixer application that allows third party plugin support. If you are familiar with a mixer and how software behaves, you should have no issues running this software. The typical function are very easily accessible. Most slots that you add plugins or change parameters have quick drop down menus for quick and easy tweaking. The faders are great, although I was confused at first how they operate, but once you get used to it, you will love it. What I mean is most programs you click and drag the faders, this one, you just hover over the fader and use a two finger slide on my trackpad (or right click mouse) and drag it. It's very convenient when working from a laptop. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I use this in conjunction with RME's Totalmix software. Basically I "loopback" my whole mix into Rax3 to apply some final "whole mix" reverb and compression. For this it works fantastic. I haven't tried using it for actual mixing of live music, but from my experience using it in my fashion, I imagine this would perform great. It reminds me very much of Waves Multi rack but it has the one thing that Multirack does not, third party plugin support. So far, I have never had any crashes or latency issues or anything. It just simple does what it says it can do and it does it well. I give it a 9 out of 10. The only reason it loses a point is because of it's lack of Side chain compression. I have been using it for a few months now as a replacement for Multirack. OVERALL OPINION What I like about this software is it is very easy to use, very stable and only cost about $80. What I don't like is I cannot get it do Side chain compression which is really important for me when I do my "Dance" music set. I have actually been in contact with the developers and after much back and forth, they basically told me it's not going to happen. I am very disappointed because I have two software mixers now that are both great but each is missing one thing that the other has: Rax 3 has 3rd party plugin support but can't side chain, Multirack is the exact opposite. What a bummer. The price was great, even despite the lack of side chain. At $80, if you need to do some live mixing from you laptop and don't require side chain, then look no further. I still have use for this software so I don't regret buying it, but I would be so happy if they ended up adding side chain capabilities to the list of features.