Audio geeks and songwriters have another tool at their disposal: FourTrack, a well-designed app for the iPhone or iPod Touch that records, mixes and plays up to four tracks like a shrunken version of Pro Tools. There's no way it'll replace your main recording setup, but then again, you can't put your main recording setup in your pocket.

FourTrack (iTunes link) is the work of Sonoma Wire Works, makers of the desktop recording software RiffWorks, and The Retronyms, makers of Recorder, the top-selling (single-track) recording software in the App Store. After a few days of pre-release testing, we can safely say that this is asolid, functional app that justifies its $10 price formusicians and anyone else who messes around with audio despite – or perhaps because of – its rudimentary, four-track-like functionality.

Legend has it that Michael Jackson devised the ridiculously catchybassline for "Billie Jean" while sitting in a tree. Maybe, if he'd had this, he could have written thewhole song up there.

The screenshot to the right represents the bulk of the application, where you can arm tracks to record, set playback levels and pans, activate the recording process or skip to any point in the song by tapping the progress bar or rolling the jog wheel.

Recording and mixing are a snap thanks to intuitivecontrols and a record switch that requires a sliding motion toprevent you from accidentally recording over a previous track. While there's no way to see waveforms, the app'slive monitoring function lets you listen along to the one-to-three tracksyou've already laid down, which gives enough of an indication of whereyou need to be within a given song. There's no gain control either,

but at least you can monitor recording levels to check for clipping.

Each track can be as long as your device's memory can handle, andthe program can contain an unlimited number ofprojects. We like that you never have to save – everything you record gets storedautomatically.

However, the iPhone/iPod Touch hardware is an occasional issue when it comes to recording. TheiPhone's built-in speaker is too soft to allow the program to be usedin any meaningful way without headphones, and not every pair ofheadphones has a skinny enough jack to fit into the first-generationiPhone. Plus, there's currently no way to use a high-quality mic, and the software doesn't work on the first-generation iPod Touch – just second-generation models that can be used with a third-party microphone).

Each track gets stored as a separate, mono, 44.1 kHzWAV file that can be easily transferred to any computer on your WiFi network, another one of our favorite features.

With your iPhone or iPod Touch connected to your wireless network, activatethe WiFi Sync option to generate a URL to enter into your computer'sbrowser. Then you can download the four recorded tracks directly to your computerand into the audio editing software of yourchoice.

Another nice touch: FourTrack adds blank space to the beginning ormiddle of each WAV file, so that all you need to do is line them up inyour audio software with each track starting at the same time to put allof the tracks in sync with each other. However, anypanning or mixing done on the phone gets lost during the transfer. No big deal – this is a sketch pad, not a canvas.

Here's a screenshot of the recording process:

Then it's time to mix the levels and pan tracks left and right:

The song list displays your projects, lets you create new ones, and handles syncing over WiFi:

Songs can be relabeled at any time:

When you activate WiFi sync, the iPhone seeks permission to connect, and then it does – no muss, no fuss. You can transfer the files onto your computer through a browser:

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