so my little brother has been recording some songs on a little 8 track digital recorder, and he's wanting to mess around with some vst effects he snagged off the internet. i know there's some people on this board who do their own recording, so i was wondering--whats the best pc software for mixing and adding effects to tracks? he wouldn't be recording directly into the software--his recorder can just output the audio onto flash cards.
he has fruityloops, acid pro, and sound forge, but the first two are mostly for loop-based compositions, and sound forge's mixer isn't very good. he's pretty computer-savvy, but i'm looking for something thats relatively easy to use. it doesn't have to have tons of features, just the ability to mix and apply vst plugins.

Audacity is actually a pretty powerful little piece of software, and best of all it's FREE.

Ill second audacity. Its very excellent.

Didn't one of the old Winamp versions record? Does anyone know which one that is?

Edit: oh it was Music Jukebox. Now I need to find the version. I'm not sure why I am looking.