What programs are people using with Macs to record sounds and to draw pictures? Are there any freeware or shareware "paint" type programs? Near as I can tell, there are no built-in programs like these on my Mac. If they are simply hidden, can someone tell me where to find them?

For drawing I uses the various Adobe products and Lightwave.

For sound I'm forced to record something using one of my PC's and then copy the file across as none of my Macs have a mic socket

Music: GarageBand
Recorded sound: Amadeus II
Graphics: AppleWorks, Gimp, and Cartoon Editor

Due to the lack of decent paint/sound programs on the Mac, I've actually resorted to writing my own. The paint program is being done first, and is my primary project right now. I'll post an announcement here when it's available.

Here's a thread about it:

http://www.createmacgames.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=127

Alex Diener

For imaging try http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

For sound try http://www.felttip.com/products/soundstudio/

For music try http://www.propellerheads.se/ or something cheaper http://www.macility.com/products/easybeat/

Sometimes I like working down at the pixel-level when it comes to graphics so in that case, I would use IconMachine III and Iconographer. I bought Photoshop Elements 2 for about a $100, so you can probably find it pretty cheap now.

Sound, I'd try SparkME. It's an odd program, but it an work if you practice with it. For music, I'd go with GarageBand.

For programs that come with the system, there is AppleWorks for drawing and GarageBand for sound/music if you got iLife with your Mac. There also is another drawing tool called Sketch if you install the Developer stuff. It's in Applications/Utilities/Built Examples.