Audacity works in that way much like .wav or sound recorder in Windows in that regard. You can use any instrument you want with any sound card on the freebie.
I play by hand and only use Audacity for practice purposes and am thinking of using the effects to add when I can get the compositions I want with a simple, plain sounding instrument.
I only have the free version.
But there are features just on the free software on Audacity to where much can be added to any given sound.
The only negative is that you can not convert on the freebie, say if you want to put that finished creation on the internet.



http://www.f3music.com/444