A poster here long ago, robomusic, used something called MTS, Multitrack Studio (or System?), a free program. I would probably look if that was still available. He loved it.
I got a copy of Cubase LE with my new Yamaha keyboard. I loaded it up and tried it out. It was like Greek. Couldn't understand how it worked. But I didn't really try to learn it, so...
I still have my TASCAM Portastudio in the closet.