Audacity is definately the way to go for the simplest usable program possible (it has all the essential features and nothing else to clutter up the code or the interface). If you just want to split, combine, cut, paste, and mix tracks with nice, easy to use envelope curves Audacity is definately the way to go. In my experience it's the fastet editor to use in terms of minimizing the steps between you and your finished sound project, but the effects are really minimal and the EQ wasn't quite to my liking (not exactly one of those smooth, analog units or clean digital algorithms I've seen in some other programs, though it's good enough for cutting or lifting the bass a bit or rolling off a little high-end noise if you don't try anything too extreme). It does have, as I remember, some basic reverb and chorus, and a few tweakable parameters on each with about the same level of control as a typical guitar pedal, so it should cover your editing needs if you're anyone outside of Trent Reznor, Jon Crosby, Peter Gabriel, and Alan Parsons. Then again, Reznor, Gabriel, and Parsons started off with a mix of old-school analog equipment and really primitive digital tools (like MIDI on Atari PCs - remember when Atari made PCs, or just a lot of DAT tracks).
There's another free, open-source app called Ardour, that has a lot more power, but also all the complications that come with it (more buttons, more menu items, more screen clutter in general, and more to learn before you can get under way). It is also Linux/Unix only (I think it's on Mac OSX, too, but that's sort of a UNIX, too). Get this if you have one of those operating systems and need fancy or super-flexible effects or support for easily mixing large number of tracks.
Unfortunately, neither of the above solutions support MIDI, but you can always use other tools if you really MIDI to edit the MIDI and render it to a .wav. It's been a while since I've done MIDI work, so I don't really know what the best stuff for MIDI editing is right now. I do know there are open-source MIDI to MOD converters and MOD to WAV converters, so getting a MIDI or MOD stream into WAV shouldn't be too hard.
For something with a decent amount of power and flexibility for Windows/Mac that does offer 8 tracks of audio and 48 tracks of MIDI, there's Protools Free:
http://www.digidesign.com/ptfree/
I think you have to fill out a form or something, and I've never tried it, but it might be something to look into as well if you want one big integrated tool for all of your audio-related editing rather than a bunch of smaller ones for each piece of it.
but first i'ld need to create the custom edit/mix, and before That i need a utill that'll Do that. used to have one. lost it long ago along with most everything on that comp at that time. ah well. but i digress, and anyway that was a considerable time ago. (if i remember correctly anyhow. time is a very subjective thing after all.)
