What is a good audio recorder with some levels for straight to laptop recording. I would use the Sound Recorder with Windows, but it only runs 60 secs and I need about 10 minutes. Are there any open source ones with some features, mixers etc?

So to clarify, I want to record some audio from a microphone straight into my computer using a Software audio recorder with maybe some mixer, filter, levels etc.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

^Audacity is an excellent choice.

It's fully VST-plugin compatible, so any effects - and there are TONS of them available for free on the web - will work with it.

It also runs on every computer (Win, Mac, Linux) so anywhere you go everything will be what you're used to....