n-track questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rusty K
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Rusty K

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Ok so I've been using a 4trac mini-disc recorder and Goldwave stereo editing and I'm beginning to get the hang of it but I can't help but wonder what I'm missing with real multitrac computer recording.
Here's some questions:

1. I thought I would save my sessions/tracks by transfering to my computer and burning a CD. How do you n-track users save your sessions for future editing.
2. Are the effects really good and user friendly? My editing software effects pretty much suck or else I don't know how to use them. I do have good noise reduction though. I don't know a thing about plug-ins.
3. How quick do you use up disc space?
4. I noticed one post from a previous user of CoolEdit. Is everyone that has made the transition from stereo editing to multitrac pleased with the move?

I appreciate your input
Rusty K
 
I responded to this message over a week ago...obviously it didn't post....

so this is a test...can anybody hear me?
 
We now return control of your computer to you...
This one posted,Slack.
Tom
 
slack,

I never received that post would love to hear though. I downloaded the shareware version of n-trac last night so I'm going to give it a look.

Aside from the packaged effects with the download which others do you consider essential?

Thanks again,
Rusty K
 
Ok!

Here we go then...

1) n-Track users save session however they want :) Seriously, if you're smart you'll start your project in its own folder, you can then archive that folder however you choose...on CDR, removable hard drive, etc. You must save the files, the song file, and retain the directory structure for this to work right in n-Track though. Usually not a problem.

2) DX and VST effects are like any real effect. Some are great, some suck, some get the job done, some shouldn't exist, some are easy to use, some are a bitch to use. There are hundreds if not thousands of effects out there ranging from free to very expensive. You should do some searching on the net for both VST Effects and DX Effects (filters). Then just start trying them out! If you're not finding anything good in the "free" range, lemme know and I'll attempt to point you towards digilouge's BlueLine effects. They're decent enough and free. n-Track comes with reverb, pitch shift, delay, and a few other freebies. Yes, I suppose they're easy to use. Easier than twisting knobs on a box, that's for sure!

3) Disk space. For ONE mono 16 bit 44.1Khz audio track you'll eat about 5MB of disk space per minute. Double that for stereo. Multiply by the number of tracks you expect to record, and the length of the song. You'll be suprised to find that one project will often suck up more than a gig or two of space if you save a lot of takes.

4) This one worries me. Exactly what are you trying to do? Are you going to keep recording with your minidisc and then edit on the PC? This could become kinda hard to get just right, but should work (in theory). If your machine is capable, perhaps you should consider also tracking on the PC as you would certainly get much better quality from a high-end soundcard direct to disk than you would with mini-disc.

Good luck!

Slackmaster 2000
 
slack,

Thanks,

I've already fooled around a bit with the shareware n-trac. I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it though I'm still just getting aquainted. The realtime effects are really a time saver, though much is disabled, and even the built-in metronome is very handy.

So are you recommending Blueline plugins over the DirectX and VST on the n-trac plugin page? Free is important right now expecially if they are quality effects.

No I plan to move completely into PC multitrac but I thought I would use the stereo editing for archiving old analog tapes etc.. As I stated the clipboard noise reduction is easy and great. Also I had Goldwave set up with LAME Mp3 conversion which I'm told is better quality than the Blade that I believe comes with N-trac?

Right now I have an SBL soundcard so I'm using a sample rate of 48000 in N-trac. Though I haven't tried yet N-trac will resample so I think I'm correct that I should be able to edit/encode the wave files with either software?

One little prob I'm currently stuck on, probably just need to study a bit, but somehow I'm getting my tracks moved to the right and out of line in the window and I haven't figured out how to get them back to the original start point. Perhaps I just need to save them before I start playing around?

Thanks again,
Rusty K
 
Rusty,

I recommend the blueline effects in that they're free. You might also try the links on the n-Track site...some of them point to free resources. Also, writing a VST effect is fairly simple I've gathered, and many people have written their own...so you should be able to find a lot in that category.

Oh, here's a good reverb: http://www.freeverb.com

The blade encoder that comes with n-Track sucks ass. Try SCMPX...it's great. Just do a search and you'll find it (no time to find links right now).

Yeah n-Track can resample and whatnot. You might also keep goldwave around as it can come in handy. Always remember to compare to see what gives you the best sound vs. performance for the task at hand.

About your problem. I have no idea what you're talking about...what do you mean they're getting moved? Are you dragging them? You know, I think that when you insert a track from a file, it inserts wherever you're cued. Hit the "rewind" button to make sure that things get inserted correctly. Other than that, use the move tool to slide the track around and line it up (there's a button with a cross made of arrows).

Slackmaster 2000
 
slack,

Great! So SCMPX is better than LAME?

I'm sure the problem I described is something simple that I stupidly caused. The beginning of the track gets moved to the right, I'm not sure what I did to cause it but I did hit rewind and the track jumped all the way right and from there the button doesn't do anything else. I can move the track back to the left with the center scroll button on my mouse but I can't make it stop at the 0 point of the track window. It will even slide the track a bit to the left of "0 point". Perhaps I screwed it up by clicking snap to 0 when I had the cue point somewhere other than "0".

Rusty K
 
slack,

Still don't know why I had the problem but I've been playing aroung with new tracks and so far been able to avoid the same mistake. Oh well.

Your link to freeverb turned out to be a link to register.com don't know how exactly but.....
I'll look around for it.

Rusty K
 
Freeverb is the brainchild of Jezar Wakefield,a UK software designer and VERY experienced audio engineer.He has articles and free software including Freeverb on his site at http://www.dreampoint.co.uk
Tom
 
Tom/Slack,

Is freeverb (sounds too much like "freebird")a better plugin that the bundled Fa-soft reverb?

Rusty K
 
I don't like the n-track reverb.Freeverb,by contrast,is completely musical throughout the entire range of possible settings.Its free,but it is highly rated among audio guys.
I also strongly recommend you download Jezar's articles on mixing techniqes,compressor use,etc.He is an experienced engineer who spent years at Pinewood Studios.There are movies and commercials he mixed that you have probably heard.Now he's into software design and freeverb was a quick plug he came up with initially for the n-track guys.He has since released the source code and you can find variations all over the place.
Tom
 
Tom,

Thanks so much. I downloaded freeverb last nite plus some bluline effects. They all are on my N-track scroll down menu but so far I haven't gotten them to work. If they are on the scroll down menu doesn't that mean that they are in the correct folder?

Rusty K
 
To be sure you can go to preferences>paths and specify the folder where your plugs are located.I assume you already used the self-registration .exe on the direct x plugs.If not that is necessary.
I don't keep my effects in a separate folder.I just dump then into the folder where I have n-track installed.If you do that the recognition of the effects by the program is automatic.But you can specify a separate place if you want to like I mentioned earlier.
The C-plugs series has some good free VST plugins,including a real-time analyzer with freeze capability.I seem to prefer VST to Direct x effects.Download both versions of freeverb and compare them.The direct x program is bloated with lots of extra code compared to the vst and seems more problematic.
Any way,I believe flavio has a links page on his site with lots of plugins cited.Good luck.
Tom
 
Tom,

I haven't had time to work with it today but after downloading N-track, the Fa-soft plug-ins were working, though I didn't check them last nite after I downloaded freeverb and Blueline.

I'll mess with it tonight and get back.

Rusty K
 
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