PowerTracks software --- any comments ?

[johnnymegabyte]

Anybody using PowerTracks Pro Audio ?

Wanna know if this is OK
Specs show it can run on little ram and processor

http://www.pgmusic.com/powertracks.htm

 

[manning1]

yes i love it,,,,,but then people on here have accused me from everything from working for the company to whatever. not true, i'm just a songwriter.
if you want an unbised opinion just go to the pg forums and talk to folks whove used more expensive software and after going round in circles
and spending thousands ended up with powertracks. great source of info there and pro's that helped me in the past. and all sorts of deep engineering tricks to learn from these people.
what puts people off i think is the low price. they think it cant be good - particularly impressionable folks new to daw multitracking.
you will tend to find its older musicians whove been round the block that appreciate its value, and the skills to use it.
the other thing i like about it is they only charge 19 bucks for version upgrades which is more than fair. just try the demo. its even won awards from musicians mags. let me say again i'm not nor ever been affiliated with the company.

 

[johnnymegabyte]

Thanks Manning1. Where in Canada are you ? I'm in Scarborough.

Here's a few questions, maybe I should have first asked ?

Is multi-track recording easy with Powertracks ?
Are midi tracks best left as midi, or converted to WAV.
What PC setup ( Mhz, RAM, soundcard ) really works ?
How easy are effects are there and any good ?
What's it like working with DXi ( system requirements )

I'm a hobbyist these days, and have been programming midi for years, mainly to jam along to, and for some originals. Lack of time has been holding me back from fully launching into recording on PC. Right now, I'm just 4 track cassette, and usually do everything, one live shot into stereo, midi + guitar + vocals.

 

[manning1]

i'm in a peacefull rural area miles from you.
multitrack is a breeze. you either enable a track as mono or stereo or midi.
i dont use dxi as i like to keep processor load down.
i just feed synth signals thru line input.
a tip , powertracks will tell you how many tracks you can run .
look in the menu bars.
a tip - the quality of your sound will not depend on powertracks but your sound card. if you use say a delta you should get a great quality. or else if you have a trust fund buy a lynx. for 100 bucks p hallin on this bbs seems happy with his 100 buck maya mk2.
as to computer ive run powertracks on all sorts of friends really bad systems.
if your in scarborough check out canadasys.com. have nothing to do with thm. just very good prices. 400 bucks for a system etc. check out the web site. my advice get at least an amd athlon 2ghz if you can afford it , 512 ram, and NOT one big hard drive but two smaller ones. windows works efficiently this way for daw. KEY POINT. make sure before buying the pc you check with the manufacturer of the sound card eg,,,delta that its compatible with the motherboard and chipset you intend to use.
but you could get away with a used clunker for 100 bucks. just look in the buy and sell. minimum get a 1ghz system my recommendation.
the midi is superb in powertracks. more than you ever need. just try the demo.
the effects are a hidden gem. up in the menus you will see them listed and are loaded with presets eg for guitar and bass etc. there is also drum machine built in for quick drum tracks. try tuning a midi drum track up or down sometime (look in the menus).
any way you wont hear much more from me - i'm off on holiday.
in summary nothing comes close for 29 bucks !
if you want a cheap mixer try an alto or yamaha or use the preamps in your 4 track and send the audio to the sound card.
remember THE SOUND CARD QUALITY IS KEY !! good luck.

 

[manning1]

i'm in a peacefull rural area miles from you.
multitrack is a breeze. you either enable a track as mono or stereo or midi.
i dont use dxi as i like to keep processor load down.
i just feed synth signals thru line input.
a tip , powertracks will tell you how many tracks you can run .
look in the menu bars.
a tip - the quality of your sound will not depend on powertracks but your sound card. if you use say a delta you should get a great quality. or else if you have a trust fund buy a lynx. for 100 bucks p hallin on this bbs seems happy with his 100 buck maya mk2.
as to computer ive run powertracks on all sorts of friends really bad systems.
if your in scarborough check out canadasys.com. have nothing to do with thm. just very good prices. 400 bucks for a system etc. check out the web site. my advice get at least an amd athlon 2ghz if you can afford it , 512 ram, and NOT one big hard drive but two smaller ones. windows works efficiently this way for daw. KEY POINT. make sure before buying the pc you check with the manufacturer of the sound card eg,,,delta that its compatible with the motherboard and chipset you intend to use.
but you could get away with a used clunker for 100 bucks. just look in the buy and sell. minimum get a 1ghz system my recommendation.
the midi is superb in powertracks. more than you ever need. just try the demo.
the effects are a hidden gem. up in the menus you will see them listed and are loaded with presets eg for guitar and bass etc. there is also drum machine built in for quick drum tracks. try tuning a midi drum track up or down sometime (look in the menus).
any way you wont hear much more from me - i'm off on holiday.
in summary nothing comes close for 29 bucks !
if you want a cheap mixer try an alto or yamaha or use the preamps in your 4 track and send the audio to the sound card.
remember THE SOUND CARD QUALITY IS KEY !! good luck.

 

[manning1]

as i dont know if i can get on the internet while i'm away from canada on holiday,
flying off tomorrow...here are some more tips......
1. really read the powertracks help carefully. there are lots of hidden tricks not readily
seen on a quick scan. particularly eg : note that you can paste multiple times - think drum loops
quickly laid down, so you get one bar good then paste 100 times for example.
good for roughing out song ideas to rough drum tracks.
2. one area where a powerfull athlon will help you is say youve laid down a blazing guitar track alternating between rhythm and solo but at the solo you want a bit of chorusing.
just highlight the chorus part of the audio waveform and experiment with powerttracks built in chorusing effect and apply it.
it will be fast on an athlon 2ghz.
a tip. what i do (see in the menus)....i duplicate a track and fiddle around with the fx on the copy till i get it right.
3. note the song styles built in in different formats plus you can build your own styles.
if you have a good external multitimbral sound module you can do some amazing synth and drum tracks for example.
if you have a multi input sound card then you could take line out from the external midi module back into powertracks and record it as a stereo track for example.
4. really really - and i can emphasize this enough explore the built in echo and reverb effects.
and build your own settings. try this on a vocal sometime.
record a vocal track in powertracks, then do it again. ie: two vocal tracks then insert the smallest few milliseconds of silence
at the front of the vocal track ie: shifting it forward in time a few milliseconds.
then add some powertracks echo or reverb in smallest quantitys to this second track or a duplicate of it.
then try a bit of compression on it. now mix in the first vocal track
with the effected track and if youve done it right it should sound pretty lush.
eq to taste. ive never used it but also note that the pkge now will do vocal harmonies.
and cd burning etc.
5. also note the noise gate built in which i dont think most folks know of.
particularly usefull with noisy guitar amps. just set it high enough so you dont cut out the signal you want.
6. note the midi notation built in. its very extensive.
also there is a bars screen thats usefull for cutting and pasting scads of midi bars.
a lot of folks dont explore this enough.
7. a tip. when you start off powertracks for the first time build yourself a template you can save in a unique name.
so for example lets say you know you will be doing generally
24 audio tracks and 16 midi tracks for example...set up in the tracks
screen the way you want the tracks.(no recording needed).then save as say template.seq.
then whenever you start a new song just load in the template and save it as a new name
before starting recording. this saves a lot of time setting up audio and midi tracks prior to recording.
8. there are all sorts of tricks to discover....ive just touched the tip of the iceberg.
for example powertracks will also store your lyrics for you, and you can do very deep midi editing.
hope this helps and good luck.
ps - you can also automate and record automation of mixer moves as a midi track.
it really is true what a friend told me once....its only ones engineering skills limiting one - rather than powertracks.
it really is powerfull if you know what your doing and is all you need.

 

[mawtangent]

I like it because I can get it to work...I have been using a 4-track cassette recorder for the past 8 years and have been dabbling in digital for the past 4 years...my past efforts with trying to use computers for recording have only led to frustration (I am a former technophobe who finally embraced technology in my 30's)...finally I have a modern but modest computer (a Dell 2.4 ghz, Celeron precessor, Sound Blaster Live card)...I downloaded the PowerTracks demo and it actually worked on the first try...I now have the full version and have recorded a song with it with minimal problems...the clarity is almost scary and the 48 tracks are intimidating though.