Register or Buy?

B

Bill Assumpcao

Member
Howdy All,
My wife convinced me that we needed to get a real computer because the boy is gonna enter high school. The old, patch-work piece of crap was always crashing and freezing from spooler errors, insufficient stack pages, etc. Unacceptable!
Okay, so I call Dell. Get out my credit card. And they send me a system that thrums when I turn it on. Massive Gigally-wigglies of speed and Megawhatsis' of memory. I immediately jump on it and start researching home recording.
While lurking at the JPF techno boards (before I found this board) I read a post recommending n-Tracks. I went to the site, downloaded the trial version and have been having a ball for a week now. So, now I want to pay for it.
Which brings me to my question. (finally)
Do I hit the register button or buy button? I don't want to have redundant files that will confuse my machine. Don't laugh. It's happened to me before.
Thanks in advance for any advice. We're all in this together.
I'm sure that this is a lame and unnecesary question, but
What do I know?
Bill
 
its been awhile, but...

...from what I remember, you have to buy it first. I think then it takes you to the n-track website, where you fill out forms yadda yadda yadda. Then you get an e-mail with the registry codes. Then when you click register, it tells you to enter the codes there.
(if you click register now you will see what I mean anyways I am sure)

Its also a good thing to know what version you need. There is a 16 bit version and a 24 bit version. This is completely relevant to one thing and one thing only; how much your soundcard is rated for. Im pretty sure all of the soundblaster cards are 16 bit. One way to find out (as Im sure you already know) is to click the settings on either the recording vu meter or the playback vu meter and select 24 bit. If it tells you your soundcard doesnt support 24 bit, then you have a 16 bit soundcard!

Anyhow, best of luck, welcome to the world of n-track :D
 
Same Q here.

I'm about to buy also.

I figured that "Register" meant paying for the 16bit version that you first download as a shareware version so you can get the link to the plug-ins.

I thought "Buy" was the way to upgrade and get the download link for the full-featured 24bit version.

Ya?
 
If you click register, a screen pops up, asking for registration codes.

You dont get the codes untill you buy it.

Its at the stage of buying it where you decide which version to get.

Im pretty sure (from my memory) that you dont get a download, rather an Email with registration codes, unlocking the demo program into full mode. In a sense this means you already have the program, but you need the key to unlock its full potential.
 
Thanks

Badassmak,
Thanks for the gentle nudge. I went and pushed all the buttons and you're absolutely correct.

Arranger,
Thanks for letting me know that I wasn't the only one that was a smidge confused.
Both versions are full featured. You don't need the 24 bit version if you have a 16 bit soundcard (to my understanding). BUT, (and that's a big but) if you are collaborating with an individual that uses 24 bit, it could come in handy. I figure, for $24 bucks, what the heck.

Well, folks, wish me luck. I'm off to crash the server.
Bill
 
i try to be gentle

lol good luck dude. Um imnot sure about being able to use say...your 16 bit tracks on someone elses unit which is running as 24 bit....just a thought.
 
On the hunt

Badassmak,
I just hopped, willy-nilly, from site to site trying to find what I read about the 16bit-24bit thing but no luck yet.
However, when I went to the Turtle Beach site (I have a Santa Cruz card) I found this;
>96 dB signal to noise ratio with high resolution 18-bit analog to digital converters for recording and 20-bit digital to analog converters for playback.
Is that good? Can it be used to my advantage? Is it why I don't seem to have a latency problem (yet)? Or is it just another way of saying that the brass ring has once again managed to stay just outside the reach of my grasping digits? Because, after all,
what do I know?
Bill
 
newbie with 200 posts...almost...

um yeah i see that, i just went and looked at the turtle beach site and saw exactly what tyou are looking at. It would appear that they dont actually tell you what bit rate it really is set for .... almost dodgy like.

I have to admit, most of what you asked is out of my league, I am still getting a grasp on a lot of this stuff as well.

If you want, try asking about this more in the Computer Recording/Soundcards forum here, the n-track forum isnt nearly as popular, and response times are a little slower.

One thing for sure that will tell you if your soundcard is 16 bit or not is to try doing what i stated above, to click on the settings button on the vu-meter(s), and change the rate from 16 bit to 24 (justified or not it doesnt matter). You might have to actually press record right after to see if itll let you or not. if it doesnt let you record in 24 bit mode, then your card is 16 bit.

hmm hehe i just realized it might not let you anyways if you only have the 16 bit version...but then again, i rememeber somewhere in the n-track manual it tells you to do this specifically to find out if it will work or not, so try anyhow hehe!!! (im really trying to NOT confuse you)

Sorry if thats a little garbled, personally I spent a little bit more money on a nice soundcard (m-audio delta 66, in the m-audio lineup. The Audiophile 24/96 is probably the best starting out card available from M-audio). Its not top of the line, but it is a good product (from what i have gathered), and really it is the most important piece in your computer setup. Although there is definately a good theory in getting to know what you have already, and progressing from there. There is also the factor of installing a new soundcard on your computer, and some of the time that can be a hassle.

Anyhow enough ranting, Im sure your just finding out how much more is going on in the computer recording world :D (if you didnt already know). And always the best way to get answers is to ask. (there is the search function too). At any rate a lot of reading is involved, but its always fun to learn new stuff.

Also there is a guy around here by the name of Slackmaster...he knows a lot ;)

Best of luck Bill!
 
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