That cuts it!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rusty K
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Rusty K

New member
Hey,

At the advise of a forum member I downloaded Cool Edit Pro 2 just as a test to see how it functioned with my system considering all the problems I've been having with Ntrack (see previous posts).

Cool Edit worked/recorded flawlessly.

In my opinion this is a BIG Ntrack problem and I've wasted enough time on it. It's a deal breaker for me.

Rusty K
 
Let me know how CEP works. It is my understanding that it doesn't support any low latency drivers (WDM or ASIO), nor does it support VST. Can you confirm any of this?

Slackmaster 2000
 
Gidge is correct....no VST, I'm still checking into the driver issue. I know LynxOne is ASIO except that I'm using a new MME driver written for XP.

Hey I'm taking a look at Cubase SL and SX as well and of course they are VST.

I'll update

Rusty K
 
Update!

Hey,

If you want to get to work quickly then CEP is a good choice. It's not all that different from Ntrack in the way it's set up. Of course there are a few things that take some getting used to. It takes a long time to load a session but I could deal with that in a stable program. Mind you all I've done is record a few tracks. The program has done that flawlessly. It's so damn nice to not have to worry as I'm trying to record if another shoe is going to drop.

I don't use midi (yet) so I really can't give that a good test-run.

Having said that.....have you heard about Pro Tools Mbox? Window's version is supposed to be out before Christmas for between 4 and 5 bills, I think. If you don't think you'll need more than two ins and two outs which I don't think I will, it might be the right move. A young engineer friend of mine has just about talked me into it. Actually he's talking up Digi001 but I don't think I need 8 inputs and an extra 3 bills.

I'm calling a retailer tomorrow to try to find out if they have a shipping date for the Mbox. If they do I might just play around with CEP for the demo period to keep myself busy till it's out.

Rusty K
 
Rusty, you can email me any time at - sm2k at slackmaster2000 dot com.

It sounds like you're having a similar experience to what I had when I switched to Vegas Pro for a short time. I was floored by how stable and simple it was....but in the end it just lacked so many features that n-Track had spoiled me with.

Now CEP has the editing features that I like, much better than n-Track from what I hear...but the lack of VST and (perhaps) low latency support would eventually get to me (if not immediately).

Slackmaster 2000
 
I tried N-Track. I'm a registered 24-bit owner. I really wanted it to work, darn it! It kept crashing on me. For example, I'd be recording 8 tracks at a time successfully from a MOTU 2408. I'd switch to recording just one track and crashola.

I've ended up much poorer with Cool Edit Pro and Sonar. Stable system. Neither one supports VST directly, but both support DirectX, and there are several different wrapper programs that wrap VST into DX compatible plugs that work well.

Both CEP and Sonar support low latency WDM drivers (although certain WDM drivers don't seem to work well with CEP). Neither one supports ASIO drivers.

I really like N-Track interface and feature set. I just wish Flavio would back off for a release or three and concentrate on stability, stability, and stability.

The reason I use both programs is because Sonar is better for multitracking and mixing automation while CEP is better for wave editing. Combine them with the Ozone2 plugin for mastering and its looking pretty good.

N-Track has the potential to be a killer program. I'll keep poking my head in to see if its stability has improved, but when I've got a band laying tracks down, I don't want to EVER have to say again "Just a minute, I have to restart the program!".

I see posts from some folks that seem to have nailed stability on N-Track. I'm glad they have. I tried and was not able to get it to work. My system is quite standard though, and both CEP and Sonar are absolutely rock solid on it, so I believe N-Track should be too. I'm running a 1.6 gHz P4 on an Asus P4b266 motherboard (Intel chipset), and a MOTU 2408 interface. My OS is a tailered Win XP Pro (lean and mean for audio recording).

May your N-Track always be stable, and your singers on-key!
-lee-
 
I really like N-Track interface and feature set. I just wish Flavio would back off for a release or three and concentrate on stability, stability, and stability.
Click to expand...

Exactly!

Rusty K
 
CEP evaluation

To whom it may concern,

Good evening folks!

I'm into my third day of evaluation of CEP.

The single most important thing I've learned since taking up home recording is to "trust my ears". I've been recording at 24bits with ntrack for a year and a half and I must say my tracks sound much better in CEP. I guess it's the 32 bit processing but whatever it is it's expanded the sound (clearer and more airie) and makes the mix fall into place a lot easier. Of course I've got a lot more to get to in my evaluation before I decide which software to move to but anyone interested should take a listen and decide for themselves. It might just open your eyes.


Rusty K
 
(just to clarify, n-Track, and all recording apps, use an internal 32bit representation)

I don't doubt that CEP might sound better though. You switching for sure?

Slackmaster 2000
 
Hey Slack,

Thanks for clearing that up....but yes I'm definately switching. I haven't decided to what yet.

Maybe it's just my system but last fall I had an older version of Vegas on my puter. I couldn't get ntrack working then but Vegas was fine. I stuck it out and got it going with 3.0 now 3.1.7 won't work but CEP is smooth as silk.

Have you seen the size of ntrack...something around 5mb right? Look at the size of other programs out there like CEP (19Mb). Now one could argue that those extra Mb's are superflous redundancy......ummmm could be but it could also be called "stability".

I need to get off the rollercoaster and get some work done.

Slack what's the VST thing? Do you have some VST plugs that you can't part with?

Oh yes I saw a post somewhere that said there are utilities that could make VST work with CEP.

Rusty K
 
About half or more of the plugs I like to use are VST, including Fruity Loops as VSTi. I couldn't part with it at this point. There are DX VST wrappers, but they aren't as nice as using the real thing.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I understand exactly.


I could not part with my drum program (PCDrummer) either. It's not so much which program it is, it's what you've learned to get around on. That would be another huge time consuming setback to have to find and learn another program to produce drum tracks.

I've never looked into Fruity Loops... is it just for drum tracks?

Rusty K
 
Fruity Loops is a sampler + sequencer on mega crack. You can use it for normal drums, as I often do, or you can use it for some very complex production...synths, whacking out sounds, blah bhal. Recently it became available as a VST instrument, which means I can plug right into it with n-Track and it syncs to n-Track's playback...meaning I can do drums and stuff right in n-Track. Still some issues there, but it'll come.

Slackmaster 2000
 
waxing nostalgic and two glasses of wine

Damn, there is so much I don't know about this stuff.

I'm feeling great though that I'm getting so much better on my basic little recordings. If I can just be my own master to the extent that I'm able to get a good roadmap of my, usually roots oriented, songs the way I hear them I'll be happy.

I couldn't do it though without good old homerecording.com. This open exchange of ideas and experience is probably the best part about the whole deal.

Rusty K
 
Slackmaster2K said:
About half or more of the plugs I like to use are VST, including Fruity Loops as VSTi. I couldn't part with it at this point. There are DX VST wrappers, but they aren't as nice as using the real thing.
Click to expand...

Just want to be sure you know about the latest generation of VST to DX wrappers. The first gen wrappers created a single shell that you could load all your VST effects into. The big huge ol' drawback was that you always just saw the wrapper name in your effects list, not the plugs you were wrapping.

A couple of the latest wrappers are an EXE that actually produces a seperate DX plugin for each of the wrapped VST plugin. Your plugin lists properly identify each plugin individually.

To be honest, I haven't investigated VSTi -> DXi wrapping, the above info is for wrapping effects plugins. I don't know if it does or doesn't exist, I just haven't looked. <grin>

-lee-
 
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