Tracktion tryout

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bulls Hit
  • Start date Start date
B

Bulls Hit

Well-known member
I dl'd the free version of Tracktion. Hell, it was raining outside so I couldn't do the lawns.

Setup.
I give it 10 out of 10. Installed quickly. Found my soundcard, found the drivers, let me select the ones I wanted to use, sample rate, bit depth etc. Couldn't be easier

Look & Feel.
7 out of 10. There's only one view like the Edit view in Cakewalk. No Mix view with faders etc. Could take a bit of getting used to. The level meters are too small. I liked the way you could drag input assignments to tracks for recording. Familiar keyboard shortcust for start/stop/zoom in & out etc.

Usability
5 out of 10. I imported a wave file OK but I couldn't figure out how to split a track for copying and looping. There seems to be a good selection of plugins but I struggled to add effects to the effects rack. While I was dragging a compressor effect around, there was suddenly this godawful howling noise screaming out of the monitors. Wouldn't stop till I pulled the mixer plug. Needless to say this terminated the exercise.

Overall
6 out of 10. I don't think I'll be using Tracktion - I wouldn't want to put my monitors through that again. Also it doesn't have the things I'm used to in Cakewalk. For a new user though who didn't know any better, they could get a lot done with this.


Anyone else try this thing?
 
hehe, heya.
I'm a Tracktion geek :rolleyes: I love it but I have to agree with the thing about mixer... the small controls suck bad!
Its so difficult to make a decent change. And when you have like 5 effects on the track.. its gets even SMALLER. Frustrating.. they should really add a mixer thingy for the system.

The look and setup of the program... it takes a bit to get used to. But when you do its really good and fast to use.

About the screaming voice... I had the same thing... I thought it was my computer who decided that he wasnt good enough for such workload.. but I guess it was something else instead.

I've used Sonar and Nuendo .. and at the moment trying out PowerTracks. Tracktion is different but it has it good sides. Hopefully they'll come up with some updates to make the whole program super.
 
hehe, true.. especially as they give it away for free, right?!
Good tool for nothing..
 
free huh?

well i have downloaded my free copy of tracktion......
and they have not sent my email to confirm my registration of the software :mad: i downloaded the program a week ago and still nothing from them how long does it take? how long did it take you guys to get it? :confused: :confused: :confused:
 
Guitar Junkie...

They shouda emailed you 2 registration numbers (you can run it on 2 computers, legally). Log-in to the mackie site & request new ones - Not via email tech support, though - there's all the appropriate info on the site once you log-in. I had to try twice to get shit registered properly.

good luck.

hh
 
The jury is still out, though it found my 1010LT no issue, and assigning physical devices to logical tracks is so easy it's scary. Looking forward to seeing this in cahoots with a Onyx 1640 next year. Looking to try out the ReWire feature.

And the free distribution? After reading the user agreement I think Mackie is trying to get you in love, then charge for the upgrade. That's fine with me.
 
I've downloaded it too, and I find it better for tracking than any other program I've used (cheaper versions of cakewalk, Powertracks, and n-track).

But I can't figure out how to save the individual wav files into a directory of my choosing. I've got the Edit file saved where I want it to be, but the wav files I create all are automatically saved within the root directory of the Tracktion folder.

Can someone help me with this?
 
eraos. did you really test out powertracks properly ?
version 9 ? or was it an old version ?
including all the midi features ?
and all the digital audio effects ? built into the program ?
or was it a cursory examination ?
 
guitar junkie said:
well i have downloaded my free copy of tracktion......
and they have not sent my email to confirm my registration of the software :mad: i downloaded the program a week ago and still nothing from them how long does it take? how long did it take you guys to get it? :confused: :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

They never sent me a registration code but I was able to run it without one. Maybe it was in demo mode.....
 
Bulls Hit said:
While I was dragging a compressor effect around, there was suddenly this godawful howling noise screaming out of the monitors. Wouldn't stop till I pulled the mixer plug. Needless to say this terminated the exercise.
Click to expand...
I must have used Tracktion for 500 hours now and have never had the problem you -- and traidma -- describe.

I just pull down the 'filter' (Tracktion-speak for anything plugged into a track) to the spot that I want to insert it, it turns red and a list pops up of both the third-party and VST plugins in my system.

I think the problem may be created when trying to drag what's already earmarked for one track onto another. You need to start again with going up to the filter area and dragging it down to the intended track instead of dragging a plugin around the screen. There are no restrictions in Tracktion about what can go where, but there are limits to the 'drag and drop'-ness and I think you guys may have found one of them.
 
manning1 said:
eraos. did you really test out powertracks properly ?
version 9 ? or was it an old version ?
including all the midi features ?
and all the digital audio effects ? built into the program ?
or was it a cursory examination ?
Click to expand...

I guess I didn't test it out "properly;" I mostly just didn't like the overall setup. It was between n-track studio and powertracks, and I liked n-track better.

And now there's tracktion's recording setup which I like more than n-track's, though I like n-track's mixing better.

But I still haven't found the way to record a wave file into a specific folder. Any help, please? There must be something simple that I'm overlooking.
 
Also, when you start a new project you can right click the active projects folder and select create a new project. Then you can navigate to where you want that project to be saved.
 
crankz1 said:
Also, when you start a new project you can right click the active projects folder and select create a new project. Then you can navigate to where you want that project to be saved.
Click to expand...

i"ve got the project file where I want it. I've created a folder for it on my E:. But the wave files I'm creating from recording are not going to that same folder... they're being sent to the folder that the Tracktion executable is in, which is on the D:...

So for my 5 or 6 projects, each with their seperate folder on the E:, all the wave files for those projects are clumped within D:\Tracktion.

BUT... for the first project I made, the wave files are in that folder that I created for them. But the rest of my projects are not doing that.

Also, in response to your first post, Crankz, temporary files are not what I'm looking for. I want the actual wave file.

Thanks
 
ahhh, nevermind, i just figured it out.

If you click on the "Analog Ins" on the New Edit screen, it gives you an option to name the file. Within that little box there, you can type %projectdir%\name_of_file , which sends it to the directory the project file is in. My problem was that I had changed the name of the file without leaving that tag in there.

Okay, sorry for the waste of space.

Continue with your discussions.
 
ok..you traktion guys. maybe they changed the program. i'm trying to keep an open mind here. tell me this....
1. on a stereo track can you edit the left and right channels independently
of each other ?
2. on a midi track - whats the upper limit in pulses per quarter note resolution ?
3. is there any guitar fretboard display ?
4.when you import a midi track - can traktion display the chords in the track ?
5. is there a music notation display showing the notes on the staves....
and can i edit the notation on the music staves ?
6.can i enter slash chords like Cm/g ?
7. can i take a vocal track and generate multi part harmonies ?
thanks.
 
manning, i'm pretty sure it's possible to edit left and right independently. but that's if you send the the channels to separate tracks, which is what i've done with other programs. it shoudl be possible with any program.

as for the other stuff, that all relates to midi, which i don't use. i don't like messing with midi unless I want some special ambient-techno effect. i prefer tracking all the instruments myself.

but for someone who wants midi functions, powertracks sounds great.
 
eraos. does traktion have a drum machine built in yet ?
because i didnt see it.
also does it have noise gates on audio tracks built in or hum filtering ?
how about chorusing and flanging and echo effects built in and fancy eq ? thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top