Tracktion tryout

[wheelema]

Manning,

Unless you are a substantial stockholder in PG Music, I think you are little too emotional about PowerTracks. All of the points you raised most likely cannot be matched in PowerTracks, but consider that PowerTracks is (in software years) a teenager, if not an adult, while Tracktion is still crawling.

Give it time.

For my needs, Tracktion appeals to my limited IQ and engineering skills, not to mention my (non-exsistent) budget.

To each their own.

 

[wheelema]

They never sent me a registration code but I was able to run it without one. Maybe it was in demo mode.....

Bull,

When you install Tracktion it generates a machine number. You have to plug that number into my.mackie.com, which in turn will allow you to generate and download a tracktion.tracktion file, which you can then load into the application via the Help key.

There are some fairly substantial things you cannot do without the tracktion.tracktion file being loaded.

It's a fairly slick anti-piracy system that is new to me. The downstream issue that I have is after I upgrade my PC, or move the app to a new PC, and Tracktion refuses to function, what recourse do I have, if any?

 

[manning1]

wheelama. all the points i'm raising i'm currently doing in powertracks.
so i dont want to move to traktion if it doesnt have the features i need.
no i'm not a stockholder. how silly !

 

[wheelema]

Manning,

I appreciated that the points you raised were aspects of PowerTracks that most likely did not exist in Tracktion at this time, and may be will never exist. For me, still learning various applications and not yet having fallen in love, Tracktion makes sense. For a settled gent like your self, it does not.

As far as being a stockholder, why is that silly? I'd love to have a dialogue with a millionaire... maybe I could hit you up for a 'grant'.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Bull,

When you install Tracktion it generates a machine number. You have to plug that number into my.mackie.com, which in turn will allow you to generate and download a tracktion.tracktion file, which you can then load into the application via the Help key.

There are some fairly substantial things you cannot do without the tracktion.tracktion file being loaded.

It's a fairly slick anti-piracy system that is new to me. The downstream issue that I have is after I upgrade my PC, or move the app to a new PC, and Tracktion refuses to function, what recourse do I have, if any?

Yeah when I open it up, it says 'unregistered'. Strange they never sent me the rego code.

If you move to a new PC, you should be able to get an updated code form them. This happened to me with Drumagog. I emailed them, told them I was migrating to a new machine & they emailed another code right back

 

[ssscientist]

but for someone who wants midi functions, powertracks sounds great.

No it's not.

I use midi more than audio and found powertracks sorely lacking in continuous controller functionality and midi workflow among other assorted gripes. For someone like Manning who only wants to do music of this quality, powertracks is all you need.

 

[manning1]

scientist. you are plain wrong.
if anyone wants to see how wrong just try the powertracks demo and
particularly focus on the midi functionality. and load any midi file or create your own, then look at the heavy notation editing in powertracks and all the other features. if you want to scientist - if you want to get heavy about this we can go through feature by feature of each package.
and i'll prove to you how wrong you are.
also - to anyone reading this there was a heavy discussion of powertracks vs traktion recently on the pg powertracks user forums.
just so you see i'm not lying.

 

[Dracon]

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

...
Anyone else try this thing?

Yes! I agree. It looks great, and it's very pretty. I was able to figure out how to copy or cut a piece of the imported wav but I could not move it to where I wanted. It also seem impossible to copy part of a wave and create a new track with it. After having it for 3 days and trying it over and over (cause I really like the look and feel) I decided to remove it 'cause it's not user friendly enough.

I also downloaded the Audition 1.5 as a demo. I was able to figure out everything I was trying to do in Tracktion in 10 minutes. Although I am not a fan of the look and feel of Audition it very intuitive to use. I can't say the same for Tracktion.

 

[manning1]

dracon. imho - audiotion is an excellent program for audio.
however lacking in midi features. other programs i rate highly are samplitude
and saw studio. you should try the demoes of these as well.
by the way - what you tried to do ie..copying a wav part to a new track ,
i can do in 5 secs in powertracks.

 

[Polaris20]

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.

Yes, we get it, you like Power Tracks.

 

[Polaris20]

also - to anyone reading this there was a heavy discussion of powertracks vs traktion recently on the pg powertracks user forums.
just so you see i'm not lying.

And I am sure they're every bit as unbiased as you, right?

 

[manning1]

polaris. firstly tis the season of goodwill. merry christmas to you.
secondly. actually if you read the forums like today for example you will see a new user saying the 49 bucks is worth it just for the level of support he has had. actually , much as you might find this hard to believe us users are as tough on pg. always wanting more features of course like everyone.
if you actually take some time to read the forums.

 

[traidma]

Gosh, I guess the PowerTracks Vs. everything else will never end. I think, Manning, that you are right about the midi features. But not all the people here wanna get a Band In A Box to play their music and then mix it in PowerTracks (thats how many PowerTracks users describe their works). I tried PowerTracks for few days.. and for me, as I do more recording than MIDI, Tracktion works much better. After all... non of the recordinds in the 'PowerTrack artists' in your list sound as good as real instruments after all.

Somebody asked about about a drum machine. It's not built in but e-Phonics VST plugins are awesome and free! http://www.e-phonic.com/

Even that I've never been into MIDI stuff, I tried to create some stuff with Tracktion. It's all I need...

plus.... unlimited number of tracks for NOTHING!

I still don't get why PowerTracks has an image of a guitar neck built in

 

[manning1]

traidma. if your asking about the guitar neck display there is a good reason.
think about a midi guitarist. he records a midi guitar track then can "see"
on the fretboard the notes. he can also go into notation editing and make changes.
by the way - you dont have to use biab to record.
but go your own way. i'm tiring of peoples lack of education/understanding of why these features are usefull.peace.

 

[traidma]

I went through the list of musicians you gave.. and many of them referred that they use biab along with pt (i do know what both of these programs do!) thats why i referred to that.

If you think that anybody who is not using PT, has a luck of education or understanding... oh well, youre wrong!

 

[Polaris20]

but go your own way. i'm tiring of peoples lack of education/understanding of why these features are usefull.peace.

Well, that was borderline insulting. So much for the season of goodwill, eh?

There are plenty of educated people here, that know a lot about computers, recording, and software. No need to be condescending.

Just because we choose not to use PT, and get tired of hearing about the informercials you post here doesn't mean we're ignorant or stupid.

 

[manning1]

traidma. no matter how many nice features i point out. youve made up your mind. so lets leave it at that. you want free obviously.
nothings free in this world. support people have to be hired and paid for. if you took the trouble to look pg have on line help all through the week for users. there is a cost to this. merry christmas. andgood luck.

 

[eraos]

haha

i'm tiring of peoples lack of education/understanding of why these features are usefull.

i just need to laugh at that.

 

[Polaris20]

i just need to laugh at that.

Why, because he states that many of us lack education/understanding, but then spells "useful" incorrectly?

 

[crankz1]

lmfao

The way I read into that is ....
For a software package that is supposedly so easy to use and feature packed but yet a good many of the users require the assistance of online live help tells me something of which users of a certain program lack the education/understanding.
Granted we all start somewhere and with limited knowledge, hence support and guidance can be a requirement for many but I had to laugh at that.

I'm sure Powertracks is useful to a good many, but that makes me think most of them are beginners still in their infancy of computer based recording.

All in all .... every single software out there is simply a tool that we use for our production/creativity. How one uses the tools available to them is merely personal preference. I've given up on trying to press my viewpoints on any particular package/packages. They are, of course, just my own viewpoints .... and ..... who am I?