Would you pay more for a more handsome interface?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Arranger
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Arranger

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Not to be ludicrous, but, do you think some of the other interfaces available are more handsome and appealing than n-Track?

I'm truly pleased with n-Track and it will remain my primary multitracker. I just wonder if its appearance could be enhanced to match its capabilities.

I look at Cubase, for instance, and even some plug-ins and they appear more equipment-like and three dimensional. n-Track is such a well designed package and deserves an appearance that rivals its competitors'.

Has anyone else given this thought? Don't feel the need to bash me for looking a gift horse in the mouth. We all know what a great value n-Track is. I'd just like it to forge ahead further and show its best (inter)face.
 
Michael Jackson payed for a more handsome face and look where he is now!






or no........

bd :D :D
 
Well, I'm more of a practical person than anything. For example my rusty ol dodge. Looks like crap but runs great. Cheap.

I think one of the main concerns with adding more doohickies is stability. I know for awhile one of the builds had some really neat glitches, that severely altered the appearance of n-track. Of course after awhile it made it so I couldn't see a damn thing so I always had to resart it.

I think the other thing is, when you start adding appearance kindof items, it starts using up valuable screen space. I really wish I had a two monitor setup, because with the mixer open and the multitracker, moving stuff around all the time is a pain. Although, the transparency change option on the mixer is a very nice touch.

I'm not positive, but you can alter the appearance on your own to a degree. But that is a windows thing entirely. I just know that when I went with a nice silvery kinda appearance for windows it looks pretty sharp. Well sharp enough for me :D
 
Nah, but I think n-Track already has a pretty decent interface. Definately on par with stuff from sonic foundry and some of steinberg's stuff. A lot of those programs have very cool looking effects though...blah. Cool looking usually = more resources = boooo.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I generally prefer function over form when it comes to purchases, but when dealing with technology I think that's an especially important stance. It's very easy to do things simply because you can but in too many cases people never stop to ask "Why?". That "why" can refer to any number of things - is there any added value, does it risk breaking features that are working, or even philospohical questions like "Should we do it?" (such as with medical advancements)".

Sorry, Arranger, but I'm putting myself in the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" camp as well. I won't bitch about how cute it looks if it works and stays cheap. :)
 
I think the main thing, is if it is made to be wholly stable then yea sure. Right now the number 1 issue with n-track is stability.
 
:D Same question as over at N-T Forum.

Same answer:

No I would not. Besides n-Tracks, I also have PG Music's Power Tracks Pro Audio 8 on my puter. If ya think n-Tracks is plain-Jane, you should take a look at the PT 8 interface. I love both programs and all I care about is do they work!? They both work fine.

CR ><>
 
No way!

The next reason why i still use soundforge is because of its basic layout. Plain, to the point.
I remember being able to try Wavelab v4 and after installing getting a message that my display wasn't set to a million colors....i went like 'what??' ....i wanna edit some music not work on graphics.

A nice layout that looks good could be nice, but i rather see a nice layout that is functional and just works.
 
Interface - what exactly is it?

A newbie forever, it seems.
I use a computer for recording, Cool Edit. condensor mic, and have just picked up a dbx 286A and trying to figure out how to connect it all up. Someone asked me what kind of interface I use, and I don't know what that means. thanks. If you are kind enough to answer, please give me a step by step.
Joan
 
interface=computer face

Basically its the *layout design*, or how it looks.
 
Joan,

Windows XP is your operating system, or OS. It's what controls how everything works on your PC - accessing disks, printers, and any other devices, gives you your Windows desktop, manages networking, etc. In some respects it IS an interface since it's what you see when you interact with the computer, but in this case "interface" refers to something else.

In this thread the concept of "interface" refers to the look and feel of n-Track itself. This includes things like how the buttons are laid out in the n-Track screen, which are in the menu bars, what the mixer console looks like, how you access some of the recording options, how you manipulate track attributes, what the various effects plugins look like when you call them up, etc. Basically, how pretty is n-Track and how easy is it to navigate through its various screens.

Hope that helps.
 
.. and a little follow-up

Since you asked about how you connect up all your gear, you are kind of talking about the audio interface to your PC. So to address your question, you mentioned a condensor mic and a compressor. I'd guess your condensor mic needs a source of phantom power in order to work, so unless you have some kind of preamp, it probably won't work just yet. An exception would be if it's a mic like the AKG C1000, which can provide it's own phantom power with an internal 9-volt battery. Usually you'd get phantom power from your mic preamp, though.

You really wouldn't be able to connect your mic directly into your compressor and get any usable output from it with first connecting the mic to the preamp and then the preamp into the compressor (if you're going to track with the compressor).

To get a signal into your PC, you need to connect something with a line level output, such as your compressor or a mic preamp, into the line in on your PC's soundcard. You don't want to use the mic input on your soundcard (I'm assuming it's whatever card you got with the PC, in which case you probably have a mic input) unless you're specifically looking for low signal quality as an effect.

You might also want to start looking through the Computer Recording and Soundcards Forum as well for more detail than I gave you. You also might ask this same question there since it's a lot more generic than it is n-Track specific. Gotta keep those moderators happy, you know! :D

I hope this helps, too.
 
I've used Sonar, Protools, and some other pricey ones and I alway come back to N-track. It's simple and to the point. Looks like a board.
 
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