Tracktion 4

[Gabriel_S]

All i want is less CPU usage. Is that asking too much ????? Sheesh...most of the major hosts have Traction beat by a mile as far as CPU consuption goes. Other than that, it's my main host. Hate all the freezing and muting to finish a damn song though with it all crackling and followed by the stopping on a dime because of of too much CPU usage.

C'mon Mackie, if the other guys can do it, you surely can !!!!!

[Neil G]

whats wack is beno has been here while thisd thread has been going and has said nothing.. wtf is that?

a hello, yea wwre working on it and no mackie isnt abonding traktion is all i need .

[Iain]

I've been through Tracktion 1, Tracktion 2 and have just switched to Tracktion 3 and quite frankly wouldn't use anything else except maybe Tracktion 4.
I'm a software engineer and had been playing with an Idea of writing a DAW but when I saw Tracktion I realised i didn't need to bother because the idea I had was already available.
I've been in and out of Pro Tools, and Cubase and Logic and Acid and Tracktion is where it happens. The only thing wrong with Tracktion, in my mind, is that it runs on unstable operating systems. I work day in day out under linux and wish that Tracktion would be ported. I have even offered to help in this matter. I'm sure that a lot of problems I encounter are due to Windows and Mac bugs because I encounter the same problems with my own software on these syetems wheras under linux it all runs smoothly.

Iain

[Axl]

I've been in and out of Pro Tools, and Cubase and Logic and Acid and Tracktion is where it happens. The only thing wrong with Tracktion, in my mind, is that it runs on unstable operating systems. I work day in day out under linux and wish that Tracktion would be ported. I have even offered to help in this matter. I'm sure that a lot of problems I encounter are due to Windows and Mac bugs because I encounter the same problems with my own software on these syetems wheras under linux it all runs smoothly.

Iain

I would switch to Linux in a second if it ran the software I work with natively and had a decent window manager (Gnome and KDE were totally lame the last time I tested). So, stuck between evil Apple and superevil Microsoft I chose the (still) lesser evil.

But the gui sluggishness that makes T3 a pita to use on my Macbook Pro is not an OS X bug but a Tracktion bug and a major one, for that matter. On the other hand, Ableton Live with its very similar GUI concept runs perfectly.

I've been an owner of Live 7 for about two months now, and although I haven't had a single problem with it (except one time when I tried to rewire it to... Tracktion), it has seen 3 updates since then. I haven't even bothered to install the last update because Live is already superstable for me. I still like tracking regular guitars or vocals much much more in Tracktion though. If only the gui worked decently.

So, I'd say, there is something seriously broken in T3, at least on the Mac. I take this opportunity to announce that, if Mackie decides to go the Steinberg way and doesn't fix it soon in a free update, I'll be outta here.


Axl

[AD80]

Why not just get both OSX and Windows XP like me with Bootcamp? Thats the huge plus in having a MBP. Some software works better on one side, some on the other. Why pretend like you're fighting the evil empire when they're equally evil? Just get what lets you make music.

[Njxt2]

Concerning updates and bug tracking/correcting, I really regret the good ol' days when Jules was in charge.

[barfwafl]

But the gui sluggishness that makes T3 a pita to use on my Macbook Pro is not an OS X bug but a Tracktion bug and a major one, for that matter. On the other hand, Ableton Live with its very similar GUI concept runs perfectly.

I've been an owner of Live 7 for about two months now, and although I haven't had a single problem with it (except one time when I tried to rewire it to... Tracktion), it has seen 3 updates since then. I haven't even bothered to install the last update because Live is already superstable for me. I still like tracking regular guitars or vocals much much more in Tracktion though. If only the gui worked decently.

Axl

+1 on everything here. Tracktion is what I wish Ableton was, and Ableton is what I wish Tracktion was!

One other thought, Mackie was and is a hardware company, and one with a good ol' boy aspect at that. They probably think our sense of urgency is a little weird.

[Axl]

Why not just get both OSX and Windows XP like me with Bootcamp? Thats the huge plus in having a MBP. Some software works better on one side, some on the other. Why pretend like you're fighting the evil empire when they're equally evil? Just get what lets you make music.

Well, as I said, I think they're not quite equally evil yet.

But I don't pretend anything, at least not fighting "THEM" by choosing certain software.

I had an XP partition once and deleted it because constantly switching OSs was too much hassle. And I never got the keyboard drivers installed correctly, so that made working with Tracktion on XP harder. Also, I needed the space on my hard drive. I also don't see a reason why I should pay money for the new OS. I'm content with Tiger.

Axl

[Axl]

One other thought, Mackie was and is a hardware company, and one with a good ol' boy aspect at that. They probably think our sense of urgency is a little weird.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean here. If they had developed T3 the way they develop their mixers, they would have taken their time and come out with a fine product. But for some reason, they took their time and came out with a broken software. This can't be corporate policy. I'm getting the impression that there are bad news that they don't want to tell us.

Axl

[UncleAge]

I've been through Tracktion 1, Tracktion 2 and have just switched to Tracktion 3 and quite frankly wouldn't use anything else except maybe Tracktion 4.
I'm a software engineer and had been playing with an Idea of writing a DAW but when I saw Tracktion I realised i didn't need to bother because the idea I had was already available.
I've been in and out of Pro Tools, and Cubase and Logic and Acid and Tracktion is where it happens. The only thing wrong with Tracktion, in my mind, is that it runs on unstable operating systems.
Iain

I agree with most of what you said here as I was going to do the same. However, I don't think that the only thing presenting a problem is the operating system.

One issue at play is that the team at Mackie had to take over someone elses code. That is no small task. Jules had an idea and it was his baby. Another programmer has to wrap his/her head around that concept and also be productive.

Second issue is the fact that not all programmers are created equal. Looking at the development of Reaper and the early days of Energy's eXT and the early days of Traction you see some outstanding programmers with a serious love for what the do/did. That is not always the case on a larger scale in a development house.

Third is customer expectation. Seeing the rapid development of a lot of other tools, quite a few users get impatient. That leads to the perception that Mackie isn't doing enough. With the exception of instability one could make an argument that the development of Tracktion is coming along at a nice pace. But the feedback from the company is definitely lacking.

Now with that said I do think the OS is a factor. And a pretty big one at that. MS does not give niche markets the priority that it should (at least not as much attention that Apple did). But considering the amount of time it takes to get an update to T3 and the fact that a few bugs have lingered for quite a long time, I think that some of the items I mentioned may be playing a part as well.

And if I can add one more item....

The software arena that Mackie stepped into has changed IMO. With exception to some of the big boys/girls the consumers in this market want access to the developers. With customer service slipping in so many other markets I'm amazed at the dedication of a lot of small developers when it comes to commuicating with their customers. U-he, Linplug, Rayzoon, Cockos and Zynewave just to name a few. And obviously Jules was pretty good at this as well. I can't speak to the development of T4 and I don't think most here could. We just don't know. But I do think that if they had been (read: could be) more interactive with their customers as Jules had been, there might be a totally different perception of the product and the company.

And this is by no means a slap in the face to Beno. Most of us think highly of you Beno, and we think you are doing a good job. But your company could step it up a notch when it comes to keeping this community abreast of future plans (T3 & T4).

[bobmartinmusic]

I don't think that its Tracktion that is a the problem here, its all the various add ons etc that we want to use with it.

Having decided to sell Logic after 3 weeks of frustration and disbelief i've come back to T3 with a much clearer idea of what its strengths are.

Mackie bought it because you can get up and running, using with a new piece of their hardware quickly. T3 is all about simplicity and work flow, finding workarounds etc.

Perhaps some have out grown T3 which is fine, but there are many people like me who prefer a bright clear simple GUI.

I hope that Mackie will not lose sight of us. T4 could be a specialized top quality audio DAW known for its ease of use, and not try to be "all things to all men".

By the way, Tracktion goes like a Rocket on my 2.4 Mac with 4 gig of Ram. Ok, so some things are missing..

It is better to encourage and give positive feedback to those awfully nice people sat on their backsides all day writing code for us.

You could be using Logic!!

[Axl]

Perhaps some have out grown T3 which is fine, but there are many people like me who prefer a bright clear simple GUI.

I also prefer a bright simple gui - if it works!

By the way, Tracktion goes like a Rocket on my 2.4 Mac with 4 gig of Ram. Ok, so some things are missing..

It is better to encourage and give positive feedback to those awfully nice people sat on their backsides all day writing code for us.

You could be using Logic!!

Yeah, Logic sucks big time.

Anyway, are you saying, you can drag around notes in the midi editor without the gui taking seconds to update? Can you actually use things like the volume or the tempo sliders?

Because I can't on my Mac. And I couldn't on the Mac Pro Mackie setup at this year's Musikmesse either.

Axl

[skipkent]

I'd like to see the facility to create our own genres (or perhaps just edit the existing ones) for organizing loops, in T4, or better yet T3.x.

[Lunch Money]

Concerning updates and bug tracking/correcting, I really regret the good ol' days when Jules was in charge.

You've been around long enough to know that this is a myth. By the time T2 was acquired for distribution by Mackie, Jules was burnt out on maintaining Tracktion, and updates were few and far between.

It's easy for updates to be fast and furious when the base features are being added on and tested.

Remember how long it took Racks?

This whole "I want someone to hold my hand, I'm getting impatient" conversation is useless and repetitive... it's not that I don't understand your sentiment (hey, I'm a freakin' die-hard for Pete's sakes, I want it BAD!), it's just that we've been here, done this, and it's never useful and never gets anyone any positive feelings.

If anyone TRULY felt positive about getting, "I want a confirmation that we haven't been abandoned!" off their chest, I'd be surprised. 'Cause having said it out loud, it just makes you want that confirmation the more. Me, I'm rather happier not fussing about it.

[UncleAge]

I don't feel abandoned. Truth be told the app does 90%+ of what I want right now. If they made this version stable and never made another version I wouldn't feel cheated or abandoned. I would feel like I got my money's worth.