KVR Audio

Satasha · Post by **Satasha** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:23 pm

I am approaching 50 tracks in this song that I am making and I am getting nervous. I hope I don't lock up my computer or something. I have a pretty nice computer but still...

So what is the max number of tracks you have had going at once? If more than 50, what are the specs on your computer?

Tricky-Loops · Post by **Tricky-Loops** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:31 pm

Always when I have more than 40 tracks, my computer shuts down with a blue screen and the message: "Stop! The Beatles made great songs with only 4 tracks!"

Turello · Post by **Turello** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:33 pm

I make Rock Music and I use to have max 16 tracks, the first 6 for EZdrummer of others drums with multiout , someone to some vst synth (that I export in wave) and others to record guitars, bass, synths, vocals etc etc...
Anyway not only the number of tracks can stress the PC, there's also plugins, automations etc etc...
50 tracks seems too many, have you a 3 orchestras orgy???

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 3:54 pm

Define 'tracks'. Do you mean 50 MIDI, and each to its own soft instrument?

That to me is a lot of MIDI tracks but I do a lot with one track, I mean I don't typically have to do it like ten yrs ago with a whole track for each articulation.
Project loaded now uses 41 and two of the drum tracks speak to 30/24 pieces. 94 stereo channels, most of the channels are pretty loaded, bussed down to 14 stereo outs.
I wouldn't be able to do this without VE Pro, though, as much automation and FX as I use.
I'd be freezing tracks all the time and a much slower workflow. Here I am using a MacPro 8 core 4.1, early 2009 vintage, 24GB RAM. I used to use the machine below as the Master to this slave but the difference is actually pretty negligible.

I remember one project with over 200 audio tracks which if I'd have had issues with performance I'd have organized differently. That was a quad core MacPro ca 2008, 3GB.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:48 pm

Do you mean songs or any piece of music regardless of whether it has a singer or not?

If you mean the latter, it could be a huge number. When I have put together the digital equivalent of tape collages, it could be a huge number - I'll probably keep mixing down tracks while I'm doing it, so I can easily lose count.

I've also put together pieces of music with just one track.

justin3am · Post by **justin3am** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:03 pm

The most I have used in a project of my own is 78. Though I usually bounce and consolidate tracks a lot so there are fewer tracks when I'm doing my final mix than when I was doing the initial arrangement/composition. Usually my tracks have 10-30 tracks.

I have worked on projects for other people that had more than 300 tracks. At that point organization, labeling and color coding are crucial. I wouldn't work on a project like that without detailed project notes. Usually the people who are creating projects this big are using Pro Tools HD systems where a lot of the signal processing is off-loaded to DSPs. It's also common to see use of mult-timbral instruments/hosts on separate computers (using something like Vienna Ensemble Pro).

My main mixing rig is a 12-core MacPro with 16GB of ram.

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:05 pm

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:12 pm

I don't think I've ever really kept track of the maximum number and I'm not sure why it matters, but 50-60 tracks and 12 or more buses isn't uncommon for me. I'm primarily a Sonar user and soft synths can be instantiated as a single instrument track, or as separate MIDI and audio tracks - I'm accustomed to using the latter, so that increases my track count. If I'm working in PT or Logic, I use instrument tracks so I end up with fewer. I also have a separate audio track for each of my drum parts (e.g., each pad in Battery 3 or Superior Drummer gets routed to its own audio return in my DAW), so that ups my track count. I also layer vocal parts, particularly background vocals/harmonies, so that ups my track count some more. Yes, I easily could get by with fewer (or even more) tracks if I wanted to, but that's not the way I choose to work.

Track count is just a number. It's meaningless.

Satasha · Post by **Satasha** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:01 pm

Yes, I meant audio tracks, sorry.

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:07 pm

Audio tracks...maybe around 24...

Touch The Universe · Post by **Touch The Universe** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:11 pm

How about how many versions or streamed synth samples for a song. I got atleast 2000 for this one song I'm working on, with 79 gigs of total sample data. Not kidding

But worth it tweaking and tweaking, them stream then adjust then stream. Have enough for an album for one track. Could probably split it into 8 songs but the album would all be in the same key, same tempo...

fluffy_little_something · Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:57 pm

Tricky-Loops wrote:Always when I have more than 40 tracks, my computer shuts down with a blue screen and the message: "Stop! The Beatles made great songs with only 4 tracks!"

4 is too few, but indeed I think there is nothing wrong with limiting things to, say, 8 tracks (plus automation tracks, but I don't really count them as tracks) plus a few vocal tracks.

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:44 pm

Satasha wrote:Yes, I meant audio tracks, sorry.

When I had that high number (which I noted from revisiting the thing and consolidating the audio to an archive in order to basically clear up some space recently), any given 'track' was a container for a piece of audio that was bounced down or the FX had been applied offline directly to the event rather than FX on the channels. So it's impossible to compare '# of tracks' without defining what it means in your project.

trimph1 · Post by **trimph1** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:54 pm

I still have to bounce mine...

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:07 pm

fluffy_little_something wrote:
Tricky-Loops wrote:Always when I have more than 40 tracks, my computer shuts down with a blue screen and the message: "Stop! The Beatles made great songs with only 4 tracks!"
4 is too few, but indeed I think there is nothing wrong with limiting things to, say, 8 tracks (plus automation tracks, but I don't really count them as tracks) plus a few vocal tracks.

Yes, I prefer to keep things minimal.

What is the max number of Tracks that you have used in a song?