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All Reviews by valley


By valley
On 20th September 2003
Version: 1.0

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  GUI
Sound
Features
Docs
Presets
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VFM
Stability
Kjaerhus Audio Classic Master Limiter

This is a really nice limiter, simple and effective. The sound is pretty clean, and even when pushed quite hard there is no pumping and clarity of sound remains high.

The download is tiny and the plug is free, so there really is no good reason not to try it ;)

My only quibble is that the UI whilst concise and functional, is a little dull and the text isn't so easy on the eyes. With only one control to play with though, even this is a really a complaint.
 
Last edited : 20th September 2003     
By valley
On 21st April 2003
Version: 1.3

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It would be easy to think 'oh, yet another budget sequencer' and pass Tracktion by. There are after all a number of quality low priced sequencers on the market, and generally they all offer fairly similar feature sets.

So what makes Tracktion worth taking a look at? Actually, quite a few things. With Tracktion, Raw Material Software have made a serious effort to present a slightly different approach to the virtual studio idea. There is nothing so revolutionary here that you will not be able to pick it up quickly, but the changes are definately evolutionary, and many of them may leave you wondering why no-one has done this before.

Firstly, there is no hardware mixer motif. Instead plugins become part of the track that they belong to. The keyword in Tracktion is WYSIWYG. The whole mix, from MIDI/audio data through to final mixdown is presented as a single cohesive whole. All of the functionality is there, it has just become more seemlessly integrated into the arrange window than many people will be familiar with.

The loss of a mixer is an example of how Tracktion attempts to bring a faster workflow by reducing the increasingly arbitrary lines between composition, processing, and mixing. You'll either love this or you'll hate it, but whatever your views, it is great to see developers bringing fresh ideas to the table.

MIDI editing is a little rough around the edges in the current release (although like everything in Tracktion, improvements come on an almost daily basis). Even here though there are some good design choices, not least of which is the manner in which many MIDI clips can be edited simultaneously.

Working with audio in Tracktion is simplicity itself. All editing is 'in place' and non-destructive. Pitch shifting, splicing, and processing are all provided. Only Acid for me feels more fluid and powerful for manipulating audio sections.

Plugin support is good, and problems are generally fixed very quickly, Automation for non-MIDI CC parameters has been added with v1.3.

Performance and stability are both very good.

Developer support is second to none. Go read the Tracktion forum here on KvR for evidence of that.

A mac version is planned soon too.

All in all Tracktion is very much worth your time to check out. What are you waiting for?
 
    
Latest 2 reviews from a total of 2