Newbie Q: Midi Editing / Copy by reference?

Discussion about: tracktion.com
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Hi All,

I'm new here. Just ditched my aging music workstation, and I'm looking at Tracktion to see what it can do.

So here's the thing...

Under other programs I've used (Cakewalk, Cubase), I can take a midi clip and paste multiple copies into a track. When pasting, one option is to paste "by reference", so that the copies are just mirrors of the original clip (sorry to use programming jargon, but I don't know what this feature is called). Changing the original clip changes all of the copies.

I've found this very useful in the past. For example, to create a rhythm track I record say 4 bars, then copy it a bunch of times to get a loop efffect. If I don't like the sound, I just need to change the initial 4-bar "master" to adjust the entire track.

So how can I do this in Tracktion? I've tried various copy/paste operations. Each time I get a new clip with the same name, but they are not linked (ie. changes only effect one copy of the clip). Hey, I even read the manual! Am I missing something, or is Tracktion missing a really useful feature?

Cheers,
Stewart

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Its called "Ghost Clips" in Cubase.. and its on the wish list! ;)

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OK. So failing that, is there a simple way to paste N copies of a clip other than hitting ^V N times? I can type pretty fast, so that might not be a problem :wink:

How often to "wish list" features make it into the product? My impression of "lightweight" operations is that they should be more responsive to the users than the bigger players because they have less baggage and less inertia. Is this the case with Tracktion?

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I tend to <CNTRL> drag to create copies..

In my experience, small "lightweight" apps that keep adding features eventually get as much baggage and inertia as the rest.. Jules has been very responsive to user request in the past, but he also has a strong vision for his creation, and won't add things unless he feels they fit the Tracktion paradigm.

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platinumears wrote:I tend to <CNTRL> drag to create copies..
OK if you're only making a small number of copies.
platinumears wrote:In my experience, small "lightweight" apps that keep adding features eventually get as much baggage and inertia as the rest.. Jules has been very responsive to user request in the past, but he also has a strong vision for his creation, and won't add things unless he feels they fit the Tracktion paradigm.
That's probably a good thing. In any case, I'm very interested to see what happens with Tracktion. Seems to me that the market for this type of application is already quite well occupied. So Tracktion users are buying based on "style" (ie. design, work-flow, usability) rather than "features"? Given that T2 will cost around than twice the price of Cubase SE, that would have to be a very strong selling point.

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stewartg wrote: So Tracktion users are buying based on "style" (ie. design, work-flow, usability) rather than "features"? Given that T2 will cost around than twice the price of Cubase SE, that would have to be a very strong selling point.
no problems there then.. ;)

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Tracktion does have some novel and powerful features that flow from its strong design... Racks for example let you build re-useable hybrid instruments out of your vsts. The freeze feature (while controversial around here) keeps a running sum of frozen tracks allowing you to do an arbitrarily complex mix. The flexible nature of tracks: they can hold any type of object and output all - they can be sent to other tracks without limitation.

Whats particularly great is that a lot of the strong features flow directly from simple, correctly chosen core programming design ideas - the opposite way from most daws imo.

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semiquaver wrote:Whats particularly great is that a lot of the strong features flow directly from simple, correctly chosen core programming design ideas - the opposite way from most daws imo.
Very well said! :)

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I agree that the design is well thought out. I haven't done much with it yet, but what I have done has been easy and intuitive. But why is the freeze feature controversial? Seems very neat to me.

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