I've been downloading and playing around with the demos of all the sequencers I can possibly get my hands on, in my quest to find the right sequencer for my needs. In that respect, I am pretty much sold on Tracktion. (SONAR'S interface was way too clunky for me - so many dialog boxes. Cubase doesn't allow you to drag the order of insert effects to change the signal flow, which sucks when you want to find out whether a compressor sounds better before an EQ or not.)
Tracktion, for my purposes, is incredibly intuitive and quick to work with. (Not to mention great value for money with all those free plugins you get with it, which is another reason why I'm going for it!) However, there are a few niggling problems that I have with the workflow in an otherwise excellent program, and these result in the feature requests below.
Tracktion's project system is great when you have an idea already realised in your head, and just want to put it down with the minimum of fuss. However, it is a hindrance for me at other times. Sometimes I just want to head into Tracktion to jam with a VSTi or two. Sometimes I don't have an idea in my head to start with, but I feel like being creative, so I want to go into Tracktion to mess around in the hope of eventually creating a piece of music. Tracktion's way of working is, I feel, counter-productive in this regard.
So, this leads me to my first feature request. Is it possible to create an option in the Settings menu that allows you to create a temporary, untitled project (with one edit), and immediately open that edit for editing on Tracktion start-up? This would do wonders for times when I just want to jam, as I would start up Tracktion and there would be the blank canvas I need, without having to fuss around.
For now, what I have done to get around this issue is that I have created a project which I use solely for messing around and nothing else. However, if we're talking about the second scenario above (where I don't have an idea in my head, but am still looking to create a piece of music at the end of my messing around), the workaround generates a problem that I have not yet been able to adequately solve. Since there is currently no option to save an edit you're working on into a new project (in a new folder and everything), there is no other way for me to get around this problem except: saving the edit in my "Messing Around" project, coming out of Tracktion and moving the entire project (and all associated files) into a new folder, renaming the project, and then creating a new project in my "Messing Around" folder. This is, at the best of times, still a bit of a pain in the neck. So is it possible, in future, to have an option in the Save menu that will allow us to save an edit we're currently working on, into a new project?
Another feature I miss in Tracktion (which is largely a result of playing around with the demos of other sequencers), is the way that when you click to enter notes in the MIDI editors in other sequencers, the note you enter is played when it is entered. In the same way, when the velocity of a selected note is changed, the note is re-played with the new velocity, so that you can hear it as it would sound. (I find this is especially useful when working with synths, as some sounds change their timbre based on velocity.) Having this feature in Tracktion would really help when programming parts, as it would just make life easier, as well as making the program feel a little more complete. Right now, I feel as if my clicking is a bit hit-and-miss (and sometimes, when I play a programmed part back, it is), but if I could hear notes being played as I entered or changed them, things would be easier.
Thanks for taking the time out to read this post, and my feature request ideas. It is much appreciated.
Ashley
