Just Back from NAMM and more Tracktion info for you.

[dextrus]

slightly off topic, but I assume that it will supplied with Mackie Spike at some point? Will there a revision of Spike that perhaps uses USB2.0 / Firewire or runs a variant of Final Mix off it's on-board DSP?

[fandango]

Beno: Just couple of questions if you have a moment.

1. Is the plugin scan faster in T3?
2. Has the line tool been fixed so that it doesn't create giant snap-level steps in the controller area? ||screenshot||

[Beno]

1. No change.
2. No change. The line tool still depends on snap level for controllers.
Ben

[mellotronaut]

The slow scan is something, i really dislike in T2.
It has one advantage, though: I pick up my guitar and play.

[koolkeys]

I don't think the plugin scan takes any longer then other software that does a scan. And with it set to not scan on startup, Tracktion starts up for me in about 5 seconds.

Brent

[Neil G]

I don't think the plugin scan takes any longer then other software that does a scan. And with it set to not scan on startup, Tracktion starts up for me in about 5 seconds.

Brent

ditto.

[zeoy]

I don't think the plugin scan takes any longer then other software that does a scan. And with it set to not scan on startup, Tracktion starts up for me in about 5 seconds.

Brent

ditto.

same here. don't know what's wrong with yours Chris I've only done a complete scan after 1st installation. After that I only check that 'scan for new or plugins that have changed' when I install something new and it takes less than 30 secs. It takes 6 seconds for start-up. Of course I have disabled that "scan at start-up" option.

[Lunch Money]

Some people don't turn off the automatic scan, and also don't choose to "scan only for new or have changed" when adding new ones. I really really appreciate the sense of "security" the comprehensive initial scan gives me. Other programs don't scan at all, or scan when instantiating the plug-in for the first time-- and a broken plug-in could mean a complete crash.

[Daniel78]

even with the startup scan enabled, the startup time isn't slow... i think i timed mine at less than 15 seconds...
There seems to be (have been?) a bug where - on some machines - Tracktion was insisting on a full scan at every startup, but rather than actually find out what caused it (i know it works fine for me), most people either disabled it entirely, or announced "Tracktion sucks!" ( and went off to download reaper... )

[pough]

I don't think the plugin scan takes any longer then other software that does a scan. And with it set to not scan on startup, Tracktion starts up for me in about 5 seconds.

It doesn't really matter what you think. It also doesn't matter what I think, either. What matters is that a scan takes a few minutes for me in FL Studio, energyXT and Cubase; it took over two hours last time Tracktion did one (and about the same time the times before that). So no matter what anyone thinks, two hours is noticeably longer than a few minutes. This is what leads me to believe that Tracktion loads each plugin, invites it in for tea and strumpets, indulges in some sex (straight and otherwise), has a smoke, checks the fridge for a snack, watches a little Letterman, then moves on. I like its style, but I haven't the time to wait for it.

That's the quick scan, BTW. I turned off scan on startup and I weep whenever I think about the fact that there's an option to do a longer scan.

Your mileage may vary.

[Squids]

Tracktion 3 is awesome! Just wanted to pop in and say that. It's main sound set loop-wise is from Sonic Reality's RAW (not to be confused with Raw Material Software but nice coincidence!). There's a nice sampling across the range which if you want to know what that is its here: http://www.esoundz.com/sounds2.php?p=st ... =0&stiid=0

Thanks for all the great info Beno!

Is it difficult to integrate ones' loop collection with the integrated loops library in T3?

I'm not Beno. But, anyway, to answer your question: NO! It's not hard to integrate your own loops in T3. Also, we're going to be posting about 50,000 more loops on www.esoundz.com Loop Club in the coming months so you can get them in bulk and pick the ones you like to add to your T3 set up when you get it. Just in time!

[koolkeys]

I don't think the plugin scan takes any longer then other software that does a scan. And with it set to not scan on startup, Tracktion starts up for me in about 5 seconds.

It doesn't really matter what you think. It also doesn't matter what I think, either. What matters is that a scan takes a few minutes for me in FL Studio, energyXT and Cubase; it took over two hours last time Tracktion did one (and about the same time the times before that). So no matter what anyone thinks, two hours is noticeably longer than a few minutes. This is what leads me to believe that Tracktion loads each plugin, invites it in for tea and strumpets, indulges in some sex (straight and otherwise), has a smoke, checks the fridge for a snack, watches a little Letterman, then moves on. I like its style, but I haven't the time to wait for it.

That's the quick scan, BTW. I turned off scan on startup and I weep whenever I think about the fact that there's an option to do a longer scan.

Your mileage may vary.

What I "think" is just based on using Tracktion for a long time on five different systems and three different operating systems(including Vista). I have never once had a plugin scan take longer then a few minutes. And that's with two of those computers at times having a couple hundred plugins.

I'm not saying that it doesn't take that long with you. But if it is indeed taking two hours, then I would start questioning if there is a suspicious plug in there somewhere. Take your plugins out of their folder, and add ten at a time, rescanning. Keep adding until you find out if a particular plug may be causing it.

There is obviously something wrong, but it's not necessarily Tracktion that is doing it. I'm not the only user that has never had a problem. Most have never had a problem. So it IS possible that it's a particular plugin.

And just to help, what have you tried in diagnosing the problem? Have you tried what I said above? If there IS a problem with Tracktion, and we can reproduce it, or with a particular plug, then it's possible that Mackie can look into it. So we're all ears on what you have done to test and CONFIRM that it's actually Tracktion causing the problem.

Brent

[pough]

So we're all ears on what you have done to test and CONFIRM that it's actually Tracktion causing the problem.

Whoa. I never said that it was all Tracktion. In fact, I'm assuming that there is at least one plugin that Tracktion trips up on. But I'm also assuming that if Tracktion didn't do such a thorough job of inspecting each plugin from areola to sphincter, this wouldn't be an issue. Like I said, every other host on my system does a scan in a few minutes. That kinda points to it being at least somewhat Tracktion to blame, even if all it's doing wrong is being more thorough than I ever asked it to be.

I just haven't had the time to empty my admittedly-too-crowded VST folder and re-add them one by one to see which one(s) is(are) the culprit. That'll take a loooong time and I haven't even had more than a few hours a week to just work on music. If I hadn't recently bought Jamstix and downloaded the Addictive Drums demo, I might have forgotten that my rescan takes forever.

I don't think it's a huge deal, unless you change your plugins frequently, but I do wish Tracktion had an option to scan for new plugins in a less involved way. This last week has seen my meagre time for music taken up by the plugin scan.

[P.T.]

Beno, do you have any info on this?

"Automation lock to clip"

Midi clips?

Does this fix this problem...?

If I have midi tracks with automation on them and then decide to change the tempo of the song, the automation does not align properly with the midi any longer and cannot be fixed because the spacing between the midi notes has changed and the automation has not.

[koolkeys]

So we're all ears on what you have done to test and CONFIRM that it's actually Tracktion causing the problem.

Whoa. I never said that it was all Tracktion. In fact, I'm assuming that there is at least one plugin that Tracktion trips up on. But I'm also assuming that if Tracktion didn't do such a thorough job of inspecting each plugin from areola to sphincter, this wouldn't be an issue. Like I said, every other host on my system does a scan in a few minutes. That kinda points to it being at least somewhat Tracktion to blame, even if all it's doing wrong is being more thorough than I ever asked it to be.

I just haven't had the time to empty my admittedly-too-crowded VST folder and re-add them one by one to see which one(s) is(are) the culprit. That'll take a loooong time and I haven't even had more than a few hours a week to just work on music. If I hadn't recently bought Jamstix and downloaded the Addictive Drums demo, I might have forgotten that my rescan takes forever.

I don't think it's a huge deal, unless you change your plugins frequently, but I do wish Tracktion had an option to scan for new plugins in a less involved way. This last week has seen my meagre time for music taken up by the plugin scan.

Sorry if I seem attacking in my post. It wasn't meant that way. What I'm trying to get across is that it definitely is possible that Tracktion could do something differently.

Tracktions scan has it's pros and cons. The cons may very well be what you are talking about. It REALLY scans the plugins to see what's what.

However, it also saves you from hassles by making sure every plugin is a legit plugin. It prevents a rescan of the same trouble plugin so that it doesn't stop your next scan.

So again, if there are any ideas of how it may improve things, then great. I'm sure Mackie would love to hear them. I understand not having time, but with all due respect, ideas don't take much time. And I've always thought that if people have enough time to come here and voice their complaints, then surely they have enough time to think of a possible improvement. That's what will make it better.

Now, I believe that T's plugin scan taking longer may be related to the audio engine. I don't know this for sure, but I believe that the audio engine starts first, before the scan. Maybe that is slowing things down. I do know that if I plug my MIDI or audio interface in even one second after starting Tracktion, it doesn't show up in Tracktion. I have to have it plugged in BEFORE I hit the exe file.

I'm not saying this IS the problem, as I don't know. But it's definitely possible. Maybe Beno can elaborate on this more.

But like I said, for me and many others, the scan takes no time at all. And without the scan, I get 5 second startups. So I know that it CAN work fine.

Brent