T3 - is it worth upgrading from T2

[scottman]

Hi all,

It's been a long time since I visited this forum. If this is not the best thread for my question (regarding T2 and loops), would someone mind steering me in the right direction?

I'm still using T2 on two different laptops, one running XP and one running Vista, and they've worked flawlessly, even though a tech support guy once told me that T2 would not run on Vista, and I needed to upgrade to T3. I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to try, and to my surprise it worked great. (In fact, I'm able to use either my Tascam US-122 interface or my Pro Tools Mbox2 interface with T2 on Vista.) Otherwise, I could never justify "upgrading" to T3, even though my new Gateway is dual core and, as I understand it, T2 is not conversant in multi-core platforms. No matter. My music and voiceover productions have been relatively simple - I've never used external drives (except for backup), and all is glitch-free.

I would like to start using loops in T2 (I have used loops in Pro Tools so I know what to expect). If I import a loop into T2, will it conform to the song tempo? Does Tracktion prefer certain loop format types over others (Acid, etc)? I think it was Bill who in this thread said something about loops conforming to tempo only in T3, but that was in regard to the loop browser.

I understand that KVR is a good place to find loops. Thanks in advance for your help.

[MarioC]

I didn't have many plugins so I went with the Ultimate Bundle and ordered it on-line. I haven't had any problems with it whasoever.

[P.T.]

How well does T3 work with dual core processors?

Is it well optimized?

[hammondc]

How well does T3 work with dual core processors?

Is it well optimized?

I have been using T3 since it was released, on a dual core AMD system. There is a slider for selecting the number of cores to use within Tracktion. I have not noticed specific instances when the CPU has gone above 50% so can't say whether it is optimized for dual core or not. I can say that it hae been completely stable for me and I use it pretty much on a daily basis in a working studio. There have been a couple of annoyances. I had a couple of "Poof" crashes, but it recovered just fine and I lost no work. The other issue is that I get an occasional "Audio device has stopped" when I import a wav track or do certain plugin manipulations.

[Iain]

I moved over to T3 this year after working for several years with T2

I find an enormous difference in the quality of the final result produced
using t3 compared with T2.

I did a CD exclusivly with T2 in March/May/June then installed T3 and played
around for a while.

We started a new project in July using T3 and have been working on it ever since and the difference in quality to my ears is really more than just noticable .. I wouldnt go back to T2 now.

[scottman]

Hi Iain,

I'm still using T2 and up to now haven't been able to justify an upgrade to T3 (why fix what ain't broken?). But because of your comment about T3 actually sounding better than T2 (i.e., "enormous difference", "more than just noticeable"), I'm now reconsidering. I was aware of the numerous changes and added features introduced by version T3 but was unaware of any change that would actually fundamentally improve sound quality. Is this really true? If so, switching from T2 to T3 is a no-brainer.

Scott Morrison
Van Nuys, CA

[Iain]

Hi

Thats how I felt about T2 for a long time. I'd read all the hate mail stuff here from time to time .... I'm in software wyself and I know that with our products its never to wise to go full out on a new version until the teething problems are fixed.

All the same I re-iterate .. I did a personal CD project in April/May with T2 and after I felt that the attraction of the folders was just to great to ignore so I did the upgrade.

It felt a bit strange at first but I soon settled in and then started work on a much more
important group CD project.

The first recording was done entirely with T3 ... 90 tracks in all on an Intel Quad Core with 3 Giga of Memory and 500 Giga disk .... About two thirds are audio recording and the
other third midi programming especially for the drums.

I do not however use the live midi recording aspects so I cant comment on them.

All my midi work is hand programmed.

I was really surprised at the sound quality change from the outset .. especially when working with the new mackie plugins .. reverb, compression, channel strip, final mix etc.

I can at last hear the difference in very minor changes in settings. Previously using
compressors well i just didnt bother because i couldnt see any change other than cpu consumption.

The only problem I encountered all in all is that Windows Vista imposed an update for
security reasons and since then I have had to render several track groups because
the wont play otherwise, especially with computational intensive midi synths.

The bad composition is quite heavy, several guitars, several keyboards, drums, percussion, bass, saxe, trumpet, bagpipes.

We have completed the backing tracks for 9 songs and are now moving on with recording
vocals using a variety of different singers.

I re-iterate that I have more trouble with windows itself than with tracktion.

I hope all goes well for you.

Iain

[OneArmedScissorB]

How well does T3 work with dual core processors?

Is it well optimized?

This is probably past the point now, but...

I distinctly remember that when I went from T2 to T3 with the same projects, the CPU use was literally cut in half, as it evenly split the load between the two cores, instead of one core having what seemed to be 99% of it, like in T2.

It's supposed to support up to 8 cores. I see no reason why it wouldn't, as my understanding is that it takes each bus and all the tracks with it, and then any individual tracks that aren't bussed, and distributes them all to different cores.

I'm not sure I'd call that "multi-threaded," but at least it distributes the work load well, and that's all that really matters.

The one flaw with that system is that if you send the vast majority of the tracks to one bus, or end up sending several buses to another sub-mix bus, it won't balance the load, and one CPU core could potentially end up handling almost everything.

However, I'm only using an $80 CPU (though it is brand new), and I once ran over 170 plug-ins on one song just fine, with most of it only going to 3 buses. It's never been a problem for me.