Another Namm passes with no Tracktion news :(

[thedreampolice]

To bad for this innovative software, at one point I ran the Tracktion sample pack web site. But boy did mackie kill this amazing software.

Looks like Ableton will have to lead the way as far as innovative UI

Tracktion I miss you.

[rgonzale]

It's taken two years to sink in that Tracktion development has stopped, thanks a lot Mackie.

I still love T3 and use it exclusively (after having tried Cubase and Logic, Energy XT, etc). But a few wish list features would make my life so much easier!

Non-contiguous midi loops, so you can edit the chorus and all choruses are affected.
"Notes" per track and per project, for annotating lyrics, equipment settings, etc.

Apart from that it's still perfect for me!

[metamorphosis]

"Non-contiguous midi loops" - I think that's 'ghost clips' as defined in other sequencers, if I'm not wrong?

[randyandyvandaman]

Mackie is an American company and they have stated before they have not dumped Tracktion.

It is in a temporary hiatus due to resource limitations.

The USA is still technically in a recession and still trying to dig itself out.

How many more threads do we have to have to get this through.

I still use T3 with all my other equipment and yes it still rocks.

Stay positive and be patient.

Cheers

[audiojunkie]

Mackie is an American company and they have stated before they have not dumped Tracktion.

It is in a temporary hiatus due to resource limitations.

The USA is still technically in a recession and still trying to dig itself out.

How many more threads do we have to have to get this through.

I still use T3 with all my other equipment and yes it still rocks.

Stay positive and be patient.

Cheers

Actually, the recession ended quite a while ago. We've had a positive GDP, albeit a very, very minimal one. It is going to take quite a while to get the economy back on its feet, but we're not really in a recession anymore.

However, as you say, resources are and are likely to continue to be limited for a while, so it makes sense that Mackie would be "tightening its belt" until the economy improves.

Still, it's disappointing to see innovative technology just sitting and not advancing.

--Sean

[randyandyvandaman]

I have quite a few Daw's at my disposal and to be quite honest when I get time to make music I still turn to T3 which I still get something done in.

Maybe that innovative technology is still light years ahead of the rest.
Mackie are just saying that outa tie them over for a while. lol

Cheers

[A.M. Gold]

How many more threads do we have to have to get this through.

As many as are destined to be posted until info starts being leaked about Tracktion 4.

In other words, by now, further development of Tracktion falls into the "believe it when we see it" category for most people.

To me, the biggest problem with T3 is lack of quad core support, and after that the goofy poof crashes.

[rgonzale]

As a software engineer, I wonder about the viability of Tracktion and how committed Mackie is. A 2-year period without even a bug fix can easily kill a software product -- the development team is either disbanded or has lost any momentum on the product, and the competition has moved ahead.

I don't mean to throw wood onto the funeral pyre. Tracktion 1 was a brilliant and influential product. I'd love to see a Tracktion 4 (hey Mackie, are you hiring?) and it looks like other people feel the same. But there won't be any new adopters if there doesn't appear to be ongoing development, and I bet Mackie's brass won't fund development in the absence of new adopters.

[randyandyvandaman]

If Mackie announced development tomorrow of T4 they would have people salivating
I'm sure.

Lennard from Sylenth fame hasn't updated his website for almost 2 and a half years or done little new features but that doesn't mean he no longer supports his product or actively involved in future development.

Emu would be another good example on X3.

I have been using T3 today in a session and I choose this over R5/ Record 1.5 and even Studio One Pro.

Why?????? I still get more done. It still has great workflow.

No poof crashes on my Core i7. Who cares about 64 bit, 8 gb RAM and mega tracks.

Cheers

[beau921]

Actually, the recession ended quite a while ago. We've had a positive GDP, albeit a very, very minimal one. It is going to take quite a while to get the economy back on its feet, but we're not really in a recession anymore.

However, as you say, resources are and are likely to continue to be limited for a while, so it makes sense that Mackie would be "tightening its belt" until the economy improves.

Still, it's disappointing to see innovative technology just sitting and not advancing.

--Sean

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, (that is, from the third quarter to the fourth quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the third quarter, real GDP increased 2.6 percent. The Bureau emphasized that the fourth-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page 4). The "second" estimate for the fourth quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on February 25, 2011. The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures (PCE), exports, and nonresidential fixed investment that were partly offset by a negative contribution from private inventory investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, decreased. The acceleration in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected a sharp downturn in imports, an acceleration in PCE, and an upturn in residential fixed investment that were partly offset by downturns in private inventory investment and in federal government spending and a deceleration in nonresidential fixed investment. Final sales of computers added 0.31 percentage point to the fourth-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.29 percentage point to the third-quarter change. Motor vehicle output subtracted 0.34 percentage point from the fourth-quarter change in real GDP after adding 0.49 percentage point to the third-quarter change.


The GDP alone doesn't determine the state of the nation's economy any more than the stock market approaching the 12,000 mark.

Every determining factor in what I posted above, [dated Friday January 28, 2011] from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, can be read positively or negatively.

The government reads it positively and touts [false?] recovery, and the long term unemployed read it to be somewhat negative in sensing the USA now only exports jobs.

No one is more optimistic than I am. Though it gets harder and harder to find anything to be optimistic about.

So, with respect, I disagree. We're at best in a recession, and at worst in a soft depression. Because, for the foreseeable future we, as a nation, don't have enough with which to reestablish solid footing to lift ourselves back up into economic competitiveness.

Don't make it all about dollars and cents. Factor in, for example, development of clean energy or our infrastructure.

The USA Electrical Grid:

http://www.energybulletin.net/node/43823

And, of course, it remains to be seen what happens with the Chinese currency.

That could drastically affect everyone here at KVR since so much of what we use is manufactured there now.

I'm not trying to turn this into a political forum, but remember when the government fell in love with the phrase "21st Century service economy?"

Look around, that hasn't turned out so well, now has it.

My point is, Mackie is caught in this "mess" that has become the new American economy, just like the rest of us.

And for everything I said about the nation as a whole, Mackie as a corporation is a microcosm of it.

I think they should have made Tracktion development a priority considering the proliferation of computer recording and a steadily increasing user base.

But, if they have to invest money in order to make money, how much to invest?

Where do they get that money?

Who's buying?

How much is being bought?

It could be that Mackie being a predominantly hardware company faced economic uncertainty by retreating back into what it knows best...hardware manufacturing.

The Mackie homepage promotes compatability with "...everything, including Pro Tools 9."

That could be seen as gaining a competitive edge, or as putting up the white flag of software surrender.

As a user of Tracktion 2 and 3, I hope Mackie bounces back as a software corporation and surprises us all with Tracktion 4.

But, in light of the competition, how long can they wait?

Each day that passes leaves them a little further behind. And that distance may not be economically feasable to make up, which could seal Tracktion's fate once and for all.

[randyandyvandaman]

Beau921 Amen

Nice post and economic observation. Our economy is strong in Australia at the moment but I expect the bubble to burst within 3-5 years depending on Chinese economy. They have such a thirst for world domination in a few areas and manufacturing is only one of them.

Our resources boom and prices are keeping our dollar high which is good for my relationship with Sweetwater.

Cheers

[metamorphosis]

Who cares about mega tracks.

Cheers

I do.
m@

[beau921]

@randyandyvandaman

Thanks.

And...like this [from renewableenergyworld.com]:

There's another factor that could increase China's role as a central figure in the renewables space: Its control of 95% of the rare earth resources like Indium, Gallium and Lithium. These are central to the functionality of solar cells (CIGS and CdTe) and battery technologies for automotive and power storage applications.
This is not a surprise. But the announcement from Chinese officials last month that it would decrease shipment of these resources by 72% certainly was. The goal is for China to lure technology companies over to the country by giving them access to restricted resources. If it works, we may see a lot more clean energy firms moving over to China.


And, even that affects Mackie, one way or another. Because everything in the world is somehow connected.

Tracktion

Tracktion 2

Tracktion 3

Tracktion 4?

I just posted those Tracktions to get back on topic.

[randyandyvandaman]

Metamorphosis,

I know you are a longtime and dedicated Tracktioneer.

How many tracks is too many not based on your cpu but on the real needs of the actual track.

I tend not to go over about 20-30. drums, bass, lead, piano fx, vocals, sfx.

Cheers

[aMUSEd]

If Mackie announced development tomorrow of T4 they would have people salivating
I'm sure.

Lennard from Sylenth fame hasn't updated his website for almost 2 and a half years or done little new features but that doesn't mean he no longer supports his product or actively involved in future development.

Emu would be another good example on X3.

I have been using T3 today in a session and I choose this over R5/ Record 1.5 and even Studio One Pro.

Why?????? I still get more done. It still has great workflow.

No poof crashes on my Core i7. Who cares about 64 bit, 8 gb RAM and mega tracks.

Cheers

This is true - the only problem that really bugs me is the fact that I can't use my Virus Ti with it