What's so great about Tracktion?

[bbaggins]

I'm taking a look at Tracktion for an upcoming review, but I've never used it myself until recently and I don't know anyone personally who does. So I'm reaching out to its fans for advice.

So far it looks like a nice, compact, simple but capable DAW. What features should I be looking at more closely, features that you like best and use the most, that make this DAW competitive with the more-expensive ones out there?

Why do you use Tracktion instead of, say, Reaper? (No, I'm not one of those Reaper evangelists, but it does seem like a reasonable comparison in terms of price and compactness.)

Any and all thoughts are welcome. (Just don't say "why don't you just try it?", as I am already doing that

[fedexnman]

1. You can drag armed audio or midi inputs from track to track ( fast )
2. Clip effects . where you can drag an effect to a specific clip that's in a track , NOT just on the track bus .
3. You can route a midi track or another audio track to another track and record its output.
4. The GUI is simple , not a whole lot of clicking or distractions in the way . About everything is resizable or closeable .
5. Its inexpensive and its developers are cool people to deal with .

[fedexnman]

Oh #1 and #4 is why I prefer it to Reaper . Its easier for me to use . Reaper is a great host as well by the way ..

[mcnelson]

1. Single screen.
2. Inline midi editing.
3. Racks - powerful modular audio & midi routing.
4. Excellent freeze functionality.

[Mivo]

Comping is fast and uncomplicated, and I can have multiple projects open at the same time (and can exchange clips between them). The "one window" approach is great, especially on a laptop, plus it runs on Windows, OSX, and Linux. Oh, and I dig the plugin racks!

Getting Melodyne Essentials ($99 regularly) for free with Tracktion 5 ($60) was an added bonus. The license isn't tied to Tracktion, so it can be used in any DAW.

I'd recommend watching Bill Edstrom's "Tracktion 5 Explained" series at Groove3.com, which gives you a great introduction to the software. There's also one on the racks.

[bbaggins]

Thanks for the replies!

One thing I haven't tried yet is multi-timbral synthesizers. How's Tracktion for, say, Kontakt with multiple inputs and outputs?

And can anybody expand on the Rack feature? I found this somewhat confusing at first glance. It looks like you can split audio paths with them, e.g. make your own multi-band effect chains. Is that right?

The project management view looks particularly interesting to me. Anybody use that, and is it as useful as it appears to be?

What's the deal with "per-note" MIDI automation? That looks like it would be pretty cool for orchestration expression. How is it in actual practice?


Thanks again for your replies. I want to do the product justice in the review, and I hate reading reviews from people who've only spent an hour with the product and pretend to understand it. You really need to spend months with something as complex as a DAW before you can claim the authority to offer advice. I have only two months' lead time, so that's why I need to tap into your collective experience for guidance.

Cheers!

[ianballarddrums]

Edit clips is pretty innovative. You can, if you have created sub-edits in a full project, collapse an edit (say, an entire multi-mic drum mix) into a stereo clip to save CPU cycles during mixing and if you want to change something in the drum track, you just re-expand it into the full edit again. To my knowledge no other DAW can do anything like that.

I like the fact that you can route plugins anywhere in the chain and customize where faders, meters and other things are in a more flexible way than a typical DAW. Sends and returns are also ultra-flexible and you can place them anywhere in the FX chain. Not only is Tracktion Re-Wire compatible but you can, like all the other plugins, put it anywhere in the chain so if you want an instrument to be routed to Ableton before the reverb (for example) you can do that or whatever you want. There's really no limits.

The option to have 32 and 64-bit float for mixing is great and the summing engine is top notch and holds it own with Pro Tools and Logic easily, IMHO. The CPU monitoring and plugin freezing options are great for those of us with paltry computers. The Melodyne integration is also a nice plus.

Oh, and I can't forget the Racks feature. There are similar plugin chainer products you can buy but no DAW out there has anything like the Racks built-in. This gives you literally unlimited flexibility in terms of effects routing.

My only gripe is the lack of a mixer view. I know, people are tired of hearing me say it but lots of people would be culled to the Tracktion world if there was an option to mix like a mixing board. For editing and premixing, Tracktion could be the fastest and most intuitive DAW out there but for actual mixing, having to scroll up and down the screen is arduous. Now, if you have something like the Waves NLS plugin, you simulate VCA-style fader control over several busses and channels but for those who don't, it might be a turn off. I really think Tracktion 6 should have a mixer view, even if it's like Reapers and it's built in to the main screen. Aside from that, I think T5 is one of the best things in the digital music world right now.

[dupont]

simplisity, no hidden menus, all in one and sexy interface
Some features are missing but T6 will certainly bring them.

I often swap from one daw to another and after an heavy session on LPX, T5 is relaxing.

[Mivo]

Referring back to the first post, I don't feel that Reaper is a good comparison in terms of compactness. Renoise is, but Reaper is somewhat multi-windows heavy and doesn't work nearly as well on a laptop display as Tracktion does. (Reaper is also only the same price for personal/small-business use; Tracktion has one price for everyone, with the Linux version still being free currently.) Just chipping that in.

[bbaggins]

You can, if you have created sub-edits in a full project, collapse an edit (say, an entire multi-mic drum mix) into a stereo clip to save CPU cycles during mixing and if you want to change something in the drum track, you just re-expand it into the full edit again. To my knowledge no other DAW can do anything like that.

To be clear, when you say "collapse an edit" what you mean is bouncing those tracks down to a new track? If so, that is indeed an innovation if it's one or two clicks to accomplish. Of course, all DAWs can combine tracks with a bounce, but as far as I know nobody else makes it so easy that you'd want to do it routinely.

Re: mixer view. My normal DAW has a beautiful mixer view but I never use it. Unless I have guests in the studio and want the screen to look pretty for their benefit. I've been working with neither a mixer view nor a physical mixer for the last 12 years and don't miss either of them.

But that does suggest another line of questions: what's missing from Tracktion that might keep it from playing with the big boys? How about looping a region and recording multiple takes, comping or punching in?

[Ben di Arrows]

But that does suggest another line of questions: what's missing from Tracktion that might keep it from playing with the big boys? How about looping a region and recording multiple takes, comping or punching in?

All present and correct.

It is the lack of traditional and disparate views that I love.
Elegance. Everything right there. No hidden menus.

[chico.co.uk]

But that does suggest another line of questions: what's missing from Tracktion that might keep it from playing with the big boys? How about looping a region and recording multiple takes, comping or punching in?

All present and correct.

It is the lack of traditional and disparate views that I love.
Elegance. Everything right there. No hidden menus.

Set the in marker using the I key on your keyboard
Set the out marker using the O key on your keyboard
Turn on looping using the L key on your keyboard
Arm an input, audio or midi, for recording
Hit R to start loop recording a region and record multiple takes, which you can then comp using the fantastic new comping feature in T5 (click the + icon on the clip, after it's recorded to find the comping options)

Click a clip, and hit M to mark the in and out markers at the start and end of that clip (i find that dead handy. Another cracking shortcut key is / to non-destructively cut a clip at the playhead position. With those shortcut keys, you can loop an area very quickly)

You might need to check the midi input is set to "Overlay new clips, containing newly recorded MIDI", to create multiple midi takes you can comp together. The other options let you merge midi notes while you loop (eg, play the kick drum on first pass through, add the hi-hats on 2nd pass through etc)

Can't remember at the minute how to do punch in, I never really use it (probably should) but you can do that too.

[chico.co.uk]

[duplicate]

[whyterabbyt]

You can, if you have created sub-edits in a full project, collapse an edit (say, an entire multi-mic drum mix) into a stereo clip to save CPU cycles during mixing and if you want to change something in the drum track, you just re-expand it into the full edit again. To my knowledge no other DAW can do anything like that.

To be clear, when you say "collapse an edit" what you mean is bouncing those tracks down to a new track? If so, that is indeed an innovation if it's one or two clicks to accomplish. Of course, all DAWs can combine tracks with a bounce, but as far as I know nobody else makes it so easy that you'd want to do it routinely.

Conceptually, its a little bit more than that. In Tracktion 'edit' is the term used for a project; basically this allows you to use any existing project as a self-contained unit, like a clip, within Tracktion. Since Tracktion can handle multipe projects open at once, if you need to modify the clip you just open it up into its edit form again and work on it, then when your done, its a useable clip in the parent project again.
So, rather than viewing it as 'collapsing' an edit into a clip, I'd say view edit clips as embeddable subprojects. Its definitely a cleverer take on freezing/bouncing than any other software, IMO.

[ianballarddrums]

You can, if you have created sub-edits in a full project, collapse an edit (say, an entire multi-mic drum mix) into a stereo clip to save CPU cycles during mixing and if you want to change something in the drum track, you just re-expand it into the full edit again. To my knowledge no other DAW can do anything like that.

To be clear, when you say "collapse an edit" what you mean is bouncing those tracks down to a new track? If so, that is indeed an innovation if it's one or two clicks to accomplish. Of course, all DAWs can combine tracks with a bounce, but as far as I know nobody else makes it so easy that you'd want to do it routinely.

Re: mixer view. My normal DAW has a beautiful mixer view but I never use it. Unless I have guests in the studio and want the screen to look pretty for their benefit. I've been working with neither a mixer view nor a physical mixer for the last 12 years and don't miss either of them.

But that does suggest another line of questions: what's missing from Tracktion that might keep it from playing with the big boys? How about looping a region and recording multiple takes, comping or punching in?

Edit clips is a feature that basically allows you to create sub-edits under a main edit or project. It's as easy as dragging a subedit tab into the main edit track you wish you place it and *voila*, Tracktion renders it down in the main project for mixing. It's that easy. You only need to click the menu that asks you to save the edit before it renders it. I'd say that's pretty innovative and badass. I think TSC has put it up for patent, even.

As far as the mixer thing, that's subjective. I used Tracktion 4 then 5 for over a year and while I wasn't overtly hindered by a lack of mixer view, I still found myself having problems in larger edits having to scroll up adn down and some tracks/clips that were expanded or contracted causes the fader to be in wierd places and they, like the clip, were bigger or smaller, making mixing kind of annoying at times. Sometimes you need to have access to faders in a simple fashion like many of us are used to. I also use Reaper when a particular friend who I collaborate with who insists on Reaper, shares his project files for me to track drums on. I like Reaper's mixer that is integrated into the main screen. You can still roll up and down to edit the tracks but the mixer is right there for making adjustments to levels quickly. Sometimes it just isn't very quick on Tracktion when I have to roll up and down the screen to make level adjustments. I mean, when I'm just creating a 4-mic drum track, that's one thing but a 20+ track mix can get hairy for me. I also use Harrison Mixbus which has possibly the greatest built-in mixer in the DAW world and for very good reason. It actually is a console emulation of a real Harrison console so it's very friendly for those of us who like such a view. But it's always a pop out separate window so mixing on a laptop sans external monitor is lame... like Pro Tools, Logic and others like it. So I'm just suggesting the OPTION of a mixer. Some may not use it like yourself but you asked what would bring people to the Tracktion world and that's a big one. The fact that you don't like a mixer doesn't really matter when the vast majority of DAW users do indeed use a mixer view. Pretty much every studio I've ever been in (I've been in lots), the engineer uses the mixer as much or more than the edit/transport window. I'm sure that if Jules and Co. acquiesced and added a mixer, it would be just as slick, quick and innovative as the rest of the program. I imagine it could look just like the current filter section only with the arrows pointing downward. Like any mixer view, if you don't like it, don't use it.