Tracktion Waveform launched! (The successor to Tracktion 7)

[jabe]

is there some/any way to connect the devices with one click then create common controls to them etc. as is in Bitwig



seems a bit slow to do anything in it (5+ clicks) ... but just playing with the demo

Not five or more whole clicks? Jeez, that could take days! On the other hand, there might be dozens of ways to connect them up.

Well Jabe in all fairness Bitwig 2.0 was supposed to be a very Modular DAW and it ended up not being that . So I sense a little frustration in the complaint of 5 or more clicks , I'm not so sure if Bitwig can do what Waveform or even Tracktion did in the Modular Racks environment , I'm sure I'll be corrected or put in place here in a minute ....

Aye, I don't know either. It's making me wonder how many racks people will be designing. If it's 5+ clicks to achieve something simple in an edit, that's different, but when a rack can be connected up in endless ways, well, I don't know. But then I still sometimes use DOS commands on Windows 10 PCs (though that's usually because Windows Explorer isn't as versatile as I'd like, and I haven't got round to writing a replacement yet).

[pdxindy]

Well Jabe in all fairness Bitwig 2.0 was supposed to be a very Modular DAW and it ended up not being that . So I sense a little fustration in the complaint of 5 or more clicks , I'm not so sure if Bitwig can do what Waveform or even Tracktion did in the Modular Racks environment , I'm sure I'll be corrected or put in place here in a minute ....

Tracktion racks are quite capable. But are clumsy for lots of common simple tasks compared to Live or Bitwig. Live's instrument racks are especially elegant.

The Bitwig devs did not make the modular backend available to users (yet), but that is more for building synths and other devices (ala Max in Live)... not the modular routing of signals (audio and/or midi) between devices and tracks which can already be done (and without wiring things together).

[killmaster]

How do the composition tools compare to other composition tools like RapidComposer?

[imprint]

So, how is stability of Waveform in OSX Sierra?

Last year I demoed T5 and was so enthusiastic about it I turned right around and purchased T7....only to suffer 'poof' crashes frequently that I gave up on it. I didn't seem to be alone in that experience either. Got tired of investing time developing ideas only to have my work blow up on me....which is too bad cause I loved the concept and workflow.

Love to hear if T7 ever became stable and/or if it's safe to upgrade to Waveform?

I can confirm this, T7 was so buggy on OSX I dutch it for Reaper. After several trails, Waveform is on the same way, the same poof crashes that T7, poor UI performances...

Well, only three responses to my post and all with the same story I have with OSX. Sorry to hear it actually - was rooting for the opposite result. I hope the Tracktion team keeps reaching for the stars...it's a great idea and one day I hope it's stable.

[jabe]

So, how is stability of Waveform in OSX Sierra?

Last year I demoed T5 and was so enthusiastic about it I turned right around and purchased T7....only to suffer 'poof' crashes frequently that I gave up on it. I didn't seem to be alone in that experience either. Got tired of investing time developing ideas only to have my work blow up on me....which is too bad cause I loved the concept and workflow.

Love to hear if T7 ever became stable and/or if it's safe to upgrade to Waveform?

I can confirm this, T7 was so buggy on OSX I dutch it for Reaper. After several trails, Waveform is on the same way, the same poof crashes that T7, poor UI performances...

Well, only three responses to my post and all with the same story I have with OSX. Sorry to hear it actually - was rooting for the opposite result. I hope the Tracktion team keeps reaching for the stars...it's a great idea and one day I hope it's stable.

Perhaps you should ask on the Tracktion forum.

[Winstontaneous]

So, how is stability of Waveform in OSX Sierra?

Last year I demoed T5 and was so enthusiastic about it I turned right around and purchased T7....only to suffer 'poof' crashes frequently that I gave up on it. I didn't seem to be alone in that experience either. Got tired of investing time developing ideas only to have my work blow up on me....which is too bad cause I loved the concept and workflow.

Love to hear if T7 ever became stable and/or if it's safe to upgrade to Waveform?

I can confirm this, T7 was so buggy on OSX I dutch it for Reaper. After several trails, Waveform is on the same way, the same poof crashes that T7, poor UI performances...

Well, only three responses to my post and all with the same story I have with OSX. Sorry to hear it actually - was rooting for the opposite result. I hope the Tracktion team keeps reaching for the stars...it's a great idea and one day I hope it's stable.

FWIW I used Tracktion 1/2 (Windows) through T6(Mac) but gave up due to Mac crashes and inexplicable hangs. Am on El Capitan, may try Waveform at some point but Live/Logic/Reason/Audition already do everything I need.

[bungle]

I would suggest that these guys spend a couple of quid on actually getting a usable website/software experience
1 I had to put in my email and name before downloading the demo, even though i am already logged in
2 I have to download a 3 gig demo version (Seriously)
3 When you finally trawl through various threads to find that you can just install a 24mb file to test it, the damn installer isn't even a legal one on OSX (Just hold alt, yes i know, but still)
4 When you boot it, it asks you to log in to the marketplace (Again) to then tell you that "Your demo period has been approved" while this may only be wording, you really need to get over yourselves, approving demo periods WTF ?

Do better Tracktion, you are just forcing users to ignore you.
Finding the very small upgrade fee for this has just become tiresome at best.

[jabe]

I would suggest that these guys spend a couple of quid on actually getting a usable website/software experience
1 I had to put in my email and name before downloading the demo, even though i am already logged in
2 I have to download a 3 gig demo version (Seriously)
3 When you finally trawl through various threads to find that you can just install a 24mb file to test it, the damn installer isn't even a legal one on OSX (Just hold alt, yes i know, but still)
4 When you boot it, it asks you to log in to the marketplace (Again) to then tell you that "Your demo period has been approved" while this may only be wording, you really need to get over yourselves, approving demo periods WTF ?

Do better Tracktion, you are just forcing users to ignore you.
Finding the very small upgrade fee for this has just become tiresome at best.

Or perhaps you could try reading the download page. They've had complaints about the 3GB thing (which contained data for the new Collective sampler plug-in, along with Waveform and several plug-ins) and they've listened, so you can now download just 32 or 64 bit installers for Waveform.

The unregistered (and therefore "demo" versions) make a hissing noise every few seconds. The 30-day demo period doesn't have the hissing.

[bungle]

@jabe perhaps you should read the download page too, because mine didn't have the link to the archive, i had to find it in a forum posting.

First thing i tried (Keeping in mind here that some of the videos from the Tracktion developers are showing Drum N bass being produced) was to auto tempo an old breakbeat to a faster tempo, but it can only be done with timestretch (Absolutely useless for Drum and Bass funnily enough, and even funnier, the option to not use timestretch is in the dropdown list, it just doesnt work) to do it with no time stretch you have to disable the loop tools and do it manually, this is just an alt+drag but wont now follow the tempo of the song if it changes, so the tech is in place to do it, it is just not doable, the very first thing i tried because they showed Drum and bass in their demo videos.

Such a shame to see this software never reach its potential

[bungle]

Gotta say that they have come on leaps and bounds with this since v6, but it still falls short, see the auto tempo example above, there is a lot of that sort of thing, it can be done but it is not particularly done in a very nice/friendly way.
This could easily be back up there as one of the best hosts around for the money, but it definitely needs a lot of development in tweaking the current feature set to be as user friendly as v1/2 was (The only way it can compete, it will never compete with others in its price range on feature to feature) and the bugs and issues need removing too, quick example, i dragged the expanded mixer tab as if to move it to a second monitor to see if it could be floated and then made full screen, not only can it not (It has to remain on a tab, which is fine but being able to close the lower panel would be nice) but it also completely borks out OSX, having no mouse control at all until i finally managed to get one of the screens to close (I actually forget how, i was mousing everywhere)
And the actual visual performance/usablity of the app is totally horrific, while the CPU meter is not even showing 6% (It wouldn't, i only have two breakbeats loaded) everything feels juddery, there is nothing smooh about this like every other host, it feels like there are some really serious backend GFX issues, maybe it needs a specific gfx chipset to be smooth ?

I will probably upgrade because i tend to do it every two versions because i made so much music on v1/2, but it isn't usable like v1/2 in any way shape or form yet.

[jabe]

I understand the frustrations and perhaps I'm prepared to give them more leaway than most. They do seem generally responsive, which I like.

It may have been me that posted that link, since it was, admittedly, not easy to find. I don't know whether you've been to the Free Trial page today (I have), but once you've put your details in and told it what 2+2 is, the page does have downloads for just the DAW.

[Jace-BeOS]

The racks feature is the one thing in "Waveform" (blah) I really would like to see added to Logic. I especially appreciate that the L/R audio connections are separate, rather than fused stereo pairs.

[geqfreq]

so any verdict - gonna download the trial this weekend and check it.
Any particular issues on PC? I dont see any videos or user reviews - seems odd since it's been out a little while - G

[jjpscott01]

On windows 10 here still running great for so far. There is a series of videos on Youtube the company has put out showing off all the new features that are pretty useful. As far as review videos go, you'll probably start seeing those pop up shortly as it was released less than a month ago. So far, Im liking the software a lot and every day I use it the more I am appreciating the new composition tools and the layout options. Also, the new synth Collective is cool and has lots of sounds to explore. Its a winner for me

[bungle]

so any verdict - gonna download the trial this weekend and check it.
Any particular issues on PC? I dont see any videos or user reviews - seems odd since it's been out a little while - G

There are more complete packages for the cost, mostly OEM users will be using this, and they are unlikely to make videos before they move to a better known package, most OEM users are new to recording.