T-RackS 5 (5.0.1 update,information about free CS version, release date countdown added)

[Gamma-UT]

So many weird posts and none talks about new models! Are there any good? Worth investing?

How would anyone know? It's only on pre-order and will be until October.

Looking at what's on paper:

Vari-mu compressor is the one model. You can get vari-mu elsewhere (eg Klanghelm)

Match EQ is not a novel idea - DUY had one years ago, the same concept was part of the Harbal software from the beginning and Izotope Ozone has the same sort of thing. It sounds like a neat idea but often doesn't do all that much because there will often be so many other issues between mixes than simply what the average spectrum looks like.

There's an all-in-one that's isn't the Lurssen.

And a graphical parametric EQ that looks like a bunch of other graphical parametric EQs.

They might all be great, but there's no way to tell right now.

[fmr]

But, what makes you say the 5 older plugins in the basic package are "upgraded". I can't find that anywhere on the TR5 landing page.

I was assuming that, since they upgraded the host, and those are kind of "built-in", they would have been upgraded as well. But I have no way to know for sure, of course.

[Fleer]

Good and clear thread here, thanks to Peter:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-pro ... ac-pc.html

[Saukar30]

For me personally... I like the metering & the ability to load all of the tracks in 1 thing & create mixdowns from there with all metadata & isrc info. Also, 16 plugins in the chain vs 12. If T-Racks 5 sounds better as well as far as fidelity, then I think it will be a good upgrade. I have pretty much all of the processors that I need from T-Racks from the past Buy 1 get 4 free sale, so the new modules are really not anything that entice me to purchase (however, the compressor looks nice!). I have a mastering EQ that I love & don't want to part with as well. The ability to resize, Master match & other module really don't peak my interest at all. (I only master my own songs & I take A LONG time to get to that stage. Using that Master Match thing makes me feel like I would be going down a rabbit hole trying to match all of the songs I liked lol)

The question is WILL I buy it? That remains to be seen. For $70 it's not really offering much more than what I have in my DAW & separate plusins personally, but to get a good solid system with all tools in 1 would be nice. I have further questions though:

A. If the audio engine in T-Racks 5 is 192kHz / 32 bit floating point what is the current version 4 at?

B. CPU usage. Is this going to be lower? For instance That Stealth Limiter uses 10% of my CPU upon loading. Will the new modules use just as much CPU? More? Not that it's a big difference in using just 1 plugin to master with, but I usually use the T-Racks modules on individual tracks as well.

[fmr]

Good and clear thread here, thanks to Peter:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/new-pro ... ac-pc.html

I don't think that thread is clearer than this one. The doubts are the same, the clarifyings (or lack of them) are the same, the objections are the same. After reading it, I didn't got anything new.

[Scotty]

Is it too late... Hi Peter.

I purchased the Tracks 5 basic bundle and got confirmation that the order was accepted... after reading through the thread I am thinking that the Max bundle is the way to go ( I misunderstood some information that you have since clarified). I am eligible for the crossgrade price for Max which I failed to notice. If I wanted to change my order to the Max bundle and pay the difference would that be possible now?

Thanks ... the product looks fantastic and I really appreciated being able to use Jam points and getting promotional advance pricing. I have spent this much money and more on a single plugin (just yesterday in fact) let alone a suite of plugins, metering, and ability to burn track playlists etc. From where I sit this is tremendous value.- Scotty

[zvenx]

Ironically I had just read that thread about five minutes before this.... so when I saw Fleer's comment I wasn't sure if he wasn't being sarcastic, cause it wasn't either good or clear to me.
Ik needs a faq, badly.
Look how toontrack covered most questions, clearly (and good ) in their faq for superior drummer 3..

IK has way too many products, bundles, sub bundles etc that their product line to me is as clear as mud.
Then Peter has to be politically correct and not harm the brand and future sales in his responses, so some questions are left answered vaguely imho.........

a straightforward FAQ, would solve most of this I think
rsp

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

So I'll answer as clearly as possible then, though I didn't think I was being unclear.

Your current T-RackS 4 plugins will work in T-RackS 5 and will get updated not only in GUI but even though they are not re-coded the new versions will also have other improvements including taking advantage of the new audio engine / improved oversampling where appropriate. You can see what some of your T-RackS processors will look like (and hear what they sound like) in the following video:



You can also see single plugins being resized in this video too. Also, using the v5 plug-ins instead of the v4 versions will give a series of other advantages in addition to sound quality. They’re more integrated in today’s DAWs, can be resized to be more readable, and are completely re-coded from ground up on the UI side meaning more usability, quality, and being more future-proof.

I hope that helps clarify the confusion on this topic.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

Is it too late... Hi Peter.

I purchased the Tracks 5 basic bundle and got confirmation that the order was accepted... after reading through the thread I am thinking that the Max bundle is the way to go ( I misunderstood some information that you have since clarified). I am eligible for the crossgrade price for Max which I failed to notice. If I wanted to change my order to the Max bundle and pay the difference would that be possible now?

Thanks ... the product looks fantastic and I really appreciated being able to use Jam points and getting promotional advance pricing. I have spent this much money and more on a single plugin (just yesterday in fact) let alone a suite of plugins, metering, and ability to burn track playlists etc. From where I sit this is tremendous value.- Scotty

Hi, please send me details via PM and I'll take a look. Thank you for the kind words, too.

[Harry_HH]

This doesn't sound bad.
One question concerning the TR 5 audio mastering feature: I didn't see any mention, if its capable doing wav->mp3 conversions, with different codex?

[musicalwarmth812]

So am I right in thinking this is probably worth the $99.99 price of entry for the album construction/export options alone?

This was my initial thought, but I would say no:

Not Redbook compliant & still requires 3rd party burning software.

[DarkStar]

Sorry to bug you Peter, but could you comment on these questions? I think that the answers would remove some (of my) confusion.

Ok, picture this: say I have the T-RackS Grand Bundle (17 processors, plus metering) and purchase T-RackS 5 $99.99 deal (4 new processors, plus metering).

Q1: Are the T-RackS plug-ins and the T-RackS 5 plug-ins completely separate?
Q2: Is the T-RackS 5 standalone / "plug-in suite" the descendent of T-RackS Custom Shop standalone and plug-in?
Q3: How do I get my 17 T-RackS processors to apprear in T-Rack 5? "Restore my Gear" or similar?

Q4: Do I then have, as single, separate plug-ins the following?
-- the original T-RackS Grand processors (dinosaur GUI, not resizeable),
-- the 4 new processors (no dinosaur, resizeable),
-- the T-Racks 5 equivalents of my original T-RackS Grand processors (no dinosaur, resizeable).
Q5: And
-- the 17 original T-RackS Grand processors available in T-RackS Custom Shop,
-- the 17+4 processors available in T-RackS 5 standalone and plug-in suite.

Q6: Will the 4 new processors run in T-RackS Custom Shop (or only in T-RackS 5)?
Q7: Will any further new processors run in T-RackS Custom Shop (or only in T-RackS 5)?
Q8: Is the Shopping Cart icon in the bottom-right corner of the T-RackS 5 GUI the (eventual) link to the Custom Shop?
Q9: Does the new audio engine apply only to the T-RackS 5 standalone or does it apply to the T-RackS 5 plug-in suite and the plug-ins too?

Q10: From the videos it seems that the T-RackS 5 single plug-ins can all be resized; can they be resized when in the T-RackS 5 standalone / plug-in suite?

Phew!

[musicalwarmth812]

I'd also like to know what people think about the new modules, features, etc too. I'm VERY interested in thoughts about these modules, especially where they are a little different than some of the other T-RackS gear we've released in the past.

my thoughts on new modules after obsessing over every word in marketing blurbs and watching all the announcement and overview videos:

metering - looks awesome and useful. looking forward to it.

"ONE" - i rarely use all-in-one automagic devices like this, because inevitably it turns out that i don't have enough control over what is going on and have to resort to using separate plugins. i don't expect this to be the case with this one (badum-tshhh), but i would love to be proven wrong.

Vari-Mu - never used any emulations of this (let alone hardware), curious.

Match - the most matching i ever did on the master bus was pink noise matching with TDR EQ's. i don't expect to use it that often, but maybe now that it's part of T-Racks, i will. why isn't this integrated into the EQ? and why no realtime matching? no match to predefined curve (e.g. pink noise)?

EQual - ...disappointing. at first i was very excited. an EQ with a resizable GUI, a spectral analyzer, lots of different kinds of curves, and lots of bands - great! workflow and aesthetic similar to FabFilter Pro-Q2 - fantastic! But then... Pro-Q2 can do EQ matching, this one can't. Pro-Q2 can also do snap to musical notes, this one can't. Pro-Q2 can also solo bands, this one can't. it seems useful enough to be a promising potential replacement for Pro-Q2 (which i don't own, but drool over since like forever) and perhaps Waves H-EQ (which i do own and love, but hate the awkward Waves signature GUI interaction), but at the end of the day it offers nothing over them in terms of features. IK had a chance to create a perfect EQ and a great competitor to Pro-Q2 and H-EQ, but IMO you blew it. knowing IK, there won't be any updates to add this functionality, so while i'm sure i'll find use for this EQ, this could've been my goto EQ for pretty much everything, but it won't be.

Wow, my first thought was they are trying to go head to head with Pro Q. Thanks for this objective review. After reading this, and watching the video, this is seeming like a pretty hyped module.

[Peter - IK Multimedia]

This doesn't sound bad.
One question concerning the TR 5 audio mastering feature: I didn't see any mention, if its capable doing wav->mp3 conversions, with different codex?

Hi, MP3 export will not be available in T-RackS 5.

[MikeCallon]

For the full functionality and four new modules, the pre-order pricing is designed to simplify the process based on coming from the many many versions of T-RackS that have been available in the past

Well you've achieved that. But in the process, you've made it grossly unfair to those who have invested more into T-RackS. Simple as that.

We'd all be better off selling our entire T-RackS collections and buying 'Tracks 5 MAX upgrade' from scratch, but your license transfer policy/pricing makes this unrealistic. So our only option is to relay our dissatisfaction back to IK in the hopes you'll see our POV and throw us a bone. Doesn't seem likely right now that anything will change, although you've shown that you listen in the past, so who knows?

I understand. And there are definitely a few of us kicking these suggestions and comments about upgrades and similar up the line as much as we can. I do appreciate the input and discussion and understand that we can't please every single person ever time but we do listen and I hope to continue to see improvements going forward based on this feedback.

Hi Peter,

So .... as someone who owns all the T-RackS modules should I wait? What's the chance of a better (personalized) offer coming along?

And by the way, you have the hardest job in the world handling all these difficult questions I think that video showing the existing modules with new GUI's and being re-sized answers a lot of peoples worries about upgrading. But just one more question - are ALL the existing modules getting re-designed/re-sizable GUI's or just a select few? If it's not all, can we please have a list?