Waveform 10 vs other DAWs?

[kejkz]

I've had similar issue with version 5 a way back. Version 4 was actually working quite nicely for me, not a lot of compatibility issues, it was only 32bit, I've even made a few songs with it. But from version 5 crash fest began, and as far as I can see, it didn't stop. I even sent crash reports, but no attention was paid to that. They seem to be rolling from version to version without fixing and compatibility issues, just piling new features that I have to say don't mean that much. Version 4 for me was feature complete, I just hoped they'll make it 100% reliable, since it was the main problem and slowly evolve it to be a major daw player.

I had a high hope for Tracktion, tried version 6, 7 and 8, but it was always the same... works for few hours and with some combination of the plugins, and then it just starts crashing. I've stopped hoping and losing time and moved on to reaper, it's much better daw anyway. I've also closed my Tracktion account, so that I don't waste time with it.

[rpm]

It's pretty sad to hear all these stories. I had a lot of faith in T as well and still resist giving it up completely but I'm being forced. I hope TSC are watching this forum.

[Trancit]

... I hope TSC are watching this forum.

And if... nothing will change...
These are all issues present since years if not ever...so nothing new here...
Nevertheless every new version is crashing or misbehaving like the last ones...
The facts stay the same... either they are not able to fix it or they just don´t care...

To me it seems sometimes that they simply accept the fact that their software is buggy and just doing the minimum to calm down the biggest claims...
Simply to save time to put in new stuff to attract new users as many of the older users turn away to something else...
This is the same principle like selling insurances... because of the heavy fluctuations you simply have to try to get more new customers than you loose on the other side to your competitors to make your income...

[rpm]

I can understand the financial pressures to attract new users, but the upgrade costs 69 USD and I would happily spend it if I trusted the stability. That's not negligible either given that most W upgrades bring a couple of very cool and interesting features and most people would consider the upgrade if stability was not the issue. So, I am not so sure that they have just accepted their app as buggy. You may have had more negative experience, but T has served me really well over the years. My problems really started more recently, I think with W8. W10 crashes less but there is a new plugin GUI glitch. So it's still a very ambiguous situation.

I've emailed support the with crash logs. Someone wrote back a long email and told me that a good deal of effort has gone into making W10 more stable. I was asked to share more of the logs and I've described the GUI problem.

I've made it clear nicely that I am trying to remain with W and even encouraged them to check the forums to see how so many people seem to be losing faith in TSC. I'll be demoing DAWs and working on some limited projects with just Geist 2 as I wait to see what happens with support. Then I'll jump off board if need be.

[spoontechnique]

Waveform 10 has been very stable for me after a few initial bumps. There's always crashes with any DAW. Post in the Tracktion forum here on KVR and email support if you have serious issues. The devs have been extremely responsive and helpful in fixing crashes and bugs. Their help and the quick fixes (and new features based on what the users actually ask for) make me confident in sticking with Waveform as my main DAW.

[Trancit]

...There's always crashes with any DAW. ...

Not even 1% of how often Waveform crashes...

And in regards of bug reports:
Most of these crashes happen completely randomly and aren´t really reproduceable... it´s just unstable... sometimes if you drag in plugin x...poof ...next time if you delete plugin Y... poof... next time if you use command x... poof ... next time... by starting the sequencer...pooof

Poof= crashing to desktop... it simply disappears without any warning...

There is nothing really to report other that it is a crashfest ...

[rpm]

There's always crashes with any DAW.

In my current setup with demos of many DAWs, only W crashes. Never had any crash with the other DAWs. Bitwig, Reaper, Reason, Live, S1, etc.

Most crashes are poof with a constant loud noise and non-functioning interface (have to reboot) and some are grayed out GUI with nothing happening and if I click close then Windows asks me if I want to force close W.

I have reported and received a nice detailed reply but most important, I need to see concrete improvement. W10 appears more stable but it has another glitch (3rd party VST GUIs are messed up sometimes--not present in W8). I'm a dedicated user who loves T/W (since 2004) just like you but all of this has to be sorted out.

[dellboy]

Waveform 10 has been very stable for me after a few initial bumps. There's always crashes with any DAW.

I own Waveform 9 and Studio One Pro.

Studio One Pro is rock stable on my machine. Waveform 9 is like a drunken sailor - always falling over - and on the same machine with the same VSTs.

I like the workflow of Waveform, and its a fun DAW, but stability needs to be there top priority.

[Trancit]

...but all of this has to be sorted out.

One thing that bugged me out since long time and never got adressed is that Racks aren´t useable anymore as soon as you got more than 1 plugin with latency in it... only the first plugin gets compensated and the rest ignored... makes racks completely useless to me and Waveform heavily relies on the rack workflow for all kind of things...

That´s beside crashes my biggest issue with them...

New stuff got thrown in... perhaps a little bit bug fixing... but then never got touched again even if it doesn´t work properly... instead they throw in new stuff again and the same circle starts again...

Nothing works really like it should but we throw in new stuff in over and over again...

[dellboy]

New stuff got thrown in... perhaps a little bit bug fixing... but then never got touched again even if it doesn´t work properly... instead they throw in new stuff again and the same circle starts again...

There a small firm, and under financial pressure, so I guess the priority is to keep offering more features and keep the money coming in. In no way do I want to knock them, I love the product, its just a shame that they do not have the time to chase bugs, especially as a a crash automatically generates a crash log and sends it.

I have been with Tracktion since version 1 and I hope they keep going for many more years, and I will upgrade again once I hear that the program has stopped misbehaving.

[reggie1979]

...There's always crashes with any DAW. ...

Not even 1% of how often Waveform crashes...

And in regards of bug reports:
Most of these crashes happen completely randomly and aren´t really reproduceable... it´s just unstable... sometimes if you drag in plugin x...poof ...next time if you delete plugin Y... poof... next time if you use command x... poof ... next time... by starting the sequencer...pooof

Poof= crashing to desktop... it simply disappears without any warning...

There is nothing really to report other that it is a crashfest ...

Exactly, and though this thread is a small sample-size, there are way too many of us describing the exact same thing. When you can't reproduce a bug because you don't know what happened, it's just too hard.

[pdxindy]

...There's always crashes with any DAW. ...

Not even 1% of how often Waveform crashes...

And in regards of bug reports:
Most of these crashes happen completely randomly and aren´t really reproduceable... it´s just unstable... sometimes if you drag in plugin x...poof ...next time if you delete plugin Y... poof... next time if you use command x... poof ... next time... by starting the sequencer...pooof

Poof= crashing to desktop... it simply disappears without any warning...

There is nothing really to report other that it is a crashfest ...

I don't remember the last time I had a crash in Bitwig... many months for sure.

With Tracktion, back when Mackie owned it, it was exactly that... frequent but random crashes. I had a bunch of email exchanges with tech support. They were never able to resolve it and I had to move on. Stability is feature #1 for me. Then each paid upgrade that came out I would buy it and try it and very soon have some random crashes and then try again next paid upgrade. At first the paid upgrades were quite cheap so it just seemed like nothing to give them the chance to resolve the issues. Finally I stopped after the first Waveform release. Same problem and by then the upgrade costs had gone up and I no longer felt like trying.

I'm very happy with my DAW situation at this point so at least with this user, their chance has come and gone. I still wish them well and it would be a happy thing for the user if they resolved the issues.

[jabe]

especially as a a crash automatically generates a crash log and sends it.

I must have missed that. Where did that info come from?

[Winstontaneous]

I have a soft spot for Tracktion, v2 was the first DAW I ever used. I paid for upgrades through v7 or 8, but there were too many crashes, and endless plugin scans on startup. Haven't bothered to try v10 due to this history, plus I'm very happy with Ableton Live, Reason, and an occasional bit of Logic and AudioMulch.

[dellboy]

especially as a a crash automatically generates a crash log and sends it.

I must have missed that. Where did that info come from?

Its on the Settings page under "maintenance"\ crashes\send crashes\ - on my W9 version. To test the beta 10 version they posted this message ..........

"The quickest and simplest way to help us improve the app is to turn on Crash, System Info and Usage reporting from the window at startup or from the “Maintenance” Settings page. We have improved tools to identify issues in these automatic reports so turning them on will be the biggest help you can do us".

I assumed crash log sending was automatic in W9, but maybe its a new feature in W10 ?

It would be good to get this clarified because it would be an important new feature if it works.