Tracktion v2 to be announced at AES?

[Lunch Money]

I guess I'm lazy from both counts!

I usually prefer audio loops (and have found Beta Monkey quite capable of handling most of my needs!), but in a pinch I'll rip off MIDI parts from songs that are already out there. Then I'll just modify them to suit my needs.

Using this method, Tracktion is the perfect tool for the job. I don't need to 'paint' the loops, because I rarely use more than 2 in a row anyhow. I'd much rather piece the song together measure by measure, using exactly the right loop for that measure. Drag and drop from Tackywrapper, and I'm sorted.

Either way, I'm never programming a drum loop entirely from scratch.

Greg

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I'm a Beta Monkey user myself and I love just dropping in grooves and fills! It's so easy in Tracktion it's not funny. Painting a bunch of the same beat over and over never worked for me, since that's pretty much how it comes out when I try to program my own beats into a drum machine (lol).

I do think the deafening silence is a mistake on Mackies part, though. I'm saving money for "studio improvements" and (sigh) that might mean something like Sonar or Cubase. I'd rather NOT but I might (hope hope) end up needing to do some surround work next year!

[Lunch Money]

I do think the deafening silence is a mistake on Mackies part, though.

Agreed. And also on Raw Materials' part.

A thing to remember, though, is that we're a bit of an anomaly here (and on forums like this one). We're accustomed to always being in touch with what's going on at the various companies, and forget that in the 'real world', there are people out there who NEVER hear whispers until the product has arrived.

Even on the forum here... there are many companies from whom we haven't heard a peep in weeks and weeks, but we don't get all anxious about it. I think it's a testament to our love of Tracktion that we're dying to hear something.

Greg

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I do think the deafening silence is a mistake on Mackies part, though.

Agreed. And also on Raw Materials' part.

A thing to remember, though, is that we're a bit of an anomaly here (and on forums like this one). We're accustomed to always being in touch with what's going on at the various companies, and forget that in the 'real world', there are people out there who NEVER hear whispers until the product has arrived.

Even on the forum here... there are many companies from whom we haven't heard a peep in weeks and weeks, but we don't get all anxious about it. I think it's a testament to our love of Tracktion that we're dying to hear something.

Greg

Eh, good point. I don't panic if I don't hear anything for ages out of Roland, or Yamaha. I guess I'm just spoiled from the "good old days" when there was a new release every week! Although of course that's not always a good thing...

I, at least, will try to chill a bit.

[valley]

I'd rather NOT but I might (hope hope) end up needing to do some surround work next year!

video tracking and such crap aside, you can mix 5.1 in tracktion today with the right hardware.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I'd rather NOT but I might (hope hope) end up needing to do some surround work next year!

video tracking and such crap aside, you can mix 5.1 in tracktion today with the right hardware.

Well, I can see how it could be done by having multiple outs (surround soundcard) and somehow panning the various signals to front/left front/right center etc. but, having done that, writing to a properly encoded file from inside Tracktion isn't going to happen! I guess if there's such a thing as a 5.1 recorder I could attach that to the surround soundcard output and work from there.. but that seems like a hell of a lot of effort and would likely cost more than getting SONAR 4 Producer!

[valley]

panning between front and back could be handled by a rack (you'd need to do some creative thinking, and the interface would be a little unfriendly).

In terms of creating the 5.1 encoded file, whilst I don't know of any, it would be trivial to write a small program that takes two stereo, and two mono .wavs and creates a 5.1 format file from them.

I dunno what the .wav standard on 5.1 looks like, but assuming it just follows the usual wav convention of interleaved tracks, I have a basic wave reader writer that could handle this really easily.

[Lunch Money]

Nice Bubba Ho-Tep reference, valley.

[valley]

Nice Bubba Ho-Tep reference, valley.

I truly think that is the greatest line I have seen in a movie for some years.

[dharmawan]

I usually prefer audio loops (and have found Beta Monkey quite capable of handling most of my needs!), but in a pinch I'll rip off MIDI parts from songs that are already out there.

audio loops and ripped off midi parts. LOL! thats very original. at least youre being honest..

[Lunch Money]

The way I think about it is this--

I've never planned to be a drummer, though I'd like to learn some day. In a band, I'll let the drummer do the drumming. If I was a solo act, I'd have session musicians come in and do the drumming. If I was part of a collaboration, I would almost certainly allow other people to program the drums!

I don't think that I should have to program the drums, as well as play guitar, bass, and sing (which I do, so that's 2 up on many artists!) in order for a song to be original. Especially since using loops, etc. will undoubtedly produce a much better result and therefore result in a song that is truer to my own vision than if I had tried (feebly) to program them myself.

Greg

[jtxx000]

I play guitar, program the synths, drums and bass (I need to get one), and let a friend sing.

[headquest]

What started as a query a few months back turned into a moan.

Then it turned into a joke, usually involving those furry rodents made popular by a certain Bill Murray film...

But now it seems people can't even be bothered to joke about this subject any longer.

I suspect that T2 will be a totally awesome program when it eventually emerges...

...but by then I suspect many of us will have jumped ship. If this thread is anything to go by, several people are either considering or have already invested in alternative products, specifically Live 4, Sonar 4 and Cubase SL are all mentioned.

People who fork out now for programs that meet their present need are hardly likely to stop using them and pay out for T2 in the near future. Customers once loyal to Tracktion are clearly being lost due to the ongoing silence from Jules/RMS/Mackie.

All people really want is a vague idea of what to expect and when, so that they can make informed decisions about whether to invest in something else (which they probably don't really even want) or stick with the sequencer they love, knowing that a missing feature that they need will be available soon.

From a marketing perspective this can be used in a positive way, as the recent addition of a Sampler to energyXT well illustrates. The users knew it was on the way, some had the chance to help out as beta testers, etc.

By way of comparison, it is clear too that many Acid 4 users aren't interested in Acid 5, which has suddenly been sprung on them out of the blue. In the intervening months of silence, most of them have invested in alternatives to Acid, such as Sonar and Live.

PLEASE can somebody who knows give us an idea of what is happening with Tracktion? We are loyal supporters asking a reasonable question here

[valley]

my feeling is that Mackie will start dribbling out more information as T2 draws nearer.

Mackie have used teaser releases and articles in industry press to whip up a little pre-sales interest before. I don't believe T2 will be any different. I think the silence probably reflects more the timescale until T2.

Letting the cat out of the bag too early serves to take the buzz out of a new release.

If T2 is anywhere near as close as people seem to think it is, and frankly it's been long enough so I can't imagine we have much longer to wait, then I'll bet that at you'll see a slow ramping up of pre-sales news tidbits and teasers.

Where Mackie/RMS have dropped the ball though, and in this I agree with headquest, is by not answering feature requests at all any more. Time was when at least an "I'll look into it" would greet feature requests. It wouldn't hurt to answer such posts with a straight "it isn't going to happen," "not in the near future," or a "there may be good news soon, watch this space."

[jens]

I agree with headquest and basically it's what I've been saying already half a year ago.

I think Mackie are rather destroying Jules' success than enhancing it.