The Waveform User Guide hasn't been updated with new features in 4 years.

[zzz00m]

An updated manual is coming with 11.5

Still waiting...

[zzz00m]

Anyone else want an up-to-date comprehensive user manual, covering all of the new features?

[Watchful]

Everyone. But I'm afraid Bill is devoting himself to YouTube videos, rather than a PDF going forward.

The v11 manual is still incomplete by a longshot, with missing graphics and chapters absent. I actually find the v9 manual more helpful as a reference.

[zzz00m]

Everyone. But I'm afraid Bill is devoting himself to YouTube videos, rather than a PDF going forward.

The v11 manual is still incomplete by a longshot, with missing graphics and chapters absent. I actually find the v9 manual more helpful as a reference.

Quite sad actually. The further they fall behind, the bigger the task of ever actually catching up!

I originally bought into Waveform with version 8, and kept hoping at version 9 that they would complete it. Now have Waveform 11, but about to give up hope. The list of features not covered keeps growing. I really like the software, and so far have been wanting to keep supporting the company.

Every other software program I've ever owned came with a user manual describing the included features, at least at a bare minimum level. Including the ones from small development teams. I am not aware of any other software company that has taken it to this extreme. Most professional developers take documentation seriously.

There is really no good reason for the way things are. Surprised that so many folks just accept that as normal!

[Watchful]

If we're being honest, a recent video by Bill on step clips made reference to his previous videos on the subject for further information. Although I can't say this was his intent, I did realize that this approach will likely generate more hits on his Youtube channel than will answer questions--and I realized in that instant that video tutorials aren't it.

I'm wondering if Tracktion should be looking in a different direction, with a completely reformatted and re-done manual. I've been using the software since T6 (a newcomer compared to some of you) and I still don't know what a lot of the features are really for or what they're intended to do: they seem to have been missed.

I'll give you an example, not that you need one: an incredibly useful tool in the Projects tab is the "Search for unused files" option. It's a great way to clean up disk space and turn a massively complicated project into a slick, efficient project that's 60x faster to back up.

There's no directions in the manual--but boy, if you risked a critical project by experimenting with it, you might be furious forever, as it deletes files right off the drive. It's been improved in v12, for example, not that you'd know. I was able to figure it out by experimenting on a test project, so I got to learn the easy way how useful--and potentially destructive it is.

For readers who don't know about it...

There's a utility in Waveform that can delete all the junk files your project can accumulate. Using this command can literally turn a huge, gigabyte-sized mess into a 60 megabyte, easy-to-handle load.

When you're done with your project...and I mean, really done with it:

1. Go to the Projects tab
2. Click on the name of the project in the Browser pane (NOT in the Edit pane, in the center)
3. Look in the lower right: you should see an option named "Search for Unused Files." Click on it.
4. In the Project database in the center of your window, you'll see some files listed. (Above the Edit window, you'll see "Orphaned material in project" show up. If you see this, you did it right!)
5. Shift+click on the file names in the Project database, top to bottom to select all these files.
6. On the bottom of the screen, "Delete item" shows up in red.
7. Click delete, to delete these files from your project.
8. This does not delete all the project files...just the audio clips, MIDI clips, any video clips that you were NOT using anywhere in the project.
9. ...and they're gone!

What's left is your project and *just* the associated clips in use. A great way to clean up a project prior to back up and purging.

It's documented nowhere, is very useful, and alas would scare most users into trying it because it's deleting what appears to be critical project data. Again, if properly documented...would be used by a lot of folks.

[zzz00m]

If we're being honest, a recent video by Bill on step clips made reference to his previous videos on the subject for further information. Although I can't say this was his intent, I did realize that this approach will likely generate more hits on his Youtube channel than will answer questions--and I realized in that instant that video tutorials aren't it.

I'm wondering if Tracktion should be looking in a different direction, with a completely reformatted and re-done manual. I've been using the software since T6 (a newcomer compared to some of you) and I still don't know what a lot of the features are really for or what they're intended to do: they seem to have been missed.

I'm not going to lay any blame on Bill, as what he has done so far is good!

But rather the blame goes directly to the Tracktion management, and their lack of priority and funding for the documentation effort. They definitely need to be looking in a new direction!

And as a long-time customer, I am not intending this as a rant. I just want the product to be successful and usable, and that will require decent documentation.

Videos are a great supplement for any product, and a good resource for how-to-do tutorials, but if you just want to quickly dive into the product and see what you can do with it then manuals are indispensable!

[Watchful]

Agreed across the board. Hope no one thought I was bashing Bill Edstrom! Bill, since I know you read KVR on occasion, I was not disparaging your work at all.

I just wished you'd been able to finish the v11 manual to the depth it deserves, and hope Tracktion hires you to finish the manual for v12 with only the most advanced stuff making it to video.

[zzz00m]

Agreed across the board. Hope no one thought I was bashing Bill Edstrom! Bill, since I know you read KVR on occasion, I was not disparaging your work at all.

I just wished you'd been able to finish the v11 manual to the depth it deserves, and hope Tracktion hires you to finish the manual for v12 with only the most advanced stuff making it to video.

+100

[vitocorleone123]

At this point they need Bill AND some others working on his behalf (getting screen shots, drafting content, etc.). A good user guide for a complex DAW - and Waveform is now complex - is really critical.

I wish there'd be fewer new plugins developed and take some of that developer cost and put it toward documentation, instead. I know it's hard as a small company, since documentation doesn't have a direct ROI like releasing new software, but... it also has to be rather embarrassing that the documentation is so far out of date and incomplete. It's getting to the point where it may be better in some ways to just no longer offer it until it's updated. The more the software changes and the document doesn't, then the user guide can start to cause problems for people rather than help them find solutions that actually now apply rather than to the way the DAW worked several versions ago.

It's also a matter of appearing to work at the same level as the competition (Cubase, Ableton, etc.).

Suggestion as a half-way step: have someone go through the current guide and strip it down to the basics for a new user trying to get started using the DAW and turn it into a FAQ hosted on the Web. Make sure all of that content is updated for v12. I suspect current employees can do that as they're domain experts. Then invest in tech writing contractors to build it back up into a real guide over the next 6 months. Keep the FAQ updated always (internal), and continue contracting a tech writer every other 6 months to update the guide. Or something like that.

[spoontechnique]

I forgot how the new Marked Region Split/Heal/Consolidate/etc. commands worked, so I went to see if they were in the current manual. Nope! The videos were fine, but it's much quicker to read a line of text than watch a 7-minute video.

I don't need a fancy manual, but it would be nice to have something. Stripped down, but covering all features. There's features I never use because I can't look up how they work.

[zzz00m]

I don't need a fancy manual, but it would be nice to have something. Stripped down, but covering all features.

There's features I never use because I can't look up how they work.

That's exactly the spot that I'm in!

[Watchful]

Videos are fine for a lot of things. Bill Edlund has a new one out that shows some neat tricks with the AB Switch plugin, and how you can really put it to use in a rack. THAT is what videos are for.

But what's needed is a textual manual to even tell me what that plugin was for. Spoontechnique is right: except some videos are 12-15 minutes long and spend too much time demonstrating the parts I do know!

[zzz00m]

Spoontechnique is right: except some videos are 12-15 minutes long and spend too much time demonstrating the parts I do know!

Exactly!

A quick reference guide is what's needed! The current manual covers the getting started parts ok.