Tracktion--I have seen the light

[headquest]

On the subject of a mixer console view...

...I think that one benefit of a mixer console view is the "visual feedback" somebody else mentioned...

...but this can also be very misleading, because the pre-mix audio-output level of each track is not the same. What I mean is, horizontally aligning all the faders doesn't mean that all tracks are equal loudness. They almost certainly aren't.

FOr a time I prefered mixing in Audition where I could use a full-on mixer console view, but with growing experience I am realising that it really IS down to using your ears, and not pretending that your *eyes* have the answer.

Tracktion's mixing paradigm lends itself well to ensuring your reliance is on what you hear and not what you see.

Also, for the record, I like Tracktions 4-band parametric EQ, which I now put on almost every track next to the volume/pan fader. This is more powerful in my experience than the EQ generally found on software mixers, and of course some programs (e.g. Live 4) don't even offer EQ fixed on the mixer.

So Tracktion's approach to mixing has grown on me more and more, and now it's my prefered favourite approach.

[popsych]

I am not aggressive just setting some things straight here.

No need to apologize for an opinion, but when somebody says, "Hey, I love this thing!" and you jump in and imply that they're nuts for loving something, you can't expect to NOT get a few retorts.

I never said something bad about you guys using it

"I personally can't work with it" is not much of a statement, because of course you're already used to a certain way of working. But the implied message was, "I think it's laid out in a very silly way," when more accurately it's just that you're not accustomed to it.

For that to be implied i would have to have said i was the GOD of DAWS and only i possess the one true knowledge of how these should be

You can't "properly" try something new out unless you're genuinely interested in it and genuinely considering the change. If you're not ready to switch (not just to Tracktion, but to ANYTHING else, like from Mac to PC or PC to Mac for example), you won't have an open enough mind to look with a fresh perspective. Rather, you'll be busy comparing it to the thing that you're already happy with, and at times where the new concept or program doesn't align with your current concept or program, you will see it as a "flaw" rather than just a different way of doing things.

I was genuinely interested in it cause i was looking for a host with full PDC, good 32 bit float engine, latest vst support and good automation to do my mixes from Logic 5.5.1 which doesn't really cut it for me in this context.

Informationally i started on the early DP days, moved to Cubase PC, tried Sonar and then finally switched to Logic cause it suits my particular way of working. I am not afraid to try new things and actually sometimes i do just for the heck of it - don't really follow the if it ain't broken, don't fix it. I prefer : you don't know what you're looking for until you've found it.

Tracktion is indeed innovative - that was my only wrong statement as smth like this hasn't been done before. I am happy your are happy with Tracktion cause i don't seem to be happy with any host, just less annoyed by some than others . Maybe at some point we will have custom made DAWS from the then merged "MackiEmapSteinberMagixAdobe with Cake on the Walk" that will deliver the part we want [/b]

[mauseoleum]

you forgot to add where it'll be executed: Doors OS running on Jonathan Cell HW.

[Lunch Money]

And controlled with a neural interface.

Fair enough replies, Popsych.

Greg

[fjell_strom]

1. Downloaded Traction
2. Bought it
3. Downloaded Live 4
4. Bought it
5. Un-installed Traction
I still use Cubase SL and Reason, but Traction is just to limiting for me now...

Right. I'm still having a fantastic time messing with Tracktion (meanwhile feeling somehow guilty for liking its focus on the simple, and lack of...pretentious, needless anything. So far so gravy.) But due to this comment which leaves nothing to the imagination from Leslie--I'm going to have to give Live 4 a swing of the golf clubs.

I just hope I'm not back here in half an hour posting new thread:

Live 4--I have converted

Dustin

[fjell_strom]

Hmmm...

Well, to be blunt, Live did not have me reaching for my credit card.

But, as Greg mentioned time and time again, different folks, different strokes. And certainly, different tasks, different tools.

Peace to all. Let's make some music.

[vbfischer]

Traction is like sex

The more you do it the better it gets

Except no-one has to sleep in any wet patches afterwards..

You obviously don't have as much fun with Traction as I do....

[headquest]

To be equally blunt, impatience for T2 and marketing/media hype DID have me reaching for my credit card and buying Live 4.

Live 4 is the most disappointing piece of software I have ever purchased, and I regret paying a single penny for it.

With its poor audio quality, broken level meters, metalic-sounding colouration, very poor MIDI editing, inability to host VSTs efficiently, numerous bugs, lack of *humble/helpful* developer support, and worst of all its frankly absurd CPU hit, Live 4 has proved to be completely useless on my (laptop) system.

But each to their own...

[2windy]

Just curious really...

Does anyone know of people that make money from music using Traction as their main app?

[BONES]

Thats exactly why I like Tracktion: all the audio parameters are in the same place as the track itself: you otoh, have to open a seperate window, and try to relate the faders on there to the tracks on your arrange page. Urgh!

There is only one set of track faders in ORION, at the bottom of each Mixer Strip - just where you would expect them to be. The only time I have to change any view is to go to the Piano Roll, where the mixer stuff is virtually irrelevant.

and HAS a mixer, BONES

Not a proper one, it doesn't. First off it has a horizontal workflow with vertical volume slider and level meter, why? It makes it far less intuitive than having the controls follow the flow path, especially the level-meters. And tracks don't line-up uniformly, requiring more time/effort to analyze things. i.e. The look of each track's "mixer" area is dependant on the number of filters/effects applied so you can't easily run your eyes down the RHS and take it all in as easily.

Does anyone know of people that make money from music using Traction as their main app?

Who f**king cares!?! Its hardly something everyone is as evangelistic about as we tend to be.

[AndrewSimon]

Well I tried every other host out there and Sonar was the best until I downloaded Tracktion.
It was love at first sight.
It has everything I need with an amazing work flow.

Once I got over the "Can it do this? Can it do that?"
and looked at more important things like "how many hours from the time I finished writting the song until it was ready to be burned on the CD" the winner was clear.

[Lunch Money]

Not a proper [mixer], it doesn't. First off it has a horizontal workflow with vertical volume slider and level meter, why? It makes it far less intuitive than having the controls follow the flow path, especially the level-meters. And tracks don't line-up uniformly, requiring more time/effort to analyze things. i.e. The look of each track's "mixer" area is dependant on the number of filters/effects applied so you can't easily run your eyes down the RHS and take it all in as easily.

I agree that horizontal meters would be better. T2 will have these. Still, though, I have to agree with previous statements that your ears should be the judge. I almost always find looking at level meters to be misleading. And in that sense, T still does what I need it to do. You can resize all tracks to be the same height, but there's not really the need for it. I just go to the track that I -hear- needs adjusting and adjust it accordingly.

I do understand what you're saying, but I also truly believe that you (yes, as an individual, not the royal 'you') would get along just fine without a traditional mixer. I have faith in your abilities.

Greg

[fjell_strom]

I suppose the "light" I claimed to have seen had to do with a more general issue which has cropped up more and more for me as I've gotten deeper into software based music/sequencing during the past year. Specifically, getting bogged down in details, buttons, plugins, effects, hardware, possibility. I noticed that the more time went by, the more I acquired, the less productive I seemed. I now have some ten or eleven projects, unfinished, gathering dust, and every time I return to them, I seem simply to tweak them a bit and then leave them again.

It's gotten to be a serious issue with me. When I got my hands on that downloaded Tracktion demo, it was like the shackles coming off, to a degree. I sort of snapped out of the detail trance. Oh yeah, I used to write songs! Oh right, and actually finished them! It all seemed suddenly easier and possible again with Tracktion's seriously intuitive interface. That was the light.

At some stage, I just seemed to lose the reason for making the songs and found myself endlessly trying new buttons or arrangements. A real shame. A real loss of the feeling of "kicking out the jams". I, for one, am going to try to ease up on all the fine tuning, and focus a bit more on making good melodies, catchy rhythms, and prize lyrics. I don't think you can hide those elements anyhow, tweaks or no tweaks, when you've created them.

[Andywanders]

I would agree that having the analogue model of however many faders in a line gives a nice visual feedback but in saying that (having had a soundcraft Ghost mixer) this gets lost in big mixes and doesn't really help

Couldn't agree less. Nothing gives a faster, better overview of a project than a full mixer. At a glance you can see levels, EQ of all channels [relative to one-another] and what effects are going where. No need to go in and expand channels one at a time - its all right at your fingertips.

Agreed..!

Well said BONES.

[koorby]

Hehe! Cool. Another DAW war thread.