Thinking about selling T1

[braj]

Someone talk me out of it! I just finalized buying Logic Express 7 extremely cheap off a drug-addict friend who can't grasp it after 'borrowing' it for a month or so (try not being stoned, eh), and now I'm not sure where Tracktion fits in to my workflow.

I have T, Live 4, Reason 2.5 and now LE7. T, Live4, and Reason all run cross-platform. LE7 is Mac only and runs OK on my laptop. I can't run too many tracks before freezing, and even then I'm still limited. But I'm mostly using under 8 tracks most of the time anyway.

T and Reason run OK on both, but Live isn't very usable on the Powerbook. Using it ReWired to Live and only using Live to record audio is about the only decent use of Live.

But my PC is fairly beefy and can run Live fine, so here's what I'm planning:

Mac - run Logic and Reason.
PC - run Reason and Live.

Where does that leave Traction? I was thinking about using it with FinalMix to master, but would Logic be more suited for this? Also, since T2 doesn't have better timestretching or beatmapping, I'm reluctant to upgrade.

I don't want to hold onto T for no good reason, can anyone give me some advice? T being cross-platform is a big + but I just don't know where it fits in.

If I decide to sell it, it would be $40. But something deep inside me says to hold onto it FOREVER. Please help.

[djsubject]

sell logic 7 at a profit, use money made to by T2


you know it makes sence

all that time frafing about with logic, just to get it to do somthing T can do in seconds

also why live for rewire

[IIRs]

You can have my Tracktion license when you prise it from my cold dead mouse-hand!



How can we tell you whether to keep it or not? If you really don't use it, and you're sure you won't want T2, then it comes down to how much do you need that $40?

We still can't answer that for you.

[maximilians1]

Yeah I would hold on to it, you might have a friend or someone who needs a simply genius program in the future, makes a nice gift.

[headquest]

Hey Braj! Don't do it!!!

You already know my views on Tracktion vs Live... I agree with your point about timestretching of course, but in most areas I think that Tracktion is a superior, more efficient and better host. If you want to sequencer using VSTi instruments then Live 4 is cumbersome because of its CPU load. You said yourself you can't get much out of it on your Mac... well I think that partly rings true on PC as well. Tracktion wins hands down in terms of efficiency, stability and sound-quality.

I also prefer Tracktion as a ReWire host for Reason... why faff about with seperate MIDI and audio channels bouncing stuff around when you can sequence MIDI, return audio and automate VST effects all on one track in Tracktion Live is a much slower process, surely?

Having said that I do undertstand why you like Live 4 of course - heck I paid out for it too!! And with good reason (see - I'm mellowing towards Live and making my peace with it ). The looping paradigm, "fold track" feature, audio-warp markers and browser are all great, and that's just for starters

The part I don't understand is why you saw a need to buy Logic Express. What does that offer that Live/Tracktion/Reason don't?

[braj]

The part I don't understand is why you saw a need to buy Logic Express. What does that offer that Live/Tracktion/Reason don't?

My friend needed money, simple as that. I've kicked him cash in teh past, no strings attached, so this time I made sure he 'paid' for it. Trust me, I got a good deal. I want to get a nice G5 as my next laptop whenever they actually hit the market, so getting rid of LE7 now seems like a bad idea. I think I'd regret it in the long run.

I may consider selling of Live in the future too, to help buy a new Mac. I dunno

I don't think Logic is that hard to deal with personally. Some things are definitely easier in Logic over Tracktion, loops for example. I had some little hurdles but I have a decent grasp how to lay down audio and midi tracks now at least. And of everything I own, it definitely sounds the best IMO. Personally, I think I can set up a session just as quickly in Logic now as I can in Tracktion. At least Logic doesn't have the weirdness regarding DXI/VST/Audio tracks that Sonar had. Now that's a host that is a difficult beats to set up and use.

I do have that senior citizen friend, maybe I'll make a gift out of T for him.

platinumears, I was more looking for a use for Tracktion than to have someone make the decision for me, like say 'hey, hold on to T because you can do XXXXX with it' something like that.

I think I have a game plan now though: wait for T2, try the demo, see the upgrade price, then decide. It may just blow me away all over again. Who knows? The loops issue will still be there though But if the midi editor is good enough dealing with drums (my main reason for wanting better timestretch etc.) then I think I could deal.

[Leslie]

Wait until T2 is out - no one really knows what T2 does and @ what CPU cost...
I personally still consider Live 4.1 to be a better host than T1 and never really experienced any CPU issues both on iMac G5 and my 1.7 GHz Centrino notebook (Use it mostly with Reason, Vanguard, Microtonic, Korg Legacy and Atmosphere...)
Regards, Leslie

[Lunch Money]

Live and Tracktion are so completely different that I don't know why people compare them except to say that they're both hosts.

I can't even fathom doing the kind of music I do from within Live, even though I accept that it's quite an interesting tool!

In any case, I think keeping Tracktion around will be more worthwhile than the $40 you could get from it, especially considering the potential upgrade path. What if T 2.0 isn't what you want? You sell T, thinking that you've done the right thing. Then T 2.1 comes along, with the beatslice you were looking for. "Well," you think, "that sort of sucks, but I'm OK with my decision." Then T2.5 comes out with the Z-Plane Elastique timestretch, and you kick yourself.



Not that those 2 things are definitely or even likely to happen, but you never know. In the meantime, Tracktion is still useful to keep around if for no other reason than to give you a different approach if you need it or just want it.

Greg

[braj]

I may have to try to use T exclusively for 2 weeks or something and see how it goes. It's been a long time since I've made any real use with T other than mastering my incredibly bad music. I guess when the demo comes out I'll try that. I hope Mac demos are available at the same time as the PC version.

[Leslie]

As I stated in my message: "I personally still consider Live 4.1 to be a better host than T1" - the key word here is PERSONALLY - it just suits my working environment perfectly (remixing, dance, live work)... Nothing against T1
Kind Regards, Leslie

[braj]

As I stated in my message: "I personally still consider Live 4.1 to be a better host than T1" - the key word here is PERSONALLY - it just suits my working environment perfectly (remixing, dance, live work)... Nothing against T1
Kind Regards, Leslie

I personally agree for the most part, and I don't make dance music, I use Live like a conventional DAW with a cool scratchpad attached. But the CPU usage is pretty bad. I have a 3.2 P4 with a gig or RAM and some VSTi make the CPU meter jump up to 30-40 % when other hosts (T for example) are at half that. It desperately needs track freeze, I'd be nearly totally happy with it otherwise. But CPU use is it's Achilles' heel. It's a bad thing to have to work around. I don't think I'll be selling it though, in a couple years when CPU's are more powerful, I'm sure it'll fly (along with upgrades to Live, I'm sure).

[edelweiss]

over the last weekend, I spent the better part of a day going thru my music archive. I figured it was time to clean up some of the crap, you know, the foprgotten snippets of songs that never really got finished, version 1, 2 and 3 of another dozen songs...etc..
after several hours of playing song after song, I noticed something that surprised me. I've been at this DAW stuff for about 4 years now. the first 3 years were spent going back and forth between Logic and Cubase. And in listening to the songs from this "era" I noticed 1 thing....they all sounded the same. while the songs were each unique the mixes didn't change...they pretty much all sounded like mud...

Then I compared that to the last year of using tracktion....Well, I'm not going to say that the songs are any better, but the mixes have improved quite noticably...

My point is this....I feel that I have much more control over the mix in Tracktion than I ever did in Cubase or Logic. I know how to make Tracktion do what I want it to and that is something I was never able to do in Cubase or Logic....

And that just brings me back to the reason I started using Tracktion in the first place.....it let's me focus on the music, not on the program...

more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better...

[edelweiss]

As I stated in my message: "I personally still consider Live 4.1 to be a better host than T1" - the key word here is PERSONALLY - it just suits my working environment perfectly (remixing, dance, live work)... Nothing against T1
Kind Regards, Leslie

One thing that might be worth considering also......

Live VERSION 4.1 vs. Tracktion VERSION 1

[koolkeys]

Really, I think that T1 and especially T2, can do everything that LE can do, at least everything you probably need. Neither has EVERYTHING. But I'd sell the LE. Why don't you just rewire Live and Reason into T? I have Reason Adapted and Live LE(came with Pro-Tools system) and that's what I do with them. I see no reason to use ANY non-cross platform tools if you are indeed working with both platforms. When I got my Mac, I started to windle down to the plugs and apps I use that I can use on both, except for a couple essential ones that didn't work on a certain platform.

Sorry, just a couple thoughts. Oh, and DON'T sell T!!!

Koolkeys

[braj]

Yeah, I think I was just just just freaking out I want one of those Yamaha midi guitars, that may have something to do with it.