How do you like Tracktion?

[zmora]

I used Traction for audio recording with guitar amp simulators vst and for constructed song in general.
For this job I reconised Traction the best.For mixing my job I used THE BEST SOUNDS PARIS DAW

[james0tucson]

I started using Tracktion when they released a free version. I really appreciated it, it was a great thing to get for free. I was trying various things, setting up a new DAW, and basically getting my sh!t together with my keyboard rig for once.

No sooner than I'd started getting into the Tracktion, I upgraded my PC from Win2k to winXP. Well, Tracktion stopped working, and the free offer had expired. It quit working for me before it even had the chance to whet my whistle. Now, I'm not one to complain about something I got for free, and I didn't. But at the same time, I had no bug up my ass to buy T2 when it came, partly because of the bad taste that the withdrawal of the free offer left in my mouth. I had no idea that my use of that software would be limited, and I counted my blessings that I didn't make any work in a piece of software that would lock me out of *my* work. I regard that as someone attempting to exert control over my work in order to protect themselves, and I don't dig that.

So I never bought Tracktion. Shame, because I probably would have liked it.

[dealwithit]

I don't understand. If you registered the NFR version (as I did), just log into my.mackie.com and it's still there for download. The version itself never expires, or "locks you out". I use it to this day.

[ModuLR]

I regard that as someone attempting to exert control over my work in order to protect themselves, and I don't dig that.

[james0tucson]

I don't understand. If you registered the NFR version (as I did), just log into my.mackie.com and it's still there for download. The version itself never expires, or "locks you out". I use it to this day.

My "machine ID" changed, as it will tend to do, four times a year or more. That means the software is designed to lock me out of my work, which makes it unacceptable to me in a fundamental way.

I'm not going to complain about it, because it is something that I got free. However, I would not be happy to pay for something that is basically designed to give me limited use. I will not use software that is designed to lock me out of my work, period, any more than I would write legal contracts on paper that was designed to self-destruct.

What if you discovered a composition by Mozart, but could not read it because it was protected by some hard crypto for which the key is lost?

[james0tucson]

I regard that as someone attempting to exert control over my work in order to protect themselves, and I don't dig that.

Everyone who has ever tried to defend his rights has been called that.

[IIRs]

you mean your right to keep getting everything free?

[mandolarian]

Initially, as an audio gourmet, I liked Tracktion with a simple to prepare garnish and a sprinkling of freshly chopped garlic.

Now I prefer it marinated over night in a secret sesame sauce, slowly baked in a 64-bit Tuscan oven and served in phase with a Final Mix of vintage red wines.

[rockstar_not]

Now now everyone - no need to call people crazy with icons...

Jamestuscon, you should be able to keep using the free version, as long as you transfer the license to the new machine. Same process as outlined before.

I'm still using the freebie version (well, actually, I bought a license in that HEAR auction last year) and I used that license to get T2, but I haven't installed T2 yet, since I'm still on Win98SE.

-Scott

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

After reading this thread and watching the conversation, I've decided that I prefer Tracktion with a glass of red wine and a side of garlic bread, in a light cream sauce.

[Lunch Money]

james0tucson:

I agree that it's what seems to attract users first. But once you get into Tracktion, there is tinkering possible that's simply not easily done in other hosts. I'm not talking about just racks, either, though they're an obvious example-- eXT, Bidule, and other environments provide modular routing, too.

Rather, I'm talking about things like overlaying audio and MIDI clips, and having them play back on the same track through a plug-in that uses both audio and MIDI to process a signal.

Or using racks, but not just as a modular palette, but as a way to share instances of plug-ins and set-ups throughout the edit.

Or per-clip FX (on audio only so far, unfortunately), which was the domain of very few hosts before, but is rapidly being seen for what it is which is a flexible and indispensible tool.

Add to that the singularly simple and infinitely scaleable sub-mixes with Tracktion's track-routing capabilities, and I think you'll find that a great many people, once they know Tracktion well enough and want to expand, become quite the tinkerers. Once you start using these advanced features, to be honest with you, it's the OTHER sequencers that start to look simple!

Now, I know what you're saying, and I know you meant it as a compliment and not a dis. However, I also think you'd be surprised at the depths to which you could go if you want to have something to do with the DAW itself and DO some tinkering. True, Tracktion makes it easy to spit songs out left and right, but if you're just in the mood for sonic mayhem, it's also the right tool for the job.

Greg

[Rock]

I regard that as someone attempting to exert control over my work in order to protect themselves, and I don't dig that.

Everyone who has ever tried to defend his rights has been called that.

Maybe he was callin' ya crazy for not logging into my.mackie.com and changing your machine ID so you could use your tracktion license.

[dealwithit]

If your Machine ID is changing 4 or more times a year, you are going to have problems with any mainstream sequencer's piracy protection. Try Cubase with a dongle if you want to really be locked out of your work!

But honestly, the CS people at Mackie will take care of you in almost all cases of machine ID change. Your license is almost surely still valid and usable.

[Beardedone]

Try Cubase with a dongle if you want to really be locked out of your work!

Amen!

[james0tucson]

you mean your right to keep getting everything free?

No, my copyright silly -- my right to access my creative works and to reproduce them in whatever form they were created in. If a piece of software does not work in 2029 because a company is gone and there is some unbreakable cryptography involved, then my rights will have been abridged, don't you get this?

What if Mozart had used paper that automatically locked the world out after a certain time?

You apparently think I'm kidding, but I fail to see what makes a company's copyright interests superior to the artist's. Why should the artist use a tool that's guaranteed to stop working at some future date?