The bs of Pro DAWs Vs amateur DAWs

[THE INTRANCER]

Question: How do you record a live MIDI performance in a tracker including modulation and pitchbending? How do you even program pitchbending in a tracker? How do you program swing? Or polyrhythms? And where are all the Rock/Metal/Jazz/Classic compositions made with trackers, with varying BPM and a large dynamic range? Why does everything made with a tracker sounds like it has been made with a tracker?

Trackers have a long history with varying capabilities like all music based composition based software. Trackers require a different approach and skill set / discipline to master. There is no shortcuts to learning them, it's something you will have to learn yourself pretty much. It's pretty much like programming and mastering the commands in which control the sounds or midi data you wish to create whilst also in the terms of samples, crafting how samples are shaped and looped. Trackers to those who master the art in using them are no slower to compose with than modern conventional DAWs like Cubase for example. You can program in step-time or real-time record mode should you wish to.

Octamed Sound Studio on the Amiga was the best and most complete tracker, which I used for few years before I moved onto different hardware to create music. Renoise is it's modern successor.

[pekbro]

I like trackers, though I'm too lazy to become competent at using them. Still, I have a couple of them because they're interesting and fun. Well, the note editing is not super fun since I haven't memorized all the shortcuts and am not particularly fast at it, quite the opposite really.

[VOODOO U]

You know what's a good thing to do if Trackers seem cumbersome but you want to get good? Spend 90 days coding. Just pick any language - C++, C#, Python....doesn't matter. Pick one and do some coding for 90 days. And get into it full force even if it's not your thing. It'll sharpen you up mentally in regards to utilizing computers.
After the 90 days, go use a tracker. It will become a walk in the park while drinking champagne. It becomes fun like gaming.

[Largos]

I have never seen tracker software in a commercial studio, for good reasons.

1. You've never been in a commercial studio.

[THE INTRANCER]

You know what's a good thing to do if Trackers seem cumbersome but you want to get good? Spend 90 days coding. Just pick any language - C++, C#, Python....doesn't matter. Pick one and do some coding for 90 days. And get into it full force even if it's not your thing. It'll sharpen you up mentally in regards to utilizing computers.
After the 90 days, go use a tracker. It will become a walk in the park while drinking champagne. It becomes fun like gaming.

You would be better just dedicating 90 days to a tracker environment instead. No point wasting your time trying to learn to code if you have no real passion for it or practical purpose in learning coding to do what you want to do.

[pekbro]

You know what's a good thing to do if Trackers seem cumbersome but you want to get good? Spend 90 days coding. Just pick any language - C++, C#, Python....doesn't matter. Pick one and do some coding for 90 days. And get into it full force even if it's not your thing. It'll sharpen you up mentally in regards to utilizing computers.
After the 90 days, go use a tracker. It will become a walk in the park while drinking champagne. It becomes fun like gaming.

Thanks, I have a background in that as it happens. Tho, these days fiddling with GLSL shaders in
VS or my SS Hypno, is the extent of my interest in programming. So it's another case of being too lazy. One day maybe, but I appreciate the tip, no doubt it would help.

-Cheers

[VOODOO U]

I have never seen tracker software in a commercial studio, for good reasons.

1. You've never been in a commercial studio.

It's 2024. Going on Youtube and watching someone record a vid in their commercial studio equals, "I've now officially been in a commercial studio."
It's like A.I. users; they are now officially "musicians".

So it's another case of being too lazy

Ok, tip number two, try getting a linux system to work. Then go back to using a tracker. It'll be like chocolate ice-cream topped with whipped cream.

[pekbro]

I have never seen tracker software in a commercial studio, for good reasons.

1. You've never been in a commercial studio.

It's 2024. Going on Youtube and watching someone record a vid in their commercial studio equals, "I've now officially been in a commercial studio."
It's like A.I. users; they are now officially "musicians".

So it's another case of being too lazy

Ok, tip number two, try getting a linux system to work. Then go back to using a tracker. It'll be like chocolate ice-cream topped with whipped cream.

heh that one might happen since I've not really much better to do with my TPM-less windoze
10 machine. Also, backgound was in linux/unix/Irix I used to be a big slackware fan myself,
but its been some years. I got into gaming which required windoze pretty much.

[audiojunkie]

…you can't do with trackers anything beyond simple sequence programming. No audio recording, no audio clip editing, no mixing, no mastering, not to mention third-party plugin support. Trackers are fine as a musicial instrument if you go for that typical tracker lo-fi sound as a result of its technical limitations. But they're just toys compared to DAWs like Logic, Reaper, FL Studio, Cubase, Pro Tools and so on. Anything else is simply wrong.

You must not be aware of Renoise. I don’t use it, because I’m not a fan of Trackers, but Renoise is every bit as capable as the other tools you mentioned.

Besides, none of these hold a candle to Babya Logic 2024

[VOODOO U]

No point wasting your time

You of all people talking about not wasting time with all those stupid polls and threads you post.

[VOODOO U]

I have never seen tracker software in a commercial studio, for good reasons.

1. You've never been in a commercial studio.

It's 2024. Going on Youtube and watching someone record a vid in their commercial studio equals, "I've now officially been in a commercial studio."
It's like A.I. users; they are now officially "musicians".

So it's another case of being too lazy

Ok, tip number two, try getting a linux system to work. Then go back to using a tracker. It'll be like chocolate ice-cream topped with whipped cream.

heh that one might happen since I've not really much better to do with my TPM-less windoze
10 machine.

And the good news is you can use Renoise on Linux.
Yep....I'll grab me coat.

[audiojunkie]

Experienced tracker users 'draw' notes with keystrokes way faster than you think, even across lanes (tracks).

Dude. FL Studio's step sequencer has been designed on purpose to be faster and more convenient.

False. FL Studio (which I no longer use) was designed to make drum loops—nothing more. Everything after that was tacked on like a redneck trailer. And THAT is a verifiable truth.

Granted, it has become a very capable trailer. These days, some might now consider it a nice double-wide—but there is no denying it’s history and redneck roots. How do I know? I’ve been there since almost the beginning: Frooty Loops 2.x

[pekbro]

I have never seen tracker software in a commercial studio, for good reasons.

1. You've never been in a commercial studio.

It's 2024. Going on Youtube and watching someone record a vid in their commercial studio equals, "I've now officially been in a commercial studio."
It's like A.I. users; they are now officially "musicians".

So it's another case of being too lazy

Ok, tip number two, try getting a linux system to work. Then go back to using a tracker. It'll be like chocolate ice-cream topped with whipped cream.

heh that one might happen since I've not really much better to do with my TPM-less windoze
10 machine.

And the good news is you can use Renoise on Linux.
Yep....I'll grab me coat.

Alright! I do have Renoise, also the plugin. Which reminds me I need to put that on this win 11 machine. Seems Slackware is still current (still the longest running distro apparently). Hmm,
I like Arch as well. Damn, gonna have to see what's going on with everything, e.g. X11, Gnome,
KDE etc. lol thats a lot of work.

[audiojunkie]

Still waiting for a logical argument why trackers can be considered to be on par with all the "big" DAWs. I would also like to hear something made with a tracker that does not sound like tracker music.

Honestly, does it even matter? I’ve seen artists that draw art from Etch-e-Sketches and an artist that makes giant face art from stacked rubics cubes. There’s even an artist that uses his own crap to paint his paintings—the differing colors of his palette coming from what he eats.

It really, really doesn’t matter what medium or style one uses—the art speaks for itself. While I don’t like trackers, it doesn’t mean I don’t respect the demo scene and the amazing music that came from that scene. It is absolutely amazing what could be done in 250k of memory!

Now, if it doesn’t do all of the things you want it to do, it doesn’t mean that it’s inferior, it simply means that it is not for you. I’m not a big fan of country, but I did go see a Garth Brooks show a couple of decades ago, and you know what? It was one of the most action packed performances I’ve ever seen. Country is not my genre, but I can respect the talent and effort, even if I don’t personally have a use for boots and a hat.

[audiojunkie]

Still waiting for a logical argument why trackers can be considered to be on par with all the "big" DAWs. I would also like to hear something made with a tracker that does not sound like tracker music.

I’m still waiting for a logical argument why artists need to justify ANY reason for any tool they decide to use in their art.