How do you like Tracktion?

[james0tucson]

I do believe my copy of eXT requires a keyfile to fully function. I guess if if lose that and Jorgen dies, I'm out of luck. I guess James is too.

What copy protection does FL use? Anyone?

No, it's *my* responsibility to keep the keyfile, and I'm empowered to do so. It doesn't cease to function just because I install it on other hardware, and it even works under emulation. No problem! Don't you see the difference?

Likewise FLS, just a registry entry that you get to keep, that you have a responsibility to keep. It doesn't expire or stop working when you change your hardware and you never have to "call home", ever. Jorgen or Gol can die (please don't) and it won't end with me being locked out of something I think I have a right not to be locked out of, at least, not unless I fail to do something that's *my* responsibility, which is to keep the keyfile safe. I don't think the publisher is responsible for that.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

I see your point, but I don't feel it's a dealbreaker for me or most people. I guess I'll just have to leave it at that!

eXT is a good piece of software, though, and yeah I burned my key onto a CD-R the moment I got it.

[Lunch Money]

James,

In addition to what pHz said about the "universal key" that Jules offered (ie. you should contact Mackie to find out if it would be honoured), there's another very simple way to safeguard your work:

When you hear rumblings that Mackie might be going out of business, AND you want to upgrade your computer (hence making a new key a possible necessity!), export each track as .wav. It's really the only safeguard against the doom of ANY software and/or company.

Absolute WORST CASE scenario, which I admit would suck so heavily that... er... I have no analogy, but it would suck heavy: Even with an overnight collapse of Mackie, the internet, or sudden dropping of Tracktion, you'd only be locked out of upgrading your computer temporarily. Don't upgrade it for a moment, export to .wav, and then upgrade, 'transitioning' your songs to the new sequencer. And even then, it's reasonable to assume you neglected Tracktion for so long that you forgot about it (ie. ditching it in favour of another sequencer), in which case, you SHOULD have already exported to .wav for archival purposes anyhow). Further yet, assuming the absolute worst and assuming your best efforts to prevent such a thing from happening, you're only locked out of Tracktion itself. The source materials on your hard drive are still .wav files that you can access. You might not look forward to the thought of re-arranging and re-effecting the work (hence my continued insistence that you should render), but it's still there.

It's not that your point is the "black and white" definition of "wrong". If you want to reduce the argument all the way down to "If I have upgraded my computer and Mackie is no longer providing new keys (by choice, or because they don't exist), then I will be locked out of my edits" then I guess I have to agree. But it's half-baked, half thought-out, shunts responsibility (ie. render those wavs for God's sake, man!), and is ultimately not very convincing right now. I think the fact that we've backed you into a corner (ie. I'm taking responsibility for "making" you defend yourself) makes it tricky to just let common sense prevail.

Now, going back outside the sphere of 'black and white' again, and into subjective (hence not factual!) but still common sense:

Mackie isn't going anywhere soon. Tracktion isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Life has no guarantees, but it's certainly not looking that way. By the time Mackie folds (possibly not even in our lifetimes... it'd be more likely to be absorbed/sold), you may have already moved onto a whole different sequencing paradigm, in which case, you WILL have exported your Tracktion-made songs as a set of .wavs and a master mix-down.

What you're forgetting is that vendors also have rights. I have discovered this particular version of call-and-response and the approach to licensing in general (ie. you can upgrade your computer as many times as you want and still get a key, just don't do it too often in a week or you'll have to talk to customer support; the ability to use on 2 computers in general, and 2 DIFFERENT OS's in particular) by Raw Materials (and now Mackie) to be almost consistently giving the benefit of the doubt to the CONSUMER rather than to themselves. Giving them the bare minimum amount of ability to protect themselves doesn't seem to be asking too much.

Greg

[james0tucson]

I see your point, but I don't feel it's a dealbreaker for me or most people. I guess I'll just have to leave it at that!

I was only telling the publisher what else they need to do if they want my business. I honestly believe they will make the concession. If not, it's their loss.

[Lunch Money]

I was only telling the publisher what else they need to do if they want my business. I honestly believe they will make the concession. If not, it's their loss.

I guess I lost track of this....

It's certainly fair enough to list things that would or would not make you want to buy a product, whether I agree with your logic or not.

Greg

[Watto]

I'm wondering what TomCampitelli is thinking right now...

[james0tucson]

I'm wondering what TomCampitelli is thinking right now...

Oh right. Tom, I find Tracktion to be a joy to use. As soon as I can get a clarification on one minor point of the license agreement, I will place T2 on the list for my next round of software purchases.

Tracktion definitely has an appealing simplicity in the user interface, with everything important right on the screen. It does away with some of the annoying features that other hosts insist on having, that is, the attempt to map the brick-mortar studio idiom onto the computer screen. Most obvious point here would be the way Tracktion doesn't try to look like a mixing desk.

Tracktion is also quite conservative with machine resources, and does a good job of recording audio on a system where other recording software produces glitches.

It really is a very good value for $150. In fact, an Onyx FW mixer and Tracktion might be one of the best values out there.

[glurgle]

*wrong place for this post*

[james0tucson]

I'm waiting for the post where he threatens to not recommend tracktion to his 30-40 very interested friends...*

I'd recommend Tracktion to anyone who is thinking about getting a Mac to run GarbageBand. Or any Mac user who thinks he wants Logic.

[Sanne]

Although I don't know Tracktion, I'd like to comment on this to support James' point of view. I heard lots of good things about Tracktion and researched a bit, but as I learned about the protection scheme, I lost interest, out of all those reasons James already mentioned.

I also find it totally inacceptable to be forced to relicense software just because I changed systems, reinstalled os's or altered my system in any other way.

So, just to back you up a bit, james0tucson, I understand your reasons and I agree with you .

Sanne

[Lunch Money]

There's a big difference between reading about it and experiencing it. In practice, it couldn't be easier, friendlier, or smoother.

Well, it could be. It could use the same "1-keyfile" method as eXT, but that's the only way it could be better.

[IIRs]

Well, I can assure you that in practise the system is easy & hassle-free. and you have more reason to believe your key-files will continue to be available now that Mackie handle it..

[bchamp]

I'm waiting for the post where he threatens to not recommend tracktion to his 30-40 very interested friends...*

I'd recommend Tracktion to anyone who is thinking about getting a Mac to run GarbageBand. Or any Mac user who thinks he wants Logic.

Does anyone here besides myself run Tracktion on a Mac?
I've had quite a few problems with T2 on my Mac. I'm anxiously waiting for an update that will cure some of these bugs and possibly dump Logic.

For now, I would only recommend Tracktion to PC users...they seem to be having better luck.

[dealwithit]

I think what is not being recognized here is that James is seeking to have indefinite access to a proprietary file format. Anytime you save something only in a format that must be accessed by a single piece of software, you're not protecting yourself against the failure of that software. There are no guarantees, regardless of protection scheme. You have to protect yourself in this case, as Greg says, by rendering to .wav (a non-proprietary file type). It's really the only way to ensure that you have usable versions of your creative work for an indefinite period of time.

Similarly: if you saved an entire novel written in MS Word as a Word Document (.doc) there's really no guarantee that you'll have access to that work forever (although it's very likely). However, if you'd also saved it in a non-proprietary format, such as .rtf or even .txt, you could be reasonably assured that your work could be accessed regardless of the fortunes of MS or the Word software.

Just a point that I don't think is being addressed here.
<ducks out quietly>...

[IIRs]

Tracktion records to wav files anyway (T2 even timestamps them for you)