How do you go about song making with Tracktion?

[chardin]

I'm interested in recording some ideas that I have but I want to play all the parts (guitar, bass, some string/pad keyboard parts, drums by Beta Monkey) myself. The idea of doing all this is a bit overwhelming since I'm new to song writing.

I'm curious how people go from concept to completed song using Tracktion. How or where do you start? When do you think about intros and outros? How long does it take you to create a song, let's say 2 minutes, 30 seconds long? Any hints from the veterans will be greatly appreciated.

[C00kie]

No need to be fussy... Arm a track & record.
Don't like it? Throw it away. Do like it? Keep it!
Add tracks until satisfied. Simple as that.
Oh, and add effects to taste.

Just do whatever YOU think is appropriate, it is your song after all.

[valley]

there's no golden rule. Getting started, and arranging a song for me are two very different things.

it also depends on the style of music you are doing.

Personally I just work by getting some ideas down, building on them, then looking to see how a song might be constructed from them.

[Beardedone]

Just for the record. I like Tracktion a great deal but still have not used it to take a track from beginning to end. I always end up going back to Sonar or Fruity or Live. I still find handling of Multitimbral instruments and audio routing way too cumbersome.

[rpc9943]

slow download, but look what i did the first night in 4 or so hours recording and composing.. so whaaatever

http://tcp.caveproductions.net

check out musicbox

RonC

[Lunch Money]

I find it exceedingly simply to piece together a song, especially if you're using Beta Monkey loops (or the like).

Myself, I like to sketch out on a piece of paper what's going on... verse, bridge, "quiet part" or whatever, and then piece together the drums from there.

Once I have the drums, the rest starts to fall together quite naturally, and if there ARE changes to be made, of course I can still make them.

Greg

[valley]

I still find handling of Multitimbral instruments and audio routing way too cumbersome.

really?

I find working iwth racks for this has a lot of advantages. Mostly you can't have mono and stereo outputs mixed for most sequencers, whereas with Tracktion I can quite happily mix.

It's quick too:

- drag your multi-out to a track
- right click and choose wrap as rack
- make copies of the rack on any tracks you wish to use this MO.
- choose the outputs to be attached to the track

done.

you can save the rack as a preset to cut the first two steps out of the above.

you can also add some ogf your preferered effects inside the rack, so that you have standard configs. I, for example, have an RMIII preset that has hardwired camel phats for kick and snares. To add RMIII to and edit I just drag the preset filter as usual. My kit is already to go, and I have crunchy compression in place.

It's only two mouse clicks to create the rack, and two mouse clicks t

[chardin]

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like most people use Tracktion as a scratchpad and flesh out ideas from there.

I'm curious if most people start with drums or record guitar/keyboard ideas with just the click track.

Once I have the drums, the rest starts to fall together quite naturally, and if there ARE changes to be made, of course I can still make them.

Greg, how finished are your drum tracks before you move to the next instrument? I'm talking about fills, cymbal crashes, etc. Do you start with 1 or 2 Beta Monkey loops you like and build on that?

Chris Hardin

[Beardedone]

Beardedone wrote:
I still find handling of Multitimbral instruments and audio routing way too cumbersome.


really?

I find working iwth racks for this has a lot of advantages. Mostly you can't have mono and stereo outputs mixed for most sequencers, whereas with Tracktion I can quite happily mix.

It's quick too:

- drag your multi-out to a track
- right click and choose wrap as rack
- make copies of the rack on any tracks you wish to use this MO.
- choose the outputs to be attached to the track

done.

you can save the rack as a preset to cut the first two steps out of the above.

you can also add some ogf your preferered effects inside the rack, so that you have standard configs. I, for example, have an RMIII preset that has hardwired camel phats for kick and snares. To add RMIII to and edit I just drag the preset filter as usual. My kit is already to go, and I have crunchy compression in place.

Maybe if I made template howeverI do most things ad hoc and I sure do not find it quick to figure out audio sends in T.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

Thanks for the replies. It sounds like most people use Tracktion as a scratchpad and flesh out ideas from there.

I'm curious if most people start with drums or record guitar/keyboard ideas with just the click track.

Once I have the drums, the rest starts to fall together quite naturally, and if there ARE changes to be made, of course I can still make them.

Greg, how finished are your drum tracks before you move to the next instrument? I'm talking about fills, cymbal crashes, etc. Do you start with 1 or 2 Beta Monkey loops you like and build on that?

Chris Hardin

I'll pipe in here, being a happy Beta Monkey user as well. Typically, I'll have a concept in mind when I sit down. I'll find a Beta Monkey loop that generally fits the feel I'm looking for and import it in - loop it a bit, and then track in some instruments. If I have lyrics, they'll go in as soon as the scratch drum track is done. Towards the end, I'll go back and unloop the scratch drums and add some variety with fills and such (more Beta Monkey loops).

This works out pretty well for me, at least so far.

[Lunch Money]

I do both. I try my best to have my loops pre-selected because Tracktion doesn't have acid support yet, and therefore some of the loops are a half bpm slower or faster than others. However, a bit of shuffling isn't that difficult.

But if I'm feeling the creative juices and I just want to jump into the guitar, I'll select a "simple" loop in the vibe that I want (as per the above post) and lay down some music first.

Greg

[Beardedone]

I do most of my tracks by drawing on the pianoroll and recording midi. I almost never use premade loops except as fodder for PPRO. Sonar and Live do a great job with audio clips so I have never tried to record audio with Tracktion. I am not familiar with Tracktion's capability in handling audio clips, though I undersatnd it is good. Though I have used audio only for checking a finished track to see if Final Mix can help.

Is there any news that Tracktion will incorporate a clearer method to route FX sends?

[Lunch Money]

No news yet. I can see why you haven't fully jumped on board the T-Train, though, if you don't use audio.

Greg

[Beardedone]

Right eXT is very good for me in addition to Sonar, Live, Overtur + Forte and Fruity of course.

I want to like Tracktion but the lack of mixer is very limiting.

[M'Snah]

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