Mackie Tracktion 3

No Windows 7 64-bit, quite a problem.

Much of the problem is resolved by changing the properties of Tracktion and giving it the "powers" administrator.

Set Tracktion with high priority or real-time windows.

In Tracktion use the Real Time mode and 64-bit and if you have multiple CPUs that do not give it MAX -1 or 2 cpu's. Example of I7 was 8 cpu's that they are granted 6.

The manual is clear but not in use the amenities at Windows 7, and Tracktion runs rough when you do not understand why it does not react as the manual explains. Taking precautions énnoncées above everything falls into place.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

Core I7, 8 cpu's, 4GB RAM, 500 GB disk.
Perfect if properly adjusted.
It is stable

OVERALL OPINION

for 1 month and 2 years with Tracktion 2.

Yes I tested: ACID 8, CAKEWALK Music Creator Pro Tools M-Powered, Reaper

This is the most user-friendly and Easy to use, import of vst's and reconfig of control surfaces is easy. The interface is very intuitive.

How would you rate the quality / price? Ecellent

With experience, you do again this choice? Yes

Installation on a PC or Mac: a few minutes. The quick-start guide in French (as a PDF) is very clear even to a novice. The software is very light and accommodates configurations modest. A reference manual, still in PDF is also provided in the facility, and always in French.

In summary: RAS, great, beautiful work!

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I started on a Pentium IV 2.8 Ghz. It worked perfectly, but the CPU was still much in demand. Then I went on a configuration a little more muscular (Core2Duo) for comfort, especially to minimize the noise of the PC. The core2duo little heat, so it breaks down under: the silence of operation is greatly appreciated.
The projects I speak sometimes use dozens of plugins VST / VSTi, and Tracktion 3 supports fully multicore processors. This is very significant because it avoids juggle rendering of tracks during the construction phases of a song.
However, there were some problems of stability on the first release of V3. Since the last update, I do not recall any particular problems.

For MAC users, the software runs on Leopard

OVERALL OPINION

Regular user for about 3 years, I appreciate all toujouurs simplicity of the software, perfectly suited to my needs: Work on models without loss of time, concentrating on music, not technology.
Its main attire:
- An immediate grip, similar to that of a multitrack "hardware"
- Philosophy "all on one screen" you do not spend time looking deep in the menus a particular feature, as in other historical sequencers. Immediately found his bearings, even after several months of "abstinence"

Tracktion is available bundled with various audio interfaces (Mackie, Tapco, or course). It is a good way to get acquainted with this app, start with a complete kit fully functional, and for an overall price very reasonable.
Otherwise, the software is only offered in three packaging (with more or less plugins / sound banks) at prices rather tight. Note that the impatient can also buy a license online at Mackie to activate the demo version is available in one place.

In conclusion: I would probably now very difficult to come back to another sequencer! I have already converted to the passage 5 friends musicians.
Tracktion rocks

NB: I assess here Tracktion 3 PROJECT BUNDLE, let this be.

- The installation is done it without problems?
Yes. But what is being installed, exactly? A sequencer, or a catch-jerk?

- Have you experienced any incompatibilities?
Heck yeah! Software ON HIMSELF: Internally, some of its own applications do for the plant!

In my case, for example, Mackie has made available to me in this software (well, at my disposal ... Anglo-Saxon forums are full of such stories, so Mackie has put at our disposal) functionality unpublished, the others should be based sequencers: suddenly there is fire in your house, and looking how to close a single click the entire application? MACKIE answers "my loops are your friends: put the mouse on the first coming, and one click is all off, without even asking if you want to save your work. Immediate benefit: save time con-si-de -able! ". It's true! The other solution as expeditiously as I knew until then, even more violent, it was pulling the plug ... MACKIE is much softer, as MACKIE think the integrity of the hardware! Still, with this history of loop, well you end up like an idiot in front of your Windows desktop: the slap, that, that's called being entauler.

- The manual is clear and sufficient? ...
On paper, the software is very complete, and Technical. So we should go far in the explanations too ... Well Mackie, which exports to France, did not bother the French version of the manual.

1 / 10 because the installation is super easy and immediate extinction (well, once we have mastered the use of ad hoc loops)

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

- What is the configuration of your computer?

INTEL CORE 2 EXTREME
Motherboard ABIT - I-N73H
2 Seagate SATA (320 GB HHD Software and 500 GB HDD data)
3 GB RAM
Family XP 2002 SP3
Juli @ PCI card with good drivers ... short, not really a config Smoby "

- This software + hardware is stable?
NO! Proc sucked to the bone by software from a maddening greed.

- The software works he correctly on this configuration?
NO! From 4-track audio and / or MIDI, they should freeze for a fifth attack, otherwise it's filling up the red bar use of Proc.

EDIT 28/03/10: To pull the rug out from under the little funny, or people who are involved / concerned / affected since orbiting in the sphere of Mackie, who would be foolishly tempted me so condescending "yeah, filling up red because of the method of Tracktion, I think it's necessarily paaaaaas !.... your hardware", I said that since, on this same configuration, T3 has been replaced Cubase, and my method thanks me every day to have installed Cubase so it rolls like a convertible cruise in the middle of wide open spaces: quiet, efficiency and especially re-se-ni-ty.

- What performance? (If quantifiable)
... What I did in my 22 long rifle ?....

0 / 10 because it's a shame (not that I will tolerate for a freeware, then a trick to 130 € !!!...)

OVERALL OPINION

- For how long have you been using it?
18 months, just long enough to lose an album! Before the bugs are so pervasive, I decided to backup everything before crashing. And it is precisely in this phase of BACKUP 7 Songs from my album that made me a T3 Delete instead of a backup. In fact, what I have been saved by the software, they are data files and empty, without a single byte! Fortunately before I still exported in WAV. Admittedly, this is no longer workable in the state (go out notes or shifting the timing of a MIDI track where you have 3 notes shit when it converted to wav, but you !...), j ' did a semblance of raw material ... you talk to any consolation, you!

- Did you try many other models before getting this one?
Audacity (I've never burnt a single project, HIM!)

- Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice? ...
Even under torture, NEVER IN MY LIFE!

- What thing do you like most/least about it?
Most? On paper and a static screen (without using anything or touch anything, so), great ergonomics and the apparent ease.
The least? Ben when it comes to use it.

- What is your opinion about the value for the price?
A MERE scam! T3 has well over 2 years, and the ski experience and catastrophic converging on the forums Anglo-Saxon. The latest update is there more than two years, and fixing the bugs is not, has never been, nor will likely ever.

For 130 €, I got robbed, and we would have instead proposed a version Cracked, she would be in the trash for a while so I do not forgive we do not care about me at this point.

Mackie may have the fame she wants, and sell as they wish on any particular product, for me it remains the brand that was stolen in the woods, and once mistaken for his outrageous maneuvers , has not yet considered how to fix his mistakes.

0 / 10, because I can not rate in negative!


EDIT 28/03/10: You expected you buy it? The minute I write, there is somewhere on the net job MACKIE less than 50 € for this software. Well, I who have this software which I no longer do anything, I do not even see you sell it used. In addition, knowing the crap it is and it works so badly, I should be guilty of "fraud" (see the definition of the word on Google). No, the cd of this shit will end up hanging in my cherry tree to scare sparrows greedy. This is its best use.

The installation is very simple Tracktion3. The basic package is about 20MB, and then just register on the Mackie website for the release key. Never had a problem with this process since Tracktion 1.
The general setup is super simple. Tracktion uses its own GUI (GUI) with an owner intuitive menu system, and a pretty setting speaking with pop-up help when needed. I've never had any incompatibilities with plugins (I use bcp plugs Native Instruments Nomad Factory, Korg, etc. ....)... in general, if I have a bug, an update of the plugin just to fix it.

As for the manual, it's Mackie. Super light, funny and educational.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I use Tracktion3 PC, assembled myself.
Asus P5Q CM, Core2Duo, 3GB Windows XP SP3, SATA (2 * 160GB). Audiophile 24/96 soundcard.
Tracktion manages the bi-processor. On my most recent large projects (audio + MIDI pretty loaded plugins), the gauge CPU rarely exceeds half. I use it in 24bit/44.1khz, with a latency of 5ms and it is doing very well.

Tracktion3 software is very stable, provided you follow some common sense, as with any DAW. I do think that software like Cubase, Sonar, etc ... have long experience making them more stable configurations very heterogeneous. On the other hand, workflow and beauty lie in its intuitive Tracktion formidable in its simplicity evident when one wants to put ideas without losing the thread.

I worked and mastering Cubase and Logic. I composed with ... and one day I discovered Tracktion1. A fellow musician, I did discover. The same evening, I tried and I found myself to record and compose with disarming simplicity. All features were evident, without trying ... The dream of a musician who does not look silly little option that blocks his ideas ...

Cubase has become like Photoshop so many features you can do the same thing in different ways without that, ultimately, we no longer know what is the real good way .........

Tracktion3 simply requires a computer to have "clean and properly installed", and the gear experienced relatively stable (the Audiophile 24/96 has proven itself ...)....

From there, I've never beaten the functioning and stability. It is very stable and does not crash more than Cubase. Recently, I used EnergyXT and after 3 crashes just in the configuration phase (detection plugins, audio parameter settings), I dropped ...

OVERALL OPINION

I use Tracktion since 2004. All songs on my Bandcamp (http://themeanstar.bandcamp.com) were composed with Tracktion v2 and v3 over time, and I've obviously made a bunch of others ....

Software will never have given me as much ease and will not be as effective during working hours. This is my faithful companion for years. I learned to live with its weaknesses, its shortcomings (including MIDI, but there is a small battery-specific software designed by Subliminal ... Tracktion stepsequencer, trigger, etc ...) but especially with his qualities.

Its main weakness is the management of projects. There is a certain discipline to follow to avoid ending up with empty projects, files, inconsistent, etc. ... The easiest way is to do an export of the current edition with all the objects to a new folder, and re-open to make sure we do not use files scattered. Mackie was a recommendation and it has always worked well for me ...

I am not sponsored by Mackie, just an old experienced user of this app, which has often found that those who complain about this app are often people with technical and computer skills rather limited. By itself, I do not criticize it .... It's just that Cubase & Co are certainly less sensitive to poor configuration and use. Afterwards, he must know what you want ... and material, for my part, I found nothing as smooth and elegant as Tracktion to make music.