Your thoughts on Mackie Tracktion

[FattyMembrane]

I played around with Tracktion 1 a couple of years ago when Mackie ran a "free download" promo and I was impressed with how well it ran on my old hardware (way faster than GarageBand on my G3 iMac) and the efficiency of the interface (even if it takes a little getting used to).

I'm wondering if anyone else has some experiences with Tracktion 2, as I'm considering purchasing it and perhaps a Focusrite Saffire. I'd be doing mostly recording and mixing of physical instruments (so MIDI isn't a huge factor, even though it seems to have decent MIDI capabilities) and the $150 pricetag for 192khz, unlimited tracks, built-in sampler, and bundled effects seems like a steal.

If anybody has any praise, criticisim, or comparisons to other packages, I'd love to hear it.

 

[wmmk]

I played around with Tracktion 1 a couple of years ago when Mackie ran a "free download" promo and I was impressed with how well it ran on my old hardware (way faster than GarageBand on my G3 iMac) and the efficiency of the interface (even if it takes a little getting used to).

I'm wondering if anyone else has some experiences with Tracktion 2, as I'm considering purchasing it and perhaps a Focusrite Saffire. I'd be doing mostly recording and mixing of physical instruments (so MIDI isn't a huge factor, even though it seems to have decent MIDI capabilities) and the $150 pricetag for 192khz, unlimited tracks, built-in sampler, and bundled effects seems like a steal.

If anybody has any praise, criticisim, or comparisons to other packages, I'd love to hear it.

not what i'd call a sophisticated professional piece of software, but whatever works...

peronally, i like having a dedicated mixer window. if tracktion had one, i would definitely go for it. it really is a good value all in one package.

 

[e.m.]

is anyone using tracktion 3 with leopard?

 

[zimv20]

is anyone using tracktion at all?

 

[Plumbstone]

You may as well use gargeband

 

[quigleybc]

tried Tracktion 3 on Tiger.

Went running back to live and logic

 

[FattyMembrane]

wow, time sure does fly. i picked up a yamaha i88x recently and am planning to buy a new mac and Tracktion 3 after the holidays. When the latest version of Logic Express came out, I was pretty sure that I wouldn't bother with Tracktion, but I tried LE in the apple store a few days ago and it was rather difficult to get my head around that piece of software. I'm assuming that like a lot of other programs, it's trying to mimic a console in some ways, but why mimic a console when you have a computer? I found the mixer window to be rather confusing. I was recording and mixing within 5 minutes of starting up tracktion the first time - no joke. Drag, drop, done. Even my ages old copy of Tracktion 1 I use can automatically detect the delay in my outboard gear and makes it a snap to route mono tracks out of and into the computer. it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to change the reverb on a single track in Logic. maybe i just have no business recording

 

[zimv20]

it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to change the reverb on a single track in Logic. maybe i just have no business recording

no, it just means that Logic probably isn't the program for you. it didn't make sense to me, either. you've found s/w that suits/helps your workflow, and that's a very good thing.