MACKIE TRACKTION
Jun 1, 2004 12:00 PM, BY BOB MARSHALL
Tracktion is a feature-packed sequencer application from Raw Material Software that began its life in the UK via independent programmer Julian Storer. Now distributed worldwide through Mackie, Tracktion delivers a suite of features that is fast becoming the norm in most high-end digital audio/MIDI sequencer packages: unlimited audio and MIDI tracks, a built-in sampler, powerful effects, drag-and-drop editing, ReWire and VST support and integrated CD ripping. In an effort to reduce the clutter often associated with today's feature-laden sequencers, Tracktion puts all of these creative tools right up-front on a single screen instead of burying them under multiple menus or windows. The result is a user-friendly interface that is designed to be intuitive and easy to use.
DEFINE YOUR TERMS
The application installed seamlessly on a Mac dual G4/867MHz with 1 GB of RAM. The copy-protection scheme is a serial number matched to a generated software number for your particular machine. Tracktion can be installed on a max of two separate computers. To register your software, go to the Mackie Website, and follow the steps on the Tracktion page. The Tracktion key arrived in my e-mail, and I was instantly approved, er, registered. You can also run Tracktion in demo mode, which allows almost full functionality of the application, but you will hear an intermittent (and appropriately annoying) noise shot in audio playback until you register. Users can also visit the Mackie Website to change which two computers they are using the program on. (Check http://my.mackie.com for complete details.)
The first screen that you will see after launching Tracktion is the Projects page. There, you can view all currently available active projects, library projects, edits and audio/MIDI clips. This is also the space in which you will create a new project, open existing projects or search for accompanying files. As with all sequencerlike sound software, you have to learn the terminology of the application to get the most out of it. Tracktion has three main building blocks: the Project, the Edit and the Clip. A Project is a collection of clips and edits, like a folder in Windows but different in that the elements of a Tracktion project don't have to reside in the same directory or even on the same drive. An Edit is a collection of audio clips, MIDI sequences, VST plug-ins and mix parameters that make up a complete multitrack session. A Clip is a single piece of audio — either an AIFF file, a WAV file or a MIDI sequence. If you have audio files that are shared across multiple projects, Tracktion provides a folder called Libraries (under the project tree view), which is intended to be a place to put projects that share common material.
THE EDIT, PLEASE
You will spend most of your time in Tracktion in the Edit page, where you will find the usual sequencer complement. Each track has a level/pan control that operates on an x-y axis: Left to right adjusts the pan, and up and down controls the level. A level meter is supplied along with a mute/solo button. You can solo multiple tracks by Command-clicking (Alt-clicking on a PC) on the desired tracks. It is also possible to send any number of tracks to one output. All of these functions can be moved around in a drag-and-drop method, allowing you to personalize the layout of the Edit window. You can add Filters, or effects, to a track's output by clicking on and dragging the green New Filter control at the top right-hand corner of the screen and dropping it where you want the new effect to end up. This will pop up a tree view and let you choose the effect you want. The choices include built-in effects, VST effects, virtual instruments/synths and signal-routing options. You can drop these items anywhere in the chain — it's fast. Tracktion allows you to easily send several tracks through the same plug-in or stack them up on individual tracks, or you can put a plug-in — say, a compressor/limiter — across the master output.
The program supports the VST plug-in format and has built-in support for ReWire devices. Plug-ins can be mapped to track outputs, the main out and even individual clips. The fact that you can map effects to an individual clip is a really cool feature. Tracktion comes equipped with a selection of useful effects, including EQ, compression, chorus, phaser, delay, pitch-shift and reverb. The Tracktion built-in reverb is based on the open-source Freeverb plug-in.
In addition to effects-processing plug-ins, you can add virtual synthesizers and drum-machine plug-in's to your Tracktion project. All of these have plenty of real-time knobs and sliders for tweaking. The CPU meter under the transport controls shows you what percentage of the CPU is being used for playing back audio. If this bar reaches 90 percent, you may have to try freezing or muting some tracks. Freezing is another key feature because it allows you to play back more tracks by freeing up the computer's CPU. Tracktion does this by prerendering tracks to disk while retaining all of the plug-in information. The frozen tracks are shrunken onscreen to indicate that they cannot be edited. This process can be reversed by selecting the tracks and clicking on Unfreeze in the Track Properties menu. Freezing is invaluable for high-track-count projects or plug-in — intensive sessions.
Tracktion also includes a basic built-in sampler. To access the sampler, insert it into a track just like you would any other instrument or effect. A variety of multisample programs are available, but there are no velocity-switching layers. The sampler does include an interesting feature: When you archive a session that uses one of these samplers, all of the samples that it requires will be automatically compressed, trimmed and exported just like normal audio clips. You can edit the file via a waveform view that lets you trim the section of the file being used for the sample.
MIDI MACHINE
The MIDI functionality within Tracktion maintains the same ease of use as the rest of the program. For example, users are able to simply create a MIDI clip, drag a soft-synth plug-in onto the track and instantly turn the MIDI notes into audio data. All synth and plug-in parameters can also be automated. To edit MIDI data, just roll your mouse over the track, and double-click to zoom in on the track height. At this point, the piano roll appears. As you roll over the notes, you will see the MIDI tools on the left side of the screen — you can change notes, edit velocities or controller data, draw in volume curves and so forth. You can also draw in MIDI notes by clicking on the 16th-note icon. The top left-hand corner of the track display tells you what mode you are in and what data you are about to edit.
All of these functions come up on a single screen, so if you're wondering where something is or how to make it happen, it's rarely far from the Edit page. A click on the Help button in the lower-left corner will turn on pop-up help. Now, you can roll over a function on the Edit page or anywhere else and find out what it does. There's a delay parameter, too, to keep the dialog box from interrupting your work flow.
ARCHIVE YOUR DATA
Tracktion archive files (.trkarch files) allow entire projects and edits — along with all of the material needed to play them back correctly — to be compressed into a single file. You can choose from the lossless FLAC compression format, which creates a single large data file, or the lossy Ogg Vorbis compression, which produces extremely small files for easy distribution at the cost of slight sonic degradation. In addition to archiving whole projects, users can back up single edits. Tracktion does this by copying only the sections of audio that your edit is referencing. This comes in handy when you're only using one second of a three-minute audio chunk. There is an option to leave a few seconds of extra audio at the ends of the excerpts so that after the archive is opened, there's still a bit of room for fine-tuning your edits.
As far as bang for the buck goes, Mackie Tracktion really cannot be beat. After all, the package only costs about $80. When you think about how much creative power you will be getting for your money — not to mention ReWire support, VST plug-ins, VST instruments, unlimited audio and MIDI recording, track freezing and a built-in sampler — Tracktion really begins to shine. Although the software may not be direct competition for Digidesign Pro Tools, Emagic Logic or other DAWs of that ilk, Tracktion is certainly a force to be reckoned with. The program's clear, concise interface and powerful features offer more creative possibilities than a hardware setup that might have cost 20 times as much even three or four years ago. If you are looking to enter the world of digital audio and you don't want to climb a huge learning curve or spend a month's wage, Mackie Tracktion may be just what you've been looking for.
Product Summary
MACKIE
TRACKTION > $80
Pros: Easy to use. VST plug-ins. ReWire support. Built-in sampler. Unlimited audio and MIDI recording. Incredible value for the money.
Cons: Interface a bit unconventional.
Contact: tel. (800) 258-6883; e-mail sales@mackie.com; Web www.mackie.com
System Requirements
MAC: G3; 256 MB RAM; OS 10.2 or higher
PC: Pentium III or AMD/750 or better; 256 MB RAM; Windows 98/2000/ME/XP; DirectSound- or ASIO-compatible soundcard or USB audio interface
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