I first started recording my guitar playing almost as soon as I learned to play the G, C, and D major chords that everyone discovers as a beginner. At that time, my biggest problem wasn’t changing chords, it was playing in time. I usually practiced with a metronome, but that quickly got boring. So I went on a mission to add some recording capability to my rig in order to practice my timing with a drum track. I really wanted to hear how I sounded so I could determine what to practice next.

My quest first started with a small compact flash based 4-track unit and eventually progressed into full-blown computer based recording. During this journey I have tried a variety of music production software solutions, but each of the products had critical limitations related to audio fidelity, export options, sound effects and filters, MIDI-capability, loop generation and editing, or user interface. In fact, I didn’t find what I was looking for until it found me! Mackie sent me a version of Tracktion 2.0 a couple months ago and I never opened it expecting more of the same. Boy was I proven wrong…I can truly say that Mackie Traction 2.0 is serious recording software designed with musicians in mind!

Mackie Tracktion 2

In the above paragraph I made a bold statement that I don’t think you would understand unless you’ve played around a lot with music sequencing software. In my opinion, there are two types of software in this realm. On one side, you have the watered down versions for “guitar players only” that very quickly become limiting and frustrating to use. The interfaces are usually simple enough and it’s easy to lay down a couple of tracks but don’t ask for lots of export options, MIDI support, or for advanced sound filter capabilities. On the other side, you have the hyper-complex and/or horribly interfaced software programs that are, in truth, designed more for electronic musicians who prefer loops, synths, and samples over live instruments.

Traction 2 takes another road entirely. Make no mistake, this is incredibly powerful software…but the interface is built with musicians in mind. I’ll share my experience in more detail below, but recording in Tracktion is as easy as selecting an input such as a USB or Firewire device, hitting record, trimming the clip and setting your filters and output options. So if you just want to record some ideas, Tracktion 2 is the perfect scratch pad.

It gets even better if one of your ideas happens to be pretty good. You can quickly drop in some live or synth'ed drums, some finite or looped samples, a MIDI score, or other live instruments and vocals. Soon you’ve got yourself a full arrangement. The resulting file can then be mixed down and exported to any number of formats including WAV, MP3, or OGG. Best of all, the sound is pro studio quality… from the comfort of your home studio.

It is almost impossible to list all the features of Tracktion 2.0 (the reference guide is 108 pages with a 2.1 version addendum that adds 28 more pages!). I will note that you should look for updates on the Mackie Tracktion website since they update the software with new features on a regular basis. In fact, as of this writing the latest release is version 2.1 which adds a whole host of powerful new features, including MP3 down mixing using the open source LAME codec.

Features at a glance (taken from Mackie website):

• Clean, single-screen interface for easy recording, mixing and mastering
• Full suite of name-brand plug-ins from IK Multimedia, Lin Plug, reFX, Bismark, Acuma Labs, Raw Materials and more
• Unlimited track count (Depending on your computer's CPU)
• Support for sample rates up to 192kHz
• Importing and exporting of all major file types
• Simple drag-and-drop audio editing
• Track freezing for conserving CPU power
• VST instrument and plug-in support
• ReWire™ support for use with Reason™ software
• Powerful MIDI programming and editing with step recording
• Built-in Quicktime™ support
• 64-bit mix engine for superb sound quality
• Built-in sampler
• MIDI mapping for external controllers
• MTC input/output, MIDI Clock output, and MMC send/receive
• Powerful project management features

Here is the Mackie Tracktion home page should you want to explore the feature set in more detail. You can even download a free trial version if you want to see for yourself.

Tracktion Website: http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion2/splash.html

Download Free Trial: http://my.mackie.com/products/tracktion/demov2.asp



Tracktion Two Hour Challenge!

I had tinkered around with Mackie Tracktion all week getting a feel for the interface and menu options and filters. I went online and upgraded the software to version 2.1 and lurked around the active users forum. My biggest initial problem had to do with my own laziness. I have a POD XT with a USB interface and a Mackie ONYX 1220 mixing board with a Firewire interface, but they were both upstairs in my home studio and I didn’t feel like unhooking all of it since I plan to get another computer for that studio very soon. So I grabbed a Mogami TRS to mini-plug guitar cable I had laying around and just plugged my guitar direct into the computer. At first, I had terrible latency problems using just the standard DirectSound capabilities of my soundcard. However, after tinkering for awhile I found a neat little piece of software called ASIO4ALL version 2 that provided ASIO support for my direct line-in approach (http://www.asio4all.com/). This software reduced my latency from between 57-135 milliseconds to between 7-11 milliseconds which is near what you would get with a USB interface. I could still get better audio quality going through the USB or Firewire digital interface but for this project I was happy. Once my introductory tinkering phase was over, I was ready for my personal challenge.

I set my stopwatch and gave myself two hours during a Saturday afternoon to come up with a decent audio track as an example recording for this review. Setting the stopwatch, the first thing I did was create a new project called “GGH-test” on the initial screen that loads when Tracktion is launched. Each project contains not only all of the separate edits, or versions, of songs that you are working on – but also local copies of all the of the sounds, samples, recordings, MIDI tracks, and loops used during the construction of the various edits.

Tracktion 2: Opening Screen


After creating the project, I needed to create a basic drum beat. Nothing fancy, just something to play along with during the recording process. This was an incredibly easy process using a fantastic little filter from LinPlug called RMIV. RMIV can be used in two primary ways, either as a drum machine or as a sound filter for a pre-arranged MIDI drum track. What is great is that you can select from multiple drum kits (i.e., sounds – say electronic pad versus 1974 acoustic) and multiple beats. Even these can be tweaked toward perfect timing or loose timing. If you do load a MIDI track, each of the hits can be edited using built in MIDI sequencer. This allows you minute control over all MIDI sequences, and particular to drums, gives you the ability to “humanize” the track by adding some random drum riffs, beats, or breakdowns. Simple drum tracks are also great starting points because you can always come back and record live drums later if you have access to a good drummer.

Tracktion 2: Awesome Drums with LinPlug RMIV


Once I had my rhythm track it was time to build a sound platform for my bass and electric guitar parts. By platform, I just mean an underlying thematic motif that ties the music together. Keeping it easy, I loaded four loops. The first one was an electronic bass groove meant to stretch out over the drums and provide some movement. The second one was a upright bass note that I distorted using one of the provided filters. To add a bit of auditory interest I loaded a “radio edit” sound sample and a “finger snap” sample. I edited each of the track names in Tracktion 2 to better reflect the instrument (e.g., “radio edit” and “snaps” instead of “Track 5” and “Track 6”).

Tracktion 2: Adding Loops is Easy!


It is an almost effortless process to place samples in the correct time sequence using the ruler found at the top of the screen. You can adjust the ruler to show bars/beats, seconds/milliseconds, or second/frames. It’s even possible to create complex and changing rhythms. In this case, it was common time or 4/4. I really loved the fact that I could “see” where the loops, samples, and recordings were placed. This made it easy to determine where I needed fills or where there were frequency gaps that could use some interest.

One you have recorded a take or imported a WAV sample, you have to “crop” it down. This is a simple process using the “crop” arrows found on the sides of any box containing an audio segment. I could just drag each arrow to an appropriate place until I got just the right slice of sound. It is thankfully non-destructive so if I found I made a mistake I could adjust back just as easily. Creating loops was very intuitive, just click on the sample, then click on “Loop this Clip” and the number of times you want it to loop.

For my purposes, the loop functionality was perfectly adequate; however, I do wish that it was somehow easier in Tracktion 2 to adjust imported loops to better match the underlying time signature. I tried to use a bass groove loop that I found, but ultimately had to give it up and record my own. In talking with Mackie’s techs, I know that improving loop capability is top priority in future releases. All that said, I found it really easy to manipulate loops and samples that were already in the correct time signature.

For the top layers of my little song, I used the included AmpliTube LE to model some vintage amp sounds. The LE version was plenty powerful and gave me a sufficient number of options to obtain great rhythm and lead tones. However, without delay, I am going to buy the full version of this software – it was incredible. It worked as well for the bass guitar as it did for electric guitar. As for additional filters, the power chord track needed a bit more compression – so I put a separate filter for this purpose just before the Amplitube LE filter.

Tracktion 2: Amp It with Amplitube LE


The way Mackie has implemented sound filters in Tracktion 2 is amazingly intuitive. Think about how you might set up your signal chain for a pedal board or a rack. It’s the same process here, except better! All of your recordings are recorded dry, unless you are running your input source as a wet signal to begin with – for instance, from a POD XT. This is great because if you don’t like a filter you can just remove it or change the settings without harming the underlying sound source. I loved this because I was able to apply filters in non-conventional ways for some interesting effects.

During the last phase, I used my ears as the final judge. I worked with the volume and pan filter to place each instrument in an audio “space” and at an appropriate volume. This is actually one of the most critical processes because if you throw everything on “center” you just wind up with a muddled audio spectrum. In fact, I wound up throwing out the upright bass note because it conflicted too much frequency wise with the bass guitar. No matter what I did it wasn’t really audible and only served to make the bass guitar sound muddy.

The final mix is shown in the picture below. I exported the short 36 second song to MP3 using the LAME codec for your listening pleasure. You can listen by clicking on the link provided.

Tracktion 2: Final Mix - Might Change the Snaps Later



Traction 2: Render the Mix as an MP3 using the LAME Codec




>>>>>CLICK HERE TO HEAR THIS TRACK!<<<<<



I was able to accomplish all of this in less than two hours. Now that I’m more proficient in Tracktion 2, I might be able to lay down the bones of a whole song in way less than two hours. If I were to tweak this song a bit more, I might throw out the snaps or change it to a different sample. It’s sure easy enough in Tracktion 2.

Conclusion

My two hour personal challenge with Tracktion was hugely successful. I was able to create a credible song output with only a little experience – just imagine what you could do! This process included searching for and importing loops, recording three actual instruments, sequencing and filtering all the samples, and exporting the song to MP3 format. I loved the intuitive interface of Tracktion 2 – it really is designed for people who play and record actual instruments. I would recommend that you use a USB or Firewire input device to minimize latency. Eventually, I’d like to see Tracktion expand its loop functionality to compete with Sony’s ACID software. Nevertheless, Tracktion 2 is incredibly powerful yet intuitive and easy to manipulate. Kudos to Mackie for such an outstanding product. You’ve earned both our “Rig Ready” and our GearHead “Approved” award for 2006!



Written by Daniel L. Halberg, PhD

Copyright © 2006 Allen & Halberg Publishing, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Guitar Gear Heads is a Division of Allen & Halberg Publishing, Inc.