Intermediate Musician New to Sequencing
Hi, Folks:
I arrived at the n-Track website via a link on www.audiominds.com, which in turn was a link from a forum post at www.pgmusic.com.
I’ve been a Band-in-a-Box user since its inception but haven’t done any sequencing. I own Power Tracks by PG Music but as yet haven’t gotten into any meat and potatoes work with it.
My objective is audio and midi recording on my home PC. I’ve read the reviews for n-Track and am eager to learn more about this software.
Would a few kind folks give me a new-comers education on the pros of using n-Tracks vs other sequencing software? Certainly, I plan to download the eval version tonight and check it out.
Thanks kindly,
Alan
Kissimmee, FL
Hey Alan, for audio there is really nothing better in its price range IMHO. That said, nothing is perfect (at least no software is) and you may find that one program fits you better than another. Unfortunately all you can do is try them out 'till you find the one (or two) that works best for you. 
I have PowerTracks 8.0. I didn’t update to 9 because ASIO support wasn’t added. That is why I purchased nTrack. I am still using Ver 3.3 and am happy with it. It does everything my simple little brain requires of it and then some.
PowerTrack’s MIDI features are more advanced, but my MIDI knowledge is tiny so that is not a big point for me. If I need MIDI notation, I use PowerTracks.
Otherwise the majority of my analog recording is done in nTrack these days.
IMHO n-track’s strength is its intuitive interface. Its a traditional mixer interface with aux busses for effects and a signal path that you can easily follow through the software. Underneath however, is a very “tunable” piece of software. Just about everything is tweakable if you know where to look. This is perhaps its weakness - there are settings that are not immediately clear what they do, but that can effect performance. Other software packages I believe are sometimes simpler because they take away some of the ability to tweak. By far the biggest benefit of n-track tho is this board and the one at audiominds. When you hit the inevitable hiccup, just post and someone I am sure will have the answer.
Maaszy
In my experience, N-track has almost all of the main features other more expensive programs have. It just lacks some of the bells and wistles, and the broadbased support that having the larger programs provide. however, this board provides a great resource to make up on the support side. It has a few stability issues at times, but not really that much more than more expensive programs, definitely making it still a huge bargin. I challenge you to spend less than a 100 bucks on a program, and get a program with the features of N-track. There are places it lacks, but you can usually make up for them with free/cheap plugins and software. For example, if you need better reverb than this provides, you have VST and DX effect support, and you can download hundereds of different reverbs for free. Need a wav editor? there are many for free. Don’t like creating a midi file with piano roll? There are several free/cheap midi authoring software programs around with staff view, or I believe that band-in-a-box has this feature. Just keep it on your system for the midi authoring, then import into N-track to use its VSTi support (software synth instruments you can get free online), and mix them with your audio. I highly recommend it.
fish
Sounds like n-Tracks is the Ace of Spades.
Thank you very much for your responses. I will certainly have a good look at the eval version.
Since audio recording is the strong suite of n-Track, does anyone have a recommendation for a good Pro-Audio Sound card? I need, must, gotta move up from Sound Blaster Live!
My budget is $350 max.
Thanks again all.
Alan
How many In and Out are you anticipating you might need? There’s lots of good ones. I’m sold on Echo Audio products personally. http://www.echoaudio.com I use an older Layla20 and newer Gina24 (for different things in the same machine – at different times BTW).
actually, (although I’m sure people will be glad to offer more suggestions here), if you search the forum for posts on soundcards, I’m sure you will find several posts on recommendations for soundcards that could get you far along on your soundcard search. I think we had a question like that just a few weeks ago…
fish
Thanks, Phoo for the lead on Echo Audio.
Also, Fish, I did find useful info right here on the website. Thanks. Sound Cards Recommended by n-Track website
Looks like that ought to get me started.
Thanks for your help!
| Quote (Alan @ Feb. 01 2005,20:54) |
| Thanks, Phoo for the lead on Echo Audio. Also, Fish, I did find useful info right here on the website. Thanks. Sound Cards Recommended by n-Track website Looks like that ought to get me started. Thanks for your help! |
That is out of date.
Do you have a separate mixer? The delta 1010LE or whatever it is, is really cheap and has a whole lotta happy users. In the past I would have pointed you at the Aardvark stuff as well, but they went out of business recently... (glum look, hopes his Aardvark doesn't run into any issues...)
A friend told me just yesterday that Aardvark’s website was gone and that he had to seach far and wide for drivers last weekend, but finally found some on someone personal site. I’ll see if I can get the link. It might come in handy.