I think it’s a resource limit. If you add one track, then pile 50 different inserts onto it, see if you can still get 83 tracks!
Don’t know why, but I decided to play with this again. I didn’t add 50 inserts to a track, only 20 (empty audio track, BTW), then I made 39 copies of it for a total of 40 tracks with 20 inserts each (used “clone track”, so the inserts were the same for each track). Things were getting a little slow since disk swapping was on the rise (only have 512MB RAM), so I just started adding blank audio tracks without inserts to speed the process up. I was able to get up to 85 tracks before n-Track crashed (i.e., on the 86th). I also hit the exact same limit with blank MIDI tracks. Lastly, I tried getting up to 84 audio tracks (40 of them having 20 inserts again), then seeing if I could break the 85-track barrier by adding new MIDI tracks instead. Nope! No more than 85 tracks.
This is all well and good… but how about different wav files with actual data in them (rather than blanks)? Something for a rainy day. Remember things getting funny as we approach zero in older builds? Compound that by about 80 tracks… So when I have NOTHING to do, I’ll record tracks until N craps out. If the number is still ~80, well, I will have wasted a lot of time and we will have an answer.
I think a product called “~80->85Track Studio” has far less punch.
I thought everyone knew that “n” is defined as “an integer such that 79 < n < 86”? I think I read it in the manual somewhere. Looks like one for the Wiki!
Hi there. Am suffering from the same dilemma - Sonar or n-track. Have already bought n-track recently, yet to start using but “friends” and dealers keep telling me to straight go to Cubase and avoid any of these two.
I have another problem. I have Adobe Audition licensed version and also Reason 3. Is there any way I can use the three together to beat Cubase (or the urge to go and waste a lot of money)?
If you already own n-Track and AA (and Reason), why do your friends tell you to go buy Cubase (I can imagine why a dealer would tell you that)? These three should work together just fine afaik. What do you think you would be missing?
I was also told that I should use cubasis. When I bought the soundcard I got also cubasis and wavelab. The seller told me that that would be my next step (he didn’t know n-track so how can the seller tell me that cubasis should be better??). Well I tried and installed the programs together with the soundcard but after trieing I de-installed cubasis and wavelab. Ntrack is much more easy to use, I love it! The seller told me also that I could make my already recorded music better with wavelab or cubasis (i don’t know with which one…), make the already recorded tracks more fresh…well, now I’m very curious cause I think ntrack can do that also. Does anybody know more about that?
i can’t stress enough how subjective “better” is… if you have any way of trying out these different programs via demos or whatever, i would suggest you do so and see what suits YOUR needs the best.
i am a long time n-track user and have decided to play around with cubase sx 3 a bit, mostly to educate myself… i want to be able to go into a studio and use cubase or protools if that’s what they have, etc.
anyways, in my experience with cubase i can say, yes, there are some features i like that n-track does not have, and yes there are some things it might even do a better job with… but there are also things it does WORSE and DIFFERENTLY that annoy me to no end… off the top of my head… in cubase you cannot re-arrange the order of fx inserts after you add them to a track. OWWW! n-track has been doing this FOREVER! also, i get very frustrated with the way cubase handles volume envelopes/automation. i find n-track’s alot simpler. i think you get the idea. i’m still not sure which one i personally prefer… they just seem DIFFERENT to me at this point. you really have to try them and see for yourself which application makes the most sense to you.
For me, N track won at the first and at the last time. I only wonder how you can make recorded tracks more fresh. But maybe that’s just simple with increasing the high tones…
I’m with Dimmer on this one. I have Cubase LE (SX’s criipled step-brother) Sonar LE and a couple other proggies. n-Track sees the most use though. Just my own subjective experience. Get a bunch of demo’s and find what works best for YOU.
Wavelabs reportedly has some good processors. It can serve as a good companion for n-Track, as a wave editor for special purposes.
As far as how to get mixes to sound fresher, well … it’s a lot of things:
1) good instruments 2) mikes 3) mike preamps 4) soundcard
and most of all, using the above properly. Also, the room has a lot to do with how the recorded tracks sound. Many rooms have too much reflections that intefere with the clarity. (I listen to a lot of amateur recordings, and I think I can often tell when someone’s “studio” is a small bedroom with drywall, wall-to-wall carpet, and no wall treatments to deaden the room.) And there are a lot of different approaches to a “good room”, and what’s good for one thing is not good for another. For example, I record in an oddly shaped living/family room with wood floors, plaster walls, with lots of openings to other spaces (in a house built in 1920). It sounds great for vocals and acoustic guitar, but horrible for drums & electric guitar.
And I bet my recordings lack a bit in the “freshness” department due to being recorded with an SM57 mike, which is rather dead at the top end. Listen to some tracks off my CD (via website button below) and tell me what you think – I think I have a lot of room for improvement in “freshness”!
However, I think that while good mastering helps clarify, and a little hi-frequency stimulation can sometimes sound sparkly and nice, that the most of the freshness has to go into the original tracks, rather than being synthesized later. Most FX add a certain amount of crud, and if you overprocess, you end up with too much crud.
And I bet my recordings lack a bit in the “freshness” department due to being recorded with an SM57 mike, which is rather dead at the top end. Listen to some tracks off my CD (via website button below) and tell me what you think – I think I have a lot of room for improvement in “freshness”!
Your guitarsound is wonderfull. But I don’t know if I am objective because I just listened to it on my laptop with it’s simple onboard soundcard. But it also seems a good way to select sounds because on my “musiccomputer” with good soundcard almost anything sounds very good. Voice could be more clean, yes defenitly…it sounds different, seems like it doesn’t “fit” with the guitar…don’t know how to say in english. I think good recorded voice increases the total quality and may give the idea that the guitar is more fresh than it already is…How did you record the guitar? By the way, good music!!!
Thank. First, I could use a voice, that would be nice. Then I could learn to sing, that would be even better. As you can tell, I’m not in love with my own voice (except when I’m talking rather than singing …) and given that I’m really happy with how well the vocals came out: better than I deserve. But not what I would say “Let me make YOU A STAR!” about.
The guitar is a Martin HD28 and sounds lovely and that’s a big factor, I think. I used a single SM57 for most of the parts (including the nice dobro, which I didn’t play myself but I did record). I place the miike near where the neck joins the body, about 3 inches away, and angled slightly away from the soundhole to reduce boominess. About half the tracks were done using the preamps on my c. 1981 TASCAM mixer with my laptop’s built-in soundcard. The other half were done using the preamps and converters on a MOTU 828 soundcard. Frankly, I can’t tell which was which other than by looking to see if it’s a 16-bit or 24-bit track.
In the future, I plan to try a Studio Projects VTB-1 preamp and an SP B3 mike, which should get more clarity. Even with the SM57 it should sound better with the VTB-1. I hope, anyway!
Then I could learn to sing, that would be even better. As you can tell, I’m not in love with my own voice (except when I’m talking rather than singing …) and given that I’m really happy with how well the vocals came out: better than I deserve. But not what I would say “Let me make YOU A STAR!” about.
Well, I didn’t say anything about your voice but about the sound. There is nothing wrong with your voice. Did you ever listen to paul mc cartney or mick jagger?? The only thing with singing is that you enter into the part that you are singing, let it all go, breath and open you’re trap! Singers that are good in putting expression in their voice are mostly succesfull. You should trie to touch people with the way you “bring” your message.
Maria, going back to your orginal thing on ‘fresher’, I got the impression that the card seller was talking about stuff you had already recorded?
If so, this in my mind has to be down to either the card’s ability to sound better than the card you had before, or that you can re-mix your old stuff with your enhanced card and get that better ‘fresher’ sound
I wouldn't touch a song that is approaching 100 trks 
But not what I would say “Let me make YOU A STAR!” about.