User manual MACKIE TRACKTION 2

TRACKTION 2 MUSIC PRODUCTION SOFTWARE REFERENCE Revision A 3/16/05 GUIDE TRACKTION 2 MUSIC PRODUCTION SOFTWARE Note: Tracktion originated in the mind of Julian Storer, an English programmer with a love of audio. Stateside Tracktioneers* will notice a distinctly British flavor to the user interface. To help you understand Tracktion better, the manual was written with a British accent (thank you to Adam Starkey). So sit back, imagine yourself overlooking an English moor (or in an English pub if you prefer), and enjoy Tracktion! *People who use Tracktion Don't forget to visit our website at www.mackie.com for more information about this and other Mackie products. Part No. SW0195 Rev. A 3/05 ©2005 LOUD Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2 Tracktion 2 LOUD TECHNOLOGIES INC. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT Tracktion 2.0 By clicking on the "I Accept" button, installing, copying or otherwise using the Software, you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreement. If you do not agree to the terms of this License Agreement, click on the "I Do Not Accept" button and/or do not install the Software. 1. License. YOU (either as an individual or an entity) MAY: (a) use the Software on a maximum of two (2) computers; (b) physically transfer the Software from one computer to another provided that the Software is used on no more than two computers at a time and that you remove any copies of the Software from the computer(s) from which the Software is being transferred; and (c) install another copy of the Software in the event that the first Software installation is unusable. YOU MAY NOT: (a) distribute copies of the Software or the documentation to others; (b) modify, rent, lease or grant sublicenses or other rights to the Software; and (c) use the Software in a computer service business, network, time-sharing, multiple CPU or multiple user arrangement without the prior written consent of LOUD Technologies Inc. 2. Copyright. This License is not a sale of the Software or any other copy. LOUD Technologies Inc. and Raw Material Software retain title and ownership of the Software and documentation, including all intellectual property rights. No title to the intellectual property in the Software is transferred to you. You will not acquire any rights to the Software except as expressly set forth above. 3. Reverse Engineering. You agree that you will not attempt, and if you are a corporation, you will use your best efforts to prevent your employees and contractors from attempting to reverse engineer, disassemble, compile, modify, translate, or otherwise alter the Software or any associated LOUD Technologies Inc. hardware in whole or in part. 4. Limited Warranty. LOUD Technologies Inc. warrants that the media on which the Software is furnished will be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. If a defect appears during the warranty period, return the diskette/compact disk to LOUD Technologies Inc., and you will receive a free replacement. This Limited Warranty is void if failure of the Software has resulted from accident, abuse, or misapplication. Any replacement Software will be warranted for the remainder of the original warranty period. The foregoing is your sole and exclusive remedy for breach of warranty. THIS WARRANTY GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS AND YOU MAY ALSO HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY BY JURISDICTION. 5. No Other Warranties. LOUD Technologies Inc. AND ITS LICENSOR(s) (hereafter collectively referred to as "LOUD Technologies Inc.") DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE LOUD Technologies Inc. SOFTWARE NOR ANY THIRD-PARTY SOFTWARE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD (collectively the "Software") ARE ERROR FREE. YOU EXPRESSLY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS." LOUD Technologies Inc. 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SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. Reference Guide 3 7. Term. This Agreement is effective until terminated. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by uninstalling the Software together with destroying any copies in any form. This Agreement, including the license to use the Software, will terminate automatically if you fail to comply with any term or condition 8. Upgrades. LOUD may at its discretion release upgrades to the Software. LOUD has no obligation to offer free or discounted upgrades to any end user of the Software. 9. Governing Law and Severability. This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the State of Washington and will be interpreted as if the agreement were made between Washington residents and performed entirely within Washington. If for any reason a court finds any provision of this License unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent possible, and the remainder of the License shall continue in full force and effect. 10. Entire Agreement. This is the entire agreement between you and LOUD Technologies Inc. AND supersedes any prior agreement, whether written or oral, relating to the subject matter of this Agreement. No amendment or modification of this agreement will be binding unless in writing and signed by a duly authorized representative of LOUD Technologies Inc. 4 Tracktion 2 Table of Contents Chapter 1: The projects page ----------------------------- 7 1.1 The project list--------------------------------------------------------------7 1.2 The search tool ------------------------------------------------------------ 9 1.3 The control section------------------------------------------------------ 10 1.4 Project properties --------------------------------------------------------12 1.5 Edit properties ----------------------------------------------------------- 14 1.6 Audio item properties ---------------------------------------------------15 1.7 MIDI item properties---------------------------------------------------- 18 Chapter 2: The settings page -----------------------------19 2.1 The audio devices tab--------------------------------------------------- 19 2.2 The audio output device properties----------------------------------21 2.3 The audio input device options -------------------------------------- 22 2.4 The MIDI output options ---------------------------------------------- 24 2.5 The MIDI input options ------------------------------------------------ 25 2.6 The plug-ins tab --------------------------------------------------------- 26 2.7 The key-mappings tab -------------------------------------------------- 27 2.8 Installing external controllers---------------------------------------- 28 2.9 The miscellaneous settings tab--------------------------------------- 29 2.10 The colour editor--------------------------------------------------------31 Chapter 3: The edit page ----------------------------------33 3.1 The input section -------------------------------------------------------- 33 3.2 The arrange area--------------------------------------------------------- 34 3.3 The track options-------------------------------------------------------- 36 3.4 The filter section -------------------------------------------------------- 39 3.5 The control section -----------------------------------------------------48 3.6 The transport section -------------------------------------------------- 50 Chapter 4: Timing, snapping, and synchronisation - 54 4.1 The time-line bar, and the tempo properties ---------------------- 54 4.2 The "timecode" button ------------------------------------------------ 56 4.3 The "snapping" button ------------------------------------------------- 57 4.4 The "click-track" button----------------------------------------------- 58 4.5 The video window------------------------------------------------------- 59 5 Reference Guide Chapter 5: Audio clips -------------------------------------61 5.1 Working with the clip tools-------------------------------------------- 61 5.2 The audio clip properties ---------------------------------------------- 62 5.3 The right-click options ------------------------------------------------- 65 Chapter 6: MIDI clips ------------------------------------- 66 6.1 The MIDI clip tools and MIDI editor ---------------------------------66 6.2 The MIDI clip properties----------------------------------------------- 67 6.3 The right-click options ------------------------------------------------- 71 6.4 The selected note properties----------------------------------------- 72 6.5 The groove editor ------------------------------------------------------- 73 Chapter 7: Automation ----------------------------------- 74 7.1 The automation pop-up menu, and the curve properties ------- 74 7.2 The "automation" button---------------------------------------------- 76 7.3 Using the Mackie Control Universal with Tracktion ------------- 78 7.4 Using the Mackie Control C4 with Tracktion ---------------------- 85 Chapter 8: Freezing and rendering --------------------- 90 8.1 Freezing --------------------------------------------------------------------90 8.2 Rendering ----------------------------------------------------------------- 91 Chapter 9: Rack filters------------------------------------ 92 9.1 What are rack filters? --------------------------------------------------- 92 9.2 Managing rack filters --------------------------------------------------- 93 9.3 How to build rack filters -----------------------------------------------96 9.4 Racks, tracks, inputs, and outputs -----------------------------------98 9.5 Working with multiple output VSTis--------------------------------99 Chapter 10: Importing and exporting -----------------101 10.1 The import options --------------------------------------------------- 101 10.2 Exporting project and edit archives------------------------------- 103 10.3 Exporting audio files--------------------------------------------------105 10.4 Exporting MIDI files --------------------------------------------------106 Final words------------------------------------------------- 107 6 Tracktion 2 Chapter 1: The projects page Hello and welcome to Tracktion! If you have not already read through the Tracktion User's Guide, may we suggest you start there. The User's Guide is specifically designed to get you up and writing music with your new Tracktion software as fast as possible. Note: If you have not yet registered your copy of Tracktion, and you are looking for assistance on how to do so, jump to Section Three of this chapter. The description of the "about" button contains specific instructions on registering Tracktion. Whilst there is no reason why you shouldn't read this Reference Manual from cover to cover, we are confident that you will find Tracktion so easy to learn that you will mostly want to turn to this Manual when you have specific questions. As such the Reference Manual is structured into broad sections that relate to specific areas in Tracktion. Each of these areas is detailed with explanations of the options you will find, and hints to related options or controls that you may find useful. 1.1 The project list Figure 1.1.1 The project list is not, as it may at first appear, a list of all projects on your hard-drive. Instead, it shows those projects that are currently open. An open project can be thought of as a book-marked project. It isn't open in the way that a document may be open in a word processor, rather it is marked as being a work in progress. All newly created projects, or unpacked archives (archives are discussed in Chapter 10.2), are opened by default, ready for you to work on them. Projects that you have previously closed, however, need to be reopened before they can be edited. The project-list is comprised of two folders. The first of these folders is the "active projects" folder, and this is where all of your current projects will be shown. The second folder is the "library projects" folder, and whilst it is broadly similar to the "active projects" folder, it has a few special properties. The order in which projects are listed can be changed by dragging projects to a new slot in the list. You could, for example, move your most commonly accessed projects to the top of the list, for easy location. Projects can be moved between the active projects and library projects folders in the same manner. Active projects The "active projects" folder is used to bookmark all of your current works-in-progress. Reference Guide 7 Library projects Projects held in the "library projects" folder can be used to store material that may be shared between a number of projects. In particular, library projects could be created to consolidate material such as sample libraries, and MIDI files, that may otherwise be spread across various directories and hard-drives on your computer. Adding samples to library projects can also be used to keep edit archives as small as possible. The export dialogue-box contains an option labelled "include files from library projects." When this option is disabled, any samples used in the edit that are also contained in a library project, will not be stored in the archive. Exporting edits is discussed in Chapter 10. The right-click menus This reference manual assumes you have a two-button mouse. For Mac users with a single-button mouse, the right-click options are available by holding down the CTRL key whilst clicking. A two-button mouse can be used with a Mac as well as a PC, and you will find Tracktion far faster to use with a two-button USB mouse. Such mice are inexpensive and can be found at most good computer or office stores. Right-clicking on any project entry in either the active or the library project folders causes a pop-up menu (Fig. 1.1.2) to be displayed: Figure 1.1.2 Unpack an archive into this project...: Use this option to unpack the contents of a Tracktion archive into the current project. Project archives are discussed further in Chapter 10. Close this project: Select this option to remove the current project from the project-list. Closing projects does not lose, or delete the project; it merely clears the entry from the list allowing you to keep your work-list tidy. Closed projects can be re-opened at any time by clicking the "open project" button in the control-section. Close all active projects: Select this option to remove all projects from the project-list. The closed projects can be re-opened at any time by clicking the "open project.." button in the control-section, at the bottom-left corner of the screen. Right-clicking on either the library folder or the active projects folder causes a pop-up menu (Fig. 1.1.3) to be shown: Figure 1.1.3 8 Tracktion 2 Load a project or archive: This option allows you to open a previously closed project, or import a Tracktion archive file. You will be prompted for the path to the project or archive file. If you import an archive, you will also be prompted for a folder in which to unpack the archive contents. Load a recent project: This option displays a sub-menu with a list of recently closed projects. Selecting one of the entries will re-open the project. Create a new project: Select this option to create a new project. You will be prompted for a folder to save the project in. It is a good idea to create a new empty folder for each project, since otherwise, the various audio files you record in the new project will be scattered among other, pre-existing files. If you choose to use a folder that is not empty, Tracktion will display a warning and ask if you wish to have a new folder created in the current folder. Close all projects in this folder: Select this option to remove the current project from the project-list. Closing all projects does not lose, or delete the projects; it merely clears the entry from the list allowing you to keep your work-list tidy. Closed projects can be re-opened at any time by clicking the "open project.." button in the control-section. Section Three of this chapter discusses the control-section. In addition to these options, when a project folder is selected, the properties-panel (Fig. 1.1.4) displays the following options: Figure 1.1.4 Load a project or archive: Like the option available from the right-click menu, this option allows you to open a previously closed project, or import a Tracktion archive file. Create a new project: Select this option to create a new project. 1.2 The search tool The search tool (Fig. 1.2.1), located just below the project list, can be used to search your projects for keywords. The search is often useful for finding resources attached to projects. For example if you have a hihat sample in a project and you wish to use it in another, assuming the sample had "hi-hat" somewhere in its name, you could do a search for that keyword to locate it. Figure 1.2.1 Search keywords: Enter the name, or part of the name, of the material you are searching for, in the box. Reference Guide 9 Select projects: Click this button to select which projects the search is performed. A pop-up menu (Fig. 1.2.2) appears, from which you can select your list of active and library projects. Search: Click this button to start the search. The results are shown in the items list. Click a search result to find out more about it, including which project it is in. Figure 1.2.2 1.3 The control section The control section is located below the search box (Fig. 1.3.1). Figure 1.3.1 The following options are available: New project..: Click this button to create a new project. You will be prompted for a folder to save the project in. It is a good idea to create a new empty folder for each project. If you choose to use a folder that is not empty, Tracktion will display a warning and ask if you wish to have a new folder created in the current folder. Once the project has been created, Tracktion will add an entry to the project-list. Clipboard: This button displays a pop-up menu (Fig. 1.3.2) containing various standard editing options, such as cut, copy, paste, and delete. The contents of the clipboard are shown in the clipboard panel. You can use the clipboard to copy content between projects, and also, once copied, material can be pasted into edits. This can be an efficient way of locating audio clips for use in an edit. 10 Tracktion 2 The following keyboard shortcuts can also be used to work with the clipboard: · CTRL + X (CMD + X for Mac users): Cut. · CTRL + V (CMD + V for Mac users): Paste. · CTRL + C (CMD + C for Mac users): Copy. Figure 1.3.2 Open project..: Click this button to open a previously closed project, or import a Tracktion archive file. You will be prompted for the path to the project or archive file. If you import an archive, you will also be prompted for a folder in which to unpack the archive contents. Help: Click this button to the access help on using Tracktion (Fig. 1.3.3). Figure 1.3.3 Show Tracktion help pages: This option displays the Tracktion User's Guide. Keyboard shortcut: F12. Turn on pop-up help: When this option is enabled, holding the mouse pointer over an option will cause Tracktion to display a pop-up window containing a description of the option. This can be handy when you are first finding your way around Tracktion. Keyboard shortcut: F11. Use longer delay before pop-up help appears: When this option is activated, Tracktion will wait a few moments before displaying the pop-up help. This setting has no effect unless the pop-up help is enabled. About: When this button is clicked, a dialogue-box showing credits and information about Tracktion is shown. In addition this dialogue-box also shows your registration information. If you have purchased, but not yet registered your copy of Tracktion, there are two ways you can unlock Tracktion from the 30-day demo period. If you have an Internet connection on the computer that you are using Tracktion on: · Click the "about" button. The "about Tracktion" dialogue-box will be displayed. · Click the "unlock" button at the bottom of the dialogue-box. A second window will be shown. · On the new window, click the "unlock online" button (make sure you are connected to the Internet at this point). · You will be prompted for your email address, password, and license number. If you have never created a registration account with Mackie, simply place your email address and your choice of a password into the first two fields. If you do have an existing account with Mackie, you should just enter the email address Reference Guide 11 and password you previously chose. Enter the license number for your copy of Tracktion. You can find this number on a card that came with your Tracktion CDs. We strongly advise that you write this number in your printed Tracktion User's Guide if you have one, or keep it safely with your install CDs at all times! · Once you have entered the required information, click the "register" button. Tracktion will then authorise itself, and if necessary, create a new Mackie registration account. You can use this account to log into the registered-users area of the Mackie web-site (http://my.mackie.com). If you do not have an Internet connection on the computer that you are using Tracktion on: · Click the "about" button. The "about Tracktion" dialogue-box will be displayed. · Make a note of the Machine ID. You will need this later. · Using a computer that does have Internet access, go to http://my.mackie.com using a web-browser such as Safari or Internet Explorer. · If you have never created a registration account with Mackie before, follow the links to create a new account. · When you have an account created, follow the links to log into the site. · You will see a page with your registered products, if any. If you have already registered your copy of Tracktion, you will see it listed here. If not, follow the links to register your copy of Tracktion. · Clicking on the Tracktion entry in the registered software list will take you to the download and keyfile page. · Follow the links to register your machine ID, and enter the number you wrote down earlier. · Follow the links to download the keyfile. · You will need to transfer this keyfile to the computer onto which you installed Tracktion. Floppy disks, write-able CDs, or USB JumpDrives (memory sticks) are good ways to transfer files between computers. · Once you have the keyfile saved on your the computer that Tracktion is installed on, you can use it to unlock Tracktion. Open Tracktion as normal, click the "about button," and click the "unlock" button at the bottom of the "about" dialogue-box. A second window will be shown. · On the new window, click the "unlock from keyfile" button. A window will be displayed, from which you can navigate to the location to which you saved the keyfile. · Select the keyfile and click "OK." · Tracktion will now be registered. If you have not yet purchased Tracktion, there is a button in the "about" dialogue box to purchase the software. 1.4 Project properties When a project is selected, its properties are displayed in the properties-panel (Fig. 1.4.1). Various tools and options related to the project can be found on this panel. 12 Figure 1.4.1 Tracktion 2 Name: You can view and edit the project name from this field. This is the name that Tracktion shows in the project-list. Note that changing the name here does not affect the project's actual file name. Description: This field allows you to enter a description of the project. You can also use this field to leave yourself notes for future reference. File: This field shows the location of the project on your hard-drive. Export project: This option allows you to bundle the project and related materials into an archive. Use this if you want back up your work, or transfer it to another computer, for you or a collaborator to work on. Selecting this option displays a dialogue-box where options related to the archive export can be set. You may also be interested in reading Chapter 10, where you will find more information on exporting and importing projects. Create new edit: This option creates a new empty edit in the current project. If you wish to make a copy of an existing edit, select the edit in the item-list and click the "make a copy of this edit" button. Import material: Use this option to associate audio or MIDI files with this project, or to import tracks from an audio CD. When this option is selected, a pop-up menu (Fig. 1.4.2) appears: Figure 1.4.2 · Import an audio or MIDI file..: Use this option to add material on your hard-drive, or on a CD, to the edit. Files located on CDs are copied into the project folder, whereas files stored on a hard-drive are referenced from their source location. Keyboard shortcut: A. · Import all files in a directory..: This option works much like the "import an audio or MIDI file..." option above. The difference is that this option imports all suitable files in to the selected directory (folder). · Unpack an archive and add it to this project..: This option adds the items from an archive into the current project. The pop-up menu that is displayed when right-clicking on a project-list entry also provides this option. · Import tracks from an audio CD...: Use this option to copy tracks from an audio CD into Tracktion. The imported tracks are saved as audio files in the project folder and added to the edit as standard audio clips. Chapter 10 discusses the import audio tracks dialogue-box. Find orphan clips: This option allows you to find associated audio or MIDI files that are not used by any of the edits in this project. This is useful when you are trying to delete files that are no longer needed. Reference Guide 13 1.5 Edit properties When an edit is selected, its properties are displayed in the properties-panel (Fig. 1.5.1). Various tools and options related to the edit can be found on this panel. Figure 1.5.1 Name: This field shows the item name as seen in the item-list. You can also alter the name here. Renaming the edit here does not affect the file name, however. Project: This field shows the project to which this item belongs. Description: This field allows you to enter a description of the edit, or make notes for future reference. Bear in mind that this field is scanned by the search tool, so by inserting simple keywords into descriptions, you can make it very easy to locate material later File: This field shows the location of the edit on your hard-drive. Delete edit: Click this button to remove the edit from the project. This option cannot be undone. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Create a copy: Use this option to create a copy of this edit and add it to the project. Export edit: This option allows you to bundle the edit and related materials into an archive. Use this if you want back up your work, or transfer it to another computer for you or a collaborator to work on. The project will also be archived, but other edits within the project will not. Selecting this option displays a dialogue-box where options related to the archive export can be set. The export edit dialogue-box offers a range of options to strip unnecessary material from the archive. These options are not available when exporting projects. You may also be interested in reading Chapter 10, where you will find more information on exporting and importing edits. Find referenced material: This option lists all of the items that this edit requires. It is effectively the inverse of the "find orphaned clips" function for projects. Import external files...: It is possible for material to be used in more than one project. If one of these projects does not have an entry in its item list for the shared material, Tracktion regards the other project as being the material's owner. If the project that owns the material is later closed, the current edit will no longer have access to the material. This option creates an item-list entry for such files, thus making the current project also an owner of the material. Create a new edit: This option creates a new empty edit in the current project. 14 Tracktion 2 Import material: Use this option to associate audio or MIDI files with this edit, or to import tracks from an audio CD. When this option is clicked, a pop-up menu (Fig. 1.5.2) appears: · Import an audio or MIDI file...: This option to add material on your hard-drive or a CD to the edit. Files located on CDs are copied into the project folder, whereas files stored on a hard-drive are referenced from their source location. Keyboard shortcut: A. · Import all files in a directory...: This option works much like the "import an audio or MIDI file..." option above. The difference is that this option imports all suitable files in the selected directory (folder). · Unpack an archive and add it to this project..: This option adds the items from an archive into the current project. The pop-up menu that is displayed when right-clicking on a project-list entry also provides this option. · Import tracks from an audio CD...: This option to copy tracks from an audio CD into Tracktion. The imported tracks are saved as audio files in the project folder and added to the edit as standard audio clips. Figure 1.5.2 Open for editing: Clicking this button opens the edit, and switches to the edit page. The edit page is where your arrangements are actually created, and it is here you will do most of your work. 1.6 Audio item properties When an audio item is selected, its properties are displayed in the properties-panel (Fig. 1.6.1). Various tools and options related to the audio file can be found on this panel. Figure 1.6.1 Name: This field shows the audio-item name as seen in the item-list. You can also edit the name here. Renaming the edit here does not affect the audio file name, however. Project: This field shows the project to which this item belongs. File: This field shows the location of the item on your hard-drive. Description: This field allows you to enter a description of the audio clip, or make notes for future reference. Bear in mind that this field is scanned by the search tool. By inserting simple keywords into descriptions, you and make it very easy to locate material later. Reference Guide 15 Edit audio file: This button shows a pop-up menu (Fig. 1.6.2) with the following options: · Create a copy of this wave file: This option creates a copy of the audio file, and places it in the same folder as the original. · Basic editing operations: This option displays a dialogue-box that allows you to reverse the sample, change the sample rate, change the bit depth, normalise the sample, trim silence, and convert the audio to mono. The basic editing options are described a little later in this section. · Minimise Tracktion when external editor is launched: This option causes Tracktion's display to minimise when an external editor is launched. This is useful when working in a single-monitor environment. If you are working with two monitors however, you may prefer to uncheck it. · Edit using ...: If you have suitable audio editing software installed on your computer, you can quickly transfer audio material to the editing application using this option. If this menu-option is not available, use the "set the audio editor to use" option to choose an audio editor. · Set the audio editor to use..: This option allows you to choose a default audio editor. Figure 1.6.2 Delete source file: Click this to delete the item and the source audio file. Delete item: Click this button to remove the item from the project. You will be prompted if you want to remove the source file as well. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Add marker: This option allows you to mark points of interest on audio files. Drag the arrow to point at the region to which you wish to draw attention. For example, if you feel that a vocal take needs a touch of pitch correction at a certain point, you could use this tool to highlight the problem for future correction. Preview: Click this to preview the audio file. Preview level: Use this option to adjust how loud previews are played. Wave file information: This shows useful information about the resolution, and nature of an audio file. 16 Tracktion 2 The basic editing options Selecting the "basic editing options" menu-item from the "edit audio file" button menu, causes a dialoguebox (Fig. 1.6.3) to be shown. From this dialogue-box, you can access a number of useful tools for working with audio files. Note: these operations are all destructive, so be sure that you want to make permanent changes to your source audio file. Figure 1.6.3 Figure 1.6.4 The "operation type" field shows a drop-down menu when selected (Fig. 1.6.4). From this menu, you can select from a number of different operations. The options available below this field will change depending on the operation selected: Trim silence: Use this option to remove audio that is below a given threshold from either end of the audio file. When this operation type is selected, the following options are available: · Threshold: Any audio below this threshold will be trimmed. · Trim start: When this option is selected, audio below the threshold level at the start of the wave file will be trimmed. · Trim end: When this option is selected, audio below the threshold level at the end of the wave file will be trimmed. Normalise: Use this option to adjust the level of the audio such that the peak level of the wave file reaches the desired normalise level. Typically normalisation would be used to make an audio file as loud as possible without introducing any digital distortion, or clipping. There is only one option available for normalise, "peak level," and it is this level to which the file will be normalised. Make mono: Use this option to convert a stereo audio file into a mono file. You can opt to merge the two stereo channels together, or to disregard either the left or right channels. This option is not available when working with mono files. Change sample rate: If you wish to have Tracktion convert the sample rate of an audio file to a different rate, you can use this option. Reverse: This option can be used to reverse the audio file. Reversed sounds are literally played backwards. There are no options available for this operation. Reference Guide 17 1.7 MIDI item properties When a MIDI item is selected, its properties are displayed in the properties-panel (Fig. 1.7.1). Various tools and options related to the MIDI item can be found on this panel. Figure 1.7.1 Name: This field shows the item name as seen in the item-list. You can also edit the name here. Renaming the edit here does not affect the MIDI file name, however. Project: This field shows the project to which this item belongs. File: This field shows the location of the item on your hard-drive. Description: This field allows you to enter a description of the MIDI clip, or make notes for future reference. Bare in mind that this field is scanned by the search tool; by inserting simple keywords into descriptions, you can make it far easier to locate material later.. Delete source file: Click this to delete the item and the source MIDI file. Delete item: Click this button to remove the item from the project. You will be prompted if you want to remove the source file as well. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Add marker: This option allows you to mark points of interest in MIDI clips. Drag the arrow to point at the region to which you wish to draw attention. Preview: Click this to preview the MIDI file. Preview level: Use this option to adjust how loud previews will be played. 18 Tracktion 2 Chapter 2: The settings page 2.1 The audio devices tab The "settings" page is where most of Tracktion's configuration settings can be found. Here you will find a range of options that can be used to tweak Tracktion to better suit your way of working, and to get the best out of your computer hardware. There are five tabs contained within the settings page: · The audio devices tab is used to configure your audio and MIDI hardware. · The plugins tab is used to control how Tracktion locates plug-ins installed on your computer. · The key-mappings tab offers options for personalising Tracktion's keyboard shortcuts. · The external-controllers tab allows you to attach control surfaces such as Mackie's Control Universal, and Control C4 devices. · The miscellaneous tab provides a range of general settings that you can adjust depending on your needs. To configure your audio and MIDI devices: · Click on the settings tab at the top of the Tracktion interface. This will display the settings page. · Select the "audio devices" tab to view and configure the audio devices available on your computer. The top-most part of this page is the wave device region (Fig. 2.1.1). Figure 2.1.1 At the top of this display there is a drop-down list. This is where you choose your wave device. In Tracktion, the term "device" is used to refer to all input and output hardware, such as sound-cards and MIDI interfaces. Tracktion will normally select a suitable ASIO or CoreAudio driver by default. If you have more than one sound-card installed, or Tracktion chooses a DirectSound driver instead of an ASIO one, you may need to change this. The entries in the wave device list refer to the available audio drivers installed on your computer. There may be a number of entries in this list depending on the type(s) of sound-card(s) you have installed, but generally speaking, you will only be interested in the ASIO/CoreAudio options, as these offer the best performance within Tracktion. Sample rate: This control sets the sample rate that Tracktion uses for playback and mixing. For audio intended for CD you will typically want to set this to 44100. Opinion is split on whether working at higher rates is Reference Guide 19 worthwhile, but if you like to work at higher sample rates then it is a good idea to increase this value in fixed multiples of your desired final sample rate (e.g., 88200 Hz for CD audio). Be aware that higher sample rates require correspondingly more processing power, so doubling the sample rate will likely halve the amount of effects, VSTis, and tracks, your computer can process. Latency: This control sets the size of the audio buffer. The buffer is required to provide an uninterrupted audio stream. Setting this value lower than your computer's processor can properly handle may cause audio problems during playback and record and can increase the demands placed on your processor. Restart device: Clicking this button causes Tracktion to re-initialise the drivers for your audio hardware. This can sometimes help if the audio driver crashes. In addition, if you have made changes to your hardware settings through the ASIO control panel, then you may need to restart the audio device before Tracktion will recognise the changes. PC and ASIO drivers There are a few extra ASIO related options available for PC users. These options are not available for Mac users. Use ASIO direct mode: This option may improve performance with some ASIO drivers. Typically it is benign at worst, and many USB devices will benefit from it, so it is probably worth leaving it enabled. If you are having problems with sound in Tracktion, you should try toggling this setting. Show ASIO control panel: This button displays the control panel for the currently selected ASIO device. Please note, the screen you see here will be specific to your hardware, so refer to the documentation that came with your audio hardware for further information. Use real-time priority mode: This option can help with compatibility for some ASIO sound cards. Note, this option should only be enabled when absolutely necessary, as it can conflict with some VST plug-ins, causing Tracktion to freeze. PC users note: Some ASIO drivers do not allow settings such as sample rate and latency to be adjusted by external applications. If your ASIO driver is one of these cases, then Tracktion's sample rate and latency options will have only the current values as choices. In this case you will need to set these values from the ASIO driver's own interface by clicking the "show ASIO control panel" button. Be sure to click the "restart device" button when you are done. Mac and CoreAudio drivers If you are using a Mac and some of your CoreAudio devices are not listed, this may be because they are not currently connected to the Mac. Close Tracktion, check the connections, and try again. A good way to check if a CoreAudio device is properly connected to your computer, is to launch the "AudioMidi Setup" Utility and make sure that the device in question is available as a hardware choice. The audio input and output devices With a suitable wave device chosen, select which audio inputs and outputs you will be using. Be aware that all active inputs and outputs consume computing power, so disable any I/O channels that you do not need. For example, if you are using only virtual instruments, and therefore only need a single stereo output, you can disable any other outputs you may have. Equally, if you use a particular input or output only occasionally, it probably makes sense to leave it disabled. You can always enable it when needed. At the bottom of the "audio devices" tab there is an option labelled "only show enabled devices" (Fig. 2.1.2). Enabling this option can be convenient if your audio interface has a large number of inputs and/or outputs, some of which you rarely use. You will need to uncheck this setting temporarily if you wish to enable devices that are currently disabled, however. 20 Tracktion 2 To enable or disable an audio device, just click on the enable/disable label to the left of the entry. You can also nominate one audio output to be the "default audio device." The default output will become the master output for Tracktion's mixed stereo output from the master fader in the lower right hand corner of the edit screen. To make a different output the default, just click on the "make this the default" label. The MIDI input and output devices MIDI input and output devices can be enabled or disabled in the MIDI device section (Fig. 2.1.2) of the audio devices tab. Whilst MIDI devices consume much less computing power than audio devices, it is still good practise to disable any I/O channels that you do not need. At the bottom of the "audio devices" tab there is an option labelled "only show enabled devices" (Fig. 2.1.2). Enabling this option can be convenient if your MIDI interface has a large number of inputs and/or outputs, some of which you rarely use. You will need to uncheck this setting temporarily if you wish to enable devices that are currently disabled, however. To enable or disable a MIDI device, just click on the enable/disable label to the left of the entry. You can also nominate one MIDI output to be the "default MIDI device." The default output will be used by the click-track (see Chapter 4.4). To make a different output the default, just click on the "make this the default" label. Figure 2.1.2 2.2 The audio output device properties When an audio output device is selected, its various configuration options will be displayed in the propertiespanel (Fig. 2.2.1). Figure 2.2.1 Treat as stereo channel pair: You can opt to have Tracktion combine two mono audio outputs into a single stereo pair (the default state). When disabled, the two channels appear as two mono devices; when enabled, they appear as one stereo device. The files created when recording through mono input devices will correspondingly be mono. Audio recorded to a stereo input will likewise produce stereo files. Reference Guide 21 Dithering enabled: Dithering can subjectively improve quality when reducing the sample resolution from Tracktion's internal 64/32 bit format, to the 24/16 bit format used by most audio devices. Left/right reversed: When selected, the left and right channels are swapped. You can use this option to correct for audio devices with incorrect stereo configuration, or patching mistakes in your studio. 2.3 The audio input device options When an audio input device is selected, its various configuration options will be displayed in the propertiespanel (Fig. 2.3.1). Figure 2.3.1 Treat as stereo channel pair: You can opt to have Tracktion combine two mono audio inputs into a single stereo pair (the default state). When disabled, the two channels appear as two mono devices; when enabled, they appear as one stereo device. Enable end-to-end: When end-to-end is active on an input, audio is received during playback and not just when recording. If an input is actively receiving an input signal, it will be using some of your computer's processing power. However, enabling this option allows you to use Tracktion as an effects processor for a live external audio source, such as a guitar or vocals. Generally, you want to leave this option enabled since you can silence inputs within the edit page at any time. Note: In addition to this end-to-end option, there is a global end-to-end option in the transport-section (see Chapter 3.6). This global end-to-end option allows Tracktion to receive and transmit audio and MIDI data even when playback is stopped. If you are intending to use Tracktion to apply effects to a live guitar, vocal, or synthesiser performance, you should enable this end-to-end option also. Input gain: This option allows you to boost or cut the level of the incoming audio. Note: This option should be used with caution. This is done digitally after the signal has been converted from analog. So changing this gain will not help with proper gain staging. It is simply a convenience for a situation where you know you will need to increase the gain of the recorded audio files. Normally it is much better to change the gain non-destructively using the channel fader or the clip level properties, as well as to make sure the level of audio received by this input is loud enough. Trigger level: Recording from this device will only begin when the trigger level has been reached. It is good practise to leave this setting at "­INF dB" when not needed, as it may save you a few frustrating minutes trying to work out why your recordings are being lost. 22 Tracktion 2 You can use the trigger level as an alternative to punched recording: · In the edit page, select the audio input though which you wish to make recording. · The properties-panel will show the audio-input-device options with an extra input meter. · Use this input meter to see the audio level of any background noise reaching the input. · Set the trigger level at a few dBs above the noise-floor level. · Start recording. If you have set the threshold correctly, Tracktion will begin recording from this device when the vocalist or instrumentalist attached to this input begins their performance. Time adjust: If you find that your recorded audio is a little early or late in relation to everything else, try adjusting this value to compensate. The "auto detect" button can be used to have Tracktion automatically compensate for timing errors caused by audio hardware. Auto-detect: The auto-detect option will determine the time taken for audio to pass through the converters of your audio hardware, and configure the "time adjust" field to compensate for any delay. To perform the delay detection, Tracktion sends a series of pulses from an audio output device, and records the time taken for them to reach the audio input device. Before starting the test, you will need to connect a cable from one of your audio outputs to the input you wish to test. It is a good idea to use the "auto-detect" option after installing/re-installing Tracktion, or adding new audio hardware to your computer. Alias: If you have a number of input devices it can sometimes be hard to keep track of them all. You may, therefore, find it helpful to enter a descriptive name in the alias box. Record mode: This option controls how the recorded material is added to the edit. There are three modes (Fig. 2.3.2): · Overlay newly recorded clips onto edit: When this option is selected, recorded audio clips will be placed on top of the existing clips. Note that in loop-record mode, this option is ignored. · Replace old clips in edit with new ones: When this option is selected, new clips will delete existing clips. The existing audio material will not be lost, however, and this operation is entirely non-destructive. Note that in loop-record mode, this option is ignored. · Don't make recordings from this device: Select this option if you need end-to-end capability for this input but do not wish to record from it, i.e., if you are recording from one or more inputs, and wish to monitor signal on another input, but don't want recordings to be made from it at the current time, you can use this option. Figure 2.3.2 Filename: You can create custom file-name patterns for recorded audio. File format: You can select whether Tracktion stores recorded audio as a broadcast WAV, or AIFF, format file. If you choose to store the audio as a WAV file, Tracktion will insert an industry standard BWAV time-stamp. This allows audio to be quickly aligned to its original position, without affecting compatibility with any other software that you will use your recorded WAV files with. Reference Guide 23 Bit depth: You can select the bit depth to use for the saved audio. Note, this does not set the recording resolution for the audio input. The bit-depth that the signal is recorded at is determined by the audio drivers for the device. This setting only affects the format of the audio file that is stored to disc. If your input device can only record at 16-bit, setting the bit-depth to anything higher than 16-bit will not produce any benefits. Reset filename: If you have changed the contents of the "filename" field, you can use this button to restore the default setting. Use the same properties for all devices: When this option is selected, all audio input devices will share the same settings. Changing a setting on one device will apply that setting to all devices. Clicking this button displays a pop-up menu (Fig. 2.3.3) that offers the following options: · Copy this device's settings to other devices: When this option is selected, the properties for the current device are applied to all other audio input devices. · Leave other devices settings unchanged: When this option is selected, the properties of other devices are not altered. This option allows you to change an option globally, without affecting other options. It typically makes sense to enable this setting, especially if you have an audio device with many inputs, but if you need to set different settings for each device, then you can disable it. Figure 2.3.3 2.4 The MIDI output options When a MIDI output device is selected, its various configuration options will be displayed in the propertiespanel (Fig. 2.4.1). Figure 2.4.1 Pre-delay: If you find that your external MIDI tends to trigger its sound a little early, or late, in relation to everything else, try adjusting this value to compensate. The pre-delay value is given in milliseconds. Send midi timecode: When this option is selected, this MIDI output will send MIDI timecode to any attached devices. MIDI timecode is a very powerful synchronisation tool that shares much in common with SMPTE. MIDI timecode carries time-of-day information that allows for a degree of error recovery if timing messages are lost, making a very robust method by which to synchronise two or more MIDI devices. MIDI timecode is sent at the frame rate of the edit. This is set from the timecode menu on the edit screen. See Chapter 4.2. 24 Tracktion 2 Send midi clock: When this option is selected, this MIDI output will send a MIDI clock signal to any attached devices. MIDI clock is the most simple form of synchronisation between two MIDI devices. Unlike MIDI timecode, it carries no time information, just a pulse that effectively stamps out a metronome. Other MIDI devices can then use the pulse to keep time with the master device. 2.5 The MIDI input options When a MIDI output device is selected, its various configuration options will be displayed in the propertiespanel (Fig. 2.5.1). Figure 2.5.1 Action: This option controls how the recorded MIDI material is added to the edit. There are four modes (Fig. 2.5.2): · Merge newly recorded midi into any existing clips: When this option is selected, MIDI data will be added to existing clips. New clips will only be created if no clip is already present. · Overlay new clips containing newly recorded midi: When this option is selected, new clips will be created and placed on top of existing clips in the edit. · Replace existing clips with newly recorded clips: When this option is selected, any existing clips will be deleted by newly recorded clips. · End-to-end from this device, but don't actually record: Select this option if you do not wish to record from this device but wish it to be active whilst recording is in progress, i.e., if you are recording from one or more inputs and wish to monitor signal on another input, but don't want recordings to be made from it at the current time, you can use this option. Figure 2.5.2 Midi filter: MIDI data will be passed from the input (and recorded) for all enabled MIDI channels. Disabling any of the 16 channel buttons will filter out those channels. MIDI data transmitted on these disabled channels will be ignored by Tracktion, and will not be played or recorded. Channel: Here you can assign a default MIDI channel for any MIDI recorded through this input. Program: If you wish to assign a default program to recorded MIDI, you can choose the program here (uses General MIDI program names). Reference Guide 25 Alias: If you have a number of input devices, it can sometimes be hard to keep track of them all. You may therefore find it helpful to enter a descriptive name in the alias box. Set program: This option provides a pop-up menu to set the "program" value. Quantise: Destructively quantises the incoming notes to the note size selected from the list. Note: MIDI clips have a non-destructive quantise tool that you may wish to use instead of this. Set all incoming note velocities to full: Select this option to force all Incoming note velocities to full (velocity value 127). Time adjust: If you find that your recorded MIDI is a little early or late in relation to everything else, try adjusting this value to compensate. Allow midi controller remapping: Controller remapping allows MIDI controllers, such as a modulation wheel, to control parameters of VST plug-ins. When this option is disabled, no remapping will occur for this input. For more information on control-remapping, see Chapter 7.2. Enable end-to-end: When end-to-end is active on an input, MIDI will be received during playback, and not just when recording. Generally you will want to leave this option enabled, since you can silence inputs within the edit page at any time. 2.6 The plug-ins tab The top-most part of the plug-ins tab shows the list of directories that Tracktion searches for VST plug-ins (Fig. 2.6.1). The directories listed in this box, and all of their sub-directories, are searched for VST plug-ins. Figure 2.6.1 Remove path: Click this button to remove a path entry from the search list. Add path..: Many 3rd party plug-ins will not give you a chance to alter the installation directory. If the installation is to a path that Tracktion does not know to search, the plug-in will not be available for use. This option allows you to add a new path to the search list, and as such you can add the directory that your new plug-in installed to. When this button is clicked, Tracktion will display a dialogue-box. Navigate to your plug-in directory, and click "OK." Move up / down: These buttons allow you to adjust the order in which directories are searched. Directories at the top of the list are searched first. Figure 2.6.2 26 Tracktion 2 The next box (Fig. 2.6.2) shows a list of plug-ins that Tracktion has chosen to ignore. If a plug-in file cannot be opened as a VST plug-in, Tracktion will add it to this list. Plug-ins may fail to open properly if they do not correctly adhere to the VST standard. Sometimes plug-ins are incorrectly added to the list because they failed to initialise correctly at some point. If you believe a plug-in should work, but it has been added to this list, try removing it and rescanning the plugin directories. Rescan plug-in directories: This button cause Tracktion to look for new or changed plug-ins. Always check for new plugins at start-up: This option sets whether Tracktion should look for new plug-ins when starting up. When disabled, you will need to initiate a manual rescan after installing new plug-ins. Tracktion may open faster when this option is disabled, however. Enable Rewire: Selecting this option activates support for ReWire applications, if any are installed. Add low-level noise to avoid denormalisation: Denormalisation happens when processors are required to process numbers that are two small to work with in an optimal manner. Typically numbers need to be extremely small to cause a processor to denormalise. Different processors have different thresholds though, and certain Pentium 4 processors have a much higher than usual threshold. Often these low numbers will be caused by reverbs, and delays. If you notice that your CPU usage tends to spike unexpectedly at certain points in an edit, even if there seems to be little going on at that point, this is probably denormalisation. The best approach if you experience denormalisation is to contact the plug-in developer, but when enabled, this option can sometimes help. 2.7 The key-mappings tab Tracktion has a comprehensive range of keyboard shortcuts. Learning the shortcuts, and configuring them to your taste can greatly improve your workflow. Figure 2.7.1 Each line in the editor corresponds to a Tracktion function. The function description forms the left-hand column, and the assigned shortcut (if any) is shown to the right. Reference Guide 27 If you click on an existing shortcut, you are presented with a menu from which you can change or remove the shortcut. Clicking on the plus ("+") symbol allows you to set, or add, a shortcut for the function. Up to three shortcuts can be created for each command. If you choose to add a shortcut, you will be prompted to press the keys you wish to be mapped to the current function. If you choose a key-stroke that is already assigned to another function, Tracktion asks if you wish to clear the existing shortcut or cancel the current operation. Reset to defaults: This button sets the key-mappings back to the factory default. View as HTML...: This button opens a web-browser and displays the current key-map. You can use this to obtain a printout of the key-mappings. Save/load key-mappings...: These buttons allow you to save and recall key-maps. In addition, Tracktion ships with key-maps that match those used by other sequencers, so if you are familiar with a set of keyboard shortcuts, you may find one of these key-maps more comfortable to work with. Clicking either of these buttons will display a standard file-requestor dialogue-box. 2.8 Installing external controllers Tracktion can support external control surfaces such as the Mackie Control Universal and Control C4 devices. Many people find devices such as these faster to work with than a mouse, as they provide many of the most commonly accessed features right at your finger-tips and provide a familiar tactile environment for mixing and editing. The list on the left (Fig. 2.8.1) shows the control surfaces supported by your version of Tracktion. If you own one or more of these devices, simply select it from the list, and select the MIDI input and output devices to which your control surface is connected. An external controller requires a MIDI input and output pair to itself, and MIDI cables should be connected directly from your MIDI device to the external controller. Once the input and output devices have been chosen, the controller will update to work with the current edit the moment you switch to the edit page. Figure 2.8.1 The Mackie Control Universal and Control C4 devices are described in detail in Chapters 7.3 and 7.4. 28 Tracktion 2 2.9 The miscellaneous settings tab The miscellaneous tab (Fig. 2.9.1) contains various settings for customising Tracktion's behaviour. These options are common across all edits (global settings). The "options" button in the control-section of the edit page contains further options available for adjusting Tracktion's behaviour, but unlike the miscellaneous tab options, those options are saved with an edit, and are local to that edit (session dependent). The "options" button is discussed in Chapter 3.5. Username: Set the name of the current Tracktion user. Import user-settings / export user-settings: You can use these buttons to save and recall configuration settings. This allows you to backup your configuration settings, and also to create custom configurations for different projects, or types of project. Temp directory: This is where Tracktion stores temporary files. The temporary directory will be emptied when Tracktion is closed, so be sure to create a dedicated folder. If you have a fast, dedicated audio hard-drive, you should place the temporary directory on that drive. Figure 2.9.1 Auto-save edits: Use this option to set the frequency at which Tracktion automatically saves your work. Saving edits: You can set how Tracktion reacts if you attempt to exit the application without first saving an open edit. Undo levels: This controls how many stages of undo/redo are available for the edit page. Increasing this value will allow you to backtrack through more edits, but uses correspondingly more of your computer's memory to store the edit history. The default size is generally a good compromise. Cache size: You can adjust how much of your computer's main memory (RAM) is used to cache audio files. Caching helps audio tracks play back without glitches or drop-outs, but reduces the amount of memory available to applications and plug-ins. Making this value too large will also be counter-productive because computers become much less efficient once main memory is depleted. The default setting of 64 MB is usually fine, but you may want to increase it if you have lots of RAM installed on your computer. Reference Guide 29 Middle-C: The correct octave to use as middle C is not standardised. As such, many different devices and MIDI applications use differing octaves to represent middle C. You can set your personal preference for the middle C octave here. MIDI popup: When editing MIDI, a piano display is visible to the left of the clip. This option allows you to select whether the piano is positioned at the side of the clip, or in the input area. The MIDI editor is described in Chapter 6.1. Track resizing: This controls how tracks and clips vertically resize when double-clicked. · Double-clicking a track toggles between small and medium height: A double-click on a clip or a track causes the track to resize to a size roughly six times the default track height. This height is large enough for the MIDI editor tools to become available. A subsequent double-click reduces the track to the default size. · Double-clicking a track toggles between small and large height: A double-click on a clip or a track causes the track to resize to nearly the height of the arrange area. A subsequent double-click reduces the track to the default size. · Double-clicking a track toggles between small, medium, and large heights: Each double-click cycles the track height between the three default stages. Renaming a clip in an edit also renames its source item: When enabled, renaming clips in the edit page will cause the corresponding entry in the item-list of the project page to be renamed. Hide big VST interfaces when the mouse isn't over them: When enabled, Tracktion automatically hides 3rd party plug-in interfaces when the mouse is moved out of their window. This option can be useful for laptop users with small screens. Send all-controllers-off midi message when play stops: Enable this option to have Tracktion send an all-controllers-off message to MIDI devices, and plug-ins, when play-back stops. Some devices need this message to correctly react to play-back changes, but other devices may dislike this setting. If you are experiencing stuck notes, you may find that this setting helps as well. Generally it is better on than off, but if your MIDI gear is doing strange things when you stop playback, try disabling this option. Use 64-bit math when mixing tracks: Enabling this option will improve audio fidelity when mixing lots of tracks. Be aware that this option comes with a performance cost, and may not be suitable for lower power computers. Meter response: This setting controls how quickly level meters decay. You can choose between slowly, quickly, and instantly. Peak hold: Here you can set for how long the peak level indicator is held. · Level meter peaks drop after two seconds: When this option is selected, level meters will show the highest level attained within the last two seconds. · Level meter peaks drop after ten seconds: When this option is selected, level meters will show the highest level attained within the last two seconds. · Level meter peaks never drop: When this option is selected, the peak level will be shown until playback is restarted. Show colour editor: This option displays the colour editor for configuring the appearance of Tracktion. The editor is described in the next section of this chapter. 30 Tracktion 2 2.10 The colour editor The colour editor (Fig. 2.10.1) allows you to adjust the appearance of Tracktion to your taste. The colour editor is highly versatile, allowing nearly every aspect of Tracktion's user interface to be altered. Figure 2.10.1 The list on the left-hand side of the window contains all of the modifiable UI elements. When an item is selected, its colour can be adjusted via the colour controls on the right-hand side of the editor. Colour changes generally affect the user interface in real-time, so you can see the impact your changes are having, as you work. If you find user interface elements that do not update in real-time, switching back and forth between pages will show the changes. Tracktion also ships with some preset colour schemes. You can access these from the "preset schemes" button. In addition to providing some great alternatives to the default Tracktion look, you may find it useful to look through these to get a feel for how the editor can be used to customise Tracktion. Tip: To make real-time changes to elements on the edit page, use the SHIFT + CTRL + G (SHIFT + ALT + C for Mac users) keyboard shortcut to display the colour editor, without having to switch page tabs. Load colour scheme...: Load a previously saved colour scheme. When this button is clicked, a standard filerequestor dialogue-box appears. From this box you can navigate to a previously saved colour-scheme file on your hard-drive. Save colour scheme ...: Save the current colour scheme. When this button is clicked, a standard file-requestor dialogue-box appears. from this box you can select a file-name and a path under which to save your colour scheme. Preset schemes...: Click this button to access a collection of preset colour schemes. Undo: If you edit an element's colour, but are unhappy with the result, you can use the undo button to return the element back to the pre-edit colour. The colour box: The top-tight hand side of the colour editor shows the current colour, and the hexadecimal value for it. Reference Guide 31 The saturation/lightness selector box: The large square region allows you to adjust the colour shade of the selected element. Click on the region that matches your desired shade to select it. The hue selector: The vertical hue selector strip is used to pick a base colour. If, for example, you wanted a light yellow colour, click on the yellow region of the hue selector bar and use the saturation/lightness box to create the specific shade of yellow you have in mind. Red: You can use this control to adjust the red content in the colour. In addition, you can enter a red value as a hexadecimal number. Green: You can use this control to adjust the green content in the colour. In addition, you can enter a green value as a hexadecimal number. Blue: You can use this control to adjust the blue content in the colour. In addition, you can enter a blue value as a hexadecimal number. Alpha: The alpha value controls how "opaque," or transparent, the colour is. An alpha value of zero effectively makes the selected element invisible. Correspondingly, setting the alpha slider to the far right (value "FF") produces a solid colour that completely hides elements beneath it. To see some of the selected element's background "through" the element, choose an alpha value somewhere between these two extremes. Note: Changes made to the colour editor are remembered between sessions, but it is still a good idea to save your scheme. 32 Tracktion 2 Chapter 3: The edit page The edit page is where you compose, edit, and mix your songs. Almost all of the tools you will use for writing and mixing your music are contained on this page. 3.1 The input section There are two different ways of working with the input section: the per-track view, and the icon view. To switch between them: · Click the "options" button in the control section. · Select the "Use a `per-track view' for input devices" option from the pop-up menu. Icon view If you are using the icon view, you will see all of your input devices as icons arranged in the filter section. Drag your chosen audio input device to the track on which you wish to record. To arm the input, drag it to the right. When it is close enough to the track, an arrow pointing to the track appears (Fig. 3.1.1). You can unarm the input by dragging it to the left until the arrow disappears. Figure 3.1.1 Per-track view To select an audio input device, click and drag slightly on the shaded input region to the left of the track name. This displays a pop-up menu from which you can select your desired input (Fig. 3.1.2). Input devices in the per-track view can be enabled or disabled by clicking the large red "R" icon. If the icon is solid red, then the input is armed. Otherwise, if the icon is non-solid with a bar across it, the input is unarmed. In addition to the available input devices, the per-track view pop-up menu also offers the following options for quickly managing multi-track recording: Figure 3.1.2 Assign all inputs to consecutive tracks: When this option is selected, available audio input devices will be automatically assigned to the current track, and the tracks below it. This option does not apply to MIDI inputs. Note: Any previously assigned audio inputs will be replaced when this option is selected. Enable/Disable all devices for recording: Use this option to toggle all assigned inputs between armed and unarmed state. This option applies to both audio and MIDI input devices. Keyboard shortcut: ALT + R (CTRL + R for Mac users). The track names In addition to the input devices, the input section also contains the track name section. The extra tools available for working with tracks from within the input section are described later in Section 3 of this chapter. Reference Guide 33 3.2 The arrange area Figure 3.2.1 Zooming in and out horizontally You can zoom in and out of edits in a number of ways: · Using the mouse-wheel. (See note below). · Dragging the mouse left or right whilst holding down the right-mouse button. · Using the CURSOR UP and CURSOR DOWN keys. · Using the F4 key to zoom in to the edit such that only the selected clips are shown. · Using the F5 key to zoom out of the edit such that the entire edit can be displayed on screen. · Using the F6 key to zoom in to the edit such that a few seconds on either side of the play-head cursor are visible. · Using the F7 key to zoom in to the edit such that only the region between the loop-start and loop-end markers is shown. Scrolling through an edit The following tools and shortcuts are available to help you quickly navigate through your edits: · Using the mouse-wheel whilst the SHIFT key is held down. (See note below). · Dragging the mouse left or right whilst holding down the left-mouse button. · Using the CURSOR LEFT and CURSOR RIGHT keys to move the play-head cursor. · Using the HOME and END keys to move to the start/end of the selected clips, or the edit. · Using the marker tools to set song markers. Markers are discussed in Chapter Four. Note: The behaviour of the mouse-wheel can be switched between zoom and scroll. Depending which function is assigned to your mouse-wheel, the alternate functionality can be achieved by holding down the SHIFT key. To change the default behaviour, click the "options" button in the control-section. Select the "mouse wheel action" option, and choose your preferred behaviour from the sub-menu. 34 Tracktion 2 Zooming in and out vertically You can grow or shrink tracks vertically by: · Positioning the mouse pointer in the input section, holding down the CTRL key (CMD for Mac users), and using the mouse-wheel. · Using the SHIFT + CTRL + CURSOR UP / DOWN keys (SHIFT + CMD + CURSOR UP / DOWN for Mac users). · Using the F8 key to resize tracks such that they are all visible on screen. · Using the F9 key to resize tracks such that they are all set to the default height. Zooming into individual tracks You can expand and shrink tracks individually by either: · Using the Z key to expand any selected clip(s). The behaviour of this shortcut can be modified in the miscellaneous settings (see Chapter 2.9). · Holding the mouse pointer between two tracks (Fig. 3.2.2). The dividing line between the tracks will be highlighted. Click and drag vertically on the divider line to resize the track. · Double-clicking on the track name, or on a clip contained in the track above the divider. Figure 3.2.2 Scrolling through the tracks You can scroll though the tracks vertically by: · Using the mouse-wheel whilst the mouse pointer is over the input section. · Using the SHIFT + CURSOR UP and SHIFT + CURSOR DOWN keys. · Using the CTRL + HOME keys (CMD + HOME for Mac users) to scroll to the top-most track. · Using the CTRL + HOME keys (CMD + HOME for Mac users) to scroll to the bottom-most track. Selecting clips You can select a group of clips by: · Holding down CTRL (CMD for Mac users) whilst clicking on the target clips. · Holding down ALT (CTRL for Mac users) whilst left-click dragging a rectangle (lasso) around the desired clips. · Selecting a clip and using the CTRL + A keys (CMD + A for Mac users) to select all clips on the track. · Pressing the CTRL + A keys (CMD + A for Mac users) twice to select all clips in the edit. Reference Guide 35 3.3 The track options The input section, and track names Renaming tracks quickly: · Click the name of the track to be renamed. This selects the track, and displays its properties. · Press the TAB key on your keyboard. This automatically moves focus to the track name field in the track properties. (The track properties are described in greater detail later in this section.) · Type a new name for the track. Moving tracks: · Click and drag the name of the track you wish to move. Tip: Resizing tracks is discussed in the previous section. If you see a yellow exclamation mark after the track name (Fig.3.3.1), this means that there are audio or MIDI clips on the track that are likely to be inaudible. This will happen if audio clips are placed on a track that outputs to a MIDI device, or MIDI clips are placed on a track that does not contain a VSTi or output to a MIDI device. Setting the track output is described a little later in this chapter. Figure 3.3.1 The right-click menu Right-clicking on the track name area causes a pop-up menu (Fig. 3.3.2) to appear. Some options in this menu operate on all selected tracks; others operate only on the track that received the right-click. The options available are: Copy selected tracks to clipboard: Use this option to copy all selected tracks, and their filter sections, to the clipboard. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + C (CMD + C for Mac users). Figure 3.3.2 Delete selected tracks: Use this function to delete any currently selected tracks from the edit. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Insert clipboard at cursor position: When this option is selected, the contents of the clipboard are inserted into the target track. Space is inserted into the track's existing contents to accommodate the pasted material. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + I (CMD + I for Mac users). Create a new track: A new track will be added to the edit. The track will be inserted directly beneath the selected track. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + T (CMD + T for Mac users). Select all tracks: When this option is chosen, all tracks will be selected. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + A (CMD + A for Mac users). Select all clips in this track: Choose this option to quickly select all clips on the target track. Deselect all clips in this track: This option returns all clips on the track to an unselected state. Expand track: Use this option to increase the vertical size of the target track to a level suitable for MIDI editing, etc. Keyboard shortcut: Z. 36 Tracktion 2 Shrink track: Choose this to reduce back to normal the size of a previously expanded track. Keyboard shortcut: Z. Fit all tracks on screen: This option vertically resizes all tracks such that they all fit on the screen. Keyboard shortcut: F8. The "tracks" button Clicking on the "tracks" button displays a pop-up menu (Fig. 3.3.3) with the following options: Create a new track: Select this option to have Tracktion insert a new track into the edit. The new track will be placed below the currently selected track. If no track is selected, the new track will be created below the last existing track. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + T (CMD + T for Mac users). Figure 3.3.3 Create several new tracks: This option allows you to create a number of new tracks in one operation. A sub-menu appears from which you can select any number between two and sixteen tracks to add. Fit all tracks on screen: When this option is selected, Tracktion will resize the height of all tracks such that they can all fit on screen. Keyboard shortcut: F8. Set all tracks to default height: When this option is selected, Tracktion resizes all tracks to the default track height. Keyboard shortcut: F9. The track properties Clicking on a track's name in the input section displays the properties for that track (Fig. 3.3.4). As with most things in Tracktion, a number of tracks can be selected at once by holding down the CTRL key (CMD for Mac users). When multiple tracks are selected however, a few of the options described below are not available. Figure 3.3.4 Name: This field allows you to view or set the name of the track(s) as shown in the filter section. Mute/solo: These options allow the track(s) to be muted or soloed. These controls are duplicates of the mute/ solo controls in the track's filter section. Delete track: This button removes the track(s) from the edit. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Freeze track: This option "freezes" the track(s). Freezing is discussed in Chapter 8.1. Reference Guide 37 Render track: When this button is clicked, a pop-up menu appears. From this menu, you can export the track as an audio or MIDI file. Rendering is described further in Chapter 8.2. · Render into the project directory: Select this option to have Tracktion place the rendered file in the current project folder. · Render to a specific file...: This option allows you to control the name and destination of the output file. Insert new tracks: This option adds new tracks to the edit. From this menu you can choose to add a number of tracks at once from a set of preset menus. You can also add a single track by pressing CTRL + T (CMD + T for Mac users). New tracks will be inserted between the current track and the next track. Insert a new clip: When this button is clicked, a pop-up menu is shown from which you can choose the type of clip to add. The new clip will be placed on the current track. If there is a loop region set, and the "make new clips the size of the marked region" option is selected in the "options" menu, then the new clip will fill that region. Otherwise a new clip of arbitrary length will be created at the cursor point. For information on the "options" button pop-up menu, see Chapter 3.5. · Insert new MIDI clip: Adds a new MIDI clip to the edit. Keyboard shortcut: G. · Insert new audio clip: Adds a new audio clip to the edit. The audio clip will not reference any audio files, so you will need to set the referenced file after inserting the clip. If you are working with an existing audio file, it is usually faster to copy it to the clipboard and paste it as a new clip in the edit. You can also use the "import audio or MIDI file" option from the "import" button located in the control-section (see Chapter 10.1). Move track up/down: These options allow you to move the track up or down in the track-list order. You can also reposition a track in the list by dragging on the track's name. Select all clips in track: This option highlights all clips in this track. Keyboard shortcut (with clip selected): CTRL + A (CMD + A for Mac users). Shrink / grow: These options reduce, or increase, the vertical size of the track through four preset sizes: squashed, normal, large, and extra-large. The largest two sizes are especially useful for MIDI clips, as these sizes are large enough to allow for MIDI editing in the piano-roll editor. Mute / unmute all filters: These buttons cyclically set all filters on the track to muted (disabled) or unmuted (enabled). Auto-advance: This option sets whether Tracktion chooses an optimum value for the "advance" field, or whether you are instead providing a manual setting. Unless you have a very good reason to adjust this setting for a track, it is a good idea to always leave it enabled. Advance: Sometimes in order for a track to play in synchronisation with the edit, it is necessary to introduce a timing offset to the track. Although this may seem counter-intuitive, there are lots of good reasons why this may be. For example, if external MIDI hardware tends to respond a little late to MIDI messages, you can compensate by adjusting the advance value so that this track plays a little early in relation to the rest of the edit. The "advance" value is also used to correct for plug-ins that introduce a delay to the signal passing through them (commonly referred to as "plug-in delay compensation" or PDC). If the auto-advance option is enabled, Tracktion will compensate for delays caused by plug-ins automatically. Insert into tracks: Clicking this button displays a pop-up menu (Fig. 3.3.5) with options for inserting material into the track. · Insert space in the marked region: This option creates an empty region between the loop markers on the current track(s). All clips and automation points at, or subsequent to, the loop-start marker are moved to the right by an amount equal to the current loop size. If there is marked region, this option will appear greyed-out. If all tracks are a selected, you can use this option to insert space into the entire edit, for example, to make room for an extended intro. 38 Tracktion 2 · Insert clipboard contents at cursor position: This option places the contents of the clipboard at the current cursor position. All subsequent clips and automation points on the track will be moved accordingly. If there is no content stored in the clipboard, this option will appear greyed-out. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + I (CMD + I for Mac users). Figure 3.3.5 Delete marked region: Clicking this button displays a pop-up menu (Fig. 3.3.6) with options for removing material from the track. · Clear marked region of selected tracks: This option deletes any clips contained within the loop markers on the selected track(s). Subsequent clips are not affected by this action. · Clear marked region of all tracks: This option deletes any clips contained within the loop markers on all tracks. Subsequent clips are not affected by this action. · Delete marked region of selected tracks and close the gaps: This option deletes any clips contained within the loop markers on the selected track(s). Subsequent clips and automation points are moved to the left by an amount equal to the current loop size. · Delete marked region of all tracks and close the gaps: This option deletes any clips contained within the loop markers on all tracks. Subsequent clips and automation points are moved to the left by an amount equal to the current loop size. Figure 3.3.6 Destination output for this track: By default all tracks send their output to the default audio device. If you wish to have audio sent to an alternate audio device, or have the MIDI data from a track sent to external MIDI gear, just select the desired output. You can also send the output of a track, or even a number of tracks, to another track. 3.4 The filter section A fundamental part of bringing a song to life is the process of setting the volume of all instruments, vocals, and percussive sounds, such that the listener's attention is drawn to the sounds you wish to emphasise, while keeping other sounds clearly audible. Effects processes, such as reverb, may be used to give sounds a sense of position and space. Treatments, such as compression, may be used to give sounds punch or weight without making them too loud. You may even use a little EQ to boost the bass of a kick drum, or maybe roll a little of the treble off an overly bright piano. Tracktion allows you to do all of these things, and much more. Fundamentally, mixing is all about levels, and Tracktion makes this very easy. Reference Guide 39 Note: When we refer to filters, we are describing any effect or instrument that can be inserted, or `plugged' into, the filter section. The terms filter and plug-in within this context are synonymous. When a track is first created, it contains a volume/pan filter and a level meter. These are the filters you will use for setting levels. In this way, the filter section of each new track represents the functionality of a classic mixing console. Figure 3.4.1 shows the default filter configuration. Figure 3.4.1 Adding filters to a track If you want to add other filters to your tracks, simply drag the icon labelled "new filter..." that is located just above the filter section and drop it where you want the new filter to be placed. Figure 3.4.2 shows a filter being added to track one. Notice that the area in front of the volume/pan filter is glowing red; this is how you can tell where the filter will be placed. If there is no illumination, then you are not currently over a valid target area. Figure 3.4.2 Once the "new filter" icon has been dropped, a list of available filters appears. Choose the filter you wish to add to the track from this list. Copying, moving, and deleting filters A filter can be easily removed from a track by selecting it, and pressing either the DELETE or BACKSPACE key. You can alter the order of the filter list, or even move a filter to a different track, by a simple drag operation. Holding down the CTRL key (CMD for Mac users) whilst dragging a filter creates a copy of it. The copy is created with identical settings. The right-click options If you right-click on a filter, you are presented with a pop-up menu (Fig. 3.4.3) with the following options: Disable: Use this option to toggle whether this filter is active. Disabling a filter stops it from processing the incoming signal. In addition, disabled filters typically do not use CPU resources. This option is useful for making A/B comparisons. Keyboard shortcut: F. Figure 3.4.3 40 Tracktion 2 Disable all filters in this track: Use this option to quickly disable all filters on the current track. This option is only available when right-clicking on filters that are situated in the filter section. Select all filters in this track: Use this option to quickly select all filters on the current track. This option is only available when right-clicking on filters that are situated in the filter section. Select all other filters of the same type: Use this option to select all filters in the edit that are of the same type as the current filter. It is useful to note that when an aux-send filter is selected, only other aux-sends that share the same bus number will be selected. In this way you can select only your reverb or chorus sends for example, leaving other sends unselected. Clear all automation curves for this filter: This option allows you to remove all automation data for this filter. If no automation data exists for this filter, this option will be greyed out. Display an active automation curve: If you select this option you will be show a list of active automation curves for the current filter. Select a curve from the list to have it shown on the track view. If no automation data exists for this filter, this option will be greyed out. Replace this filter: This option allows you to select a filter with which to replace the current filter. Wrap this filter in a new rack filter: This option will replace the current filter with a new rack filter. The current filter will be placed inside the rack, with all connections made automatically. This can be a handy way of creating racks for multiple-output VSTis. Place the VSTi on a track that you will be using it on, select this option, and then copy the new rack to other tracks as required. Rack filters are described in detail in Chapter 9. Delete this filter: This option removes the filter from the track, or audio clip it is located on. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. The mute/solo buttons Each track has a mute/solo switch, located at the far right-hand side of the filter section. These controls can be used to temporarily silence a track, or hear it in isolation. Clicking the "M" mute control temporarily silences a track. When a track is muted, the mute button will be highlighted. Mute can be used to hear a mix without a given instrument. It can be very handy when trying to locate sounds that do not complement each other. Clicking the mute button again, un-mutes the track. Clicking the "S" solo control temporarily silences all tracks but the current one. This is often useful when making changes to EQ, or compression on a track, as subtle changes may not be easy to hear when the full mix is playing. When a track has been soloed, the "S" button will be highlighted, and all non-soloed tracks will have a large cross shown on their mute/solo control. Clicking the solo button again, un-solos the track. Tip: It is useful to note that when tracks are muted, any filters contained on the track will cease to use its processing power. If you attempt to solo a track when another track is already soloed, Tracktion simply transfers solo status to the current track. If you want to have two or more tracks soloed, hold down the CTRL or ALT keys (CMD or CTRL for Mac users) whilst soloing another track. When working with tracks that feed into other tracks, be aware that: · Muting the destination track will effectively mute the source (sub-mix) tracks. · Soloing the destination track will mute all source tracks. You can use the multiple-solo key modifier described above to bring your sub-mix tracks into play if required. · Soloing a track that feeds into another track will solo both the source and destination tracks. Right-clicking on a mute/solo control displays a pop-up menu option to clear all mute/solo buttons back to the default state. Reference Guide 41 The volume/pan filter This filter allows you to set the volume level and panning of a track. Clicking on this filter displays the volume and pan settings for the track in the propertiespanel (Fig. 3.4.4). Figure 3.4.4 Notice how the volume/pan filter icon changes to reflect your pan and volume adjustments. The dark horizontal line shows the level, and the diamond shows the pan. Even more handily, the pan and level settings can be adjusted directly from the surface of the filter icon. To change the pan, for example, just click on the diamond and move it left and right. Figure 3.4.5 shows the volume/pan filter when the mouse is moved over the filter surface. Figure 3.4.5 Notice how the surface changes colour and the mouse-pointer becomes an up/down arrow in the first image. This shows that the volume/pan filter is in level editing mode. Click and drag the mouse vertically to adjust the volume. In the second image, the dark horizontal level bar is highlighted when the mouse is positioned over it. In addition, the mouse-pointer has become a left/right arrow. This shows that the volume/pan filter is in pan editing mode. Click and drag the mouse horizontally to adjust the pan position. Tip: Holding down a modifier key, such as CTRL whilst the mouse is positioned over a volume/pan filter switches the mouse-pointer to a four-way arrow. In this state, you can edit the pan and volume simultaneously. Volume: Use this field to view or edit the current volume fader level. Pan: Use this field to view or edit the current pan position. Apply to midi velocities: When this option is enabled, the volume control can be used to scale MIDI velocities. Reset volume to 0 dB: Use this button to quickly reset the volume to the default level. Centre panning: Use this button to quickly reset the pan control to centre. Mute: This button temporarily sets the volume to "­inf." Clicking this button again restores the volume to its previous level. This option is complementary to the main mute/solo controls in the filter section, as it is possible to automate this control if desired, whereas the main mute/solo controls cannot be automated. 42 Tracktion 2 Enabled: Use this option to toggle whether this filter is active. Disabling a filter stops it from processing the incoming signal. In addition, disabled filters typically do not use CPU resources. This option is useful for making A/B comparisons. Keyboard shortcut: F. Delete filter: Click this to remove the filter from the track. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Tip: You can place as many volume/pan filters on a track as you need. This can be useful for reducing levels fed into filters (some VST plugins can distort easily). You may also find it helpful if implementing level fades. Automate the first volume/pan between ­inf and 0 dB to create the fade and use the second as a standard track level. The level meter. This filter shows the level of signal passing through it. When selected, the properties-panel shows a large form of the level meter. Level meters also show MIDI velocities on MIDI tracks. When a level meter clips, red bars remain on the meter to alert you. Clicking on the meter clears the clip warning and resets the meter. If you right-click on a level meter, in addition to the normal right-click options for filters, you will also see the following options: Use peak mode: Select this option if you want the current meter to display levels in peak mode. In peak mode the meter simply shows the highest level attained by the incoming signal. Peak is particularly helpful for spotting clipping, or sudden spikes. Use RMS mode: Select this option if you want the current meter to display levels in RMS mode. RMS mode shows the average level of a signal. Clipping may be missed when in RMS mode, but it provides a much better idea of the actual acoustic energy of a track. Use sum + difference mode: Select this option if you want the current meter to display levels in sum + difference mode. This mode shows two levels, one is the shared stereo level, and the other is the difference between the two stereo levels. Reset all overloaded indicators: This option clears the clip warning on all meters. Keyboard shortcut: \. The properties-panel for selected level meters contains the following option: Delete filter: Click this to remove the filter from the track. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Reference Guide 43 The 4-band equaliser When selected, this filter shows a parametric equaliser interface in the properties-panel (Fig. 3.4.6). Whilst you cannot edit the EQ for this filter directly from the filter surface, changes made to the EQ slope through the editor are shown on the filter icon. This makes it easy to see at a glance what equalisation is being applied to a given track. Figure 3.4.6 The large circles control the frequency, gain, and slope (Q) of the four EQ bands. Dragging the centre square left and right changes the frequency, whereas dragging the square up and down alters the gain. The slope is depicted by the shaded segment of the circle. The larger the segment, the steeper the slope. Reset: This button can be used to quickly reset the EQ back to the default (flat) state. Phase invert: When this option is selected, the phase of the audio passing through the filter is inverted. Preset: Use these buttons to load, save, and delete EQ presets. Enabled: Use this option to toggle whether this filter is active. Disabling a filter stops it from processing the incoming signal. In addition, disabled filters typically do not use CPU resources. This option is useful for making A/B comparisons. Keyboard shortcut: F. Delete filter: Click this to remove the filter from the track. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. The ReWire filter ReWire is a methodology by which complete audio applications, such as sequencers, can easily be slaved to other such programs running on the same computer. Tracktion is capable of acting as a ReWire master, which means that any software that can be set to run as a ReWire slave can be used as an instrument inside Tracktion (for example Propellerhead Software's Reason and ReBirth applications.) To use ReWire you need to enable the ReWire option in the Tracktion settings. See Chapter 2.6 for details on enabling ReWire devices. ReWire devices are added to tracks in just the same way as any other filter. Once a ReWire device has been added to a track, it is necessary to perform a few simple steps to use a ReWire slaved application: 44 Tracktion 2 Figure 3.4.7 · Click the ReWire filter in the filter section. The properties are shown in the properties-panel (Fig. 3.4.7). · Click on the "choose device" button. A pop-up menu appears that lists all available ReWire slave applications installed on your computer. If this list is empty, you either have no ReWire applications installed or they are not installed correctly. · Select the ReWire application you wish to use from the pop-up menu. The properties-panel will update to show the connection options for the ReWire device (Fig. 3.4.8). Figure 3.4.8 Output channels to use: Many ReWire applications offer multiple output channels, allowing you to have drums or instruments processed and mixed separately in Tracktion. You can select which channels will be received by the current track from the left/right output channel boxes. If you wish to use more than one set of stereo outputs for the slaved program, you can simply add copies of this ReWire filter to other tracks and alter these two output channel boxes accordingly. Input channel for MIDI: You can also send MIDI data from Tracktion to your ReWire application. A ReWire application will have one or more "MIDI bus" entries available. Clicking the "MIDI bus" drop-down box shows the available buses (many ReWire applications only offer one choice). You can think of the MIDI bus as being broadly similar to a MIDI output device. In addition to the MIDI bus, each ReWire filter can be assigned a MIDI channel. The MIDI channel is chosen from the "channel" drop-down box. Launch editor: When this button is clicked, the ReWire application will be launched. This allows you to make edits to the material played by the ReWire device. Closing the application returns you to the Tracktion interface. The aux send/return filters Effects Loops in Tracktion are created using two complementary filters, the "aux send" filter and the "aux return" filter. The send filter replicates the send rotary control of a mixing console, and the return filter is used to create a target for any sent audio. How this works in practise is that a track is designated as a "return" track. This track contains any effects to be applied to each track containing an auxiliary send. Reference Guide 45 Tracktion's send implementation is extremely powerful. Because you can place send filters anywhere in the filter list, you can create pre-fade or post-fade send buses by simply placing the send filter before or after the volume/pan filter for a track. Equally sends can be placed before or after any insert effects. To set up a auxiliary return: · Select an empty track to use as the return track. Click on its name field to select it, and rename the track with a meaningful label such as "reverb return." · Place any effects filters that you wish to apply to this send bus before the volume/pan filter on this track. · Place an "aux return" filter at the start of the filter chain. · Select the "aux return" filter and in the properties (Fig. 3.4.9) select a bus for this send. There are eight buses available. You use these buses to match send filters with their corresponding returns. · Also in the return properties, edit the "bus name" field to describe the purpose of this bus (for example "reverb bus"), as this will make it easier to keep track of things. Figure 3.4.9 Now the return track is ready to receive audio from your send tracks. To complete the picture, you simply need to add send filters to any tracks that you wish to add effects. · Place an "aux send" filter between the level meter filter and the mute/solo control on any tracks that you wish to process with this effects bus. The send needs to be after the volume/pan filter otherwise the level of the wet effect would not stay in step with the level of the track. This is called a post-fade send. · Select your aux send filters, and in the properties-panel (Fig. 3.4.10) set the "bus" field to the bus you chose above. · To control how much of the send effect is added to your source tracks, adjust the "send" values for each "aux send" filter. Figure 3.4.10 Enable/Disable all other send/return filters on this bus: Both the send and return filters have buttons to globally enable or disable other send/return filters that are assigned to the same bus as the current one. 46 Tracktion 2 The Tracktion sampler Tracktion has a built-in, light-weight sampler filter that, thanks to an efficient user-interface, is extremely quick to use for simple tasks and uses very little of your computer's resources. The sampler supports key-ranges, so different sounds can be assigned to each note, but it does not support velocity layering. If you want to create highly realistic sounding instruments that change timbre depending on how hard the key is struck (velocity), you may want to use a more fully featured sampler plug-in. Figure 3.4.11 Adding and removing samples Samples can be imported into the sampler either by clicking the "add" button and navigating to the file on your hard-drive, or by dragging them into the file list box. If a sample is added to the list twice, only one copy of it is actually kept in memory. Removing samples from the list is as simple as selecting them in the list and clicking the "remove" button. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. Setting up a key-range Sometimes it is desirable to define the range of keys over which a sample plays. This range is called a keyrange, or key-map. To set the key-range for a sample, select the sample from the list of loaded samples. Once selected you will see three arrows pointing down towards the piano keyboard. Two of the arrows are joined, and it is these arrows that define the key-range. Simply drag them to point to the lowest and highest keys you wish this sample to play. If both key-range arrows are set to the same key, the sample will only be heard when that key is struck, which is useful when setting up percussive sample sets. The third arrow, which should be shown in a different colour, controls the root-note. The root-note of a sample is the note at which the sample should play at its native pitch. Dragging this arrow down an octave will therefore have the effect of transposing the sample up an octave. Multiple key-ranges Figure 3.4.11 shows two samples loaded, with each set to play across different two-octave ranges. In this case, the first sample has a key-range spread from C2 to C4, and by setting the root-note to C3, the sample will play one octave either side of its natural pitch. The second sample has a key-range spread from C-1 to C1, and by dragging the root-note to C0, this sample too will play an octave either side of its natural pitch. A drum map could therefore be created by setting: · a kick-drum sample to have a root-note and upper/lower key-range arrow all pointing at C1. · a snare sample to have a root-note and upper/lower key-range arrow all pointing at D1. · a hi-hat sample to have a root-note and upper/lower key-range arrow all pointing at E1. Reference Guide 47 Ignore release: When this option is activated, the currently selected sample will not respond to note-off events. If for example you had a collection of vocal phrases assigned to various keys, could trigger them by simply playing the corresponding key on your MIDI keyboard. If this option was disabled, when you release the key, the vocal would abruptly stop. Enabling this option would allow the vocal to play through the entire sampled phrase without you needing to hold down the trigger key. "Ignore release" is commonly used with percussive sounds. The "ignore release" option is local to a single sample. The waveform display: The waveform display shows the current sample as a visual waveform. You can trim the start and end of the sample by dragging the sample contents. If you click somewhere on the left-hand side of the waveform-display and drag the mouse to the left or right, you can adjust the start point of the sample. Following the same procedure in the right-hand side of the display allows you to adjust the end point. Pan: Each sample can be panned individually by selecting it in the list on the left, and adjusting the pan control as required. Vol: The volume that each sample is played at can be set by selecting the sample from the list on the left, and adjusting the "vol" control as required. 3.5 The control section When the edit page is showing, the control section provides a number of tools and configuration options related to working with edits (Fig 3.5.1). The configuration options available from these buttons differ from those on the settings page (global settings) in that these options are saved with each edit (session dependent). This means that when you next open an edit you have been working on, it appears exactly as you left it. Undo/redo: Tracktion supports multiple level undo/redo operations, which means you can step back or forwards through a number of previous actions. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + Z, and CTRL + Y respectively (CMD + Z and CMD + Y for Mac users). Save: This button displays a pop-up menu with the following options. Figure 3.5.1 · Save edit: This option saves the edit. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + S (CMD + S for Mac users). · Save edit as: Select this option if you wish to save the current edit under a new name. · Revert to saved state: When this option is selected, Tracktion re-opens the last saved version of this edit, losing any subsequent changes. · Open the directory containing edit: This option opens a Windows Explorer or Mac Finder window focused on the folder containing the edit. Clipboard: This button displays a pop-up menu with options for working with Tracktion's clipboard. Note that some of these options are only available when a clip is selected. · Cut: Select this to perform a standard "cut" operation. The selected clip(s) will be removed and added to the clipboard. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + X (CMD + X for Mac users). · Copy: Select this to perform a standard "copy" operation. The selected clip(s) will be added to the clipboard. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + C (CMD + C for Mac users). · Copy marked section: Select this to copy any part(s) of the selected clip(s) that is located between the loop-begin and loop-end markers. 48 Tracktion 2 · Paste: Select this to perform a standard "paste" operation. The contents of the clipboard will be pasted after the current clip. If this option is performed a number of times, each new paste will be placed after the one preceding it. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + V (CMD + V for Mac users). · Paste after selected: Select this option to paste the contents of the clipboard at the end of the selected clip. · Paste (inserting at cursor position): Select this option to paste the contents of the clipboard at the playhead cursor position. If the cursor is located over this, or another clip on this track, the clip will be split to make room for the pasted material. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + I (CMD + I for Mac users). · Delete: Select this to remove the clip from the edit. Keyboard shortcut: DELETE or BACKSPACE. · Delete (+ delete source files): When this option is selected, the clip and its source material are deleted. Using this function will affect any other clips that reference the source file, so use this with caution. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + M (CMD + M for Mac users). · Bring obscured clips to front: If this clip is placed over another clip, you can use this option to bring the hidden clip forward. Keyboard shortcut: B. · Show clipboard contents: This option displays the contents of the clipboard in the properties-panel. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + ALT + C (CMD + CTRL + C for Mac users). Import: This option allows you to add new material to an edit. Importing material into edits is described in Chapter Ten. Export: This option allows you to export content from your edit, or export the edit as an archive. The export options are described in Chapter Ten. Timecode: This button displays options related to tempo, MIDI, and video synchronisation. This menu is also available by right-clicking the time-line. The tempo and time-line functions are detailed in Chapter Four. Click track: This button displays a pop-up menu with options relating to Tracktion's click-track. The clicktrack options are detailed in Chapter Four. Snapping: This button displays a pop-up menu with options relating to snapping and quantising. The snapping options are detailed in Chapter Four, and Chapter Six. Tracks: This button displays a pop-up menu with options relating to tracks. Tracks are discussed elsewhere in this chapter. Options: When this button is clicked, a pop-up menu is displayed. This pop-up menu has the following options. · Scroll smoothly: By default the edit will only scroll when the play-head cursor reaches the edge of the arrange area. When this option is selected, the play-head cursor is fixed at the centre of the arrange area and the edit scrolls continuously. This makes it easier to follow the edit visually during playback, but places extra load on computer resources. · Show waveforms: Use this option to enable or disable whether audio clips show waveforms, and MIDI clips show MIDI data when in shrunken state. · Audible trimming: When this option is enabled, trimming operations on audio clips will be audible. · Return cursor to start position when play stops: When this option is selected, the play-head cursor reacts to playback stopping by returning to the point at which playback began. · Default midi editor vertical scale: Use this option to select how many octaves are spanned when in MIDI editor mode. If you do a lot of MIDI editing by hand, you may find two or perhaps four octaves to be the best choice. Otherwise you may prefer to have a fuller range by default. · Make new clips the size of the marked region: When this option is selected, new clips will be the size of the marked region. Reference Guide 49 · Stop all playback when application is minimised: When working across more than one application, for example using a wave editor alongside Tracktion, it is sometimes useful to have the minimise button automatically stop playback. · Warn about lost midi notes on midi inputs: When this option is enabled, Tracktion displays a warning message if MIDI notes are received by a MIDI input device that is not connected to a track. · Use a `per-track' view for input devices: This option toggles whether Tracktion uses draggable input icons, or the "per-track" view in the input-section. For users with many input devices, the per-track view is generally the best choice. · Show big input level meters: When this option is selected, large level meters are shown horizontally across tracks that have inputs attached. This makes it easier to see the input levels at a distance from the screen. Keyboard shortcut: CTRL + ALT + M (CMD + CTRL + M for Mac users). · Mouse wheel action: This option controls whether the mouse wheel is used to zoom or scroll in the arrange area. Note, whichever option is chosen, holding down the SHIFT key provides the alternate functionality. · Use incoming velocities for midi step entry: When this option is enabled, the MIDI editor's fixed velocity will be ignored in step editor mode. Instead, the velocity of the incoming note will be used. · Show QuickTime movie window: This option toggles whether the QuickTime window is visible. Chapter 4.5 describes the video window in detail. Keyboard shortcut: ALT + M (CTRL + M for Mac users). · Set QuickTime movie file...: Select this option to choose a video file to display. · Change video start time offset: Use this option to set the time at which the video playback should begin. · Preview volume: When importing samples into the Tracktion sampler, or into audio clips, audio files can be quickly auditioned by simply clicking on the filename. This option allows you to set a volume level to be used when Tracktion previews audio files. Automation: This button displays a pop-up menu with options relating to automation. See Chapter Seven for specifics on automation. Help: Click this button to the access help on using Tracktion. · Show Tracktion help pages: This option displays the Tracktion User's Guide. Keyboard shortcut: F12. · Turn on pop-up help: When this option is enabled, hovering the mouse pointer over a control will cause Tracktion to display a pop-up help balloon describing the control. This can be handy when you are first finding your way around Tracktion. Keyboard shortcut: F11. · Use longer delay before pop-up help appears: When this option is activated, Tracktion will wait a few moments before displaying the pop-up help. This setting has no effect unless the pop-up help is enabled. 3.6 The transport section The top-left-hand corner of the transport section (Fig. 3.6.1) shows the current tempo and time signature. Clicking on this value displays the tempo properties in the properties-panel. From there you can adjust the tempo/time signature. The padlock icon activates time code chasing (see Chapter Four). To the right of the tempo is the current play-head position. This value can be edited to snap the play-head cursor to an exact point. The two "A" buttons below the tempo toggle automation read mode and automation record mode. Figure 3.6.1 50 Tracktion 2