Tracktion 4 Review

How good can be a freeware DAW? I've tried many free DAWs.All offer some great features but since they are free,They have huge amount of limitations.

List of freeware DAWs i've tried:

Studio One Prime: This piece of software has a wonderful workflow but lacks VST support.Its a Very big limitation for electronic musicians like me.So i had to say Goodbye to it.

LMMS: Its an open source DAW and good for EDM but we have a band too. I Chucked it.

MU LAB Free (Which is great for a Plugin Developer because you can simply Drag and Drop your plugins), Samplitude Silver etc have Track limitation.

And Forget Pro Tools First, Its just a demo of PT than anything else.I recommend using FL Studio Demo than using PT First.

Last year, Tracktion Corporation decided to make Tracktion 4 Free.I Tried it.

My First Impression



 To be honest, my first impression was "Wth is this thing". The Default User Interface was very ugly.I Had no clue about how to insert a plugin or even how to make it detect.

All was about to change. I saw some different skinned Tracktion 4 which looked very nice.

I found out that you can make your own themes using color editor and has some cool Preset Themes. 

Since i had no bucks to buy a DAW (I had Ableton Live Lite but 8 Track Limitation was holding me down). I decided to learn T4.

The best part, i figured it out in less than an hour.

People get scared seeing T4 because its so different from others but the truth is you can learn it in less than an hour and I'm gonna help you by providing the overview of T4 (Basics of Workflow and Where to find the things).

Ratings

Looks

 If i had to rate the original skin, i had to rate it 2 out of 5. But since it comes with Skin editor I'll make it 3.And it has cool presets themes as well, so 4.

4/5

Edited Freezer Skin

 Workflow

T4's one of the main strengths is workflow. When you get used to it (you'll get used to it very quickly) its just pure Joy.

 5/5

User Friendliness

Good thing about Tracktion is its very user friendly and easy to use for a beginner.Its Piano Roll is good (Not comparing with FL Studio's Awesome Piano Roll but its good.)




4.5/5

Plugin Compatibility

Tracktion does detect third party plugins but for me, it failed to detect U-he plugins (Including my favorite Tyrell N6).I solved the problem by installing another freeware called Wusik VM. But yes, the plugin scanner troubles you.Its slow but ultimately it separates Plugins from other DLLs.Thats all that matters. 

U-he's more than Awesome Tyrell N6 running via Wusik VM.

 3.5/5  

Pricing

Its a free software and its packed with lot of features! You'll certainly get the thought of Upgrading to T7.

5/5 

Support

T4 doesn't come with official support but when i reported my problem, the good guys at Tracktion corporation did respond and offered help.

4/5   

OVERALL RATING: 4.4/5

Pros N Cons

Pros:

1) Easy to use

2) Free for all

3) VST Support

4) Unlimited Tracks

5) Automatically Matches Loop's BPM

Cons: 

1) Plugin Scanner

2) Poor Default Skin

3) Occasional Crashes  

4) No Built in Plugin Instruments 

 

 Tracktion Overview and Basics

 Since People Like To See Than Read, I'll be explaining this with the help of Pictures.

Colour Scheme Management 

Project Panel

Settings Tab, Adding Plugins

 

 Workflow

Basic Workflow

 

 Assigning Inputs

 Inserting Clips

 Looping Clips, Editing MIDI

  NOTE: To enlarge images, click on it.

More Screenies:


 Thanks to Tracktion, i built my freeware studio.

I'd Like to Suggest some Free Plugins i love.

  Synths:

1) U-He Tyrell N6 (and all U-He Freewares)

2) Tone2 Firebird

3) TAL Noisemaker (and all TAL freewares)

4) Acoustica Nighlife

5) Noizefield 4Tune (and all NF freewares)

6) Maxsynth Nero (and all MS freewares)

Drum Plugins:

1) MT Power Drum Kit (my go to acoustic kit)

2) EXD Drum Synth (By Third Harmonic Studios)

3) Drumatic 3

4) MyDrumset by Bluenoise plugins

Samplers:

1) One Small Clue Grace

2) Beat Zampler

Guitar/Bass:

1) Lethality

2) Spicy Guitar

3) 4front Bass

I REALLY RECOMMEND YOU TO READ BEDROOM PRODUCERS BLOG WHICH HAS GREAT CONTENT AND LISTS.

ALSO READ REKKERD.ORG.GREAT COLLECTION OF PATCHES AND FREEBIES.

       

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