darcyb62's Forum Page

Watching this thread and thinking about it compared to my experiences Tracktion here are my thoughts.

I initially pruchased version 1 of Tracktion. The included plugins definately helped in getting me going with it. They had some native plugins but they also included a number of mda plugs. As a true newbie, I wouldn’t have known where to go next, if they hadn’t been included and actually used in the demo’s.

When I upgraded to version 2 I went the online route and didn’t get the added plugins but didn’t feel I missed much as I had developed my own suite of go-to plugins, although a number of Mackie specific plugins were included with the plugin (Final Mix was offered in Version 1).

Out of the plugins that were initially included there are a few that I still use on every project and nearly every track. The Tracktion EQ is one. I find it simple, stable, efficient and easily alllows me to dial in the sound I want. While some might feel it is limited by number of bands I can easily drop a second instance in. I’ve also found myself using the native delay plugin quite a bit. With the plugins the Mackie through at the product, I like them, I like them a lot. There is a lot of debate on how good Final Mix but as freebie product I think it’s just fine. I’ve recently looked at Ozone and I think it has an edge on Final Mix but then it comes at a cost.

One thing I liked about the native Tracktion plugins along with the MDA plugins is that they used the Tracktion interface for setup. Sometime’s a slick gui helps but I preferred the look and feel I got with the native sliders. I think Podiums look and feel is great and I would hope that any decision to incorporate plugins would build on the visual impact Podium already has.

With respect to plugin gui’s I really like the approach Betabugs takes. The surface controls are relatively simplistic but if you get below that, there is lot more that can be done. The challange is o achive the right balance, make it easy enough for a beginner to use but you still have the guts available for those who want/need to tinker.

So I’m all in favor of having some plugins specific to Podium, but only if the integrate somewhat seamlessly and are good enough for a persontopw want to keep using over the long term.

Cheers.

@Zynewave wrote:

The argument was that the term “track” is a fallout from the tape days and doesn’t really adapt well with the new capabilities of PC based DAWs. Channel is a more appropriate term in that it better addresses signal flow. Would this help in explaining Podium? I think it would.

I’d be prepared to relabel ‘track’ objects if we can agree on a better word. As I’ve mentioned in another topic, a track in Podium is more like a node in the hierarchy which may or may not have timeline events attached to it. As for the word ‘channel’, I normally associate this with audio channels. The term ‘multichannel’ is also commonly used for describing surround sound. So I think there is a conflict with using ‘channel’ instead of ‘track’.

I think node works well.

The one thing I really liked about Tracktion is the timeline based workflow. I have come to realize that this really only works on a track by track basis and that as you start grouping tracks you quickly lose the visual benefit this approach provides. One of the more common feature requests in Tracktion has to do with Track folders, which might help to alleviate this issue, but I can’t see it being as good as the hierarchy approach that Podium uses.

When I think back to my first look at Podium, I was a bit confused with this hierarchy approach. I didn’t have much of an issue with bottom up approach but I was initially perplexed by the right to left view of groupings. To me it would have been quicker to understand that the source was to the left and that as you worked your way right throught the mixer you worked you’re way closer to the output.