Tracktion Memorial Day Sale!

[Larry Shelby]

Memorial Day Savings Are Here

Celebrate Memorial Day with our sitewide 40% savings on all software. Now is the time to grab some new software at unbelievable prices.

40% Off

https://www.tracktion.com/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2021-05-26

[Fleer]

Tracktion is one of my favorite devs. Got that Delta-V Audio SpaceCraft Granular Synth lately and it’s pretty, pretty good. 

[daveiv]

How is Waveform Pro compared to Cakewalk Sonar?

[Jeslan]

On 5/27/2021 at 10:47 AM, daveiv said:

How is Waveform Pro compared to Cakewalk Sonar?

Probably I am not the person best suited to answer this and may be wrong as I have spent very few moments in audio production during last years. But from my knowledge they are completely different. Waveform is all about having freedom to achieve lots of different creative workflows. While Cakewalk approach is much more in line with the "linear and static" industry standard workflow.

To be honest I don't see them as competitors as much as complementary to each other for different stages on audio production. Where Waveform is best suited for the creative composing and experimenting, and Cakewalk for polishing the mix on the finished tracks and all the mastering stuff.

[abacab]

On 5/27/2021 at 4:47 AM, daveiv said:

How is Waveform Pro compared to Cakewalk Sonar?

Try Waveform Free.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free

https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-compare-versions

Then you be the judge.

The free version includes the MIDI pattern generators, which are helpful for creating new patterns in a chord progression. Waveform Pro has many more add-on features than the free version, but Pro is the same core DAW as Free.

Plenty to help you decide! But you might be interested in the integrated multi-sampler and drum sampler that Waveform Pro has. Cakewalk still has not added those features.

[daveiv]

15 hours ago, abacab said:

Try Waveform Free.

https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free

https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-compare-versions

Then you be the judge.

The free version includes the MIDI pattern generators, which are helpful for creating new patterns in a chord progression. Waveform Pro has many more add-on features than the free version, but Pro is the same core DAW as Free.

Plenty to help you decide! But you might be interested in the integrated multi-sampler and drum sampler that Waveform Pro has. Cakewalk still has not added those features.

I've been  evaluating Waveform Pro for the last few days; everything still feels weird, inferior to Cakewalk.

But judging the software after a short period of trial wouldn't be fair. That's why I'm asking for opinions here.

I'm gathering Waveform is more suitable for loop-based electronic music, rather than rock songs where I'd record MIDI keyboards/drums & audio guitars/vocals.

[daveiv]

15 hours ago, Jeslan said:

Probably I am not the person best suited to answer this and may be wrong as I have spent very few moments in audio production during last years. But from my knowledge they are completely different. Waveform is all about having freedom to achieve lots of different creative workflows. While Cakewalk approach is much more in line with the "linear and static" industry standard workflow.

To be honest I don't see them as competitors as much as complementary to each other for different stages on audio production. Where Waveform is best suited for the creative composing and experimenting, and Cakewalk for polishing the mix on the finished tracks and all the mastering stuff.

Waveform doesn't look like a non-linear pattern-based sequencer similar to Ableton or FL Studio, but still I think I should be sticking to "linear and static" Cakewalk.

MIDI/audio-wise, Tracktion doesn't seem to have any advantage over Cakewalk.

[Jeslan]

5 hours ago, daveiv said:

Waveform doesn't look like a non-linear pattern-based sequencer similar to Ableton or FL Studio, but still I think I should be sticking to "linear and static" Cakewalk.

MIDI/audio-wise, Tracktion doesn't seem to have any advantage over Cakewalk.

It may look at first glance just a weird linear DAW but what is sure is that the right workflows with Tracktion differ a lot from a typical linear DAW. That I can assure you. Also it's workflows have nothing to do with Ableton or FL Studio either.

Anyway and to be honest Tracktion is a very misunderstood DAW and many people used to a purely linear workflow or to a traditional DAW have quite a hard time using or getting into it, to the point where a lot of people simply can't. Personally I love it and dislike most linear traditional DAWs. In the end it is just a matter of taste and intended use. In my case I tend to be a very creative person in my daily life in a very uncommon way so for me to have plenty of freedom to play around, experiment etc is a must. Which is one of the reasons why I love it, beside Renoise, my other DAW of choice.

Also I don't think you are going to find nowadays any important DAW (freemium or pay) that have a clear advantage over another one regardin MIDI/audio. Lots of years ago this could be the case, but not anymore.

Edited May 29, 2021 by Jeslan

[abacab]

5 hours ago, daveiv said:

I'm gathering Waveform is more suitable for loop-based electronic music, rather than rock songs where I'd record MIDI keyboards/drums & audio guitars/vocals.

I would stick with Cakewalk if what you intend to do is straight up instrument recording. It's perfect for recording and mixing.

Tracktion doesn't intend their DAW to be a recording studio for engineers. They have stated that they aren't trying to compete with that. Waveform is intended to be a place for modern musicians to write music and to be a fun and creative place to do so. So think of it as a potential secondary DAW if you have the time to learn both.

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by abacab

[daveiv]

11 minutes ago, Jeslan said:

In my case I tend to be a very creative person in my daily life in a very uncommon way so for me to have plenty of freedom to play around, experiment etc is a must. 

 

11 minutes ago, abacab said:

Waveform is intended to be a place for modern musicians to write music and to be a fun and creative place to do so.

 

Can you, please, elaborate how Waveform helps with the creativity?

I really want to discover what makes it special that isn't obvious at first glance.

[abacab]

24 minutes ago, daveiv said:

Can you, please, elaborate how Waveform helps with the creativity?

I really want to discover what makes it special that isn't obvious at first glance.

Did you check out the video tutorials yet? https://www.tracktion.com/training/videos

They can demonstrate much more than a few more comments on this forum can. Only you can decide for yourself what suits your creative workflow.

For starters, here's a few videos that come to mind:

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by abacab

[Fleer]

It’s my number three DAW. 

[InstrEd]

^^^^

Watch those videos and decide for yourself.  

[InstrEd]

1 minute ago, Fleer said:

It’s my number three DAW. 

Everyone needs more then just one DAW  

I like Mixcraft for some things too. I let Waveform  go for the moment as there is only some much time in a day. I did like the Sampler and Biotek synth I brought from Tracktion. I'm sure they will get some of my money in the future.

[abacab]

And the Waveform Drum Sampler, based on the Multi Sampler

 

[InstrEd]

 They give you some nice creative tools for the price IMHO.

[abacab]

And this is pretty cool! Retrospective recording uses a buffer that captures your input, even when you are not actually recording...

 

[abacab]

And the Chord Track:

 

 

[Jeslan]

53 minutes ago, daveiv said:

Can you, please, elaborate how Waveform helps with the creativity?

I really want to discover what makes it special that isn't obvious at first glance.

For me it has been quite a while since I had the chance to put myself into making music (I got it when it was version 9 and played around with it since they made version 4 free) but a few ways from memory could be:

- How quick and easy it is to go from being on the desktop to already playing around with it, as well as all the workflow within. Also simple things like moving around inputs and plugins, both their order within a track as well as to and from any other track, all very very quickly, etc

- The non conventional midi and audio routing system.

- Racks, a powerful modular way to connect multiple plugins together, similar to what you find on third party modular vst hosts. Which allows you to create a "single instrument" device for complex layered sounds as well as very complex routing between tracks.

- Comping, since forever, something I am still astonished is considered one of the "wow" features in the new just released Bitwig 4 beta.

- A very powerful MIDI pattern generator which allows you to create baselines, chords, arpeggios, etc in any key and chord almost instantly for quick and easy test and experimentation with instruments.

- All the modifiers for easy and quick automation experimentation

- The ability to apply effects, modifiers, etc not just to tracks but also to clips

- Powerful multisampler

- The ability to work in many different projects at the same time while being able to easily copy paste things between them (I don't know if this is a normal thing nowadays for most DAWs but as far as I know it wasn't back then)

I am sure there is a lot more that I just can't remember now.

EDIT: Oh, and as well as I said in a further comment, you get Melodyne essential for free purchasing Waveform, which alone costs 99€ in melodyne's website.

EDIT2: As abacab mentioned in one of the replies, the feature that saves all your midi input up to last 10 minutes is incredibly useful while playing around.

Edited May 29, 2021 by Jeslan

[Fleer]

My tower of DAW:

1. Logic

2. Bitwig

3. Waveform

4. Reason