Want to hear from past and current Tracktion users

Tell me about your experiences with Tracktion, how you were introduced to it, when (if) you lost faith in it, and if you have any interest in its re-born manifestation. I'd like to know what features you like(d) best  - and what features it always needed but never got. Feel free to rant about Mackie if you like, but I'm really more interested in getting the scoop on Tracktion.

Thanks for your reply, Bill.
 
I am surprised by the lack of responses. Has nobody else here used Tracktion?
 

From memory it was given away with a few things (that's how I got it) but it was behind other DAWs anyway so there was no point using it. They even cut off upgrading and stopped developing it. It was all a bit strange. I suspect that's why you won't get too many responses.

I do recall there being a hardcore community who loved it, of course.

Just didn't like them including Melodyne Essential a week after I bought the latter.

What I'm hearing, and it jibes with other research I've been doing, is that most people who've tried it did so only because it came on a disk with their mixer or interface. 
 
In fact, Mackie is and always has been the product's primary distributor. But under their control, years went by while Tracktion didn't appear to be under development anymore, and there were frequent complaints about Mackie's weak support for it.
 
The Tracktion story is often touted as an example of how a product can be destroyed after acquisition by a larger company, especially a company with no software experience. It was one of the reasons folks around here got nervous when Roland acquired a majority stake in Cakewalk.
 
But things have changed. The original developer managed to get Tracktion back from Mackie last year and set about making up for lost time. Version 4 appeared quickly but didn't make much of a splash. Diehard users complained that it wasn't all that much of a change from version 3 (version 3 was widely derided for bugs that never got fixed).
 
But now there's version 5, and it's a significant advance. There are some very forward-thinking ideas in there, including some features that will make even SONAR users jealous. For example, there is a performance monitor that breaks down CPU and memory usage per plugin. Jeez, there've been times when I sure could have used that. There is the Reaper-esque concept of generic tracks that can be MIDI, audio or bus, as well as track folders with volume controls. FX chains that are like mini patchbays where you can split are re-route signals. And the freeze function is what we've always wanted here in SONARLand - multi-track freezing, bus freezing - you can even freeze arbitrary portions of a track!
 
The relationship with Mackie remains, Jules & Co are still physically located next door, and most of the tiny staff are ex-Mackie employees. (Behringer now also ships Tracktion with its products, but that certainly isn't going to buy any credibility.)  But Tracktion Software Corporation is a separate entity and the original author now has complete control over the DAW's features.
 
Mind you, nearly everything I know about Tracktion I've learned in the past week. I've had hands on it for all of two days. That's why I'm asking the community for input, especially for a historical perspective.
 
 
 
 
 

 
Bit ... l'm with you and have been picking up on the increasing buzz of Tracktion since I threw myself into the DAW game a year ago.
 
Whilst I respect the history, I'm perhaps not as tainted by it ...
 
I made an impulse purchase of MC6T on Steam. I'm now at Sonar Producer, plus lot's of other bits and do daily rounds of the forums / web. 
 
A week or so after initial purchase, and after some web research, I went out bought a MIDI Controller - a Behringer UMA25S. I knew little of their history and can feel the wave of naysayers revoking my credibility staged in the previous paragraphs. Well I tell ya ... that Controller has been nothing short of fantastic! Along with the Cakewalk product, it has been key in my little successes feulling what has become a passion.
 
Tracktion 4 was, as a download, included with the Controller so I installed it but didn't really give it much of a crack. My focus was on MC6T (and subsequently Sonar). I also learnt of the less than stellar history of Tracktion (and Behringer) but also of the return of Julian Storer and the commitment to resurrect the neglected DAW. I was not aware that there was any continuing relationship with Mackie.
 
Frankly, my focus is still Sonar but one day I had a need to test something out in another DAW. I turned to Tracktion. It's setup was easy, it's interface was relatively intuitive and I achieved my objective.
 
From what I see Tracktion has delivered on it's commitment with updates and now Tracktion 5. Furthermore, they have now teamed up with Celemony to include Melodyne Essential in the $60 price. They have also got Groove3 onboard to do their video tutorials - 11 of the 35, the basics, free. Perhaps of less importance to me they also support Linux (oh ... and that other one ... tip of my tongue ... ummm ... ahhh ... Apple).
 
So ... I'm actually quite interested ... and will likely stump up the $30 upgrade.

Yes, there are some gaping holes in Tracktion's functionality. As mentioned above, there is no bridging. You can only use 32-bit plugins with the 32-bit version and 64-bit plugins with the 64-bit version. Furthermore, switching from one version to the other requires re-scanning your VSTs, as it can't keep track of both flavors at the same time. That capability is not likely to ever come, since it's just a matter of time before everything's 64-bit anyway and the problem eventually becomes moot.
 
Tracktion doesn't handle multi-timbral synthesizers as cleanly as SONAR, in much the same way that Reaper also makes it unnecessarily cumbersome. I'm with mgh in thinking that separate MIDI and audio tracks is a more elegant and versatile approach. I don't use SONAR's Instrument Tracks for that reason.
 
But I also realize that we no longer need to cling to the classic studio analogy in the digital world. What is a track, anyway? In a DAW, it's a virtual signal path, not a physical thing. How does a bus differ from a track? It includes a mix bus at the front end - also not a physical thing, just an algorithm. So why not just add that capability to tracks and ditch the track/bus distinction? It only adds functionality while not taking anything away.
 
Don't be surprised if a future version of SONAR doesn't take the same approach. It could even be the next version. Aside from ARA/Melodyne support, it's been a long time since Cakewalk unveiled any truly revolutionary improvements. And how long have we been begging for the ability to freeze busses?