Tracktion Software - Hardware Setup & Project Management Video Lecture | Tracktion Tutorial: Master Music Editing - Video & Sound Editing

welcome to the traction 3 video tutorial
part 1 hardware setup and project
management
when you launch traction 3 for the first
time you will be greeted by the first
run wizard where you can set up traction
to deal with your audio and midi
hardware the first page relates to your
audio hardware and the most important
setting is wave device at the top which
determines what type of driver is used
to communicate with your audio interface
if you are using a PC you should choose
an ASIO device if one is available and
on the Mac choose core audio if you have
the correct driver selected you should
see a list of all your audio outputs
followed by a list of all your audio
inputs these can be enabled or disabled
by clicking on the icon and one of your
outputs can also be designated as the
default
I used my first pair of analogue Alps
which are routed to my studio monitors
but if you monitor from your digital
output you should choose that instead a
sample rate can usually be left at the
default 44 point one kilohertz as this
is the correct sample rate for audio CDs
doubling this 288 point 2 kilohertz is a
good choice for high resolution
recordings that are destined for CD as
it makes sample rate converting to 44
point 1 kilohertz relatively easy
however if you are producing the
soundtrack for a DVD video you might be
better off using 48 or 96 kilohertz all
the settings made here can be changed at
any time from traction settings page so
if you are in any doubt feel free to
leave it at 44.1 for now the latency
setting defines the total processing
delay of the system in other words the
delay between pressing a note on your
MIDI keyboard and hearing the sound from
a plug-in synth the delay on an audio
signal that is being monitored through
tractions mixing engine and the delay
between adjusting a parameter on screen
and hearing the resulting change the
smaller the value you select here the
shorter the delay will be but if you set
it too low you may start to hear clicks
and pops in the audio as your system
struggles to keep up the best setting
for this depends partly on your system
and partly on how you use your system so
feel free to leave it as it is for now
and experiment with different settings
as you start to use traction in earnest
the sample rate and latency field will
only work if the drivers allow it if not
you will need to click the show ASIO
control panel button to make adjustments
using the drivers interface
you
it's usually wise to click restart
device after changing these settings the
next page lists all your MIDI input
devices and you can enable any that you
wish to appear in tractions edit page
likewise the next page lists midi output
devices and the one who designate as the
default will be used to preview midi
files in the project management page
next up we have the option to register
traction if you have a traction license
press the unlock button to either
register online or to use a key file
downloaded on another computer otherwise
just click next to run traction in demo
mode for the time being when you hit
finish you will be taken to tractions
project management page and this is the
first thing you will be greeted with
whenever you launch traction in future
if you switch to the settings tab you
can change your mind about any of the
audio settings you chose in the wizard
you can also define which of your audio
inputs and outputs are treated the
stereo pairs and which are dual mono and
you can give all your inputs and outputs
friendly alias names to indicate what
hardware is connected to them switching
to the MIDI settings allows you to name
your MIDI inputs and outputs in the same
way now switch back
the project page here you have an active
project folder on the left which can
contain your works in progress and a
library project folder which can contain
anything you want to reuse in several
other projects such as sample library
each project contains all items
associated with that project and these
are organized into subfolders for
recorded or imported files rendered or
exported files associated QuickTime
movie files and at the top of the list
the edits which is the name traction
gives to a song arrangement after first
installing traction there should be
several demo projects in the active
projects folder if you select one of
them and highlight an audio clip you
should be able to play it from the
properties panel at the bottom of the
page if you double click and edit it
will open in a third tab we can now
click the play button with the mouse or
press the spacebar to start playback and
here the demo song the cursor indicates
current playback position and can be
moved by left clicking on the background
by default the pocket health option will
be enabled so hovering your mouse over
different parts of the screen will
produce a brief description of the
object or button you can toggle this
option on or off by pressing f11
if you find it intrusive or you can opt
to have a longer delay before it pops up
via the help menu
if we make a change to this edit such as
rearranging a couple of tracks
and then switch back to the project page
and double-click another edit we are
prompted to save the current one this is
because traction can only have one edit
open at a time however if we copy an
object such as a track to the clipboard
using the usual ctrl + C key command and
then switch back to the project page we
can see that the clipboard section in
the bottom right corner now shows one
item of type track the contents of this
clipboard remain intact when you open
another edit so you can paste objects
into different edits or even different
projects if you need to you can also
view the clipboard contents from the
edit page via the browser menu it's up
to you how you organize your work of
course but as a general rule it is good
practice to create a new project for
each new song new projects can be
created by clicking the new project
button or by right-clicking a folder and
choosing create a new project you will
then be prompted for a name and will be
given the options to choose a location
for the project directory and a template
traction will automatically create a new
folder on your hard drive with the
project name and will also create a
blank edit with the name of the project
followed by edit one
you can create as many edits as you need
for each project
and you can duplicate edits perhaps to
create multiple mixes of the same song
you can add comments to these edits by
typing into the description field of the
properties panel if you use the save as
function to save and edit with a
different file name the newly created
edit will show in the project list along
with the original this also works if you
choose a different directory in which to
save the file because the project list
shows all files associated with that
project not merely the files in the
project directory
edits can also be saved as templates via
the save menu with an option to include
any clips so you can reuse your setup
for future project projects can be
closed via the right-click menu this
does not delete the project from your
hard drive it simply removes it from the
list and the project can be reopened at
any time via the open project button in
the bottom left corner you can then
either browse to a specific traction
project file or you can search an entire
directory for project new folders can be
created via the create folder button and
can be named to help you organize
different types of project
sub-folders can be created using the
create subfolder button in the folders
properties panel
and projects can be dragged and dropped
from one folder to another this does not
change the actual project directories on
your hard drive so you can freely
rearrange your list of works in progress
in any way that is convenient projects
can be exported via the export project
button in the properties panel this will
save everything in the project either to
a single attraction archive file with
optional data compression for the audio
or a separate files in a specified
directory this is a useful way of
preparing a project for backup or
transfer to another computer if we
select an edit we also find an option to
export just that edit this works in the
same way as the project export except
only the audio files associated with
that edit are included the handle size
parameter determines whether you include
the entire original audio file or only
the sections that are actually used in
the edit if you opt to use handles only
the used parts of the audio are included
but with a little bit extra at the start
and end of each clip to allow the edits
to be adjusted later on we also have an
option to include files from library
projects if your library projects are
already safely backed up you can reduce
the archive file size by not including
those files
- important archive simply select the
relevant project and click the import
material button
you
a find orphan Clips button below it can
help you to tie the upper project by
displaying only the audio files that are
not used in any of the edits you can
then select these files either
individually or all together using ctrl
+ a and you can remove them from the
project while leaving the actual files
intact or you can permanently delete the
source files from your hard drive
alternatively you can select and edit
and press the find referenced material
button and traction will display only
the audio files used in that edit you
can also search all or some of your
active projects for keywords
the options menu in the bottom left
corner allows you to hide the folders if
you wish and to choose which of the
items properties are displayed
clicking on the title
a column will reorder the items
according to the information in that
column and you can drag the divisions
between columns to resize them renaming
items in the project page may or may not
change the actual file name depending on
your settings
switch back to the settings tab and
choose user interface on the left the
rename mode field has three different
options if you choose always rename
source file then renaming an edit in the
project management page will also change
its source file name this will not
affect any edits that use that file as
traction is clever enough to keep track
of the changes but it may be a problem
if you have other applications referring
to the same file choosing the never
rename source file option allows you to
rename items in the project page without
changing the actual file name at all
you can compromise by choosing to only
rename source file if it is in the
project directory alternatively you can
press the button to the right of the
file name field and point the item to a
different source file entirely rename
the source file or open the directory if
you choose to rename the file you will
be asked whether you want the item name
to change to match
back on the settings page on the file
settings tab there is also an audio clip
import field here you can choose whether
imported audio files should always be
copied to the project directory or only
if they are not on a local drive the
default setting will pop up a dialog
each time back in the user interface tab
you can launch the color editor where
you can choose from various preset color
schemes load up schemes created by other
users and if you are that way inclined
modify them or create your own the color
editor can also be launched from the
Edit Page by holding ctrl shift and C
you