Phil O'Keefe & Guros: T-Racks 3 & Ozone Update

[Palaver]

Hey Phil (and others),

 

I was just wondering how you're doing with the new T-Racks? This is a product I posted about a while ago, and I also saw your thread. I know my topic may be a little pre-mature, but how are you finding IK's T-Racks?

 

I am really interested in their emulations of the vintage gear... along with all of the other stuff.

 

I am also interested in whether or not you're familiar with Ozone. I know Ozone gets it's major update in January (Ozone 4)... but if Ozone 3 is comparable the T-Racks product, then I'd just go that route.

 

More than likely, I'll be going with both. I loved the Ozone manual on Mastering. It was a great little read (about 70 pages) on their page. Izotope's tools and idealogy really appeals to me, and it looks like a wonderful little tool to add to any DAW or plugin package.

 

Basically, I am looking for a budget orientated route that can give me an acceptable master for myspace, etc. I know it's a sin to be doing this to my own work, but I don't really want to be dishing out the bucks everytime I kick out a tune... which is quite often.

 

My original plan was to pair up both Ozone & T-Racks with my Logic Studio/Ableton Live 7 DAW pair. Would T-Racks suffice, or is it lacking something?

 

Am I looking in the the wrong direction all together? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Phil Butler

 

EDIT: You may want to keep in mind that my skills are fairly basic in Logic. I haven't been through their mastering tools yet. This will also have a huge impact on my purchase. I have somewhat of an intermediate experience with mixing, and I've been through the process (once with a professional), and I've been doing DVD courses, and the book thing on and off throughout the past couple of years.

 

Another reason for wanting a T-Racks3 or an Ozone, is to get some of the analysis tools that Ableton is severely lacking. I'd like to take care of most of the basic mixing in that platform (until I get fluent in Logic and complete the courses). I'm comfortable in Ableton, and I do most of my writing in that platform, so it would be nice to get some of the tools to improve my mixes in the demo/writing stage.

 

I plan on using Logic for reworking vocals/vocal comps, and re-replicating my mix/pan settings from Ableton (when I complete my current project).

 

I figured I'd add this in to give you more of an idea as to why I'd even consider these products. I'm certainly in no hurry, as I am doing off demos prior to flying back home to working with a former guitarist.

[wwwjd]

I enjoy Ozone. After months of searching for something to fit my needs and budget, Ozone does just that. T racks was too much for too little [to me anyway] and others were too much for too much. Ozone can, in my head, do everything any mastering house can do - minus the speakers. You ship things out digitally, and they come back digitally, so if it sounds good, who cares if it was a $180 software or $80,000 in mysterious, archaic, one off brand hardware? I'd rather spend time writing and recording than mastering, and I found Ozone to be very simple and comprehensive to make haste in the mastering part. Yes, I think it would work perfect for mastering Myspace, Itunes, Ipod and finished CD music projects. I can't speak for the other products. You've asked a lot of questions here, but that is the only one I can reply too.

[Voltaire]

love ozone 3, I haven't gone a song without mastering with it : D

 

never tried t-racks though.. piques my interest though.

[Palaver]

Yeah,

 

I am certainly interesting in hearing from our seasoned veterans in here!

 

Thanks for the responses, guys!

 

Cheers,

PB

[Palaver]

I figured I would bump this thread. I wonder if anyone on here can see how this holds up to say the Waves Gold or platinum bundles, or Ozone?

 

Can anyone offer any insight to this?

[wwwjd]

still looking for "Gurus", huh? I didn't feel my 20 years experience and only 800 posts qualified me that as that

[Palaver]

still looking for "Gurus", huh? I didn't feel my 20 years experience and only 800 posts qualified me that as that

 

Your post is appreciated a lot! I'm just looking for some real world usage of the new T-Racks, and how it's standing up to the other big named softwares.

 

I think I will definitely go with the Ozone. It's too good of a deal to pass up. Other products I am interested in are the Waves Platinum package, and obviously the T-racks.

 

I plan on making a serious investment in some plugins for my DAW but I really don't want to pay a bloody fortune for the Waves stuff... and I don't want to use UAD's outboard DSP stuff.

[IK_Multimedia]

Hello Palaver,

 

My name is Paul with IK Multimedia. Thanks for your interest in T-Racks 3! Not looking to hijack the thread but I did want to let you know that T-Racks 3 is compatible with Logic Studio. There are lots of posts in various popular forums on users and their experiences with T-Racks 3. A quick search through Google would pull something up for you! (not sure if I can post outside links, sorry!)

 

There are lots of cool and informative videos up on the IK site and on IK's Youtube channel. Check them out..

 

If I can be of any assistance in your search for new tools, please feel free to PM me or post.

 

Thanks.

 

Paul

IK Multimedia

[Phil O'Keefe]

Palaver, I'm still in the learning / testing / getting the hang of all it can do [and that's a LOT] phase, but I plan on writing up my thoughts about it in "review format" here in The Trenches soon, so please stay tuned.

 

Oh, and as far as the metering in T-Racks, it has just about everything you could possibly want.

[Palaver]

 

Hello Palaver, My name is Paul with IK Multimedia. Thanks for your interest in T-Racks 3! Not looking to hijack the thread but I did want to let you know that T-Racks 3 is compatible with Logic Studio. There are lots of posts in various popular forums on users and their experiences with T-Racks 3. A quick search through Google would pull something up for you! (not sure if I can post outside links, sorry!) There are lots of cool and informative videos up on the IK site and on IK's Youtube channel. Check them out.. If I can be of any assistance in your search for new tools, please feel free to PM me or post. Thanks. Paul IK Multimedia

 

 

Thanks for letting me know. Those videos were really informative and were a great demo. I may end up getting both the Izotope product and the T-Racks. I primarily do all my work in Ableton Live Suite. I have Logic Studio... I just don't use it all that much. I got the books, and I plan on going through the official Apple Training series on the package over my 2-week break.

 

So we'll see what happens to my workflow after that... but, this T-Racks product looks wonderful, and I think Ozone looks like another great little package as well.

 

-Phil B

[IK_Multimedia]

Your very welcome! Glad to help..

 

Happy holidays!

 

Paul

IK Multimedia

[Palaver]

Your very welcome! Glad to help.. Happy holidays! Paul IK Multimedia

 

Hey Paul,

 

Perhaps you can shed some light on my newest question.

 

How come you can't use each emulation as a seperate VST or AU? From my end, this could be a deal breaker, and to me, I would of assumed that you could use each effect as a seperate unit in a host application. This should probably be more clearly noted on IK's page. I apologize if it is and I missed it. Perhaps there's a damn good reason for this (and if there is, I'm sure you will let us know), but I find it strange seeing that IK is calling this a mixing/mastering product when they don't offer each VST as a seperate entity.

 

I found one review that claimed the product is absolutely fantastic for mastering, but is cumbersome due to what is mentioned in my last paragraph. I'm assuming you'd have to use a full seperate module of T-RackS per channel in mixing... this seems like quite a lot (and I heard this program is very CPU intensive). Other than that, it's getting VERY well recieved (from my digging around), and it sure is a great deal. In hindsight, it may be good loading in a seperate module of T-RackS for each channel, simply because it gives you the audio metering with whatever effect you choose to use.

 

Does IK plan on making each of the components in T-RackS delux as a seperate entity in a future update? This would benefit people like me enormously in the mixing setting.

 

The next questions for both Paul and everyone else:

 

Would you recommend dithering it down to 16bits @ 44.1kHz before mastering it in the T-RackS suite? Or would you recommend doing off the .wav or .aiff file at the highest possible quality, and then outputting it at CD quality 16bit @ 44.1 via T-RackS (after you've finished the mastering process, or course)? What kind of a process does T-RackS use to compress/dither the track down to CD format?

 

All the advice is greatly appreciated. Congrats on the great product and thanks for coming in here and helping us out.

 

Cheers,

Phil B

[IK_Multimedia]

Hi Palaver,

 

Sorry for the slow reply to your post, I am just getting back and settled in from the long holiday weekend. Hope you all had a great New Year!

 

Now lets take a look at your questions..

 

As of this moment, T-Racks 3 can only be used within its own shell and cannot be loaded separately. That said though, this will be changed very soon with a new update. Users will then be able to use a single module from T-Racks 3 on any track. For example, you want just the Fairchild 670 compressor on your vocal track, simply select it from the plugin list (similar to the older version of T-Racks layout).

 

The plugin can be CPU intensive when running with the Oversampling functions turned on in the Preferences. Upon release, this setting was ON by default which accounted for most initial user complaints related to CPU. Keep in mind that this process greatly increases CPU use, by almost 50% at times. The new update has improved CPU optimization for the plugin as well as enalbing the Lowest Latency setting by default, instead of Oversampling. Make sure to turn this off and you should have no problems!

 

When used as a stand alone mastering tool, CPU issue is no problem and you want to get the most of your unit by maxing out its potential. When used as a mixing tool though, if one encounters CPU problems, please try to bounce or print the audio down to a new track and save the preset for easy recall. Also, keep in mind of other CPU intensive plugins happening in the session such as delays, reverbs, pitch-shifters, amp modelers, virtual instruments, etc..

 

Finally, in regards to your question on mastering in general..

 

- have the song mixed at it's original Sample Rate, and at the highest

possible resolution, like 24 bits or 32 float.

(this means: if the song sampling rate is 44.1 it's a mistake to bounce it

at 96, always bounce at the original session SR, highest bit resolution)

 

- load the song in T-Racks 3

 

- set the T-Racks 3 project so that it matches the output format you need

 

- T-Racks 3 will convert the SR and the resolution using extremely high quality algorithms developed exactly for this, so let T-Racks 3 do it , it will sound much better than Cubase, Logic or PT Sampling Rate converters.

 

If you set the T-Racks 3 project at 16 bits, the original audio will be dithered

down to 16 bits if the Dither check box is enabled.

If not the original audio will be truncated to 16 bits (when the project

resolution is 16.. )

 

I hope this helps!

 

Thanks for the comments and feedback guys, keep it coming!

 

Paul

IK Multimedia

[Palaver]

Hi Palaver, Sorry for the slow reply to your post, I am just getting back and settled in from the long holiday weekend. Hope you all had a great New Year! Now lets take a look at your questions.. As of this moment, T-Racks 3 can only be used within its own shell and cannot be loaded separately. That said though, this will be changed very soon with a new update. Users will then be able to use a single module from T-Racks 3 on any track. For example, you want just the Fairchild 670 compressor on your vocal track, simply select it from the plugin list (similar to the older version of T-Racks layout). The plugin can be CPU intensive when running with the Oversampling functions turned on in the Preferences. Upon release, this setting was ON by default which accounted for most initial user complaints related to CPU. Keep in mind that this process greatly increases CPU use, by almost 50% at times. The new update has improved CPU optimization for the plugin as well as enalbing the Lowest Latency setting by default, instead of Oversampling. Make sure to turn this off and you should have no problems! When used as a stand alone mastering tool, CPU issue is no problem and you want to get the most of your unit by maxing out its potential. When used as a mixing tool though, if one encounters CPU problems, please try to bounce or print the audio down to a new track and save the preset for easy recall. Also, keep in mind of other CPU intensive plugins happening in the session such as delays, reverbs, pitch-shifters, amp modelers, virtual instruments, etc.. Finally, in regards to your question on mastering in general.. - have the song mixed at it's original Sample Rate, and at the highest possible resolution, like 24 bits or 32 float. (this means: if the song sampling rate is 44.1 it's a mistake to bounce it at 96, always bounce at the original session SR, highest bit resolution) - load the song in T-Racks 3 - set the T-Racks 3 project so that it matches the output format you need - T-Racks 3 will convert the SR and the resolution using extremely high quality algorithms developed exactly for this, so let T-Racks 3 do it , it will sound much better than Cubase, Logic or PT Sampling Rate converters. If you set the T-Racks 3 project at 16 bits, the original audio will be dithered down to 16 bits if the Dither check box is enabled. If not the original audio will be truncated to 16 bits (when the project resolution is 16.. ) I hope this helps! Thanks for the comments and feedback guys, keep it coming! Paul IK Multimedia

 

Thanks for the great reply.

 

When the different plugins are available as seperate VSTs/AUs, I think it will make this product a no-brainer... especially considering the price.

 

I'm sold.

 

Cheers,

PB

[Palaver]

 

Hi Palaver, As of this moment, T-Racks 3 can only be used within its own shell and cannot be loaded separately. That said though, this will be changed very soon with a new update. Users will then be able to use a single module from T-Racks 3 on any track. For example, you want just the Fairchild 670 compressor on your vocal track, simply select it from the plugin list (similar to the older version of T-Racks layout). Paul IK Multimedia

 

 

Hey Paul,

 

I was wondering if there was any word on a possible update on the T-RackS 3 Delux? When will you be able to use each device as a seperate plugin?

 

I have tested the demo. It was by far the best brickwall limiter I've used (in my limited experience), and I was able to increase the precieved volume by quite a lot... while keeping dynamic range.

 

I just worked off the presets and minimal tweaking. This is a great product, and I certainly liked my results from this product a lot more than with Ozone. However, I'm still going to purchase Ozone. I think it's a great little tool, and I love the exciter/imaging tool (how you can pull the frequencies together at seperate bands).

 

If I were to go with one, it would certainly be the T-RackS Delux.

 

And Phil O'Keefe, are we getting close to a review?

 

Cheers,

PB

[IK_Multimedia]

Hi Palaver,

 

Glad to hear you have been enjoying the Deluxe version! The Brickwall Limiter is just one of the great new additions made to this new release.

 

No official word on the update to allow individual selectable models. I know it is being worked on and we should expect it very soon! As soon as I have any public information, I will be sure to keep you guys in the loop! :poke:

 

Now is a great time to pick up on T-Racks3 or any IK product though, as the buy-one-get-one free deal is about to end (Jan. 31!).

 

If you have any other questions, please let me know.

 

Hope to see a review soon here!

 

Thanks guys.

[slider]

this has been a good read. great timing because I have been looking at those two products.

I learned that ozone 3 is no longer available. ozone 4 came out this month.

 

I like the T rack vintage vibe thing. I have more reading to do.

I use Cubase essential 4 and a PC.