MultitrackStudio

Multitrack Studio (MTS) is, like the name suggests, is a multitracking application, programmed by a small company and distributed via shareware on the internet. It's a small download with the reasonable price of $69 for the "Professional" version and $99 for the "ProPlus" version. The difference between the two apps is that the ProPlus supports 24/32 bit .wav files, 88.2/96 kHz sample rates and multichannel recording using the ASIO sound card driver and it also has a "VariSpeed" control, which acts just like a tape player, when the track is sped up it increases the pitch, when it is slowed down it lowers the pitch.

In using the program for the last couple of weeks I have found it to be a fun and inviting application, that, despite a couple of drawbacks, is well worth the price due to it's very complete feature list. I don't find it necessary to go through the entire feature list, as it is quite extensive, but some of the key features that I found very nice to have, and usually only found in more expensive applications are these:

• Support for VSTi and DXi virtual instruments
• VST 2.0 and DX plugin support
• Can use .gig and .sf2 sample patches
• Unlimited undo
• Stereo soundcards supported using MME, WDM, DirectSound or ASIO drivers.
• Punch and and out recording
• Realtime effects editing
• non-destructive editing
• ...and much more...

First Impressions Count for a lot

When I test a program such as this I usually do this same things at first. I install the application, open it up, and try to record myself playing something to see how quick and easy it is. MTS passed this little test easily, with one small exception, which I will explain. I opened the app, flew through the menu option to find the audio hardware settings, which in this case is under the "Studio" button, enable the right drivers, then I went to the track strip of the one track that MTS opens with...what hung me up for a moment is looking aroudn the track strip figuring out how to set it up as a MIDI or audio track. As it turns out, the little green text field on the left end of the track needs to be clicked on and have a file opened or a file created witht he extension of the type of file that this track will be saved as. The track will then organize itself accordingly. So, if I open (or enter a name of a non-existent file which MTS will then ask if you want to create) a file with an "mid" extension the track will make itself a MIDI track showing the MIDI options, which in this case is just a port field to select the port, patch, VSTi and DXi you wish to be used on this track. If you oepn or create an audio file it becomes an audio track presenting you with your effects loops.

Audio Device Setup

MTS supports high-performance, low-latency ASIO drivers as well as WDM, MME and DirectSound drivers. I was very surprised on one of my systems (the one I am writing this review on) who's only sound card is a Philips 605 Sonic Edge, which is a fine gaming/general purpose card but not hardly made for recording defaulted at 46ms latency, very low indeed for the type of card it is, this card defaults to much higher in any other app I tried it in...and this was without the benefit of ASIO. The ASIO-powered card in my studio PC defaulted well down in to the teens. Setup was quite simple, a very basic dialog box asking for your input, output and MIDI in and out devices, nothing more, nothing less. Straight and to the point. This is one of the easier setups I have seen in a program that actually presents the user with any options in the first place.

Main Workspace

MTS's primary workspace is layed out very logically, like most apps of this sort, it consists of a track view with each track stacked up in the window. Each track having volume and pan controls, an LED meter mute, record buttons and an "edit" button that will expand the track to show the actual wave file (or MIDI data) itself and allow full editing of the wave (or MIDI) track right there. Each track also has shortcuts to specific information such as port and patch information for MIDI tracks and effects info for audio tracks. The routing capabilities of MTS is arguably one of it's strongest points, offering unlimited grouping of tracks easily assignable from each tracks track strip.

The upper "toolbar" of this window also contains transport control to control playback and a counter to display current location within the song itself, shortcuts to the keyboard splitter, audio settings and menus that link to every other area of the program. All in all the main window is a very effecient and logically arranged workspace that is quite easy to get comfortable in.

Off to the left side of the window is panel that will pop up when the mouse moves all the way to the right. This window contains a list of all the effect plugins available as well as all the bussing options. It's all just drag and drop. Very cool. If you need another sub-group, click and hold on the "group" option in the list and drag it over to the workspace and let go, a new subgroup appears in the track list, and a new button option appears on every track strip. Click and hold an effect from the list and drag it to a track strip over an effect loop and let go. The effect drops right into that loop. The same goes for effect returns, for every return added to the tracklist, a new return knob is added to each track strip. This is one of the nicest, easiest implementations of subgrouping and effects looping that I have seen in any program. I am very impressed with it's simplicity and usability in this respect. Also keep in mind you have no limit on the number of subgroups you can use.

The wave editor (pictured below) is what you see when you expand one of the track views above. This editor allows you to cut, copy, paste, move, delete and export the single track. In using the editing functions I found them to be quite easy to work with and very intuitive. The audio-based functionality of MTS is very up to par with the major players in this space, the sound quality is good, many of the built in effects are decent, at least as good, and in some cases better than most any other application in this price range that I have ever had the opportunity to play with. Add to that the fact that MTS also support DirectX and VST plugins, you can also use any from hundreds of other third party plugings from makers such as Waves, Sonic Foundry, Steinberg, Timeworks and Cakewalk to name but just a few. The audio editing features also include punching in and out to edit your mistakes or simply change things up a little bit.

Piano Roll Editor

The piano roll editor is your key to editing your MIDI track to fix mistakes and otherwise edit the midi track. All the typical features you would expenct to see in a good MIDI implmentation is here. Using MIDI in MTS is what I find as one of the biggest drawbacks of the application. Though You can play and record MIDI and virtual instruments, they cannot be step-time recorded. After adding a track and assigning it as a MIDI track (which is further discussed below) the track strip is then given the MIDI options, one of which is a port button.

The MIDI implmentation is purposely barebones to make it as similar to tracking audio as possible. For myself in particular I find it frustrating, and from my conversations with the project manager of MultiTrackStudio, they have not had anyone else ever request what I requested, which is a full MIDI implementation including step-time recording. For people like myself, who don't even OWN a keyboard, this makes the MIDI functionality pretty worthless. That said, I handed the application off to my MIDI guru friend, and HRC admin "Noize2u" who checked it out with his arsenal of keyboards, sound modules and other such geek-ware. His response was that short of the step time limitation, the MIDI support was actually quite good and very functional. His highest comment was paid to the keyboard splitter function within MTS, as he could use one keyboard and assign the keyboard to actually play two different sounds on the high and low ends of the keyboard, which is typically only found in much more expensive applications.

Drum Editor

Below you see the drum editor, a very simple, but very effective drum editor based on MIDI notes and samples. It as well is a cool implementation for it's barebones method. It suffers the same limitations that the MIDI does in regards to step time recording and such, but it's pretty handy for quicky drum beats and even some pretty advanced stuff if you can play it on a keyboard. As far as I can tell though, you are limited to one drum line from it per project due to the fact you HAVE to be on channel 10 to use the drum editor. So unless you have a couple different MIDI units housing your drum samples, having the limitation of having to be on channel 10 means one drum track per song via the drum editor. You can, of course, have multiple track if you have multiple sound devices or use softsynths.

Final Thoughts

In the big picture, MultiTrackStudio is probably the single nicest multitrack application I have ever worked with in the sub $100 range. While it does, of course, have it's limitations, as any application does, I find it to be a real bargain for the money, it would be a real bargain at a few bucks more. The editing, mixing and processing are very smooth and intuitive, the built in effects are pretty good, both "Noize2u" and myself found some of the effects to be surprisingly nice for the price range this app is in.

My own real problem is the lack of step time recording, though that may not effect everyone, it does me and it's a huge drawback for me, should that ever be added in the near future, it would really put it in a high class of applications and could be competitive.

Just a few days before releasing this little tutorial/review I found out that the next version of MTS is well underway and could be available as soon as a couple months and the feature list hoping to be implmeneted is quite impressive. I won't say much here other than it lacks the step time feature I asked about, but it DOES have some very cool other additions and I can't wait for the opprtunity to give it a go.

Bottom line is this, if you are looking for a multitrack program and don't want to spend a fortune, download the trail version and give it a go, it would surely be worth the time to evaluate. Check it out at http://www.multitrackstudio.com/ for more info and a trial copy download.