MultiTrackStudio version 3.0

Not too long ago we took a look at a great, yet reasonably price program for multitracking called, MultiTrackStudio 2.12. Half way through the review process I was informed of an upgrade being just a couple of months away. It was close, but I decided to complete the review anyway and just revisit the latest, 3.0, when I first had the chance.

As it happens, I got a peek at a beta version of 3.0 and it consists of many substantial upgrades and tweaks to the previous. Rather than waste a lot of time regurgitating what I said in the previous review, most of which still holds true, please refer to the previous review before continuing on with this look at 3.0.

The basic appearance and functional use of MTS remains much the same (well, OK, exactly the same) as it was, making the screenshots of the previous article still accurate. Before getting into anything further, let me list the improvements and additions as given to me by the makers of MTS.

Improvements over version 2.x:

• Bars count from '0' (instead of '1'). Using the first bar for count-in the music will now start at bar '1'.
• Noisegate: fixed 'leak-through' when closed.
• Pseudo Stereo: comb mode works again (defect since version 2.0).
• Clicktrack Generator: can now override current tempo / time signature.
• Automated Fader: new events now added with single-click instead of double-click.
• Pianoroll and Drum Editor: easier operation.
• Better ASIO compatibility.
• Triplets added to Quantize function.
• Audio/MIDI editors: Dragging with CTRL button works as copy, dragging without CTRL works as move.
• Effects can be copied using Ctrl button
• Sampler: exclusive groups added, samples can be panned individually, so drum patches can be more realistic.
• Many more enhancements and optimizations.

New additions to version 3.0:

• MIDI note editors now appear in Track editor instead of separate window.
• Notation editor.
• MIDI pattern editing.
• Dynamics effect (combined expander/compressor/limiter).
• Phaser effect.
• Sidechain effects on Noisegate and Compressor
• Graph on EQ (Pro Plus edition includes spectrum analyser as well).
• Tape type monitoring (play audio effects live, ASIO only).
• In case of an error an error report will be generated that can be sent via email.
• The support email link now attaches a status report in order to improve support.
• Multiple MIDI Out Devices (Professional: 2, Pro Plus: 4).
• Statistics on limiter, compressor, dynamics and noisegate (Pro Plus edition only).
• Group and Effect Return sections can be routed to soundcard outputs (Pro Plus edition only).
• Track effect sends can be routed to sidechain inputs of Noisegate, Compressor and Dynamics effects in Group, Effect Return and Master sections to make ducking etc. possible (Pro Plus edition only).
• Built-in MIDI merger (Pro Plus edition only).

One thing that I noticed while messing around with MTS and studying the spec sheet, is that as time goes by there are greater and greater differences between the profession and the Pro Plus versions, and with the release of version 3, the price for Pro Plus goes up a small $20 (USD) to $119, which, as I will demonstrate in a bit, is still a bargain price for the features in this application. The Professional version stays a meager $69 as it was for version 2.x.

Audio Tracking

The most notable improvement I saw was in the Pro Plus which enables the user to record on multiple channels at once. Before MTS was a great app for the "one-man-band" type of situation, and it is now a realistic option for full bands with a sound card with enough ins to manage the recording. The use of this feature requires ASIO drivers, however.

Both versions of MTS support 16-bit wav files for importing, exporting and recording, the pro Plus version support 24-bit, 32-bit and 32-bit float files. And I did notice a remarkable improvement in the sound of 24-bit files over the sound of them in version 2.12. While the sound was still full and pleasing in the previous, version 3 is substantially....uuuuuu...bigger? I dunno, ya have to listen for yourself I guess...

Some other improvements I noticed were in the dynamic effects, especially the compressor. In this version the compressor, noise gate and dynamics effect, in addition to being slightly over-hauled for version 3, have also been sidechained on the tracks they are used on, the resulting sound is much nicer, and the effects themselves are very impressive. I actually like some of these effects better than some I have gotten with much more expensive bundles.

MIDI
Contributed by Noize2u, our resident MIDI geek

Mt studio has added several things to the midi section of the app. It is now capable of seeing 4 in and 4 out midi ports, plus their own sampler giving you a total of 4 in ports and 5 out ports to work with. The only hang up here that I can see, is there appears to be no all notes off message sent when you stop the track. So in the case of my Proteus playing through my MidiSport 8 I get stuck notes unless I let the track play all the way through, or turn the synth off and back on again. There is also a convenient button that drops down a menu for changing patches and channels for each track, and your port number is visable in the track view as well.dB Note: MultiTrackStudio IS investigating the note off issue as it's an issue beyond the application itself.

As far as patch selection goes, they have a patch map for general midi, a Korg TR-Rack and the Yamaha dxt express set up. I could not find any implementation to build your own instrument definitions. I am hoping they will be adding that in a future release. Using my other synths was just a matter of using the general midi map and selecting by patch number the patch I needed.

On to the editing features. Something that may not be readily apparant and was rather frustrating to find out, but super cool once it was discovered is that the snap resolution changes with the zoom. It snaps to the visual grid, so the high the zoom, the more granular the snap. Also note that the quantization functions with triplets now, which is a significant feature improvement.

As far as importing any of your multi-track midi files. It brings the entire set of tracks into one window, which is ok for listening, but not working on it. If you need to edit or change instruments on individual tracks, I did find a work around. Open the track to edit it and you will see each individual instrument track. Select and copy the notes you want. Then in a new midi track paste them in and set up your channel, port and patch and your set to go. I would like to see them implement the importing of midi type 1 files so they each open in their own track. dB Note: You can add a new track with a new MIDI file, and then drag a stream (= track) from the old old track to the new track by grabbing it by the button at right hand side. Other ways of handling this are being investigated by the manufacturer, as it's admittedly still not THAT easy :-).

For the most part, the midi portion of MT studio is pretty straight forward and easy to use. As the midi editing commands are along the bottom of the track view and very easy to use. When you click the process button on the far left it opens the mdi processing menu which includes, fades, transposing, legatto, quantizing and a nice removal tool for taking out all of a specific note rang or just one note.

Conclusion

While I still miss the lack of step-time sequencing for MIDI, I am in the minority. MTS is still a class act for budget project studio. It is capable of VERy good sounding recording and even while adding MANY new features to version 3 it remians easy to use and very competitively priced. I am hard pressed to think of an app that competes with MTS in it's price range.

If you are debating whether or not to use MTS, go to their website at http://www.multitrackstudio.com/ and download their demo to give 'er a try. You have nothing to lose, and potentially a lot of money to save.