[HN Gopher] Waveform Free
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       Waveform Free
        
       Author : T-A
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2020-03-21 19:41 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.tracktion.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.tracktion.com)
        
       | rock_artist wrote:
       | The real interesting story behind Tracktion is:
       | 
       | - they have open-source DAW engine
       | (https://www.tracktion.com/develop/tracktion-engine)
       | 
       | - as it has strong relationship with JUCE framework, it also
       | supports SOUL patches which aims to be a modern DSP coding
       | language.
        
         | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
         | note that AFAICT, Faust remains more widely used as a modern
         | DSP coding language.
        
         | joan_kode wrote:
         | Heh, last time I looked at Tracktion Engine, I was specifically
         | interested in the time-stretching and pitch shifting that they
         | boast on the page you linked. Tracktion DAW has great time-
         | stretching, therefore it must be in Tracktion Engine, right?
         | Nope! Turns out the DAW includes a licensed version of zplane
         | Elastique for time stretching, which is not included in
         | Tracktion Engine. Instead, the Engine (which they license
         | commercially) includes something totally different: a copy of
         | the open source SoundTouch library. I guess it technically
         | works... if you want your tracks to sound like they're under
         | water.
        
       | luckydata wrote:
       | the free version looks like it's essentially useless.
        
         | jdietrich wrote:
         | Not at all. It's missing some of the more advanced features of
         | the paid version and has only a very basic plugin bundle, but
         | it's entirely useable. Unlike the free or cheap version of many
         | other DAWs, it doesn't have any track count limits or
         | restrictions on importing third-party plugins.
         | 
         | Just add an audio interface, a MIDI controller and a smattering
         | of free plugins like the Komplete Start bundle and you'd be
         | well equipped to start making music.
         | 
         | https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bund...
        
           | luckydata wrote:
           | You can't even customize the layout of the screen, it's
           | limited in ways that are not worth fighting against. Nowadays
           | you can get much better for very little money. on Mac you got
           | Garageband that's leaps better and free, on Windows you got
           | Cakewalk for free. There's others too. This one isn't worth
           | even looking at.
        
       | SonOfLilit wrote:
       | Unfortunately, Tracktion's overall nice design is completely
       | ruined for me by having an unusable piano roll editor. Manual
       | MIDI editing is really important when your keyboard playing
       | skills aren't up to par (or when you're a kid and can't afford a
       | MIDI keyboard).
       | 
       | FL Studio's piano roll has been out there for a decade, I just
       | can't understand how other DAW vendors didn't match features with
       | it yet.
        
         | cbzbc wrote:
         | This applies to the entire GUI tbh - that flat look is great
         | for some things but there are plenty of places in a DAW where
         | you need some kind of highlighting/shadowing to make small
         | detail standout.
        
       | zengid wrote:
       | I'd be interested to know how they implemented plugin sandboxing.
       | From the site:
       | 
       | > _3rd party plugins are the weak link for any digital audio
       | workstation. Waveform Free addresses this by implementing plugin
       | sandboxing. Once activated your work environment is protected by
       | keeping plugin crashes contained. Instead of the host closing,
       | the plugin is simply deactivated_
        
         | tbrock wrote:
         | Probably just using a v8 isolate.
        
         | joan_kode wrote:
         | VST plugins can execute whatever code they want once called by
         | the host, so the only obvious way of sandboxing them is to have
         | a separate process (bridging) per plugin. In fact, that's how
         | the VST loaders in other hosts (eg. Buzz) have been doing it
         | for many years. This inevitably introduces some overhead due to
         | inter-process communication and synchronization, but it sounds
         | like the sandboxing can be activated or deactivated here as
         | well, so you have the choice between "fast and dangerous" vs.
         | "slow but safe".
         | 
         | And since Tracktion is one of the flagship JUCE users, I'm
         | willing to bet they're using the JUCE interprocess classes:
         | 
         | https://docs.juce.com/master/group__juce__events-interproces...
        
       | worik wrote:
       | This is not free.
        
         | jagged-chisel wrote:
         | Can you provide a _bit_ more detail? I see it's a "free
         | download", but since I can't download from a mobile device, I
         | can't see past the download.
        
           | dvtrn wrote:
           | I presume because users must sign up, and verify email before
           | being able to download and they don't want to exchange their
           | information as a "currency" for a free product?
        
       | brachi wrote:
       | > Once addicted we have a perfect selection of deep dive tools
       | available in Waveform Pro to take you to the next level.
       | 
       | I like the honest and careful selection of words in
       | advertisement.
        
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       (page generated 2020-03-21 23:00 UTC)