Mackie Tracktion 3 Ultimate Bundle  

The Mackie Tracktion 3 Ultimate Bundle is for you if you prefer user-friendly music production software that doesn't make you sift through endless menus and windows to create your music. Tracktion 3 is based on a simple, single-screen interface. Tracktion music software is fast, powerful, and includes everything you need to turn your ideas into finished songs. And unlike the competition, Tracktion 3 comes with all the power and plug-ins you'll ever need. So if you want to keep your music flowing—not locked in menus or limitations—Mackie Tracktion has what you need.

Composition is the first part of the music-making process, and it's also the most important. If you're like many musicians, you don't want your audio software to simply document your performances; you also want it to inspire them. So Tracktion 3 music software serves up everything you need to get your creative juices flowing, right at your fingertips.

You'll realize how different Tracktion 3 is from other music software when it's time to dig in and actually record something. If you've never recorded audio into your computer, you'll be amazed at how quickly Mackie Tracktion 3 gets you going—creating real music within minutes. That's because unlike most other music production software—that is designed around analog mixer concepts and routing—Mackie Tracktion 3 is truly different. It uses a simple, single-screen interface for all basic recording and editing operations—with a property panel that follows your every move, providing pertinent information for the task at hand.

Once tracks have been recorded, it's time to see if they cut the mustard. Thankfully, Tracktion 3 has some of the best mustard-cutting technology out there. That's because Mackie Tracktion software's editing power is as good as, or better than, software costing hundreds of dollars more—yet it retains Tracktion's hallmark ease of use. As with most non-destructive editing software, Tracktion's editing allows you to undo and redo your edits to your heart's content—so there's never any fear of messing up your song.

A new Marker Track displays all your markers in the edit. But Tracktion's markers are special in that you can treat them as clips, much like audio and MIDI. So you can move markers around, split, stretch, and edit them. Name and color them as needed to identify different sections of your song, and store and recall them using lightning-fast key commands.

Mixing, of course, is the art of leveling, panning, EQing, adding effects, and otherwise accentuating individual sounds and instruments to get your song to sound just right. Most audio software accomplishes this through the use of a dedicated "mixer" screen, which mirrors the faders and knobs of a traditional analog mixer. Mackie Tracktion 3 software, however, has never had—or needed—a dedicated mixer screen, because its users are actually "mixing" their songs throughout the recording process. This is really the genius of Tracktion, and one we'll explore a bit here.

Once you've recorded and mixed your music, you'll want to master it to give it that polished, radio-ready sound. Or you may want to send it to a trusted musician or producer friend for a second, or third, opinion. Thankfully, Mackie Tracktion 3 easily does both. Tracktion's built-in archiving capabilities let you save and send your music project to other Tracktion users so they can listen, collaborate, and edit. Of course you can easily export from Tracktion to a variety of audio formats such as .wav, .aif, and .mp3 to share your tunes with those who are not yet part of the Tracktion Collective. And because Tracktion 3 comes bundled with Mackie's acclaimed Mixing and Mastering Tools, you can rest assured that the final music will rock as hard—or as soft—as you like.