TESTING MIXCRAFT

Support and feedback for Acoustica's Mixcraft audio mixing software.

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Marthins
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TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Marthins »

Hello everybody. I'm testing the Mixcraft 8.1 Recording Studio 32-bit Build 408 Trial version, I thought it is great, everything is simple and intuitive, it's a pleasure to work, I love Piano roll. Good impression! Congratulations to the developers for creating a sotf so easy to use. But there are also some things I would like to share:

SELECT MIDI CHANNEL - To assign a midi channel number in a track, the only way I found was "right mouse button" - Lanes - Midi Channel - nr. channel.
Is there no more direct way to assign the MIDI channel number to the track?
SAVE AS - To "save as", the name of the song in the window does not appear by default, this is uncomfortable, it forces you to type the name of the song each time you want save as.
SIDE BAR IN STEP EDITION - In piano roll, there is the right vertical bar, which you can scroll up and down to see the entire range of notes. Instead, in Step Edition there is no such possibility. I miss that.
2 OPEN SONGS - I have seen is not possible to have 2 or more songs opened at the same time. Only one is allowed. Why this limitation?
EDIT FACTORY INSTRUMENTS - Is there a possibility to edit the factory instruments (Acoustica) that come with Mixcraft?

Well, that's all, I apologize if I'm wrong about something. Thank you very much!
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

Let me see if I can answer your questions:

SELECT MIDI CHANNEL - There's no shortcut to change the MIDI channel for a lane as far as I know.
SAVE AS - The only time you would use Save As would be if you meant to change the name of the project. Otherwise, just choose save.
SIDE BAR IN STEP EDITION - The scroll bar on the right should appear if you have enough drum parts to require scrolling.
2 OPEN SONGS - Because its often taxing enough to run one project smoothly with all the plugins and processing required. Depending on your sound device preferences, you might be able to just run two separate instances of Mixcraft. On the other hand, if you ever need to copy stuff from one project to another, you can do that by opening the two projects within the same instance of Mixcraft.
EDIT FACTORY INSTRUMENTS - No, there's no option to edit the virtual instruments that come with Mixcraft.

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
Topcheese
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Topcheese »

#1 I think is referring to the drop down arrow next to where you arm a track to record. You can also change the midi channel in the mixer view by selecting "all" under the Input title on the channel strip. This is the feature they were accessing.
"
For Virtual Instrument Tracks, you can assign a lane to a specific MIDI channel. This is especially useful for multitimbral instruments. Right click on an empty part of a lane and then click on "Lanes" followed by "MIDI Channel" followed by clicking a channel from 1 to 16 or "All"."
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Marthins
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Marthins »

I'm seeing that if I select midi channel as you say, in the mixer view by selecting "all" under the Input title, the channnel midi number does not appear on the track.

On the other hand, if I do it through "right mouse button" - Lanes - Midi Channel - nr. channel., then the nr. of midi channel appears on the track. (at the beginning of the track.)
Otherwise, it is not useful I think, because after the first recording, the word "Channel 01, 02, 03 etc." is covered by the recording.

I think it would be nice to see clearly on the track the Midi channel number that we have assigned.

Reading your answer, it seems as if it is not the same to assign a Midi channel for recording, than assign a Midi channel for virtual instruments. If so, I do not understand why this difference.

Thanks Topcheese for your answer. Greetings.
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chibear
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by chibear »

Marthins wrote:
I think it would be nice to see clearly on the track the Midi channel number that we have assigned
+1
Maybe in the track header a channel display just to the right of the track which expands when you add lanes. When I add a track or lane mid project, I have to go through the right-click routine on the surrounding lanes or tracks just to see the channels assigned to them.
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Ian Craig
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Ian Craig »

chibear wrote:
Marthins wrote:
I think it would be nice to see clearly on the track the Midi channel number that we have assigned
+1
Maybe in the track header a channel display just to the right of the track which expands when you add lanes. When I add a track or lane mid project, I have to go through the right-click routine on the surrounding lanes or tracks just to see the channels assigned to them.
+1
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Marthins
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Marthins »

Acoustica Greg wrote:

SAVE AS - The only time you would use Save As would be if you meant to change the name of the project. Otherwise, just choose save.


Greg
First of all thank you Greg for your time in answering all the points of my query.

Usually I keep several copies of the same song, for example: "songwinter".
As I progress in the song, I save several copies "songwinter1", "songwinter2",3,4,5,6... etc. So, if I want to recover an old version of the song, I just have to open some of the copies I previously saved. So, I think it's annoying to type the name of the song every time I make a copy of the song with "save as".

If the name appears, I just have to change the last number.

Anyway, almost all the windows programs when choosing "save as", the name of the file appears by default. I thing is useful.

Greetings
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

I see what you're saying, but the people who use 'save as" to create a new project might find it annoying to always have to erase the existing project name.

Did you know Mixcraft creates a backup project file each time you save? Look in the Backup folder that's inside your projects's folder.

Thanks for the suggestion!

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
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Mark Bliss
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Mark Bliss »

Typically, I also save incremental versions as I work.

I find the "save as" function opens the same folder I previously had open, and I can for example select the previous saved version and then just alter the name as desired and save.
Unfortunately, if I have been working in another app or program, then I might have to navigate back to the correct folder after going back to Mixcraft. Not sure if that's a Windows thing or something the program is capable of addressing to be honest.

Either way, filing is such a minor inconvenience and such a benefit when done right...... I don't let a few extra steps for insurance to be that negative of an experience.
Stay in tune, Mark

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Ian Craig
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Ian Craig »

Mark Bliss wrote:Typically, I also save incremental versions as I work.

I find the "save as" function opens the same folder I previously had open, and I can for example select the previous saved version and then just alter the name as desired and save.
Me too. Also, if someone wants to type in a new name all they have to do is backspace the old one to remove it, whereas the rest of us have to remember the syntax of our previous file version or Mixcraft creates a new folder and we can't find our files again without wading through endless sub-folders. I like finding my files in one place so that I can just scroll down to find things. Mixcraft makes this awkward as I have to save a 1a, then a 1b immediately afterward, otherwise, if I have to close and open a different file when I go back when I scroll backward through my files I can't find the files I created due to the folder generation system

Ian
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Acoustica Greg
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Re: TESTING MIXCRAFT

Post by Acoustica Greg »

Hi,

Mark's workaround of clicking on the original file name works just fine if you're in the same folder, but I take your point. Thanks again for the suggestion!

Greg
Mixcraft - The Musician's DAW
Check out our tutorial videos on YouTube: Mixcraft 10 University 101
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