Customer Reviews

Cakewalk Guitar Tracks 2.0

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have to say that I am really impressed with version 2.0 of Guitar Tracks. They completely redesigned the user interface, which looks great, and made it really easy to use. It's a full 8 track recording studio with input and output meters, and audio editing. Each of the tracks can now be mono or stereo and can use any DirectX audio plugin. It comes with Stereo Reverb, Chorus, Flanger, Delay and Parametric EQ plugins. It also has the Drag and Drop Drummer Lite software with a bunch of great drum loops, that intergrates with program. I was up and running in about 5 minutes.

I purchased this product a bit uncertain of its capabilities. I knew very little about the production and mixing of music, but I gave it a try (I was sick of dismal recordings into a cheap tape deck). It was more than worth it. I am now making my own home demos, throwing down some guitar and bass tracks with some lyrics over it. There's even a nice drum selection to choose from. When you've completed a song (which can be tedious if you are a perfectionist like myself), you'll be amazed by the results. You can even save it as a WAV file and burn it to a CD.

I am a non professional, but the sound is crisp and digital it sounds like it was recorded in a studio. If you're a decent musician who wants to record yourself, BUY THIS. Whether you just want to practice leads over rythms, or you want to make a homegrown demo, this is a great program. Me, I take advantage of it almost everyday.

After buying this software I am quite unhappy that the mix down to mp3 option is only a trial. On the box cover under major features it says, "mix down to stereo wav files to burn CDs or make MP3s for the internet". But this mix down to MP3 option only works a limited number of times and then they want to rip you another [price]. I have read in another report that they have even messed with the wavs someway so that you can't user another mp3 ripper to convert a cakewalk wav to mp3. I haven't tried yet.

Second, the drum loops that come with Guitar Tracks are fairly limited and it is hard to know what a loop will sound like looking at the names they have used. They are really trying to sell you another drum program as an upgrade. If you are into jazz or latin music don't count on using the drum loops. Mostly rock stuff.

The mixer part of the program works well. I have only mixed 3 tracks of guitar together so far. It sounds good to me.

I would rate this product very high with the two exceptions I mentioned above and response time for questions sent in to Cakewalk on the internet. They say they usually respond in 1 to 2 days. Don't count on it.

Awesome program...as a recording artist in the Christian music industry I often like to record sample tracks, or drop a couple of lines with some music down on hard copy to make solid the idea.. Guitar tracks is awesome. For the average home singer/songwriter...this will help you tremendously! Buy it and rock on...God bless...Daniel

Purchased this about a year and a half ago...just got a new computer running XP...this is not compatible. No updates available from Cakewalk but they did suggest I purchase one of their NEWER products that is XP compatible.

Great value - everything I expected and more. Having no previous recording/mixing experience, I found it very intuitive for learning the basics in the year since installing the software. I started with direct input from my instruments but now run guitar amp line out and mics though a small Behringer mixer to the line in on a Soundblaster Live Value card. System is a Gateway Athlon 700MHz, Win2k Pro. Plan on lots of hard disk space if you're not familiar with uncompressed audio.

Results have been incredible - I'm a one man band ;-)

The drum library is somewhat limited but with some patience I have been able to piece together some really nice drum tracks. Was a little disappointed with the limited number of MP3 mixdowns, but the wav files can be converted via any 3rd party conversion software (I use Audiograbber/LAME).

I also use it to digitize and tweak the audio from camcorder jam session recordings, old vinyl albums, or any other analog audio source for that matter. I've even been able to clean up and remix some old home cassettes from 1975.

Overall this package serves my needs very well, though I will probably upgrade to Guitar Tracks Pro soon for the additional drum capabilities and more tracks (this goes to 11).

This program is easy to use and has a great interface, two key points. You can plug your guitar right into your line in slot (foregoing any effects though). This is a great program for anyone who has musical ideas to convey, but has lacked a reasonably priced method of recording them. You get 8 seperate tracks to fiddle with, which proves sufficient in most cases. It comes with the drag and drop drummer lite edition, which is cool at first, but it seems like it is just a ploy to get the user to buy the real edition with an more adequate number of fills and beats. It is time consuming to create each track, but proves worth it in the end. The files can easily be saved as .wavs and burnt to CD. The mp3 encoder is a trial only with 20 uses. This is important because even if you save your files to .wavs, they have security features that prevent them from being encoded into mp3s (even by other programs). One more problem is that you can only begin recording at the beginning of a measure, which can be irritating. Overall though, this product has proved hours (and hours) of fun! (Note this version is not quite outdated, and more recent editions of the program are available).

I'd just like to clear up an issue that a couple of people have posted here concerning MP3 limitations with this product. I believe the built in MP3 encoder only has 20 uses before you have to register it. However, you can still output to .wav as many times as you like.

Some people have mentioned that there is encoding in the output .wav file that stops you creating an MP3 file from it using a 3rd party program.

Well, I've just tried creating a .wav in Guitar Tracks 2, creating an MP3 from it in cdex (freeware), then playing it in winamp (freeware also). I had no problems at all.

My point is this - there is no MP3 limitiation with this product so don't let it put you off buying it because is it's fantastic!!...

When I bought this I thought "50 bucks! No way, must be kid's stuff!" This is not kid's stuff. 8 tracks of near CD quality audio can be recorded, the effects that are provided (delay, chorus, flanger, EQ, pan and fade, etc)are very high quality. The drums are very decent - not perfect, but remember - this package costs fifty dollars! All x-plugins are compatible, and there are plenty available to expand the effects library. I was using this package constructively within hours of installing it. There are some features that are more challenging to master, but overall, this is package is user-friendly, bug-free, and fun. A great tool for song writers. I reccomend this strongly.
-Serious Guitar Pete

I love this product. Really good economical pc based recorded.

If you're going to make the investment the only thing I recommend is that you have a high end sound card.

Oh yeah, It DOES support Windows XP. One other reviewer claimed it did not. I run Windows XP Pro without a glitch.