Resources for tracktion engine learners

Tracktion Engine
1

Hi,

I am just getting started working with the tracktion engine. I was wondering about resources or suggestions for getting more familiar with the engine and how to use it. For now I have found the following:

  • Provided demos / examples and tutorials (I am currently working my way through them)
  • Tracktion engine documentation I found on TracktionEngine: Main Page (This wasnt easy to find btw, I think you should add this link to github, the current one on there doesnt work for me)
  • Presentation of the Tracktion engine at the audio developer conference: GitHub - drowaudio/presentations: Resources for presentations and talks I've given (Is the recording of this still available somewhere? The provided link doesnt work. I can see the slides though.)
  • This forum:)
  • (The JUCE tutorials in case you are not familiar with JUCE)

Are there any more resources available? Do you have any suggestions on how to get started?

Do you have any tips on best practices and/or handy workflows for working with the tracktion engine?

My idea is to compile a definitive list of learning resources, such that I and any other newbie who comes across this post will have a better time when getting started.

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My experience with Tracktion Engine is as follows.

I was a plugin developer using JUCE for several years until I decided to embark on creating my own DAW. Tracktion Engine contains most of what you need for the foundation of a DAW, and handles many critical parts well. The DAW developers job then is to use this foundation and build a DAW on top of it. The developers main task will be putting a GUI on top. And that can be as simple or sophisticated as you like according to your needs.

What I did was to take the demos, build them individually, trying to gain some understanding in the process. Then, I started combining demos into one app, which is the DAW to be. And, over time, slowly adding features, I now have a DAW that is the only one I use these days.

You will find in your development journey that there is way more to a DAW than you thought. There is a reason there are very few DAWs on the market. It is hard to create a DAW! But it is do-able!

This forum is invaluable. Here, you have direct access to the developers of both JUCE and Tracktion Engine, and they daily help us all.

Developing a DAW will be a great challenge, and also enormously rewarding once you complete it.

Best of luck!

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Dave’s talk “Why you shouldn’t write a DAW” at ADC 23 is a very comprehensive look at all the things you have to deal with when writing a DAW. I think it’s geared at people aiming to build from scratch but I’d imagine even if you are using Tracktion Engine to start with, just being aware of all the things Tracktion Engine is doing for you is helpful for beginners trying to piece it all together.

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