Subject:Multi-Channel vs Multi-Track ??

Posted by: Will_3

Date:12/4/2010 8:35:50 AM

In the Tape Recording Era:
- When recording was done on tape there were "multi-track" tape recorders...
- You could record a different instrument on each "track"
- And you could come back later and let another player or vocalist listen to the existing tracks while recording on another track.
- All of these were "in sync" on the same physical tape...
- unless you recorded the later performers on a separate tape and attempted to synchronize that tape with the original tape in some fashion.

Stereo:
When they invented stereo to force people to buy twice as many amplifiers and speakers :) the Left & Right "channel" was born.

Computer Recording:

- My understanding now is that...

- "multi-channel" means a single computer file but with 2 or more "channels" ... all separate and all in sync... just like the old "multi-track" tape recorders.

- "multi-track" means separate audio files that can be synchronized on separate timelines in a program such as Vegas or Acid.

Is this correct?

Thanks for any help.

Subject:RE: Multi-Channel vs Multi-Track ??

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:12/4/2010 9:34:36 AM

Pretty close, yes.

You can accomplish multitrack recording in Sound Forge's Multichannel mode, but it's cumbersome. It's not really designed to let you operate in individual tracks independently. I suspect it's mostly been added to let people edit things like 5.1 and 7.1 surround tracks in Sound Forge. You also can't mixdown with any sort of control in Sound Forge. There aren't individual track faders, pans, eq. etc. Yes, you can eventually achieve it with a lot of fiddling, but Vegas just does it all out of the box, ready to go.

In fact, that was the reason Vegas was created! Sound Forge users wanted a true multitracker, so Sonic Foundry created a whole new editing paradigm and interface to allow it. Sound Forge's overhaul came 10 years later.

Subject:RE: Multi-Channel vs Multi-Track ??

Reply by: autopilot

Date:12/14/2010 5:01:06 PM

So, SF10 doesn't do multitrack like Vegas? You can't just Add Audio Track? I don't have SF10 but I sorta looked that way with the $99 upgrade email they sent me.

If I'm doing something in multitrack, like a radio commercial, I'll detail edit it in Cool Edit Pro and then put some music under it in Vegas, and yes I know Cool Edit has multitrack, it's just that Vegas is so much slicker with it's envelopes.

I like the look of Audition, but that 2-user iLok stuff turns me off.

Subject:RE: Multi-Channel vs Multi-Track ??

Reply by: musicvid10

Date:12/14/2010 7:47:56 PM

Sound Forge is (now) a multichannel audio editor. It deals with one file at a time, each containing from one to six audio channels.

Vegas is a DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATION, supporting multiple INDEPENDENT tracks and files, in recording, editing, mixing, and output rendering.

There is no comparison to 'multitrack' tape recording possible, because separate files did not exist in that time. Hope that clears it up for you.