Lesson2.Working with Tracks in the Timeline

Lesson 2. Working with Tracks in the Timeline

Lesson Files	Lessons > Lesson_02 > 2-1 Eyewitness Starting; 2-2 Eyewitness Finished; 2-3 Homecoming Starting; 2-4 Homecoming Finished
Time	This lesson takes approximately 1 hour to complete.
Goals	Understand tracks
	Use the Time Display as a reference
	Extend a loop region in the Timeline
	Add and delete tracks in the Timeline
	Add a Software Instrument track
	Use the onscreen keyboard
	Record a basic Software Instrument part
	Delete a region from the Timeline
	Change a track's icon and instrument
	Mute and solo tracks
	Save a project and open a new song

In this lesson, you'll learn how to work with tracks. Sure, that doesn't sound like much fununtil you get a better perspective on the power of tracks. Have you ever heard of a 4-track recorder? In its time, the 4-track revolutionized the music industry as much as the mouse revolutionized computers. The 4-track recorder made it possible to record four different instrument tracks one at a time, and play them back all mixed together. Eventually, 4-track recorders were replaced by 8-track recorders, and finally by digital recording.

What does that mean to you? For one thing, you don't have to limit your songs to four tracks. In fact, you can have up to 255 Real Instrument tracks or 64 Software Instrument tracks, depending on the speed of your computer. Chances are, most of your songs can be arranged in 10 or fewer tracks, but it's nice to know that if you need more tracks, they're there for you.

This lesson will focus on the different types of tracks. You'll learn to add, delete, and change tracks, as well as evaluate tracks using mute and solo to determine how well they fit with the song.