Let’s take a tour of the main interface of Tracktion Waveform Free

> Step by step 1. Install and activate

1 Waveform Free is a feature restricted version of its bigger sibling, Waveform Pro and can be freely accessed from Tracktion’s website. To get started head to www.tracktion.com/products/waveformfree and click on the Free Download tab.

2 This will take you to a registration page. If you’re new to Tracktion, create a new account. If you already have login 3 credentials then use these so that the Waveform Free license gets allocated to your existing account.

3 Now log in to your account and head to the My Downloads page. Here you should see the Waveform 11 universal installer with four platform options – Windows, OS X, Linux and Raspberry Pi. Select and download the required option and then run the installer.

4 Now launch the Waveform 11 application. When you do this for the first time, the installer may ask you which engine to use. Choose Try New Engine. You will also have to agree to the user license agreement. Finally, use your login credentials and click the Register tab to assign the application to your account. You should now get a Registration Complete dialogue.

5 You may also get an option to provide anonymous crash reporting and the option and you should find yourself in Waveform 11’s welcome screen. Here you’ll see various setup options down the left hand side including Audio and MIDI device. Work through these as required

6 To install the additional content you need to grab the ‘FREE SOFTWARE Tracktion Waveform CM300 offer instructions’ which you can find at www. filesilo.co.uk/computermusic. This will lead you to the required codes, which you can then register at www.tracktion.com/ activate. Enter each code and your login details to allocate the packages to your Tracktion account.

7 To help install the extra content, Waveform has a Downloads Manager app. To get started, select the Settings tab from the Welcome screen then click on the Downloads tab. Login with your account details. You should now see a list of your registered products. Use the tab at the top to install the Downloads Manager.

8 When the install finishes it should open the Download Manager and here various Tracktion Waveform 11 components. There should be entries for the Collective instrument, the Collective Content and the add-on Beta Maxed Sound Pack for Collective that you’ve registered. Select Install for each.

2. Familiarisation

1 To get a feel for the various components we can load up one of Waveform’s project templates. These style-specific options include not only suitable track allocations but also some demo parts and are ideal for finding your bearings. To get started, select one on the Welcome page and create a new project. We’ve used the EDM template.

2 Like many DAWs, Waveform Free lets you construct your tracks in a central Arrange panel. Even so, at first glance Waveform’s overall layout can seem a bit unusual and this is in part down to the Inline Mixer on the right. This is a core aspect of Waveform, which uses a very flexible modular approach to processing.

3 Try dragging the grey divide line between the Arrange panel and Inline Mixer to the left. You’ll see the modular plugin components expand into chains of blocks with the arrow-like shape of the blocks indicating the signal flow direction. Many of these are labelled and if you click on one, Compressor for example, the corresponding processing window opens for editing.

4 The system is highly flexible, allowing you to use just the modules you need. You could even remove the Volume module if you didn’t need it. To add more plugins, grab the grey Plus Plugin object and drag it to the required position on the Inline Mixer, and a context menu will open so you can choose a plugin.

5 Although this aspect of Waveform is a bit individual, the workspace does include more typical foldaway panels. You can access these via the main Menu or using the Eye panel in the top right corner. This opens a visual representation of the workspace and you can select the panels you want.