Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro USB 4 DAW with included UA-1G USB Audio Interface

UA-1G USB audio interface and bundled Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro USB 4 DAW software

September 6, 2009, 05:18 PM

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This is the first gear review I've posted on Altsounds and it definitely won't be my last. Granted, a gear review required a lot more time, effort and frustration than an album review would warrant but it gave me an excuse to record some ideas I'd been playing around with for weeks and lent me a new perspective on my recording setup. It also confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt, my theory that when it comes to music production, mac = win.

Never one to start off on a bad footing though lets first examine the interface.

The UA-1G Audio Interface


My first thoughts upon removing the sleek, black interface from it's protective sheath was just how light it was, surely something so slight couldn't possibly live up to the budget recording behemoth that was hinted at on the box? After some time spent carefully studying the manual (1 quick glance and back in the box) I installed the custom drivers and the DAW software with relative ease. As you would expect it was a fairly elongated affair and being used to working on a mac for so many years, the laborious install process hit a little harder for me; PC users should be used to it though.

Next I was invited to connect my interface via USB port, and I did so. Thus began a most infuriating journey / battle of wits between myself, the interface and the software program. This epic battle shall be detailed in full later but for now lets focus on the positives. Needless to say I powered down my ancient (3 years IS ancient in PC terms) PC and booted up my trusty Macbook Pro and I was instantly reminded why I switched to a mac in the first place, true plug and play functionality. In seconds I was up and running, Logic, Ableton Live and Garageband all found the interface instantly and after setting the buffer to an agreeable size (256 in this case) I was recording my first guitar parts.

I plugged my trusty telecaster into the front 1/4" line input and readied an audio track on logic....and I heard nothing. For those of you about to reach for your panic buttons, don't be afraid, for I hadn't played anything yet! What I am referring to is the almost complete absence of any interference or feedback created by the unit itself (I actually checked to see if I had engaged my noise reducer by mistake). Needless to say I was impressed and the good vibes only continued to grow once I started laying down some tracks.

Using Logic's in-built guitar amp modeller I was able to perfectly re-create tone I had previously recorded through a Focusrite interface more than 3 times the price and this was only at 44.41kHz. The high end lacks a little clarity and the bass got a little muddy when I really turned the gain up, but unless your playing death metal it should suit just about any guitarist. With just the right amount of gain, the distortion can sound really warm and almost analogue. I played my telecasters bridge pickup through Logic's Fender Twin simulator and the tone was incredible, so much so I used the exact setting in a demo I recorded earlier this afternoon! The mid range in particular sounds really sharp. I tried using my SG and Tanglewood acoustic and both sounded just as impressive (especially with the SG's neck pickup). When using Guitar Rig 3's more advanced settings I noticed that the unit doesn't handle very high-end gain too well (it crackled and popped on more than one occasion) but with a decent amount of effects (Guitar Rig 3's effects package is unrivalled in my opinion) engaged the resulting guitar sounds were almost indistinguishable from Guitar Rig 3's mp3 demos. Even the presets sounded good (and any multi-effects user will know too well that presets generally suck balls. I'm looking at YOU Line 6!).

Many of the more delicate and advanced parameters are controlled via a DIP switch located on the back of the unit. Here you can switch to 96 kHz mode (for all you audiophiles) or change the audio source from analogue to digital. This may well be unconventional and a little bit of a pain but you shouldn't have any problems (as long as you don't lose the manual). Overall I was really impressed with the UA-1G and will look forward to using it in future applications. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about the software.


The Software

OK so this is where the shit really hits the fan..... but lets go over the basics first.


This is Cakewalks description of it's product verbatim, so what we're basically looking at is a standard DAW that closely resembles Cakewalks flagship 'Sonar' software. It's obvious from the off-set that this is a pretty basic package, a package which actually brought back fond memories at first, as the layout closely resembles that of Cubase VST, the first DAW I ever used back in the late 90's.


Anyway before we go any further here are the tech specs:-

What do you need to run Guitar Tracks Pro 4 USB?

• Windows XP (32-bit), Vista (32-bit)
• Intel Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz or higher; AMD Athlon XP 2800+ or higher
• 1 GB RAM (2 GB Recommended)
• 1024 x 768 with 16-bit colour (1280 x 960, 24-bit colour or higher)
• 500+ MB for core program (6 GB for full program and content)
• Windows Compatible MIDI Interface
• Windows Compatible Audio Interface
• DVD-ROM, DVD+/-R, or DVD+/-RW Drive for installation CD-R or CD-RW capability for CD audio disk burning
• USB Port for the USB version which includes the UA-1G Audio Interface

If you've ever used either Cubase or Sonar you'll be right at home here, the main component is the multi-track recording window. On one side you have the bus pane where the track controls exist. These expand and contract to show or hide additional functionality for controlling your composition. On the other side is the track pane that you can either drop loops on to or, using an audio interface, you can record the track. There is also a virtual mixing console that lets you take control of your mix with standard controls like mute, solo, pan, EQ etc.


It's all very self explanatory and as such should be dead easy to use right? WRONG. This is a software program that supposedly endeavours to make the recording process as simple and intuitive as possible, but Guitar Tracks Pro 4 is a painful experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. What's most striking is that this software was made with the guitarist in mind, and yet (the included light version of Guitar Rig 3 aside) there is practically nothing here that really marks Guitar Tracks Pro 4 out as a guitar centric DAW. Indeed aside from 5 or 6 guitar effects 'presets' you are pretty much left to your own devices. The tutorials are slight at best and much here just doesn't work properly. Installing the interface into the software was a complete farce; it wasn't recognised at first and I had to restart my computer at least 3 times before it would play ball.


Then came the real struggle, getting the UA-1G to work in tandem with the software. Every time you start Guitar Tracks Pro all audio inputs and outputs have to be set-up from scratch and when you DO finally have everything set-up it will only work sporadically. It can't be a problem with the interface as it worked perfectly for me in Logic, Garageband, Ableton and Cubase, so the fault must lie with Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 4. It's not unusable (at one point I was able to work for nearly 2 hours without a single fault) but the very fact that you KNOW a fault is imminent is enough to put you off. I was on tender-hooks the whole time just waiting for that fatal pop, and it always tended to happen in the middle of a take which just magnifies the intensity of the problem 10 fold.

It's not just the bugs either, it's the little things really that got to me. Here are some of the personal gripes I had with the Guitar Tracks Pro 4 software:

• The piano roll, which resembles a maze of blues lines and is impossible to navigate.
• The way you have to set up the inputs and outputs for EVERY track and bus every time you add a new one.
• The lack of any intuitive looping features and especially the fiddley editing tools.

Basically everything you could reasonably expect from a modern computer recording package is here, but it's done in a way that would have seemed outdated 5 years ago. We've been spoiled by competitively priced packages such as apple's Garageband, Cubase Essential and Reason which understand many of it's users will be first timers. Cakewalk commit to no such hand-holding and as such, to a new-comer I would imagine Guitar Tracks Pro 4 would serve as something of a shock.

As an experienced user I managed to find my way around it quickly enough and made peace with it's faults after an hours play of so. Within 3 hours I had finished my first basic track with guitar, bass and drums and some simple keyboards. The guitar sounds were actually pretty solid, almost as sharp, full and engaging as they were in my earlier test from Logic (granted my effects selections were limited but the light version of Guitar Rig still afforded me some decent tones). There is a staff view too (which actually works pretty well) in which you also have the ability to create, edit, and print your own notation and tablature from any MIDI file or MIDI track. You can download MIDI files and learn to play along. There is a fretboard view too that makes it easy to match notes to the guitar neck, this is a novel addition and at least solidifies the software's 'guitar' prefix somewhat, so it's not all bad. The addition of simple drum, keyboard and bass instruments is welcome to and worked great when setting up backing tracks for guitar demos, the sounds are incredibly false though and thus far from usable on a professional scale.


I will say this in Guitar Track Pro 4's favour also, in terms of system performance it's actually pretty phenomenal. My ageing PC is just above minimum spec and I was able to run 34 tracks with over 100 instances of reverb easily, this is a game changer as it opens up the application as a great choice for potential music makers who are laboured with an out-dated computer. The quality of the built in effects is debatable, the modulation effects can't really be faulted but the reverb sounds false and the delay is limited to say the least. As a basic, nuts and bolts package though it just about works.


The Bottom Line

There's so much more I could say but unfortunately it would mostly be negative. What really got my goat though, after spending 2 days trying to work my way around Guitar Tracks Pro is that this software has been developed by Cakewalk, the very same Cakewalk who's Sonar DAW still stands as the best PC exclusive music software on the market. It begs belief how they managed to mess this release up so badly.

STILL, if your computer is past it's best and your looking for a decent interface/software package you could do worse. For just under £100 more though, you could buy a lesser featured version of Sonar 8, and I'd imagine the UA-1G and Sonar 8 would make beautiful bed-fellows.

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