Overview

Guitar Tracks Pro USB provides a complete recording solution with the included Cakewalk UA-1G USB audio interface. Compact and portable, the UA-1G has a special ¼” guitar input with optimized settings for recording guitar. While high quality converters and super-low latency ensure you’re getting the best sound possible. Easy-to-use interface puts key features just a mouse click away, while precise editing tools help you tweak your tracks to perfection. You don’t have to be a professional recording engineer to create your own high-quality tracks.

Included Hardware

Guitar Tracks Pro comes with the  UA-1G audio interface that makes plugging in and recording easy. It is portable and has a 1/4″ guitar input for plugging in an amp, microphone, or other audio source you want to record. It has low latency, Stereo input and output at up to 24-bit/96kHz audio quality, RCA input and outputs, Headphone out for monitoring, and easy to control volume knobs.

The XP and Vista drivers for the UA-1G come on a separate disc and are straight forward to install following the wizard. I was also able to get the drivers to install on Windows 7 using compatibility mode though it is not officially supported.

Guitar Tracks Installation

Installation is straight forward following the install wizard, but there are several steps that we will take a look at.

You can choose Recommended, Full, Minimal, or Custom Component installation. Most users should be fine with the Recommended install and will get a majority of the cool components.

Choose the additional components you want to install.

You can choose the file types to associate it with including pre-SONAR 1.3 projects.

It also lets you install Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 LE that is a powerful virtual guitar amplifier and effects processor.

Features

There is a good amount of professional and studio quality features for recording guitar and other audio in this multi-track recording suite.

The multi-track layout is similar to Guitar Tracks 3, but with a lot more options.

Console view lets you control volume, effects, and virtual instruments of each track and mix your music to perfection.

A demo for Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 is included which a feature rich virtual amp and effects processor.

If you are a sole guitarist with no band, Cakewalk has you covered with the included Studio Instruments feature. You can add bass, drums, piano, and sting instruments. It also lets you add additional virtual instruments with VST support and ReWire.

The virtual drummer included with Studio Instruments is very customizable with different kits and drum types to keep your playing in time.

Included are a bunch of different audio effects like Reverb, Delay, EQ, Phaser, and more.

A cool extra bonus on the disc is guitar videos from Guitar World where the artists show you some licks and an offer for a great deal on a subscription to the magazine.

Additional Features

• Record and playback up to 64 virtual instrument tracks
• Cakewalk Publisher allows you to create custom music players and playlists that you can share online
• CD Burner to burn your finished tracks and mixes to CD
• Cakewalk Publisher helps users present and share their music online
• Import and Export WAV, MP3, and .wma files
• Import / Export Video and play along to video
• Integrated Tuner and Metronome
• Support for Windows Vista and much more

Ease of Use

If you are familiar with previous versions of Guitar Tracks, you should have no problem adjusting to the additional features that have been added since version 3. A quick start menu pops up when you launch the app for so you can choose a project quickly.

Starting a new project is also an easy process, were you can choose one of their various templates.

Each track has controls to expand for managing volume, effects, sends and more when recording.

Open the Loop Explorer View to browse for different synth and VST effects.

If you are not familiar with Cakewalk products, there is a bit of a learning curve but they offer several easy to follow tutorial videos on their site.

Performance

We ran it on a Windows system with a dual core Intel Processor and 3GB of RAM and it ran smoothly. To run everything smooth and successfully you will need a higher powered system than version 3. The recordings are clear and have good quality.

Product Support

There are a number of ways to get support from Cakewalk including FAQ, online manuals and videos, tech tips, email, and user forums.  Any questions we had were answered within 24 hours and there are a lot of great users in their forums so answers could be faster. If you are not familiar with Cakewalk products, there is a bit of a learning curve but they offer several easy to follow video tutorials that can be accessed through their website.

Conclusion

There have been several improvements and added features added to Guitar Tracks Version 4 that make it a complete audio workstation for producing quality music. The UA-1G is a great audio interface that lets you easily adjust volume and monitor your results. There were no latency problems running it with different types of configurations. Setting up the drivers and volume levels does take a bit of work however, when initially setting up for recording. Also, you will need a fairly well powered machine to take advantage of everything it has to offer and run smoothly.  Users who have used previous versions of Guitar Tracks should adapt to the new interface fairly quickly, and they also offer video tutorials and a detailed user manual is included as well. If you are a guitarist looking for a quality way to record and produce your tracks, Cakewalk Guitar Tracks USB Pro is a nice way to go. The pack includes the UA-1G audio interface, Guitar Tracks Pro 4, Driver CD, and user manual for the MSRP of $149.00.

Works with Windows XP and Vista (32-bit versions)

Rating

• Installation: 8
• Ease of Use: 8
• Features: 8
• Performance: 8
• Product Support: 8