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IK Multimedia Announces T-RackS 5
September 14, 2017 – IK Multimedia is proud to announce T-RackS 5, a cutting-edge mixing and mastering system for Mac® and PC, will be available in October 2017 and is now open for pre-order. T-RackS 5 is the most powerful mix and master modular system ever, offering maximum versatility with 4 all-new processors for a total of 38 high-quality modules on a flexible 16 processor series/parallel chain, an unrivalled audio engine, a complete broadcast-ready professional metering section, a new completely redesigned, resizable interface as well as an album assembly section with multi-format export.
IK Multimedia created T-RackS in 1999, and has been leading the way, evolving and expanding the collection while setting an industry standard and crafting some of the world’s best sounding plug-ins for professional applications. It’s no coincidence that thousands of top-charting records have been made using T-RackS. Now T-RackS 5 has been re-mastered to be more powerful than ever before providing everything necessary to take raw mixes to a perfect finished product ready for digital delivery or CD printing.
A growing collection
In T-RackS 5 there are now 38 incredible modules to choose from to build the perfect studio setup including 4 all-new additions to the collection:
The Master Match module is a new type of plug-in that automatically matches the sound of a mix with up to 3 other reference tracks using highly sophisticated algorithms. Thanks to this new powerful module, it’s easy to create great sounding masters without the need for any previous audio engineering experience or specialized skills.
Based on an iconic American coveted piece of hardware, the new Dyna-Mu vari-mu compressor/limiter is praised for its subtle but instantly recognizable sonic fingerprint. Thanks to its transformers and all-tube modelled heart, it can impart an audible magic which glues all the parts of a mix together.
The new EQual digital equalizer is a 10-band, ultra-clear, high-end parametric equalizer with an extremely transparent sound, a full-screen resizable interface for ultra-precise editing and a vast array of filter shapes that replicate the typical curves of legendary British and American analog EQ’s. This “hybrid monster” offers the best of both worlds: digital precision with ultra-detailed editing and on-demand analog character.
Conceived as an “all-in-one” solution, the new ONE mastering processor has been designed for easy, streamlined and straightforward audio finalization. It includes an EQ, compressor, analog harmonic exciter, low-end enhancer and limiter that will let anyone achieve professional quality results in a snap.
Work with flexibility
T-RackS 5 offers the freedom and flexibility to optimize the mixing and mastering setup with 3 working environments:
– The standalone suite makes T-RackS 5 a complete, self-contained, one-stop mixing and mastering workstation that allows users to load a set of audio tracks and perform several operations.
– The plug-in suite provides nearly all the standalone mode features within the environment of a DAW as the most powerful channel strip or mastering chain available today as a plug-in.
– All T-RackS processors (including metering) can also be used as single plug-ins in any compatible DAW for multi-track mixing and stereo mastering duties.
New streamlined, resizable interface
The all-new graphic user interface is designed to control everything from a single window, smoother and faster than ever. Plus, it’s fully resizable, meaning it can utilize up to the full size of a display. The new flexible chain view allows the modules to be dropped into the 16-processor series/parallel signal chain at will directly from the sidebar carousel showing all T-RackS available modules.
Audiophile-grade audio engine
More sonically powerful than ever, T-RackS 5 now supports audio up to 192kHz / 32 bit floating point, with mastering for high-definition music platforms and distribution without ever leaving its single interface, including 4 dithering options to choose from. The internal resampling engine delivers nothing less than best-in-class performance including DDM (Digital Delivery Mastering) on the output from the final limiting stage, offering an additional layer of protection against inter-sample peaks and overshoots.
Broadcast-ready metering
T-RackS 5 includes a comprehensive suite of metering tools that provide immediate and complete visual information about the audio material content. The new precision loudness LUFS meter is compliant with all leading professional reference standards for music delivery or broadcasting. Peak, RMS and Dynamic Range meters provide useful information about the dynamic response of mixes. The spectrogram, real-time analyser, phase and correlation meters also help to spot frequency imbalances and phase problems. M/S meters included gather information about the relations between the mono and the stereo content. Additionally, T-RackS 5’s new metering section can be launched as a separate floating window.
Album assembly
Now it’s possible to assemble a full-length production directly within the T-RackS 5 interface and create an album sequence with suitable track metadata including pauses, fades, track ID’s, ISRC codes, CD-Text and more, then export single high quality master audio files or the whole project in various formats such as WAV, AIF and standard DDP image for replication or Wav Cue files.
Pricing and availability
T-RackS 5 is expected to ship in October 2017, and will be available in both free and paid versions.
T-RackS CS – Custom Shop version available free of charge
T-RackS 5 – includes 9 modules for $/€ 149.99*
T-RackS 5 Deluxe – includes 22 modules for $/€ 299.99
T-RackS 5 MAX – includes 38 modules for $/€ 499.99
T-RackS 5 MAX crossgrade for $/€ 299.99 (with any registered IK product $/€ 99.99 and up)
T-RackS 5 can be pre-ordered now at special introductory pricing of only $/€99.99 for T-RackS 5, $/€199.99 for T-RackS 5 Deluxe, $/€329.99 for T-RackS 5 MAX and $/€ 199.99 for T-RackS 5 MAX crossgrade (with any registered IK product $/€99.99 and up).
* All prices excluding taxes
For more information, please visit:
www.t-racks.com/five
For video demos of T-Racks 5, please visit:
www.t-racks.com/five/video
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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