Electronisounds TRX-12: Is This Obsessive New Tracker DAW a Renoise Killer?
Electronisounds TRX-12 is the result of “30-plus years of sound design obsession.” Can this new DAW compete with established trackers like Renoise and Polyend Tracker?
Electronisounds TRX-12
In a parallel universe, trackers are the dominant form of DAW. Horizontally scrolling GUIs are sidelined by vertical trackers, and everyone makes breakcore, jungle and IDM. What a world that would be, eh? As it stands, though, trackers like Renoise tend to get overshadowed by more “traditional” DAWs like Ableton Live and Logic Pro. Trackers do have their fans, though. Dean Daughters of Electronisounds is one of them. In fact, he loves them so much that he made his own: TRX-12.
“I’ve been running Electronisounds since 1994,” says Dean, “and TRX-12 is 30-plus years of sound design obsession poured into a single tool.”
Electronisounds TRX-12: What Is it?
A new desktop DAW for Windows and Mac, TRX-12 starts with a tracker workflow – that is, a number-based vertical timeline – but adds instruments plus improvements to the usual tracker style.
The new DAW has a 12-track sequencer with per-track mute and solo, patterns up to 128 steps (eight bars), 50 pattern slots, a full song mode, global swing, MIDI clock sync, and a 16-step sequencer as part of every instrument. Yes, it has instruments, including three polyphonic synth engines called PRIZM, VENOM and EURO, and a multi-sample synth, as well as 50 sample-based instrument slots and two dedicated slicer tracks.
There’s also a mixer with per-track sends, sidechain ducking, a tempo-synced ping-pong delay, convolution reverb, a DJ filter, and a mastering chain with EQ, saturation, compression and a limiter) plus a LUFS meter. You can export stems or full mixes.
What’s Different?
Trackers can have restrictive workflows. That’s part of the experience, but Dean wants to try something different. With that in mind, he’s added some functionality to TRX-12 that takes it beyond the basics, with 31 creative Step-FX commands with chords, strums, ratchets, probability, evolving pitch, glides, reverses, random slices and more. What’s more, you can stack them up to four per step.
The DAW also allows polyphonic chords on a single track (most trackers are monophonic, requiring workarounds for chords), round-robin playback of samples, a scale-aware ‘evolve’ function and probability-based pitch, randomization across the board, and instant resampling.
Sound Library
As part of the package, the new DAW includes a 5GB-plus factory library of original content, with:
- 4,000-plus original samples
- 450-plus instrument presets
- 200 sequencer presets
- 850-plus melodic MIDI files
- 463 custom synth waveforms
Pricing and Availability
TRX-12 looks like a solid package and a fun way to try out the tracker workflow. It doesn’t offer as much as Renoise, the established DAW in the tracker world, but TRX-12 looks like an affordable alternative.
The DAW is available now from the Electronisounds website for $29.99.
If you prefer a hardware alternative, check out Tracker Mini from Polyend. It’s available at Thomann*.
More Information
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