What Are Virtual Tracks?
In the “old days” most albums were recorded in studios with expensive tape recorders with lots of tracks. Often the artist needed many tracks in order to have several different versions of the lead vocal, or the guitar solo. Or, maybe they wanted to have several background vocals on different tracks, so they could mix them later. They needed so many tracks because they didn’t want to throw away any of their recorded takes! The Virtual Tracks that some HDRs have give you this same ability to keep all of your takes for later comparison, editing, or re-mixing. Here’s how Virtual Tracks work: Picture several piles of filing cards. Each pile has one card on top, with several others underneath. By shuffling the cards, you can bring any individual card to the top at any time. Virtual Tracks work in the same manner. Each track has one main or top virtual track. That is the track you hear. You can bring any track to the top anytime you want. In fact, you can even make a new virtual track that c