How to install the Tracktion audio workstation on Linux
Tracktion is a commercial audio workstation for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It has dozens of great features and is perfect for composing music, editing audio and using in a sound production environment.
In this post, we will be going over how to set up the program on Linux. Specifically, on Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux, and Fedora.
Ubuntu installation instructions
Version 7 of Tracktion is easy to install on Ubuntu Linux, via a downloadable DEB package file. It doesn’t explicitly say on the website, but generally, we expect that the program is targeting Ubuntu 16.04 and newer. To get the app working on Ubuntu, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Tracktion isn’t open source software, so it’s not possible to quickly download without needing to worry about anything. Instead, if you want to use this program on Ubuntu, you must create an account. Head over to this link here and register for an account on the website. Be sure to use the Strongpasswordgenerator.com tool when you create your account, for security purposes.
Step 2: When you’ve finished registering an account on the website, you’ll see three operating system logos appear. These logos are Mac, Windows, and Linux. Click on the download link for the Linux one, and the DEB package for Tracktion should automatically start downloading.
Step 3: Let the Tracktion DEB package download. After the download is complete, open up the file manager on your Linux desktop, locate the “Downloads” folder and double-click on the Tracktion DEB package to launch it in the Ubuntu Software Center.
Step 4: Ubuntu Software Center will load up the Tracktion Audio Workstation package inside it. From here, click the “Install” button, enter your password and allow it to install to the system.
Terminal instructions for Ubuntu
Don’t want to use Ubuntu Software Center to install Tracktion? Open up a terminal and enter the following commands.
cd ~/Downloads sudo dpkg -i TracktionInstall_7_Linux_64Bit_latest.deb sudo apt install -f
Debian installation instructions
While Debian Linux likely isn’t the target for the Tracktion Audio Workstation (as the developers main Linux focus is Ubuntu), it’ll run on it just fine. To get it working, go to the official Tracktion website. When you’re there, click on “products,” then “DAW,” then “T7 DAW” to get to the free app that has Linux support.
After selecting the “T7 Daw” page, you’ll be prompted to register a free account on the website. Do so. Making a new account is critical, as you’ll need it to use the program.
Note: when making an account on the website, be sure to use Strongpasswordgenerator.com to secure your account.
When you finish the registration process on the website, three OS logos will appear. These OS logos are Mac, Windows, and Linux. Click on the download link under the Linux icon, to get the latest DEB of Tracktion for Linux.
Now that Tracktion is done downloading, open up the Linux file manager, click on “Downloads” and locate the DEB package. Double-click on the file to open it up with the Debian package installation tool.
Use the package installation tool to get Tracktion set up on Debian.
Terminal instructions for Debian
If you don’t want to set up Tracktion on Debian with a graphical package installation tool, follow these terminal commands instead.
cd ~/Downloads sudo dpkg -i TracktionInstall_7_Linux_64Bit_latest.deb sudo apt-get install -f
Arch Linux installation instructions
Looking to use Tracktion on Arch Linux? You’ll need to build it via the unofficial AUR package. To get the AUR working, follow the step-by-step instructions below.
Step 1: Install Git and the Base-devel packages to your computer using the Pacman packaging tool.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel
Step 2: Using the Git command, clone the latest AUR snapshot of Tracktion 7.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/t7-daw.git
Step 3: Move the terminal session into the “t7-daw” folder with the CD command.
cd t7-daw
Step 4: Once you’re inside the t7-daw folder, you’ll be able to use the makepkg command to download the DEB package file, decompile it, etc.
makepkg -sri
Installing Tracktion on Arch Linux is iffy, as the program doesn’t officially support it. Be sure to check with the official AUR page and read the comments if you run into issues setting it up. Also, if dependency errors occur during installation, download the dependencies manually on the AUR page under the “Dependencies” section.
Fedora installation instructions
Fedora Linux doesn’t have an AUR, and there’s no RPM available for Tracktion 7, so if you want to use it, you must manually decompile the DEB package.
Note: we can confirm that Tracktion works on Fedora 29 though, be warned that it may not work for you.
To get Tracktion working on your Fedora Linux PC, open up a terminal and follow the step-by-step guide below.
Step 1: Install the needed dependencies for Tracktion to run.
sudo dnf install libXinerama libXext libXext-devel mesa-libGL mesa-dri-drivers libcurl-devel alsa-lib-devel libstdc++ libgcc glibc-devel freetype
Step 2: Go to the Tracktion website and create an account. Then, locate the “Linux” logo and download the DEB package to Fedora.
Step 3: Set up Alien on your computer by following this guide. Then, convert the DEB package to a TarGZ file with alien -tvc.
cd ~/Downloads alien -tcv TracktionInstall_7_Linux_64Bit_latest.deb
Step 4: Extract the TGZ that Alien generated with the Tar command.
mkdir -p ~/tracktion7 tar xzvf tracktion7*.tgz -C ~/tracktion7
Step 5: Move the terminal into “tracktion7” with CD, and useĀ rsync to install the program.
cd ~/tracktion7
sudo rsync -a usr/ /usr
Unfortunately this was supposed to give me the commands to UNINSTALL this DAW. So far no matter where I search, I can only find “installation” videos, etc. This system might be good for those who loop, etc., their music, but I find it inadequate for actual recording. How can I uninstall, this package? Very frustrating, indeed. This article was no help whatsoever.