Propellerhead’s Bombshell Announcement
On Saturday, Propellerhead Software introduced Record, a very impressive standalone audio recording program for Mac and Windows that can seamlessly integrate with Reason to become a fully featured and very powerful recording/MIDI sequencing environment. Rumors had been percolating about it on the Web for a while, but the company announced it officially at a series of Propellerhead Producers Conferences in London, Berlin, Los Angeles and New York, all of which took place on Saturday. Watch the video (part 1 and part 2) that I shot at the New York event.
My biggest headline about Record would be the incredibly impressive timestretching capabilities of the program. Propellerhead CEO Ernst Nathorst-Böös, who demoed Record, opened a song originally recorded at 140 BMP, and then sped it up to 160 and slowed it down to 113 as it played, with no audible artifacts. The crowded room—the event took place at Clinton Studios, a large commercial recording facility—broke into applause after Nathorst-Böös had navigated the song through its tempo changes. He then demonstrated how you can automate tempo changes, as well.
“The concept of recording stuff on a computer, from our perspective, which we like to think is the musician’s perspective,” said Nathorst-Böös. “It’s a little bit different from what’s out there today, a lot of which we think is designed from an engineer’s perspective.”
The mixer section of Record is an emulation of an SSL 9000K console, and includes the EQ, dynamics, and even the master bus compressor. There was an audible gasp and then applause from the gathered Reason users when the mixer screen was first shown.
Record’s editing features are designed for ease of use. It has a comping feature that appears really user-friendly and is similar in basic concept to those now included in Logic 8, Pro Tools 8, and Digital Performer 6.
As mentioned, when you run Record alongside Reason, the two programs integrate into a single production environment. You get the full MIDI recording functionality of Reason and its sequencer together with Record’s audio prowess. Reason’s sequencer tracks appear alongside Record’s audio tracks.
You also get Line 6 guitar- and bass-amp models and effects, and if you use a Line 6 hardware device (like a POD or audio interface), connected via USB to Record, you can access all of the models from that device in the software.
One area that may give pause to some users is Propellerhead’s decision to make Record a closed environment, that is, it will not support outside plug-in formats like Audio Units or VST. As a result, your plug-ins will be limited to those in Record, or Record and Reason if you’re working with both together.
Nathorst-Böös explained the decision by saying that by not having to support the outside formats, Propellerhead was able to make the system much more efficient for using its included effects (and instruments when you’re running in tandem with Reason). “It’s not that we don’t acknowledge that there’s all this cool stuff that you can use,” he told the crowd, “we figured we’d rather give you 30 or 40 channels of true, really good, mixer processing, and being able to use it on a computer you already have.”
And he demonstrated that capability by playing back a song from his MacBook Pro, and showing the huge amount of effects that were included on it (there were at least 50 different instances of effects on that song, and probably more). For situations where one wants to export a project out to another DAW, Record has an incredibly easy setup that lets you select the tracks you want to export, hit a button, and boom, it’s done—and all the tracks are automatically set to start at the beginning of the song, making syncing them in another host a breeze.
Record will ship on September 9th of this year (that’s 9/9/09 for you numerologists out there), and there is an almost fully functional public beta that is available now.
Oh, and one more thing, the street price for Record is $249 (there was another audible gasp from the crowd when that was revealed). Registered Reason users will be able to upgrade for $149. A bundle of Reason and Record will street for $499.
Related Topics: Emusician, Mike Levine
May 13th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I have been complaining for over 12 years to anyone willing to listen, that the likes of ProTools, Logic, Sonar, Cubase, etc. were convoluted, mis-designed, over-programmed, confused and complex tools designed for computer nerds and self-appointed master of music production. Why the industry has adopted ProTools as the standard is as illogical as Logic itself. Stupid, it’s about the music! If in fact, Propellerhead has developed a software production tool that is easy to use and specifically designed for the musician, then I can only hope that ProTools and its cousins find their way to the Dinosaurs Hall of Fame. If “Record” is as advertised, I personally will not only adopt your product, but will do anything in my power to propel it to the top. The powerful, traditional owners of the music studios, now just about gone into oblivion, did all they could to manipulate and monopolize the music industry. When technology opened the doors to the most important members of the industry, the musicians, then they turned to complex software in order to retain the power. What the musicians really need is a simple, quality recording software package able to take an idea or composition from the intellect to the recorded medium. For the nerds, self-appointed gurus, programmers, and any engineer who is a legend in his/her own mind, there is always ProTools basting in all of its complexities with hundreds of plug-ins, options galore, expensive proprietary peripherals and electronically hooked to your bank account!
May 13th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Wow! Kudos to Mr. Aparicio. Although we use ProTools exclusively, not a day goes by when we experience a crash, an annoyance or a team member expressing total frustration with my ProTools rig. Mr. Aparicio has clearly and bluntly stated what the publications should have done a long time ago, although I understand the marketing reason for their collective silence. Perhaps, if we all demand easier and more efficient software, the companies will listen as soon as the message is delivered to their financial CEOs. Mr. Aparicio, how about expanding on your views or even suggesting what the software institutions should do. Great job FA!
May 13th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Thank you Mr. Nieves for you kind words. Digidesign is not the only company suffering from what I refer to as: “Microsoft Tentaclitisâ€?, alluding to Bill Gates’ tentacles in the software industry and how the users are forever hooked to upgrades and third party offerings as soon as a PC is purchased and how users immediately become contributors to Gates’ stock option plans. Digidesign has made a science out of an art; music. ProTools doesn’t make you a better musician, the musician using ProTools must become a better system analyst if he/she is to make meaningful music on ProTools. They have a complex piece of software that soon will include a plug-in for vacuuming your studio once you are done recording and mixing. Its complexities require expert training, education, hand-holding, seminars, group therapy etc. It all translates into a time and financial investment that becomes more and more difficult to abort with each subsequent upgrade, additional plug-in and hardware enhancement. Once a company has the “certifiedâ€? label on, your bank account needs certification from the Federal Reserve. In all fairness to Digidesign, the likes of MOTU, Steinberg, Cakewalk and Magix have all been trying to unseat ProTools as they are nothing more than “Digidesign Wannabeesâ€?. Apple could be added to the group; however, ever since Apple acquired Logic from EMagic, Apple struggled with the original EMagic team who historically opposed Apple’s ease of use strategy, look and feel. Only recently, Apple simplified Logic Express as the company has taken more control over the future of Logic. Unless the users refuse to patronize complex software, the software companies will continue with “business as usualâ€?. If you look at the automobile industry in the USA, you will find that besides incompetence and financial fraud by the management teams, as well as, the labor unions, a better and more efficient vehicle made in Japan tilted the scales and hence, a more efficient transportation tool forced the American automobiles to be parked inside of our traditional music studios. I generally believe that less is more and that simplicity translates into efficiency. A few months ago, there was a comprehensive article written in one of the major industry magazine about a well-known producer who ran each track of his reported audio files in the article through several compressors, EQs, Reverbs, Delays, Summing and several other boxes such as the Empirical Labs Fatso. I can only imagine the “musical Paellaâ€? that came out of that mastering exercise. If I find the article, I will post it on the blog. This was the equivalent of cooking a steak and throwing in every single spice known to Wolfgang Puck! Speaking of simplicity, when BMW introduced the iDrive in the 7 series, they had a mutiny on board when the owners complained that they were just trying to drive an automobile and not pilot the Space Shuttle. There is a good reason why generally speaking, we all prefer the sounds of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. During this era, recording, mixing and mastering equipment did not exist in the quantity nor at the technological level it does today; however, the musical talent of this era was above the stratosphere and although the recordings were done with a different technology, the recordings of the bands and musical groups had organic energy and a pulse that only live, concurrent performances are able to generate. I’ll take Sinatra, Bennett, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, etc. on entire recordings done with two or three microphones and minimal mastering equipment than the likes of Kanye West, 50 Cent, etc. done with 45 Telefunken, Ela M 251E microphones, Auto Tune, Melodyne, 180 tracks and a warehouse of software and hardware. It is fairly common nowadays to get a trumpet track from the UK, a sax track from South America, a piano from the West Coast and so on, and then blend it all into a final publishing product. There is no substitute for musical talent and for capturing a performance by the entire band, regardless of the availability of premium hardware and software. As they say in the computer industry, “garbage in, and garbage outâ€? regardless of who, the mastering engineer is. Finally, as far as my suggestion on what the ideal recording software should be; put your seat belt on! I would take the concept of Garage Band by Apple; replace its audio engine with Logic Studio 8’s; bring the stretching capabilities of Acid Pro 7 or Ableton Live 8; have a maximum of two or three main windows; include top quality compression, EQ, Reverb, Delay, Limiters at the track level; include plug-in instruments and make sure the interface and navigational features are similar to Garage Band’s. For the engineers and producers that fell off their chairs laughing, I have a question! How many times have you heard the purchasing public ask: “Wow, who engineered that record? Or “Dude did you hear that LA-2A compressorâ€?? Or “Man that had to be a GML9500â€?? Or “Please can somebody tell me if the track count reached 200″? You’re right, never. Stupid, it’s about the music!
May 14th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
(I hope this didn’t post twice… if so, sorry!) I was a little shaken by this news. Propellerhead had seemed to state that they’d never integrate audio recording into Reason software, but then Record comes along… Oh, and I get it… the “Re” prefix! Well, anyway, why should I buy Record? I’m not able to justify buying anything more right now other than Reason 4 and GarageBand–a fine and simple audio/midi solution in itself, one that many people have for free and can be ReWired to Reason… I guess the thought of stability and less crashes is nice (GarageBand can be a RAM hog for sure). I actually have very little experience with the bigger, more expensive DAWs or plug-ins, but I’m content with what I have in GarageBand, Reason, and even my computer’s built-in audio interface (I can say that those other DAWs seem to have quite a daunting learning curve… with my two programs, I can usually just dive right in, no manual necessary). Am I alone when I ask if Record is really a bargain or even necessary? What about Logic Express? I know plenty of people will not want to give up being able to integrate all their 3rd party plug-ins. Maybe I’m just looking at it from the “broke guy” perspective, but I don’t need one more piece of software that I won’t use or that may not really facilitate with my often-present struggle to really write full songs on software.
May 21st, 2009 at 3:06 am
I love the rants above as I believe them to be spot-on. For all those crying about VST plug-ins, Reason is more than capable. Let’s remember that this era of DAWs was intended to take music-making outside the boundaries of the high-end studios and put it into your home computer. This has given the struggling artist, up-and-coming band, or even the average Joe the opportunity to express their ideas on shoe-string budgets. I just did a mental rundown of my own setup and found it to be a worthy illustration of my point:
Dual-processor HP laptop, 3gb RAM, 250gb HD ($600 Best Buy)
Reason 4 ($250-EBay deal)
M-Audio Axiom 25 ($150)
2-Yamaha HS80M ($600)
Ableton Live Lite (FREE-bundled w/ Reason)
M-Audio MobilePre USB interface ($150)
That’s a grand total of just $1750 for a COMPLETE music production studio, minus microphones. Granted, I even went a bit expensive on the monitors, so those figures could even be less. But the point is, someone without a lot of money to spare can get do an awfully lot for less than the cost of a Digi002 system alone…not counting the powerful computer needed to run it efficiently, studio monitors, and numerous plug-ins.
With Reason I get 3 very powerful synthesizers, 2 samplers, a step-sequencing drum machine, an arpeggiator, 2 mixers, an incredible stable of effects, and any unlimited combination of those in a rack interface that even allows for unique wiring and routing to further customize the process…not to mention a very user-friendly sequencer featuring full automation of nearly every parameter imaginable that doesn’t take a degree in engineering to figure out.
Now, if they’re telling me that for only $150 more I can get a very powerful recording DAW that will seamlessly integrate with Reason and features a console that emulates a SSL 9000, then sign me up. VST support or not (highly overrated, IMO), this addition to the Propellerhead should have the likes of Digidesign, Steinberg, etc. shaking in their proverbial “boots”.
As to the above poster’s question, I guess the main reason to add Record to your setup is having a program that will integrate Reason seamlessly without the need for Rewiring it through Garageband. If for no other reason, essentially adding the capability to record with Reason makes it worth the mere $150 upgrade for registered Reason users…that’s even completely disregarding all the other benefits of having what appears to be a full-fledged, studio-quality DAW at your disposal.
But this is all just my $.02.
May 21st, 2009 at 5:01 pm
One of the aspects I most interested in is Records stability. If Record is as stable as Reason. I’m sold. I have complained about PT being a bloated dinosaur for years. I appreciate Logic and LIve much more than PT. I recommend Live. I’ve seen the demos and It looks good. AUs and VSTs would be nice, but then again, that would compromise stability.
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Propellerheads, does it once again, overpriced and overrated.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Hi everyone, my name is William and and want to give you my two cents on this topic.
First of all, I’m gonna say that I am a Pro Tools user and a Reason user since 2004. Propellerhead software is a great company that makes excellent products for musicians, and I am sure that record will be as good and stable as reason.
VST ? ummm I dont really care about that. But Why? Because this software is meant to be for musicians, not engineers, however is nice to know that the mixer and all the others effect processors are available to shape the sound you are working with, unless of course you have no idea how to apply EQ, use compressors, gates, limiter, tap delays etc….
The reason why “Reason” is so stable is because first : It has a GREAT CODE, and second It is INDEPENDENT from other third party apps like plugins. Reason is solid, is like a very well built wall that has no holes where glitches or incompatibilities errors can get pass. That been said, RECORD looks like it’s been build the same way and I love that. Now for Mr. APARICIO who complaints about music been misslead, by DAWs like Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, DP etc I will say that Pro Tools and other DAWs are as easy to operate as. Create audio or instrument track, insert a device to get your sound or plug in the instrument, assign i/o and record. I can build songs within minutes but AHHHHH wait what about those who wnat want to go beyond a guitar, bass, drums and a vocal? Well I want to experiment, find new sounds, CREATE. So I have EQs, Compressor, Filter, Delays etc etc etc to change my sound in so many ways.
My point is the more tools you have, the better you can do with your music. It’s like having thousands of colors to paint with.
The beautiful thing about Pro Tools is that you can do somthing very simple or do something with super detailed. It is NOT a complicated DAW. I already like RECORD. It looks like the Reason I always wanted. And please guys be silly. I you just want to record the music? Do it, but i you want it to sound the best and you have no clue, PAY A PROFESSIONAL MIXER to do the job . They need to pay the bills too.
Thanks.
May 25th, 2009 at 12:11 am
Add Addictive Drums and Waves GTR 3 and I would gladly toss PTLE 8.
IMHO… Line 6 is an insult to guitar players.
May 30th, 2009 at 11:25 am
. . . and I imagine that Record will work with ANY audio hardware that one prefers!
Bravo! If the SSL mixer modeling is anywhere near as good as their “vintage” synth replications, it’s going to be quite something.
June 1st, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Wow! Y’all really love the soap box. Don’t you?
To anyone who cares what I think: I’ve always been amazed at how good Reason sounds. Also, I’ve found that when you export your stuff to a stereo file in Reason, it sounds remarkably like it did before the bounce. If Record has this kind of high quality summing, I’d say it’s gonna be a great mix tool.
As for all the DAW bashing… I’d say maybe some of you could lighten up a little bit.
And, here’s a word of advice to Keith Spicknell: Use what works for you, dude. If you’re worrying about Bill Gates and his tentacles, I’d say you’re going to have a hard time writing music that will reach anyone’s soul.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:17 am
Like every Propellerhead product before it, I fully expect Record to be a competent, efficient, and useful tool and will purchase it. The only thing I would have liked would be the ability to use my now overgrown collection of soft-synths and effects plugs; I’m one of those guys for whom creative inspiration often comes from new sounds. I do understand the design decision not to support external plugs, though, and it’s easy enough to bounce a stem and move into another environment (or vice versa).
The real issue for me, though, will be whether or not Record has the power under the hood to do things to audio that I want to do. I’ve been using sequencers since the Commodore 64 days. Dr. T’s KCS still holds a very special place in my heart and had features that still haven’t been reproduced. I’ve been trying to learn Logic and Live, but frequently myself back in Digital Performer simply because it has an appropriate balance of ease of use and serious audio manipulation power. This is almost certainly due to my more extensive experience with that product.
Having said all of that, when I look back on the writing I consider my best, a large portion of it came from a time when the only sequencer I had was the one built into an Ensoniq EPS. Some of my most creative sampling work came even before that with a four-channel program on the Amiga called A-Drum. With that in mind, I look forward to using a Reason/Record workflow and seeing what comes out. For the last several years, Reason has been the tool I fire up when I want to eliminate as many distractions as possible while writing.
Does this mean that I’m giving up on Digital Performer, Logic, Live, etc.? Of course not. They’re all powerful tools that are sometimes the only way to achieve a particular thing. But the idea of a drastically simplified environment that still provides top-notch sonic quality is very appealing to me, and I look forward to getting my copy.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
I love Cubase, I think its the most advanced and flexible recording app out there. But I have to admit, I may convert to Record, it looks slick. I just wonder if midi editing and audio routing are as flexable as Cubase (or pro tools, etc…). I just can’t tell if they’re going for the garageband/cakewalk market here or the more serious players like Cubase/Logic/Pro Tools… Anyways, I can’t wait to try this one out!
March 27th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
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