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Reason Compact puts a free music synthesizer on your phone
While Propellerhead's Reason is a staple editing tool among many musicians, you've never really had access to it on the phone -- just narrowly-focused apps. The company is giving you something a little more powerful this time around, though. It's launching a Reason Compact app for iOS that promises music creation on the move. This isn't the whole of Reason smushed into your iPhone or iPad, unfortunately, but you do get the software's "flagship" Europa synth, a smart keyboard that makes composition mobile-friendly and a note grid to fine-tune your performance.
Propellerhead's Take is a supercharged memo recorder for iPhone
Take Creative Vocal Recorder is a free iPhone voice recorder, designed by the fantastic Propellerhead, creators of great music-making apps like Reason and Figure. Thousands of musicians around the world use the iPhone's Voice Memos app to instantly and easily capture moments of creative inspiration. However, the app is limited to just a single take, with limited editing features -- perhaps that's its strength. Nevertheless, Propellherhead's Take capitalizes on those ideas, with an app that's just as easy to instantly grab and start recording, but with a few supercharged features. Take gives you three tracks to record on, so if you get a great idea down, it's really easy to build on that idea right there and then, adding a harmony and perhaps a second instrument part. Each track also has volume levels and a simple reverb effect. Previously I've laid down a catchy idea on the Voice Memos app only to realize my timings been all over the place, meaning it's not a usable guide for a later production. Take adds a simple metronome with adjustable BPM as well as beats and loops to keep you on track and further inspire your ideas. I only wish the metronome had other time signatures. Hopefully we'll see that in a later update. Finally, just like on the Voice Memos app, Take makes it really easy to share your ideas with friends and colleagues via email, Facebook and Twitter. One important thing to note is that Take works best with headphones. If you want to take advantage of Take's metronome or loops and beats, you'll need to plug in headphones, preferably without a built-in mic, so you don't get sound bleeding into your recording and you get the best audio recording from your iPhone's mic. Check out Take in action in the video below.
Mix beats and loop vocals with Propellerhead's Take for iOS
If you saw Reggie Watts' musical set at Engadget Expand (don't worry, there's video after the break), then you probably noticed the table full of gear he needs to construct his loops. Propellerhead -- the Swedish software company behind Reason, not the electronica duo -- is hoping to lighten this load with Take, a creative vocal loop recorder that's being given away free to iPhone users. The interface is reasonably simple, offering you a wide variety of pre-made backing loops as well as three tracks that you can rap, sing or otherwise make noise on. It's tremendously easy to use, but it won't compensate for your lack of musical talent, which is why we won't be sharing our ham-fisted efforts with you.
Propellerhead announces Reason 7 for Mac
Propellerhead has announced Reason 7, the latest version of its digital audio workstation software. New features include the External MIDI Instrument device, which brings MIDI out support to Reason 7, letting you connect your favorite external MIDI gear right into Reason. Audio editing has been improved with automatic slicing into single notes or hits -- making perfect timing a cinch -- and exporting those slices into Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player, Reason's samplers or the Kong Drum Designer. For mixing, Reason 7 has taken some of that functionality into the Reason rack, added new bus channels and the new Spectrum EQ: a powerful spectrum analyzer with a graphic EQ overlay. Additionally, Reason 7 comes with an expanded sound bank to inspire your creativity as well as new audio import formats, like MP3, WMA and AAC, making it easier to bring your own loops or music into Reason. Finally, Reason 7 introduces the Audiomatic Retro Transformer. Propellerhead says the Audiomatic Retro Transformer is "a future‑retro effect unit with plenty of personality. Add Audiomatic to any channel or group and select a snapshot to instantly change the sound of your track. More details about the Audiomatic Retro Transformer are coming soon." And we look forward to them. Reason 7 will be available soon, and if you purchase or upgrade to the current version of Reason (6.5 -- which we took a look at last year) after March 1st, you'll get a free upgrade to Reason 7. Check out all the details here.
Figure for iOS updated to 1.4, adds social sharing and Audiobus support
Figure, Propellerhead's popular and inspiring music-making app for iOS, has been updated to 1.4. The update makes sharing your musical creations even easier, now with SoundCloud integration (and, by extension, sharing on Facebook and Twitter) and AudioCopy, which allows you to copy and paste your music into other compatible AudioCopy apps. The update also brings Audiobus support, making it possible to stream your music from Figure to other Audiobus-supported apps. Sharing your music from Figure has never been easier! Additional updates include background audio, so your music keeps playing when you leave the app, sorting of songs in the song list by name or date, and bug fixes and performance improvements. To celebrate the update, Propellerhead has announced a competition with some great prizes. To enter, simply create some music on Figure and share to SoundCloud. Each listen your track gets on SoundCloud equals a lottery ticket into the competition. Winners will be announced on March 15th, 2013, so get to it! Figure is available from the iOS App Store at US$0.99.
Propellerhead updates Figure iOS app with new features
Last March, Propellerhead released Figure for iOS. Figure is a music creation app designed with much of the synth power of Propellerhead's flagship Reason software, like Kong Drum designer and Thor polyphonic synthesizer. The first iteration of Figure was very well received, especially at just US$1. Designed to be easy to use (even for those with no musical inclination) and loads of fun, Figure quickly became my go-to app for killing time on a commute (as well as filling my daily music making fix, too). However, Figure did have some gaps. Most notably, you couldn't save any of your creations. Secondly, you couldn't export anything out of the app to share with your friends. And finally, you couldn't adjust the length of the loop. Thankfully, Figure 1.1, addresses these three gaps. The app now allows you to save, browse and load your previous loops, export saved loops to iTunes File Sharing, and adjust the loop length from 1 - 8 bars (1,2,4 & 8). These new features are a welcome addition and make an already great app even better. The update was pushed out a few weeks ago, so If you've already purchased Figure you've likely already downloaded the updated version. However, if you haven't given Figure a go yet, and you fancy the idea of creating little musical ditties, head on over to the iOS App Store now to download it for just US$1. Or if you'd like to see a video of figure in action, click here. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
Propellerhead announces Figure for iOS (Updated)
Propellerhead -- makers of the music DAW software, Reason -- had a press conference in Frankfurt, Germany yesterday where it announced some exciting new products and features. Most notably for iOS users, Propellerhead announced a brand new music making app, Figure. As indicated by Ernst Nathorst-Böös, CEO of Propellerhead, Figure is the soul of Reason, married to the mobile platform. It's designed for short bursts of creativity, like when you're on a bus ride or taking a break in the studio! The app is intuitively designed for touch from the ground up. Essentially, Figure is a mobile platform for mocking-up musical ideas, but with the same standard of quality sound that Reason has to offer. Figure comes with drums powered by the same Kong Drum designer found in Reason. Bass and lead / melody sounds are powered by the same Thor polyphonic synthesizer also found in Reason. But Propellerhead's developers didn't stop there. They also put the Reason mixer into Figure, with the same master bus compressor from Reason 6. So Figure's sound quality and potential for sound creation should be pretty high. We can't wait to get our hands on it. Figure is due to land on the iOS App Store at any moment now, priced at just US$1. You can watch the press conference announcing Figure at Propellerhead's YouTube site. Update: Figure is now live on the iOS App Store. Here's the link. We've also had word from Propellerhead that many exciting features are planned for upcoming updates. Sooner rather than later, we can expect saving, import and export of Figure files (with social media integration). Further down the line is support for export into Reason. Finally, there are plans for the implementation of a sequencer of some sort because it's a lot more fun (and useful) exporting an entire arranged track than it is just a two bar loop. We'll keep you posted as things develop. There's also a promo video of Figure you can check out here.
Remix & WIN: Winner to be announced live tonight at 9 PM CET (8 PM GMT) (Updated)
Update: Just in case you missed it on Ustream last night, we're thrilled to announce that the winner of our Remix & WIN competition is MIZIM, or Yasmin from Yorkshire, UK. Congratulations, Yasmin! We absolutely loved your remix. To listen to Yasmin's winning remix on Sound Cloud, click here. To all our other contestants, thanks so much for taking part! The long wait is almost over! The winner of our Remiix & WIN competition, with Olivia Broadfield, Propellerhead, SoundCloud and TUAW, will be announced live tonight at 9:00 PM CET (8 PM GMT) on Olivia's Ustream. The winning remix will walk away with Propellerhead's brand new Balance audio interface and a copy of its latest DAW, Reason 6, plus a SoundCloud premium membership, a signed copy of Olivia Broadfield's latest album, "This Beautiful War," and some TUAW merchandise, too! We've been overwhelmed and thrilled with the hundreds of submissions to the competition. It's been a tough job working through the remixes to get to our finalist because there's been such a high standard of creativity and production. Well done! But there can only be one winning remix -- the cream of the crop -- and we can't wait for it to be announced tonight. Until then, if you haven't already, why not take a listen to the finalists on Sound Cloud here?
Reminder: Last chance to Remix & WIN
Our Remix and WIN competition, with Olivia Broadfield, Propellerhead and SoundCloud, closes on the 31st January 2012, which means you've just a few days left to submit your remix of Olivia's song 'Say.' We've had loads of entries already (some of which are very impressive), and the judges (Olivia and the TUAW team) have their work cut out for them over the next few weeks! The winning entry will take home Propellerhead's brand new Balance audio interface and a copy of their latest DAW, Reason 6, plus a SoundCloud premium membership, a signed copy of Olivia Broadfield's latest album, "This Beautiful War", and some TUAW merchandise, too! If you haven't already, check out our competition announcement post here for all the details on how to enter. The winning remix will be announced in February 2012. May the best remix win! If you've had any trouble submitting your entry, leave a comment below.
Hands on with Propellerhead's Reason 6 and Balance interface
I've always been curious about Propellerhead's Reason software, but since I'm not really an electronic music-making enthusiast, and the fact that up until more recently Reason had no audio recording capabilities, I've always turned to other recording platforms for my music-making needs, that is until now! For those of you that don't know, Reason is a virtual studio rack for your Mac. It even looks like a rack filled with loads of fantastic studio equipment. It has all the tools required to produce music: compressors, reverbs, synths, delays, a whole bunch of instruments...the list goes on. Previously, though, you'd have to connect this virtual rack with a DAW (a digital audio workstation like Pro Tools, Logic, Reeper or even Propellerhead's own DAW, Record) in order to actually record something through it or capture something produced form it. However, with the latest version of Reason, Record (with all the fine features you've come to expect from a DAW) has been totally integrated into Reason. With Reason 6, Reason and Record are now one, and all the better for it. To top that off, and really hit home the fact that Propellerhead is taking audio recording very seriously. It's produced its own audio interface hardware, too -- Balance. With Reason 6 and Balance, Propellerhead provides everything the home recording enthusiast needs. Balance is a high quality 2-in by 2-out audio interface, meaning you can record up to two sources of audio at a time. This may appear meagre, but for the average home recorder, you're not going to be recording more than two sources of audio at a time -- say a guitar and a vocal. However, you are going to add other instruments to your track by layering recordings on top of each other. Maybe add some piano and some percussion? Balance has two XLR microphone inputs (with 48V phantom power), two 1/4" guitar inputs with padding and four 1/4" balanced line inputs (two stereo pairs). This means you can have up to 8 audio sources plugged in, setup and ready to go without having to fiddle around with cables and wires while you're in the creative zone. Another unique feature of Balance is Clip Safe. How often have you recorded the perfect take only to discover that it clipped because the level was (unexpectedly!) too hot? Clip Safe automatically does a backup recording of your take at a lower level, allowing you to go back and readjust the input level of your take after you've recorded it. Are Balance and Reason 6 as good as they, uh... sound? Propellerhead sent TUAW a review unit of Reason 6 and Balance so I could find out. Physically, the Balance unit is very appealing. It's all black and with a soft rubber feel, but the unit itself feels rock solid. Unlike many smaller audio interfaces, all the controls, dials and lights are raised towards you for easy visibility and access. The two most important dials, the main output level and the headphone level, are the biggest, making them easy to find and use. The other two smaller dials are the gain levels for the two inputs. For a novice user it couldn't be simpler. Hit the source selector for the input you want, adjust the input gain level, adjust the main out level and you're on your way. All the source inputs and the audio outs are neatly arranged on the back of the unit. There are no breakout cables, covers or flaps, the design is clean, simple and clear. And, of course, the audio? The pre-amps sound fantastic, especially for the price point. It's also worth noting that the Balance interface is not tied to Reason. The interface is Core Audio compatible and will work with the DAW of your choice, though the Clip Safe feature is a Reason exclusive. Being Core Audio compatible (like just about every other audio interface for the Mac), Balance works straight away with your Mac. Run the Reason installer disc, plug it in via the provided USB cable and you're on your way. As for Reason 6, well... I have no real previous experience with Reason (and bearing in mind that approaching any DAW for the first time can be a bit of a learning curve), I was quickly up and running recording tracks and engaging with the huge array of instruments and gear in no time. It's clear there's a vast depth to Reason 6. And while it may take a bit of time learning how to get there, the new user can happily get along simply skimming the surface, while the more advanced user will find all the power, flexibility and detail they'd expect from any other DAW. Like Balance, Reason 6 feels clean, clear and polished. It's designed to get out of the way so you can get on with making music. It is extremely stable, too. Which brings me to my last point, Reason is a locked environment, you can't use any third party plug-ins with it. Some may see that as a deal breaker. However, there are a plethora of Reason ReFills -- additional Propellerhead approved, high-quality instruments and sounds for expanding on Reason. Seriously, I'd say you can get just about everything your home studio will need in the Propellerhead universe. In part, Reason's exclusivity is probably what makes it so sturdy. To find out more about what Reason 6 and Balance has to offer, check out the Propellerhead website here. I also recently had an interview with UK singer-songwriter Olivia Broadfield, who is an exclusive Reason user. You can read the interview here. Balance comes bundled with Reason Essentials and is available for around US$500. Finally, until the end of January, TUAW is a hosting a competition with Propellerhead, SoundCloud and Olivia Broadfield, giving you the chance to win a copy of Reason 6, a Balance interface, a SoundCloud premium subscription as well as some TUAW goodies. Check out further details here.
Remix & WIN with Olivia Broadfield, Propellerhead, SoundCloud and TUAW
Calling all producers, mixers and music-making enthusiasts. We've teamed up with UK singer-songwriter Olivia Broadfield (who we recently interviewed here), Propellerhead and SoundCloud to offer you the chance to win Propellerhead's brand new Balance audio interface, a copy of their latest DAW, Reason 6, a SoundCloud premium membership and a singed copy of Olivia's latest album, "This Beautiful War", and some TUAW merchandise, too! In order to be in the running for this fantastic prize, you're required to remix (the best way you see fit) Olivia's song, "Say" off her album, "This Beautiful War" (we'll provide you with the audio stems). The competition closes and entries must be in by the end of January 31st, 2012. Entries will be judged by Olivia and TUAW, with the winning remix announced in February, 2012. To enter, simply email olivia@propellerheads.se and she'll provide you with all the info and links to get started. That's it. Let the remixing begin. Any questions? Let us know in the comments below.
TUAW's Holiday Gift Guide: Music gear for the Mac musician
Welcome to the TUAW Holiday Gift Guide! We've sorted the treasure from the junk and are serving up suggestions to make your holiday gift-giving a little easier. Choosing the right gift for an Apple-loving musician can be very tricky. Usually, they've got everything they want already because they can't wait for the latest and greatest -- they just get it for themselves as soon as they can. Or they are so overwhelmed by the choices presented to them that they can't make a decision and therefore obsess about it for months on end. To say the least, it can be very difficult to give the Apple-loving musician the right gift. Ironically, to top it all off, the gift-giver is usually not a musician, nor do they understand the gear and tech that most commonly goes with being a musician. For instance, when I start talking about music tech to a fellow musician in the presence of my wife, she looks at us as if we're speaking an alien language, and try as she might, she can't help but get extremely bored very quickly. So, to help you (the musician / beloved gift-giver) make the right decision, we've gone to the trouble of putting together a list of some of our favorite music apps and pieces of music tech from the last year. You'll definitely find something here that an Apple-loving musician is sure to be pleased with this holiday season.
