My Thoughts on Propellerheads Record

Alright, I've had a chance to digest this a bit, so here are my thoughts (like you care!):

• No support for external plug-ins.
This is insane to me. I understand that restrictions can be a good thing in terms of productivity, but Propellerheads' refusal to let users integrate VST/AU plug-ins in their software is a step too far, in my opinion, and seriously effects the shelf life of the product. I hear people all the time who are still using Logic 5. How many people do you know still using Reason 2? Now, the program does implement Rewire, just like Reason did, but if I have to take my tracks out to another DAW to process them with the plug-ins I want, what's the freaking point of having Record?!

• That interface.
Simply put, it's a nightmare. It looks like it was designed by someone with A.D.D. Over the years I've come to really appreciate the importance, especially in a DAW, of a clean, nice-looking interface. This just looks like a disorganized mess to me.

• Dongles Suck.
I know some people don't care, but I am of the firm opinion that dongles suck. I make it a point to buy my software to support companies who are doing good work and I find it insulting when a company burdens their honest, paying users with a dongle. Yeah, I understand that piracy is rampant (I'm a professional musician... believe me, I understand it...), but I know I'm not the only one out there who won't buy dongled software, so they're already insuring lost sales from people like myself. On the plus side, they're not charging extra for it, and if you are a dongle hater, you have the option of using an open internet connection as your copy protection, but this option isn't going to work if you're on a plane or somewhere that doesn't have an internet connection, as I often find myself when I am travelling. Neither option is very friendly for laptop users, which is a rapidly growing demographic among electronic musicians. And if you're using Record with another DAW such as Protools or Cubase? Guess what? That's two dongles.

• The Time-Stretching.
The effortless time-stretching thing is neat, but, for me at least, this doesn't outweigh the other significant shortcomings. My guess is that programs like Cubase, Logic, and Live will integrate something like this in the future anyway. (That's pure speculation on my part, it just seems to me like that's the direction things are moving in...)

• The Old Ways Aren't Always Better.
The hype around Record has been its supposed ease of use because its set up just like hardware. I actually think this makes it more complicated than it needs to be. In Logic, I basically open up a blank page and add channels as I need them. When I need send or insert effects, I just click and select the effec I want and I'm done. This means there is nothing on the screen I don't need and my set-up for a song is only as complicated as it needs to be. I guess their approach might be good for people who are used to Reason, but again, they ignored their users requests for audio record in Reason for so long, that most people who need this feature, already have DAWs.

As I said before, I am totally open to being proven wrong. I haven't used the software myself and am relying entirely on what I've read and observed in their promotional videos. But the market for DAWs (and let's be honest, despite Propellerheads' insistance that Record isn't a DAW, that's what it is) is already full, and any new entry really needs to be revolutionary in order to compete. I think they need to bring more to the table than this offers.