Swar Systems Announces Swar Studio

Sure, you've got a DAW or two on your hard drive, but how many DAWs do you have specifically designed for creating Indian music? Swar Studio includes audio tracks for recording audio or using loops, as well as instrument tracks for any of its 36 different virtual instruments. Also supports VST and AU plug-ins. Swar Studio retails for $69. More info on the Swar Systems website.

[via rekkerd.org]

MOTU Announces Windows Version of Digital Performer

Every since its earliest incarnation in the mid-eighties, Mark of the Unicorn's Digital Performer has been a Mac-only DAW. All that changes, though, with the announcement of Digital Performer for Windows in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. The new version includes new features for both Mac and PC versions including new Guitar and Bass Amp modeling plug-ins, an improved video engine, and new visual themes. For more info check out the MOTU page.

Bitwig Announces Bitwig Studio

When a bunch of ex-Ableton employees splintered off to start their own company, many wondered what the guys at Bitwig were up to. Now we have an answer: Bitwig Studio. The company describes it as a multi-platform music creation environment for production, performance, and DJing. This looks like a very ambitious project indeed! You can check out the details on their website.

(In the interest of full disclosure, my record label released a CD by Burikusu!!! who happen to be headed up by Bitwig founder Claes Johansen. Check it out!)

Apple Releases Logic 9.1.5 Update

For all my fellow Logic users, if you check your Software Update, you'll find a new update. Here's what you'll find in 9.1.5

"This update improves overall stability and addresses some minor issues including the following:

• All instrument and effect plug-ins that use LFO's synced to the beat now behave correctly.
• The Toggle Zoom key command now returns to previous zoom level as expected.
• Improved compatibility with Apogee's Duet 2."

Steinberg Announces Cubase 6 and Cubase Artist 6

Steinberg has announced updates to its popular DAW Cubase. New features include:

• New drum editing tools

• New transient detection for slicing

• Advanced tempo detection

• Straightforward drum replacement

• Multi-track audio quantization

• Fast, multi-lane track comping

• New MIDI editing "note expression"

• New VST Amp Rack guitar amp simulations

• Updated Loopmash 2 beat remixer

Ohmforce Announces Ohm Studio

Whoa... this was unexpected! Ohm Force has announced Ohm Studio, a new bit of music creation software specializing in online collaboration.

This is So Stupid It Makes My Brain Hurt

Apparently the wonderful Synthtopia blog got an e-mail from Propellerheads to ask them to stop calling the company's new Record software a 'DAW'. You can read all the face-palmingly dumb details here. (Have a look at the comments section to and see if you can pick out the comment that was almost certainly written by a Propellerheads marketing person...)

Make no mistake, this is solely about marketing. Propellerheads know they can't compete with the likes of Ableton Live, Steinberg Cubase, Apple Logic, etc., so they want to pretend that this is somehow something different than just a DAW with a feature set that doesn't measure up to the competition.

Let me be clear that I have nothing against Propellerheads. I have fond memories of playing with Rebirth back in the day, I still use Recycle a lot, and although I didn't find Reason to be to my liking, I can understand why others do like it. I'd love to see Record develop into something exciting if for no other reason than that it will push the other DAW makers to innovate further, and that benefits us all. But I think they've got a long way to go before they achieve that and most of the chatter I've seen around the net today suggest a lot of other people do as well. I would hope the company would have a bit more respect for the intelligence of their potential customers and realize that if it walks like a DAW, and quacks like DAW, people are going to call it a DAW.

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.

More On Propellerheads Record

Propellerheads Introduces "Record"

Here's the link to the product page. There's still just some basic info at this point (I'm typing this at 3 AM since that's when Propellerheads' Record site went live), but my initial thoughts are, this is going to be a tough sell. It looks like it will mainly appeal to people using Reason. But with how long Propellerheads left Reason crippled without audio recording capabilieis, most people using it seriously already use it with Rewire connected to another DAW such as Logic or Live. I'm not seeing anything here that would make most people want to abandon those and learn a new DAW. The Line-6 and SSL-modeled mixing channels are nice, but probably not enough for most people to switch. There's not much info yet, though, so I freely admit I could be totally wrong. I just think to compete in a DAW market with multiple, well-established programs, they really needed to offer something revolutionary, and at first glance, this doesn't appear to be it.

That interface looks like a cluttered mess, too, in my opinion.

So what do you think? Is this something that has you excited? Am I just a cranky old fart?

Apple to Release New Version of Logic?

Rumors are circulating on several websites that Apple may be launching a new version of their Logic DAW software at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8th through the 12th. It certainly seems feasible since the last version was released back in the fall of 2007.

Propellerheads to Launch New DAW

The FutureMusic blog is reporting that Swedish software mavens Propellerheads will unveil a new DAW at their May 9th "Producer's Conference". As popular as Reason has been, its main weakness has always been the fact that it didn't support recording of audio, which forced users to export their projects to a separate DAW. This certainly helps explain why the company seemed to have ignored users repeated requests over the years for an audio recording feature. Definitely a ballsy move on their part, but it should be interesting to see if they bring anything new and interesting to the table!

Steinberg Cuts Cost of Cubase

German DAW purveyors Steinberg announced a drastic cut in pricing for Cubase 4 late last week, bringing the price down to $599. The move was largely expected after Apple cut the cost of its flagship Logic Studio package to only $499 upon its release last year. If you've recently purchased Cubase 4 at the old price, there are details on the Steinberg site on how to receive a rebate.