That’s a rhetorical question.

The answer is no.

The Eigenharp Alpha is a mishmash of music making tools all rolled into one device. Many have mistaken it for a Chapman stick, which it’s not.

It features:

• 120 pressure-sensitive keys (sensitive down to 1 micron of movement… nuts)
• 12 percussion keys (which can also be assigned to other functions)
• a bassoon-like breath pipe
• hookups for expression pedals (and let’s face it, if you’re rocking this bad boy, you’re definitely feeling the need to express yourself)
• a phantom powered microphone preamp
• a headphone amp for nerding out without disturbing anybody (unless they happen to see you)

Now I’m just waiting for some hipster indie band like Mute Math to make it their new stage gimmick and watch all the scenesters’ pupils dilate.

All that said… I think I kinda want one…

You can find out more info about the Eigenharp Alpha, and it’s light-weight counterpart the Pico, on their site.

VIDEO: The Eigenharp Alpha is a post from: wax&wires

As you heard me address in the video, the tempo manipulation seemed to be the feature that had the most excitement around it. How frequently it will be used, I’m not sure. Gerry and Peff gave a quick demo of the software, and drew in a tempo automation for a false ritard at the end of a song. It did sound quite authentic, baiting the applause of all in attendance. There have been a few instances where I’ve completed a song, thinking it sounded great, only to have it drag a bit when played in the context of the album as a whole. How many times in my life has that happened? Not really enough to justify changing my entire work flow, but I could see the program assisting for scratch tracks and pre-production from that end.

Also mentioned in the video, the SSL 9000K emulation, acting as the primary mixer within record. The jury’s out on the accuracy of the modeling. I’ll play with the beta a bit this week and give a more in depth review next week via video.

The interface is clean and intuitive, much like Reason. It operates in three views, Arrange View (standard waveform edits, etc), Rack View (effects rack, just like Reason), and Mixer View (where the much hailed SSL 9000K model is featured).

Record can rewire into any rewire supported DAW (ProTools, Ableton, Logic, etc.), but Reason does not need to be rewired into Record, as the new software opens Reason sessions natively within it. The plus in that is that all tracks are handled the same; you heard Gerry alluding to that in the video, wanting to see tracks as music, not audio. That’s a bit semantic, but the point is that there aren’t “MIDI” tracks and “Audio” tracks per say, as all effects work on any of the channels, and all tracks feed to the SSL.

The next feature that seemed to get a decent amount of attention was the Line 6 amp modeling. The same modeling available in guitar and bass PODs is included with record. The program also can sync up with your hardware POD to exchange presets between Record and your POD. The whole system is designed for quick, intuitive and simple music making.

Propellerhead has been touting Record’s low latency. The months to come with dictate the depth of that claim. After I mess with it a bit, I’ll relay any thoughts I have to you.

Another key feature is Record’s comping. Most of us who are accustomed to vocal comping and the like have grown use to having multiple stacked takes on a single track in ProTools, then copying and pasting the good chunks into a new “comp” take. Record has a much more easy to use GUI for comping, where you can simply drag around the pieces you want from each take to a top “play” take to create your final comp. Nothing too mind-blowing, but the new comping system in Record should help speed up your workflow a bit.

One thing that I forgot to ask Gerry on camera, but did catch up with him about was the fact that Record does NOT support third party plug-ins. All effects, just like in Reason, are hosted within the program itself; everything is entirely self contained. While most would see this as a huge set back, it doesn’t come without reason (pardon the pun). With the incorporation of external plug-ins, you introduce the potential for a plug-in crashing your application. Reason is known for its stability, and the folks at Propellerhead wanted the same reputation to follow Record. Gerry said something to the effect of, “If we let you use whatever plug-ins you want, we’re not really going to be any more stable than any other recording program out there.” Sounds logical enough, though I do think this will impact their market share. For users, like myself, who have spent thousands on quality plug-ins, I want to be able to take those presets and plug-ins with me, to whatever audio program I end up in. I don’t know that Record’s target market is comprised of such musicians though.

On a similar note, all associated files are held within one Record session file. That means, no folders of MIDI data, audio files, and fade files. Everything is self contained. The good in that is the ease of use. The down side is having to bounce stems for use in any other audio environment. Record does take as much of the pain out of that as possible by offering a quick “bounce stems” option to export each track as a separate audio file.

Think of it as more of a sketch pad for your work. It will be the fastest and easiest way for Reason users to lay down song ideas from start to finish, with decent enough audio. If you’re thinking about a major label release, this isn’t really going to be your end all be all solution. For $249, you can’t really expect much more than that though. If you’ve already got Reason, Record is only $149. I’ve spent more than that on a single compression plug that I hardly ever use. Record would likely do more for my workflow than said plug-in, so to me, it’s a worthwhile buy. If you’re new to the computer recording game, this could be an incredible first program for you, a huge step up from garage band, and a bit sideways from apps like Logic Express and the like.

You can get more info about Record at Prophead’s site, and supposedly at RecordYou.com, though the latter wasn’t up last time I checked.

More thoughts to come as I experiment a bit more with the beta, but those are my initial reactions to the features presented. What do you think? Will you be looking for a new workflow when Record comes out this September?

Propellerhead Announces New Software – “Record” is a post from: wax&wires

The OP-1 (Operator 1) is a synth/controller/recorder/sequencer and everything else wonderful smashed into one. Seriously though… I think they even have some unicorns, rainbows and cheeseburgers in there.

In standalone mode, it functions as a synthesizer with 8 models, 8 samplers, effects like delay, flutter, eq, and more; plus a step sequencer and arpegiator to boot. It also has a built in microphone and audio recorder so that you can sample things on the fly, including grabbing content from the FM radio reciever, which is also built in (kind of weird, but why not?). Lastly, in a stroke of brilliance, they’ve built in motion sensing control for audio manipulation.

After creating a track you can either play it back on the built in speaker, or export it to MP3 right on the device. Yes, all of that is in stand-alone mode.

As a controller, it offers a keyboard, four control knobs, transport control, and 16 quick-keys for mapping to your DAW.

As far as I/O,  the OP-1 possesses mini-jack ins and outs for audio, and USB 2.0 for interfacing with your computer.

The OLED display is absolutely beautiful too. You can get some glimpses at it in this video, as well as some basic audio candy.

Though Teenage Engineering hasn’t yet set a price, they’ve listed 10-12 months as the estimated time until completion.

You can check out more about the OP-1 at the Teenage Engineering site.

Teenage Engineering OP-1 – You Already Want This is a post from: wax&wires

Would you prefer a controller with knobs for quick and easy control, or just a big empty screen that could become anything?

The Dragon Midi Controller is a post from: wax&wires

At NAMM yesterday, Roland revealed that the now-popular neo-new-wave instrument has been reissued with some major improvements, including:

• Built-in sound engine with Roland synth voices
• Ribbon controller, D-Beam (in a usable location this time), Modulation bar, Knobs, and Display
• USB MIDI for quick connection to your computer
• V-Link button for video/visual control
• Longer battery life

So keyboard players, you’ll still look dorky and awkward, but now you can do it standing up!

You can read more about the AX-Synth here.

Roland Resurrects The Keytar is a post from: wax&wires

1) It looks better. Check it out in the picture above. It’s much sleeker than the old clunky Axiom.
2) Semi-weighted “TruTouch” keybed. I think TruTouch is just the fancy name their giving to standard semi-weighted keys.
3) HyperControl technology. This looks to be just like Novation’s AutoMap feature for automatic MIDI mapping and updating. A great addition to the keyboard, enabling users to map triggers, knobs, and faders to the appropriate control for their software synth.
4) Graphic LCD. The display will hopefully ease programming and preset creation, though I haven’t seen how intuitive it is or not.
5) ASCII Keystroke Support. You can map buttons on the Axiom Pro to send out QWERTY key commands to your DAW. So I could have a button on the Axiom Pro that would be “Cmd+C” to copy, another for “Cmd+V” to paste, another for “Cmd+S” to save etc. That’s a great convenience feature.

It’s looking to be priced a bit high for my taste at $500 for the 25-key, $600 for the 49-key, and $700 for the 61-key give or a take a bit for the difference in MSRP and MAP. That makes it about twice as expensive as the current Axiom.

All in all, it looks like a great step forward from the old Axiom, but I’m not sure if I’m jumping on one just yet if those prices are accurate. You can read more about it here.

M-Audio Introduces Axiom Pro is a post from: wax&wires

Check it out here.

MIDI Interface For Analog Synth is a post from: wax&wires

My wife has an iPhone 3G and a little virtual piano application on it. When I saw her pull that application up my thought process was basically, “Wow, I should code a little keyboard controller for the iPhone that would sync with my laptop for laying down quick ideas while out and about.” Then I figured somebody else already thought of that and sure enough, Silicon Studios has, developing the iPhone Apps in the iTouchMidi Lab.

In addition to a standard keyboard controller with octave shift and pitch bend, they have matrix triggers, XY pad controller, a “tilt” controller using the phone’s accelerometer, and a basic mixer. A lot of these have very practical uses. I can imagine the mixer becoming your new frontier tranzport, etc.

Check out the company here.

Forget the Korg NanoKey, Turn Your iPhone into a MIDI Controller! is a post from: wax&wires