The announcement has been made, a page has been put online, and beta signups are underway!

I got the email that linked me to this page, where you can find everything available on this program for the moment. It’s even got a nice little video for you to play, which you can view at the bottom.

Recording

What you see above is the record rack, which is all your software instruments, effects, and processors. Coming from Propellerhead, you had to expect something like this, right?

Record will come with some bass/guitar amp sim software developed by Line 6. The program also ships with something called ID8 which is being touted on the site as a “songwriters toolbox.” It looks like a multi-instrument with strings, bass, drums, and other basic instrumentation built-in. This will probably be very useful for getting your ideas down quickly while only dealing with one instrument instead of finding a synth for bass, a synth for strings, and so on.

Probably the biggest (even if it seems like the smallest) feature is the tuning correction built into each track. Each track comes with a little tuning fork that, when engaged, allows for “instant tuning” of your recorded material. Something tells me that this will be like time stretching tracks: I’m sure the program will do an okay job, but tuning will probably always need some type of human intervention in order to get it just right.

Arranging

The above screenshot is of Record’s track comping feature which…looks a little odd to me. I understand whats going on it it but…well, it just looks weird compared to Logic 8 or Pro Tools 8′s comping feature. It works very easily, though: select the parts of the take you don’t want and mute it. Leave the parts you want to use unmuted, and bam. Comping is done.

The time-stretching feature is as simplistic as it gets. You’re supposed to be able to slow down your audio or speed it up, without and pre-play processing. And if you change one track’s tempo, the entire session is supposed to play along with it. I was very happy to see that Propellerhead threw up audio samples on their page. It sounds pretty good, but listen for yourself.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Propellerhead product without a MIDI sequencer. I’m a little disapointed that it looks identical to the one inside Reason, but if it’s not broke, don’t fix it, right?

The weakest part about the sequencing window looks like it’s automation. Writing automation isn’t fun any of the time, but it looks especially boring in Record.

Mixing

Faders! Pots! Buttons! This is why you like to record, admit it. And, to this programs credit, this is the best looking part of the entire package.

You get 64-bit mixing out of the box, which is nice. You also get a mixing environment modeled after the SSL 9000. However, Propellerhead is quick to tell you that they have no official affiliation with SSL, which is okay. As long as it sounds good!

Every channel strip has the following: EQ (with filters), dynamics (gate/compressor), 8 aux sends, inserts, and faders. The channels look great and as far as virtual modeling goes, it’s setup just like a 9k. The master sections also has a buss compressor which will end up being a great feature for the app. Also, you can add mixing-specific items to the record rack (ex. mastering EQ) for extra flexability.

Going back to automation for a moment, every parameter can be assigned and fully automated. And, as with most other DAWs, total recal is in effect.

Head over to the mixing page and listen to some demo songs recorded and mixed entirely in Record.

Integration

Again, this is a feature you would come to expect for Record: full integration with other Propellerhead apps, primarily Reason. If you have Reason, you can use every instrument and effect from Reason inside Record, but Reason can still function as a standalone app. However, if you do not own Reason, then you’ll be stuck with the stock FX that come with Record. Make sense?

By far one of the coolest features I’ve seen is the “Export Separate Channels” feature. What this does is allow you to export only certain channels. An example being this: you want to make a vocal stem, a guitar stem, and a strings stem so that a friend of yours can remix your song. You also want to apply all the channel strip processing except for the fader levels. You can do this inside the “Export Separate Channel” window. You can also normalize, bounce the entire length of the song, bounce a loop you’ve setup, and even export the tempo mapping to a .MID file. Pretty awesome stuff.

ReWire is of course supported with Record, as does something Propellerhead is calling “Remote.” Remote allows you to use a Remote-enabled MIDI controller to map just about any functionto it. I wonder if we’ll see some Remote-specific controllers coming out soon or around the time of Record’s 9/9/09 release date?

Ignition Key

The “Ignition Key” will be Record’s dongle. I thought we were done with dongles?

Either way, Record will run in three different modes: Demo, Authorized, and Internet Verification.

You run Record in demo mode when you don’t have your dongle with you. You can work without time restrictions and even save your work. The only thing you won’t be able to do is bounce your work or open the saved sessions (did I mention Record saves your session in one big file instead of a folder?).

Authorized is how you will run Record with the dongle plugged into your computer. It allows you full access of all Record’s features.

Internet Verification works without a dongle. Instead of using the physical key, Record connects to Propellerhead’s database and, with your username and password, lets you work inside Record with a full feature set even without the dongle. However, if you lose your internet connection, Record will automatically go into demo mode.

Purchasing

Record will come in two different flavors: Record for Reason Owners which is just what it sounds like. For those of you who own Reason, you can buy just Record for $149USD. There’s also the Record Reason Duo which gives you both Record and Reason at $629USD.

Record will be available September 9, 2009.

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