Propellerhead Record

It’s not too hard to make modern dance music on a PC, but start adding live instruments and the complexities of getting the computer to play nicely with a sound card and the music software become apparent.

Record is an attempt to sort this out by providing a program with on-screen features amateur musicians will recognise from a home studio (a mixing desk, effects racks and a sequencer window) that side-step some of the more head-scratching behind-the-scenes stuff. Anyone who has ever struggled with an audio recording program will appreciate the streamlined interface and the intuitive way in which Record works, although complete newcomers will find that there is still a lot to learn.

Record has three main screens: the Arrange window where individual tracks are recorded and edited, the Rack, which stores effects and software instruments, and a Mixer where users can balance the tracks to create a finished CD-quality song. The program comes with eight digital effects such as reverb, Line6 bass and electric guitar amplifier and speaker simulators, and a collection of basic software instruments including pianos, organs, basses, drums, synthesisers and strings.

Record’s editing features mean that mistakes can be corrected quickly, different takes can be combined into a single recording and even the tempo of an entire song can be changed so that less dextrous players can produce note-perfect playing. In addition, it also works with Propellerhead’s Reason, a popular and wide-ranging collection of instruments and effects.

We tested Record on a four-year-old computer with 2GB of memory and a rickety sound card, and after a few tweaks to remove the odd audio ‘pop’ during playback everything worked fine. Owners of more modern PCs shouldn’t have any problems.

Anyone who has used music software before will find Record admirably straightforward, but there were still too many hiccups for real beginners. Setting up audio and dealing with latency (the delay between playing a note and hearing it) was hard to fathom. The mixing desk was a joy to use once we got used to it but complicated at first.

Finally, while the £109 offer price for existing Reason owners is a snip, the full price of £255 will inevitably put newcomers off.