You’ve seen “pay what you want” pricing for self-released albums on Bandcamp, and independent donationware software. But you certainly haven’t seen it in a major proprietary application like Reason 6. That’s what Swedish developer Propellerhead is doing with their Reason 6 upgrade, with name-your-own-price starting at EUR/USD 1.00, through the end of October. (One, not one hundred. Really. Apologies for embedding what’s essentially an advertisement below, but the video explains it.)

Edit: Readers observe that Reason 2.5 was a free upgrade, which is arguably just as notable as a pay-what-you-will upgrade here.

Now, this isn’t for everyone: it’s the upgrade, not the full product, and it’s only for people who own a copy of Reason and a copy of Record. In effect, what the upgrade does is reward early adopters who purchased Reason and Record Duo or bought Record separately on top of an existing copy of Reason. My feeling was certainly that the two products should have been offered together from the start. Many Reason users complained that they weren’t getting all the new audio recording features (only a sampling feature). And I noted in a review of Record for Macworld that Record didn’t come with everything unless you also bought Reason. The bundling of Reason and Record functionality into a single product called “Reason” to me makes perfect sense, and the deal here reflects that.

For that reason, I wouldn’t go as far as asking, as Jo-Ann at Shocklee does, if this is the future of music software pricing. But it is a big deal, and it proves that more significant names in music software can take some risks. It’s also a nice bargain: remember that Reason 6′s price, reflecting the incorporation of both programs, is effectively what you paid for Reason + Record duo, and that even if you have both, you still get some nice, new effects. (I’ve been playing with them for a few weeks, so expect a write-up on that soon, once I actually sit down and make some real music with them.)

But for me, the bottom line is, it’s nice to see a good idea trump caution in the accounting department.

http://www.propellerheads.se/paywhatyouwant/

The Tenori-On, the grid-based musical instrument with whimsical sequenced lights created by Toshio Iwai, has been gradually becoming more affordable. The original model, complete with its rounded metal case, has already been cut to US$999 here in North America. Now, Yamaha announces that it is making an “Orange” version which also slices costs. A plastic case stands in for the metal one, the lights are orange instead of white, and lights appear only on one side. Yamaha says this is for “home use” — that is, you don’t need the device lighting up on the other side if no one’s watching you. Unfortunately, by removing this novelty and eliminating the Tenori-On’s fantastic battery power option, I suspect Yamaha may also be slicing out some of the appeal of the device.

In the UK, MusicRadar reports the device will ship at £649. Here in the US, I’ve confirmed with distributor Keyfax that the price will be $699. Now, unlike other recent grid rivals (Launchpad, APC40, Ohm64) and the monome, the Tenori-On is capable of making sound. But I’d be inclined to either spend the extra $400 and make it light up on both sides and use it in bed sans wires or skip the idea altogether. I’m curious to know if others feel the same way.

MusicRadar also gets the scoop from Yamaha in the UK that a firmware upgrade is due for the Tenori-On fixing its somewhat problematic MIDI sync:

We’re told that this will address a number of areas, including syncing of the Tenori-on to DAWs and also the MIDI sync implementation.

Yamaha announces ‘more affordable’ Tenori-on Orange [MusicRadar]
Tenori-On product page [Yamaha worldwide]
Tenori-On USA [Keyfax]

It’s worth poking around the store if you do own a Tenori-On. Those brave early adopters can now make the instrument a pretty practical addition to a live set, with a nice case, stand, and (finally) stand mic stand adapter to feature it in your sets. And in another nod to the design, the Tenori-On recently entered the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In the meantime, I’m still curious to see if someone mashes up a synth engine and monome to make a computer-less monome.

Welcome to the alt-DAW scene. Last week, not only did Renoise continue its rebirth of the forgotten “tracker” genre of music making software with ReWire support, but we saw a big new version of REAPER, the beloved lightweight audio production tool from the original creator of Winamp.

What makes an “alt DAW”, or “indie” production software? To me, it’s:

• small development teams of a few people
• tightly-integrated communities directly involved in feature requests
• trusting users instead of adding significant DRM, returning to the traditional “shareware” business model of old
• affordable pricing

That’s not to take away from some of the bigger players – I was struck this week with the (unsurprising) ubiquity of Ableton Live at MUTEK; it’s a real testament to what they have accomplished. But choice is essential, and looking at the history of music technology, it’s in the periods of real choice that the most interesting things have happened. It makes everything better when developers really have to compete.

Cockos REAPER has spread almost virally as an underground DAW, partly because you can download the thing and get started with without any restrictions, then buy it for as little as US$60 for personal use.

http://www.reaper.fm/index.php

It’s not just for Windows people any more, either – the Mac version is now officially supported. You can run on Windows 7 or Windows 2000 or even 98 (with limited support). You can run on 10.4 Macs, or even PowerPC (though Intel is recommended). You can even run on Linux with official WINE support, though I’d still like to see a native Linux version, especially as Linux on netbooks is getting so lovely.

Version 3.0 came out this week. There are a huge number of improvements:

• MIDI editing with inline editing, event filtering, Sysex, controller automation – finally, REAPER is getting as good with MIDI as it is with audio
• Automation lanes
• Unlimited folder nesting
• Multichannel audio support
• User-created track and mixer control panels and macros
• Game controller support, including joysticks and even Guitar Hero controllers, which you can integrate with existing MIDI and macro facilities
• New graphics engine, new theming

And that’s just a few examples; see the full changelog:

http://www.reaper.fm/whatsnew-300.txt

You can script your own audio and MIDI plug-ins using JS, and use 64-bit plug-ins included with the package. And all of this is a 4MB download. And there’s no DRM.

While some software increases memory and resource consumption with new versions, REAPER reverses the trend: it’s getting more lightweight and faster as it develops. That’s something we need more of; it’s absolutely possible with the right development approach, and is a welcome change from the “get fatter as computers get faster” approach that infected decades of software development.

Upgrades are $149 if you bought Reaper after September 1, $199 otherwise, or EUR249 for Europe, or $99 if your favorite color is blue, or $123.5 * PI / 2 if you had LE, or $999 for REAPER Suite, or $699 for a Grande REAPERccino Latte, unless you don’t want all the plug-ins, in which case you can get Tall as an upgrade for $119.3587 plus a $150 fuel surcharge, unless you bought your license on a full moon…

Oh, okay, actually, upgrades are free for two major upgrades – meaning if you buy now, you’re covered through 4.99. And there’s one version, called REAPER, which includes… REAPER.

You’re seeing what this hype is about, right? And, if you’re like me, you’re wondering why, you know, other things can’t be a little more like this?

Updated: Sorry, I lost my mind and wrote “JavaScript” instead of the unrelated scripting language JS. Here’s a good explanation from the JS Programming Reference to what this is.

JS is a scripting language which is compiled on the fly and allows you to modify and/or generate audio and MIDI, as well as draw custom vector based UI and analysis displays.
JS effects are simple text files, which when loaded in REAPER become full featured plug-ins. You can try loading existing JS effects and since they are distributed in source form, you can also edit existing effects to suit your needs (we recommend if editing an existing effect you save it as something with a new name–if you do not you may lose your changes when upgrading REAPER).

JS Programming Guide

There’s also an extensions SDK in C++ and an LGPL-licensed SDK for control surfaces. You can contrast this with Ableton, which will charge extra for its Max for Live runtime and has no officially supported or documented API for control surfaces, which means that support for more exotic devices routinely breaks, and trying it yourself is harder.

Before the iPhone, before HP computers and Windows 7 touch features and Apple trackpad gestures, the Jazz Mutant Lemur multi-touch interface was ahead of its time. Today, it’s still unique, in that it’s one of the few commercially-available devices to support OpenSoundControl, it’s a luxuriously-large multi-touch screen, and it has exceptional precision and low latency with its tracking. Of course, it has also been subject to two primary complaints: one, that the software options for creating onscreen interfaces is two simple, and two, that it costs too much.

Well, the Lemur and its more conventional DAW-controlling Dexter sibling address each of those. The Lemur has gotten a significant software upgrade, and both have gotten a steep price cut.

First, Lemur V2 is the biggest set of improvements since the Lemur’s unveiling. New in the upgraded firmware:

• Tabs for containers
• Breakpoint object for envelopes
• Alias controllers to save memory and (your) time
• Control the mouse cursor or keyboard shortcuts directly (that’s actually a huge deal right there)
• Pinch, rotate, trace gestures
• Pop-up menu object
• New JazzEditor, scripting powers, and instant Ableton Live reactivity – yep, doing stuff even the new Akai APC can’t.

The only bad news is, even with price drops, these devices aren’t cheap, though arguably they can make up for that with longevity. The Dexter has undergone a permanent price drop to a much more competitive US$1519. The Lemur has temporarily dropped to US$1769 for a 60-day promotion. No official word yet on what happens after that offer expires mid-March; stay tuned.

I do think this makes a pretty significant adjustment on value. I’m a big fan of the iPhone/iPod touch apps, but the input area is extremely small; there’s no real comparison.

Lemur V2
Jazz Mutant

And even if you decide not to get a Lemur yourself or can’t afford them, they remain a compelling example of what’s possible in the future of music hardware – and how powerful OSC can be. Look for a hands-on with Lemur V2 and more on OSC in other applications (many completely free) over the coming months.

To close out, here’s a nice, if simple, video demo of a Max/MSP step sequencer controller with the Lemur. What’s lovely about this is that it shows how building both software and hardware interface from the ground up can really give you control over how you’re playing. (Meaning, even if you hate this, you can go create something for youself that’s exactly what you love.)

this is a sequencer i programmed in max using the lemur as a control interface. it sends midi info to whatever program you use. i also forgot to mention that each track can have independent timings, so varitions can span longer than just 1 bar of music.

lemur users can download it off the jazzmutant website. user name – Andrew Graham

Got Lemur creations of your own? We’d love to see them. (I really appreciated seeing the amazing work Bryant Place was doing with LemurV2 and Ableton Live while I was out in LA.)

Dynamic control is fantastic. The idea is this: when you switch to a new app or instrument or effect, the hardware controller automatically assigns parameters to controls. That means no messing around with templates, assignment editors, and configuration, and the ability to quickly gain control of your software when editing or performing. Novation’s MIDI-controlling keyboards and control surfaces are likely the best example of this with their “Automap” feature, as found on the ReMOTE line and the cute, DJ-friendly Nocturn.

But doing dynamic assignment also creates some challenges. You have to sort out which parameters get controlled. And most importantly, you need to be able to see what you’re actually controlling.

Automap was, frankly, pretty rocky when it first shipped – when I originally reviewed the ReMOTE SL, a lot of stuff didn’t work at all in some of the hosts. (I remember struggling with Logic, specifically.) But Novation has done a fantastic job of working with all the software you use, from Live and Reason to Logic and Pro Tools, and each release has gotten steadily better. Automap “Universal” 2.0 works exceptionally well with hosts, and plug-in support was starting to come together.

Now, Automap 3 Pro seeks to address those two remaining areas: assign parameters more easily, and see what you’re doing. And for the first time, you’ll be able to use multiple Novations side by side, which means I’m ready to pick up a Nocturn for myself. There’s just one catch, which may win the “Accountants Do the Darndest Things” award of this NAMM show. (Spoiler alert: would you give away or charge for the feature that encourages people to buy more of your gear?)

Heads-Up Display

The biggest news to me is the new heads-up display, which Novation calls “Autoview.”

If you are dynamically assigning controls, you need some feedback to know what the heck you’re actually controlling. That’s why I’m going to gripe endlessly about the lack of a screen on the new Akai APC40 for Ableton Live. Novation has always had lovely little screens built into their hardware. The problem is, an LED is a pretty small screen for people used to looking at 23” desktop displays all day. (I’m only 31 and I’m squinting at it already.)

Oddly enough, if you play with a laptop, you have a huge, gorgeous screen sitting right next to you. You can hunch over it and try to tell what’s happening, but that’s obviously no go.

So Novation has what I think is the ideal solution: a big heads-up display that activates when you grab a controller. (“Ah,” you say, “that is my grain length control,” and go on confidently with your set.)

We saw this basic feature demoed with the Nocturn controller at last year’s NAMM, but now it’s standard on Automap 3 across the whole Novation line. Having both the screen on my device and on my computer screen seems fantastic to me.

Assign Controllers Flexibly

The other main shortcoming of Automap in the past is how to deal with plug-ins with lots of parameters. In Ableton Live, at least, you can throw instruments and effects into Live’s Device Racks, which conveniently have eight macro knobs. That way, the eight encoders on your Novation gear map nicely. But invariably, even in Live I’ll find some plug-in I didn’t put into a rack, and this doesn’t work in all other hosts.

With Automap 3, you can drag and drop parameters onto controls. If you don’t like the arrangement, drag and drop again to swap parameters from one controller to another. (“Yep, grain length really belongs on the bottom right,” says you, and it is so.) That complements the “learn mode” added in Automap 2: click the on-screen parameter and then touch the hardware controller. (That’s very similar to the way Kore’s feature works, by the way.)

Finally, Automap supports assigning the X/Y pad control dynamically. That’s huge for SL owners – and makes me almost wish I hadn’t switch to the SL Compact.

Multiple Devices, New Start-Up Screen

The other big feature is long-awaited support for multiple devices and integrated Mackie HUI support, and there’s a new screen to organize all the new stuff.

Multiple controllers: You can now use more than one Novation controller at once and have Automap working with both of them at the same time. This is really fantastic, especially given that the ReMOTE Zero and Nocturn are both quite compact.

Mackie HUI: This means you get instant control over any DAW that supports Mackie HUI, without specific drivers.

New screen: There’s also a new startup screen for managing multiple devices and the plug-in assignment features. It also brings up links for updating your software and learning how to use all this functionality, with online guides for your software of choice, tutorials, and help.

Now, get ready for some cognitive dissonance:

Pro Pricing that Makes No Sense

I wondered why Automap was suddenly called “Automap Pro.” The answer seems to be that some jittery accountants (or someone else, in a weak moment) decided to charge $30 for Automap 3 Pro. That might be a logical decision if Automap worked on any hardware other than Novation’s, but it doesn’t. It’s not much money – it just doesn’t make much sense.

Here’s where it gets really strange. You can get Automap “Standard” for free. So what did they take out to entice you to buy “Pro”? Multiple device support.

Yep, that’s right. You can use less Novation hardware for free, but if you want to buy more Novation hardware, they’ll charge you for the privilege of using it. (I’m hoping it at least comes free with new Novation controllers, but haven’t seen any announcement suggesting that.)

Also exclusive to the Pro mode:

• XY pad control
• Autoview
• Drag and drop

So, in other words, Automap Standard doesn’t really give you any of the significant new features, except for HUI control and the new startup screen.

I know I’m naive and have terrible business sense, but wouldn’t it make more sense to encourage people to buy more of your stuff? I think Automap Pro is probably worth thirty bucks. I think Novation’s hardware is well worth buying – maybe even more than one unit. But I can’t make this make any sense at all.

Good will from your users is more valuable, Novation – and in the long run, could have a bigger impact on your bottom line. Make Automap Pro free, and encourage users to snap up more of these terrific controllers instead.

I hope at the very least Novation has the sense to do a free bundle of Automap Pro 3 with new controllers. (How many of you would find a bundled copy of Pro enough to put you over the top on buying a new Nocturn, even if you already have something like the ReMOTE SL? I know it’d convince me.)

Still Want It

That said, I still want this update – to me, it finally delivers on all the promise of the whole Automap concept.

And my message to Ableton: I’d love to see a heads-up display integrated into Live, too, especially since the Akai APC lacks a screen of its own.

Stay tuned for an Automap 3 hands-on coming soon. As I write this, the downloads still cover only Automap Universal 2, and the Buy Now page is blank.

Automap Product Page

There’s been some confusion from our readers and existing beta testers of SoundCloud (see their forums / login required) about what you can get with a free account on the service.

Co-founder Eric Wahlforss answers some of these concerns in comments. With a free account, you will be able to:

• Send/upload up to five tracks a month, of any length/size
• You can upload as many tracks as you like, but only your ten most recent tracks will be visible to others (unless you delete tracks). No tracks are deleted – you can upgrade/downgrade at will.
• You get a DropBox, and the most recent five tracks dropped will appear (again, if you delete tracks as you listen to them, you’ll see more)
• Make contact lists with up to 20 contacts
• See basic stats

So, the free account does look reasonably usable for light use. That said, they are clearly trying to push people to pro accounts, which start at EUR9 / mo. (Even separate USD pricing would help, I think … even though the dollar has recovered a bit in recent weeks, unlike our – ahem – stock exchange.) Eric does promise more is coming in those pro accounts to entice you, if you feel the value proposition isn’t there yet.

Full details:

From comments:

Peter, this is Eric, one of the founders of SoundCloud. Thanks for a great post.

It’s been our vision from the very beginning to make SoundCloud more or less ad-free and totally streamlined for the needs of musicians and labels. Like other websites that provide real value to people/companies and unlike slow/bloated/ad-ridden/"free"-but-oh-we’ll-waste-your-time-instead sites, we do charge for our services.

Again to clarify, there will *of course* exist a free account. Sorry about the vague communication on this so far. It will hopefully be clear tomorrow. The free account will have certain limitations that I will list here (you’re really among the first ones to know).

You can:

• Send 5 tracks/month
• See the 10 latest sent tracks (they will also show on your profile)
• Get a DropBox, but you’ll only see the last 5 tracks dropped (you can always remove tracks to see more)
• Make contact lists with up to 20 people in them

The free account will work fine for quite a lot of use-cases. And you will always be able to go back to it, should you realize you don’t need a PRO accounts. Easy. We won’t delete any of your stored tracks, or anything else for that matter.

I should also mention that we’re working on a few *very* cool things that will land in the PRO accounts later this fall, like sets uploading/sharing, versioning of tracks, and more…

cheers // eric [currently working the nightshift on perfecting the site before the release...]

I was confused on the stats portion and track limitations, so I asked Eric to clarify for us.

Do you get the same view of stats in the free account as you do in the light pro account?

yes, the basic stats graphs as in the PRO light account, but not info on exactly who listened and who downloaded.

What are the limitations on how many tracks you can upload?

you can upload as many tracks as you want over time, but only 5 tracks per month. only the last 10 will actually be shown on your profile, but you can always "unlock" your account to show them all by upgrading to any PRO account. if you downgrade back to free then they will again be hidden so that only the last 10 are shown (just like on flickr).

So, what do you get if you upgrade to the pro accounts? You lose the track limitations, for one, with 15 tracks per month (EUR9/mo) to unlimited tracks (EUR59/mo). With the EUR29+ accounts, you get enhanced support, more stats, and a branded dropbox, so it’s clear those are aimed at labels, venues, and the like.

I expect there will still be some pricing skepticism, though. I’m curious to hear – will the free account be enough for you? Any of you thinking you might pony up for one of the pro accounts? Or are you looking elsewhere?

We expect more changes to hit SoundCloud over the coming weeks, so we’ll be watching. I think this is a really important development, and one worth researching. I’m sure it’ll have some competition, and we’ll cover that, as well.

Cycling ’74 have updated Max 5′s pricing and streamlined a bit in the new release. (That means Max for MIDI and basic data crunching, MSP for audio, synthesis, and signal processing, and Jitter for video, 3D, and advanced data processing.) Since this impacts a number of our readers, it’s worth going over this.

Updated: The story now reflects a clarification from Cycling ’74 over which Jitter objects work in Max/MSP.

New academic pricing:

• US$250 per student
• US$59 for a 9-month authorization
• US$109.45 for a permanent upgrade from Max/MSP 4

Student discounts

See also education and teacher discounts; 1-4 licenses for either K-12/higher ed faculty or your institution are now US$475.20 for the full Max/MSP/Jitter

Academic pricing is now only for Max + MSP + Jitter — none of the tiered pricing from before for just Max/MSP, etc. And if you bought after October 1, the new version is free. Plus, if you own an academic license that didn’t include Jitter, you get it now with your upgrade.

I recommended the 9-month license for my students ($39 of it gets subtracted from your final order) when I was teaching Max at Brooklyn College, and people were really happy with it.

New full pricing

• US$699 for the full Max 5
• US$495 for Max/MSP + a limited, unsupported set of Jitter objects (see below)
• US$199 upgrade

Pricing details and Max 5 overview

Note that Max 5 at this time doesn’t yet include the ability to export patches as plug-ins via Pluggo. ReWire, etc., still work, but if your main application for Max is building plug-ins for other hosts, you may want to hold off.

This came up in comments, so I’ll say it again — we’re not covering Max because I think it’s the only alternative. On the contrary, Reaktor and Pd are also each cross-platform patching environments with their own unique strengths, to say nothing of other synth environments (ChucK, Csound, SuperCollider). Each of those can work in academic settings, as well. But there’s no question Max 5 is big news on this scene, a major update to the tool that first popularized visual patching as music software

How much Jitter do you get in Max/MSP?

Cycling ’74 revised their site; while Max/MSP does now include a limited set of Jitter objects, they’re officially unsupported if you haven’t bought Jitter. In other words, you can use them — and this means developers working on patches can share those patches with people who don’t have Jitter within the limited subset — you just don’t get support from C74. I think if you want to use Jitter objects, you should just buy Jitter, but this is still good to know (particularly for teaching environments, I might add). Here’s the list:

jit.alphablend
jit.fill
jit.fpsgui
jit.iter
jit.matrix
jit.op
jit.pack
jit.peek~
jit.poke~
jit.pwindow
jit.qt.movie
jit.spill
jit.unpack
jit.xfade

… Note this doesn’t include the important networking objects, so it’s just FYI.

We first took a look at the Pacemaker DJ when it was announced in May. The idea is interesting: it’s a mobile 120GB hard drive with touch controls for internal mixing/cross-fading, effects, a separate cueing output, and pitch control, along with rich format support (even OGG, FLAC, AAC). That’s all well and good, but the device will apparently cost US$700.

Barb Dybwad at Engadget optimistically offers that “it’s a relatively low-cost convenient practice setup for DJs on the road or an attractive option for aspiring amateurs.” Hmmm … I normally agree with Barb, but in this case, let’s make that:

• relatively high-cost
• DJs would normally practice with real decks or software, not this
• aspiring amateurs have much more attractive options. (A laptop and Deckadance, for one. Assuming you’ve got the laptop, that’ll set you back US$99 – 179. And you could pick up a basic M-Audio controller for about US$100, and it’ll be easier to control than this.)

Not that you need me to tell you any of that. I’d still like to get my mitts on one to see what they’ve done; I just can’t imagine who this is for. If you know, write in.

Beatportal goes way over the top and asks if this is “a revolution for DJ and youth culture.” Let me answer that question: no. Youth culture? Dude, I grew up in a generation for which Garbage Pail Kids and slap bracelets revolutionized youth culture. Kids don’t really need that much for entertainment. The ones who really define culture tend not to blow a grand on mobile gadgets. And as far as something that is “set to revolutionize the way we think about DJing and mixing,” didn’t laptops do that already?

Still, since I was one of the people arguing for a “pro-level” iPod way back in 2001, I have to admire the idea. It just seems to lack some meat, like recording capabilities, or the ability to really integrate into a DJ setup. Of course, in 2001 I was much more innocent and immature. I’ve been working out, and now I can lift big boy hardware.

Speaking of things you probably don’t want: Dr. Dre-branded headphones manufactured by Monster Cable. I don’t know, maybe they’re great.

We’re just counting the hours until next week, when the NAMM show hits and we get really cool music stuff. Those gadget bloggers in Vegas at CES don’t know what they’re missing.

Talked to someone at Apple today; they told me that ANYONE who made a Logic purchase on Aug 1st or after is going to get the free upgrade. WooHoo!

Of course, that still means you’re out the US$500 difference after the price cut, but at least you’ll have the latest and greatest without paying any more.

[Updated] Full details on the upgrade at Apple’s site … or, I should say, the promise of additional details September 26 when fulfillment begins.