Record 1.5 review.

Upon opening and installing Record 1.5 and Reason 5, I was helplessly pondering the question of “Would this software actually change the way in which I record?”. After spending many long weeks using Record 1.5 and Reason 5 at the recording desk, my answer is a loud and proud “Yes!!”. Let me explain ...

I decided to spend some time working with this incredible, and very powerful software before posting a single word about it. You know, just so that I could “get to know it inside and out before I dare to compare it to the whole Pro Tools thingy”. So, I decided to clear my current “project list” and to spend some time creating some new music, using nothing but Record 1.5, Reason 5, my M-box as the audio interface, and some instruments like an electric guitar (via direct-in) and an acoustic guitar via some condenser microphones. Everything else would come straight from Record 1.5 and Reason 5.

To begin, I am extremely impressed! In fact, more impressed than I ever thought that I would be. Let the “ever loud fact” that I have not opened up Pro Tools, at all, since I first opened up Record 1.5, stand for just how impressed I am. Propellerhead has found a way to include the quick passed recording and editing tools of their Reason software and placed these work styles and tools into Record 1.5.

Perhaps the single most important fact that impresses me the most with Record 1.5, is the speed in which I am able to get audio recorded. It is captured before it is ever forgotten.

The three main “screens” or areas that you work on music within Record 1.5 are very comfortable to work with, very well laid out, and every bit as realistic as one can ever hope for! This only adds to the speed of a session, as I felt rather familiar using Record 1.5, right from the start. This software has completely changed the way that I audition new ideas, and for the better!!!

The second most important fact that I love so much about using Record 1.5 is just how great this freshly recorded audio sounds!

The EQ section is very well laid out, and also offers a high pass filter and a low pass filter right at the top of the track on the console! Then there is a compressor section, effects routing, and lastly the usual panning dial and volume sliders. You see, Record 1.5 has been designed with the home recording musician in mind. The main section, or one of the three main screens, of Record 1.5 is set up just like a mixing board found in every recording studio that I have ever been in. Modeled after a professional mixing console, Record 1.5 makes it a snap to get my tracks, and my entire mixes, tight and right, right from the get go.

Whats more, Record 1.5 is set up to work like Reason in certain cases. What I mean is that one can quickly solo a track, and “loop play” it back. This makes for dialing in a tracks EQ a cinch, and then combining it with the other tracks (sonically) a breeze as well. It is these little ideas that are worked into Record 1.5 that make it so darned comfortable, and so quick to use.

The ID8 has become my newest very best friend!

This creative tool lets me get my ideas down fast; so they are not lost. Plus, the ID8 is easy to use when I re-visit these first ideas and build upon them. The ID8 can be drums, pianos, and many other “quick writing instruments” that one might need in a hurry. Within each instrument type, there are several different selections for them, right on the instruments face plate! For example, if you choose drums with the ID8, you can quickly select from acoustic kits, electronic kits, and techno kits. This makes writing easy and fast, just what I like!

Now, with Record 1.5, creating a track to record on, adding the instrument you wish to record with, and then recording your parts can be done with two or three mouse clicks. This is true for midi instruments and analog instruments alike! Wow, this is refreshing!

Included in Record 1.5 are POD guitar and bass interface modules, with great sounding amps, speaker cabs, and effects. This makes “plug and play” truly possible. Once more, I can now record a guitar track in mere seconds, and then work with it just like it is midi!

That is what I said, “just like audio is midi”. This is just one more feature that I just love, love, love. Because of this single feature, I will have a hard time ever learning to record without Record 1.5.

Arranging your music is just one more of the many fast and the easy things to accomplish while using Record 1.5. With the unique “blocks” option, and the whole Reason-like song line interface, moving entire sound clips is easy! Re-arranging your music becomes a simple task, as well as the usual copying and pasting of clips.

What's more, Record 1.5 seems to know just what editing task it is that you are doing and/or just what it is that you want to perform. I found that in the older versions of Reason, I struggled with many of the (copy, paste, etc.) tasks. Record 1.5 seems to follow along with your edits, and puts the cursor just where I needed it to be. It is uncanny, in fact, how well this software works along with the music writer/editor.

So, now that I have explained my favorite things about Record 1.5, the question still remains. Is Record 1.5 as good as ProTools?

I shall answer this in two ways. First of all, we must ask “as good as.... at what?”. If I were to choose only one of the two programs for getting music down quickly and easily, it would be Record 1.5, hands down. If we are talking about minute mixing and/or mastering to video, then Pro Tools wins, hands down.

Record 1.5 will be my “go-to” program from now on, for roughing out songs. I will (from today on) choose Record 1.5 for writing, recording, and mixing all of my new songs. However, I will then “dump” them into Pro Tools for all of the extreme editing and/or mastering, as well as the ability of using all of my much cherished plug ins. I simply like my Toontrack and IK Multimedia RTAS plug inns way, way too much.