Propellerhead Record is a perfect fit for how I, as a musician (guitar centric) think about composing, capturing and arranging a song. I hope to incorporate it into my live performance. I expect it to free me up from the technicalities of recording music to expand on my opportunity to replicate what is in my head... I am beginning to investigate how I can bring midi foot controllers into the setup for more interactive performance.

Sound
If you are familiar with Reason, you already know that Propellerhead are unmatched at tapping the potential of your computer's cpu. You can run a ridiculous number of tracks and real time effects without latency. Your audio quality is going to be determined by your audio interface (sound card) and mic (or instrument) but the available effects, modules and the way you use them are just wicked. I've used Sonar, Pro Tools and Cakewalk for years and always found the software gets in my way and makes recording a song a chore. By the time I hook everything up and prepare my workspace, I've lost my inspiration. In Record, you can literally be recording in seconds from launching the software. Right click, add track, right click, add recycle loop, go. You are now recording against a drum track (that you can swap out later of course). Its definitely designed for the musician's creative process rather than for the recording engineer. Then mess with the Line 6 amp modeling module and you'll accept, like I have,… read more that Line 6 is nothing short of revolutionary for guitar recording. My Vox amp just whimpers in the corner like an attention seeking puppy. I had very high expectations for Propellerhead's introduction into live audio recording and they certainly did not disappoint. They granted my wish for a live recording software user interface that performs and behaves just like Reason. hats off y'all!

Features
The dongle is a disappointment but broke musicians tend to steal software ruthlessly so there ya go. Record does not support third party plugins such as Vst. Many will baulk at this but Propellerhead built something that works perfectly and gave us ReWire to pump it through some other DAW if you need those kind of features. There are plenty of options that will give you whatever feature you need but Record will not suffer from poorly written plugins because of it. What Record does come with is a feature rich creative suite for capturing musical ideas with professional quality. Coupled with Reason, its downright dangerous to your sleep cycle.

Ease of Use
This is where Record powns the competition the most. Its dead simple and completely creative.

Quality
No pops, no crackles. Near zero latency with my macBook Pro (late 2008 with 4G ram) and a Presonus FireBox.

Value
For what you get, particularly with Reason, its a fantastic value. Quite appropriate.

Manufacturer Support
Their website works perfectly and I've never needed to get help. However, I did receive a reply when I contacted them to make a suggestion and they were quite courteous. They also send around tours every now and then, make sure you catch one!

The Wow Factor
Depends on how you use it but I'll bet you could use it for purposes of sexual conquest. I wouldn't really know about that.

Musical Background:
Active Musician

Musical Style:
Rock read less