For the users that think Propellerhead just focus on Mobile App

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Alkua
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08 Sep 2015

The attached image is in the bottom of the Propellerhead's home Page.
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Namahs Amrak
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08 Sep 2015

Not sure if anyone's thinking they just focus on mobile apps, but that certainly seems to be a focus at the moment.

From a design perspective, that image you posted hardly showcases the flagship product, and the viewer's attention is drawn firstly to the smartphone images. To the uninitiated, what does this tell them ?

I ran this past my design colleague for an 'immediate response' comment, and with no knowledge of the Propellerhead world, he said that he feels that the company make mobile apps with some sort of PC integration. That's the COMPLETE opposite to what the marketing cycle is intending, I believe !

I would personally like to see them heading in a direction of full-featured mobile apps such as FL mobile, if they are diversifying into this market as a lead-in to introducing Reason to the app users.
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ahs
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09 Sep 2015

good point !

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JNeffLind
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09 Sep 2015

Namahs Amrak wrote:

From a design perspective, that image you posted hardly showcases the flagship product, and the viewer's attention is drawn firstly to the smartphone images. To the uninitiated, what does this tell them ?

I ran this past my design colleague for an 'immediate response' comment, and with no knowledge of the Propellerhead world, he said that he feels that the company make mobile apps with some sort of PC integration. That's the COMPLETE opposite to what the marketing cycle is intending, I believe !

I would personally like to see them heading in a direction of full-featured mobile apps such as FL mobile, if they are diversifying into this market as a lead-in to introducing Reason to the app users.
I agree with all of this. Would love a more versatile tool to work with mobile if they're going to go that route and there's little doubt they're marketing the apps more heavily. If I was just getting into DAWs I'd be worried that this wasn't a serious program since it seems an afterthought on this ad. That's super frustrating since I love Reason and know it blows those toys out of the water.

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pjeudy
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09 Sep 2015

I think the way props has it, is done on purpose. They for some reason want the App first vibe. One would think showing the DAW First then the Apps would seem more natural since the DAW is what the are known for.

If that's the way they want it cool. Just keep those REASON updates coming.
My opinion is that Propellerhead REASON needs a complete rewrite!
P.S: people should stop saying "No it won't happen" when referring to a complete rewrite of REASON. I have 3 letters for ya....VST
Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:53 pm

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tiker01
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09 Sep 2015

I think it is quite simple if you are not thinking as a Reason user/Musician/Engineer.
"Everybody" who might be interested in the flagship product for semiserious/professional usage probably already is familiar with PH and Reason.
They want to introduce themselves via free fun and easy music creation tools i.e. Figure, Take to those who have an iPhone/iPad or soon Windows phone/tablet so they will have their in their user base. That is why Reason Essentials is so cheap (~10% of full version) nowadays.

Also I wouldn`t say they are focusing on apps (Rebirth, Figure and Thor are years old the only "newbe" is Take) rather they have put together a marketing strategy relying heavily on their apps and targeting fresh users.

And yes, I would welcome if a bit more serious app would be released, perhaps a suite that integrates the already released PH apps so one can create projects wit multiple Figure instruments running together and which would make it possible to edit the notes of a recorded pattern and arrange the sequences (A1, A2, B etc.) as it can be done in case of Redrum sequences in Reason or Patterning app on iOS.
    
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Yonatan
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09 Sep 2015

Remote-controller app would make me dive in. Start out basic and let it evolve.
If standing up doing vocals or guitars, how I wish I could use a phone or tablet
to hit the basics as "play" "stop" "record" "rewind" "click on/off" for instance,
creating a new track, volume-adjustment and so on. Most ppl record alone
and it can be nice having some distance from the computer.
Yes, you could program a midi-controller also, but it is also attached to the
usb and often not wireless. Logic can do this, so let Reason users do it too.

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SteveDiverse
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09 Sep 2015

it all makes total (marketing) sense to me...

the mobile device world is "app oriented", and with apps being free, or selling for $1, the adoption barrier is low.

It is easy to download and use an app: easy learning curve; easy on the wallet.

Now share your music on Discover... and tell your friends to get our app, too.

Oh, and try our full blown music software product, Reason (which you probably never heard about before you downloaded one of our free, teaser apps.)
:reason: :reload: :record: :ignition: :refill: :re: | :rt: FTW

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tiker01
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09 Sep 2015

Yonatan wrote:Remote-controller app would make me dive in. Start out basic and let it evolve.
If standing up doing vocals or guitars, how I wish I could use a phone or tablet
to hit the basics as "play" "stop" "record" "rewind" "click on/off" for instance,
creating a new track, volume-adjustment and so on. Most ppl record alone
and it can be nice having some distance from the computer.
Yes, you could program a midi-controller also, but it is also attached to the
usb and often not wireless. Logic can do this, so let Reason users do it too.
Have look at this thread/App. iOS only I am afraid. If you prefer Android there is RetouchDuobased on TouchOsc which has been updated to 3.6 to support Reason 8.3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7fERYATHCw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQrG3VzapwE
    
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Yonatan
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09 Sep 2015

I can understand that marketing strategy too, and I really hope PH get the desired effect from that.

Yonatan
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09 Sep 2015

Wow! Thanks for sharing those videos. Not easy to keep oneself updated with all new ways.

rsTouch Pro iPad App seems easier for me to understand, but have no ipad, better look at the Apple releases to be showed off today

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Rook
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09 Sep 2015

I can understand the marketing approach...in theory. But if someone's downloading a small, free (or close to it) app to play around with on their phone, that's a pretty huge leap to then be like, "Oh, well check out our $400 fully-featured, expandable studio software!". Maybe some people go that route lol. Seems kinda unlikely to me, but I'm not a marketing professional.

I think it's good that they're focusing on bringing in new users. My main complaint (that I've also heard from others here) is that it seems like Props have switched their focus to such a degree that they have completely neglected the users the already have. There hasn't been anything like what they used to do; in-depth master class stuff, Music Making Month, more advanced articles and tutorials. Zilch. It's not that I feel "entitled" to that stuff...I just miss it and it's kinda a bummer.

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tiker01
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09 Sep 2015

Rook wrote:, "Oh, well check out our $400 fully-featured, expandable studio software!". Maybe some people go that route lol. Seems kinda unlikely to me, but I'm not a marketing professional.
Reason Essentials is 49€.
    
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Rook
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09 Sep 2015

tiker01 wrote: Reason Essentials is 49€.
True, true; good point. I forget about about Essentials sometimes lol.

Jmax
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09 Sep 2015

I was in the music store the other day and noticed a small Presonus studio box. Some sort of new audio card or something. I asked the clerk what it was. He said it was the newest presonus studio designed to work with your Iphone. We both had a good chuckle and were under the agreement that any professional sounding music can never be mixed and mastered on a cellphone. But that's where the industry is moving. If it's on your phone your more likely to share it with other people.

kitekrazy
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09 Sep 2015

Jmax wrote:I was in the music store the other day and noticed a small Presonus studio box. Some sort of new audio card or something. I asked the clerk what it was. He said it was the newest presonus studio designed to work with your Iphone. We both had a good chuckle and were under the agreement that any professional sounding music can never be mixed and mastered on a cellphone. But that's where the industry is moving. If it's on your phone your more likely to share it with other people.
I'd say it has peaked and will decline. Presonus did this to compete with IK and Focusrite. When you have to plug hardware into a phone or iPad it stops being mobil.
Most Daw developers who made apps don't really improve upon them much compared to their DAWs. Image Line doesnt nor does Cakewalk. Live and Reaper don't have one.
Sorry but most of my emails from Props are not about the development of Reason. From Ableton I get notifications of beta releases. Cakewalk is emailing about stuff with Sonar and so is Tracktion.
Image Line, Cakewalk and Reaper connect with their users which Props disconnected.

The mobile thing is a fad.

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dioxide
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09 Sep 2015

I agree with Namahs Amrak.

If PH were doing apps that integrated with Reason I'd be happier about it. If Figure and Thor iOS could read .thor patch files from Reason or if Reason could open patches from Thor iOS. Being able to bounce audio clips between them isn't good enough IMO, WAV could do that.

PH mobile apps are stuck in a state of arrested development. Not enough development resources to make them truly awesome so they are given away for free in order to try and capture an audience for PH's new social media platform, which at the current time of writing looks like a vanity project.

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dioxide
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09 Sep 2015

kitekrazy wrote:
Jmax wrote:I'd say it has peaked and will decline.
When you have to plug hardware into a phone or iPad it stops being mobil.

The mobile thing is a fad.
A good point. I hope the mobile thing is a fad, and I say that as an Apple fan and as an iPhone user who bought a first gen iPad.

Who has time to look at all their own media and music, never mind the stuff their friends are producing on a daily basis? Think about how many people complain about the crap they find in their Facebook feeds and then think about how fast and easy it is to browse through images. Do we really want to apply the same model to a time-based medium like video or music? I want people to produce some serious pieces of music and that means having some tools that are more serious than Figure and Take. I don't want to end up drowning in a pool of music-selfies.

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Namahs Amrak
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09 Sep 2015

@kitekrazy - While developers don't (or perhaps can't) improve on their PC/Mac workstations, for a mobile device application, some of them are already pushing the boundaries.

For example, Image-Line's FL Mobile exports WAV at 44.1 kHz/16-Bit, projects can be imported into FL Studio, it offers 133 instruments, five FX, a 99 track sequencer, wave editing, piano roll, playable piano keys that you can swipe to navigate through octaves, 24-Track simultaneous recording, host uploading to soundcloud, Dropbox & iTunes and 15 touch screen drum pads. Fairly sophisticated for a mobile device, and sold at a nominal cost of $20. I would say that a creative person can make some outstanding music with an application such as FL Mobile.

In a market where people are increasingly using mobile devices exclusively for their computer needs, and often foregoing a PC/Mac, this is the only way DAW developers are going to survive in a changing industry landscape.

If anything, Propellerhead are not developing for this market enough. Figure appears to offer some simple percussion arrangements, and a handful of instruments that are 'played' on a touchpad that give no indication of which notes are being played, plus a few filter FX, again just some random parameters with no defined values. Take appears to be little more than a voice-memo recorder, of which there are many to choose from in the app market. They are dressing these recent things up in marketing hype as some revolutionary answer to mobile music making, when in fact other mobile apps are already leading the charge.

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Rook
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09 Sep 2015

Namahs Amrak wrote:They are dressing these recent things up in marketing hype as some revolutionary answer to mobile music making, when in fact other mobile apps are already leading the charge.
Propellerhead dramatically overstating inconsequential things?? Noooo :p

I don't have any ios devices, so haven't had a chance to evaluate their little apps. I briefly considered getting an iPad, until I started realizing what a pain it'd actually be once you factor in the connection kit, small controller, let alone an interface for audio input. Like someone else said, loses it's appeal at that point.



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KEVMOVE02
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12 Sep 2015

Mobile Apps are no more a fad than mobile phones themselves. While it may appear that Propellerhead is merely "following a trend", to the detriment of its flagship product, the strategy they are employing is likely to be the catalyst for tremendous growth of their entire product line. The day Figure hit the 1 million download threshold, it became a featured product on App Store home screen. Those same new users probably became aware of Thor and ReBirth. Fast forward: Take arrives and quickly reaches the 1 million download threshold. More millions become aware of Propellerhead. Discover arrives on the scene and suddenly millions of Take and Figure users get a rudimentary way to share content globally. Now, what are the odds that some of these users that previously had no prior knowledge or experience with Propellerhead are now proud owners of some version of Reason? I envy these neophytes, because their world is not governed by what Propellerhead products can't do, but focused on creating, collaborating and sharing. Reason hasn't been abandoned; it's finally reaching the audience of people who just want to make music wherever and whenever.

kitekrazy
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12 Sep 2015

Namahs Amrak wrote:@kitekrazy - While developers don't (or perhaps can't) improve on their PC/Mac workstations, for a mobile device application, some of them are already pushing the boundaries.

For example, Image-Line's FL Mobile exports WAV at 44.1 kHz/16-Bit, projects can be imported into FL Studio, it offers 133 instruments, five FX, a 99 track sequencer, wave editing, piano roll, playable piano keys that you can swipe to navigate through octaves, 24-Track simultaneous recording, host uploading to soundcloud, Dropbox & iTunes and 15 touch screen drum pads. Fairly sophisticated for a mobile device, and sold at a nominal cost of $20. I would say that a creative person can make some outstanding music with an application such as FL Mobile.

In a market where people are increasingly using mobile devices exclusively for their computer needs, and often foregoing a PC/Mac, this is the only way DAW developers are going to survive in a changing industry landscape.

If anything, Propellerhead are not developing for this market enough. Figure appears to offer some simple percussion arrangements, and a handful of instruments that are 'played' on a touchpad that give no indication of which notes are being played, plus a few filter FX, again just some random parameters with no defined values. Take appears to be little more than a voice-memo recorder, of which there are many to choose from in the app market. They are dressing these recent things up in marketing hype as some revolutionary answer to mobile music making, when in fact other mobile apps are already leading the charge.

I have those but I can tell that Image Line spends more time on FL Studio than portable apps. Once the cuteness wears off people are back at their computers doing real work. Portable apps have internal storage limits. Most are geared towards Apple products. Props came late to the game. I'd prefer more improvements in Reason instead of pushing "hey download this loop" or "here is the new over priced RE that only developers get 50% of the cut and no 3rd party vendors allowed". As a user of 7 individual DAW licenses, Reason is the one not going forward.
I would say Reasons best portable app is among people who know what a DAW is and would never use Reason is Thor.

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EnochLight
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12 Sep 2015

I just went to the App Store on my iPhone and explored Music => Vocals. I found Take in the 12th spot. Under Music => Band in Your Hand, I found Figure in the 1st spot under Producers & DJ's. Props have got to be doing something right if their flagship "free" apps featured for Discover are that well placed out of... what.. over 1 million apps available?

Late to the game or not.

As far as their focus, haven't we seen more Reason updates and releases over the past 1-2 years than in their entire history or something??
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chimp_spanner
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12 Sep 2015

I made this point in another thread but I think PH needs to seriously reevaluate its marketing strategy. Just look at the wording; "Propellerhead is the free music collaboration service."

Really? I thought they made Reason! Bizarre. Look at the people they show on their website. They look like they're modelling for a clothes store, and the phones/laptops are props; who writes on a stoop? In the street at night with ear buds? In a sparse minimal white room perched on a sofa looking deep and complex? They strike me as the kinds of characters who would be more at home in an Apple Store or quirky fair trade coffee shop than in the studio. I know it sounds like an incredibly shallow observation to make but imagine what propellerhead looks like to a first time visitor? Or worse still, to a cubase/logic/Ableton user who knows nothing about ph or reason?

The front page should be Reason in action, in the studio, artist profiles, extolling the virtues of their unique (and IMO unrivalled) virtual rack environment. At least until they have a mobile app worth shouting about, with full project integration, arranging capabilities, etc.

The vast majority of sound designers and composers I know and work with basically lost interest in Reason around v5. SSL mixer, third party racks, audio in; it's news to them when I rave about Reason, which I do a lot btw. I love it! It just sucks to see PH reluctant to push it. Especially when I've sunk as much into updates and REs as I have ;)

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12 Sep 2015

Mobile apps are the future I own FL mobile on android about to get an iphone 6 plus or an ipad for FL mobile 3 a totally written phone ipad app. My time is very limited I would be very happy to be able to do all my drum patterns on my phone at work and finish the project at home.

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