Digital musicians have a new reason to be excited about the future of music software. Splice is a cloud-based software, offering up many features that bridge creative gaps for artists, make collaboration easier, and ensure that progress is never lost. These different functionalities will fit together seamlessly on one platform, but they offer strengths in several different areas of the creative process.
First off, Splice makes sure that you never have a “whoops” moment again by automatically backing your files up to it's cloud-based storage. Many producers have heard the phrase, “Save early, save often.” Although the message still rings true, this tool may keep producers from having to learn that lesson the hard way.
Creatively, Splice can help keep the ball rolling in the production process without fear or regret. During production there are often junctures in which producers and musicians change course, but saving over progress can limit the ability to revisit earlier versions of a project. Although many DAW's (digital audio workstations) offer the availability to revert to previous versions of songs, Splice makes the process extremely simple with beautifully designed timelines of projects and changes.
For collaboration, this tool may become an essential for all Ableton Live users. Adding collaborators or remixers to a projects is just a click away and multiple users can be added to one timeline. Along with the ease of adding collaborators is the ease of project files. Sharing samples and source files no longer will require hosting, extensive emailing or hard drives. Splice hosts all necessary files for each project and maps them correctly once the project is opened. Users can collaborate on the same projects by loading the most recently updated files from other collaborators. Comments can be added to each revision, eliminating the need to use email for long and confusing email chains.
Right now the tool is in private beta, but you can sign up to be added to public beta testing in coming weeks. Although the service is currently tailored for use with Ableton Live, the company plans to support Logic, Pro Tools, Reason and others in the future.
Brandon Cook is the cofounder of ToppleTrack.com, one of the web's leading anti-piracy companies. Topple Track works with artists, labels and distributors to protect and monetize digital content.
