I have two e-mails in my inbox from something called Soundtrap so thought I would check it out for the dual purposes of writing a post on Publish0x and considering these two e-mails actioned.

How did I come across Soundtrap? Oh yes, I was writing a post about making music for free which was looking at free Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs). These are software applications that allow you to make and edit music. That's how I came across Soundtrap but it's very new and my first impressions were that it's quite low-functioning compared to some very decent, near-professional, music applications available for free. It's online but what makes it most interesting of all is that it's made (owned really) by Spotify.

I'm a musician myself, currently using Ableton Live as a DAW, so I'm going to give Soundtrap a quick test drive. Right, let's get on... OK, so apparently it's a free trial that is being offered. It has an easily accessible page on different pricing options ranging from free to £10.99 a month. There doesn't look to be much difference in the various packages however.

Now Soundtrap is a freemium application [1] but it is, intentionally, highly confusing about this. You sign up to the website, log in and even use the studio but then you are continually being urged to accept a 30-day free trial... while you're already using it for free. So that is pretty odd. They are actually asking if you want a free trial on the premium features available with the subscription models. This really confused me but basically you can use Soundtrap without giving over your bank details and signing up to any subscription.

Good. So... New project > Enter studio. Make Music > Pattern Beatmaker... A quick look in Settings and something called MIDI Settings. "To use MIDI, use Google Chrome on a Mac, PC or Chromebook." I am on Firefox so I hardly perceive this would make much difference [2]. Anyway I have Chrome here. Let's try that. Well no not yet. Let's give the Beatmaker a spin. Sound is ok. Add a bit of that Reverb. This is fine. And Add New Track and I'll play some Bass through their Keyboard interface.

And Brixton Bass (808) has a nice sound. But yes I'd rather use my own hardware musical keyboard than the on-screen version for a mouse. So... Save project as 'Testing'. Come out of there. Yes the keyboard works in Chrome. (Very odd how I'm using Soundtrap while it continues to suggest I sign up for a free month trial but that's cool). Stretch out my drum pattern over 8 bars. I must say this software is very accessible. You don't have to press a lot of buttons before you are in there making a song. I imagine it has limitations but it is probably going to grab new music-makers if it's pushed out enough. This is just as easy as Garageband and... car analogies time...

Yes I was reading this article all about how passengers in a car are treated to compression to smooth out the bumps in the road and the analogy was with the musical application of compression. I have come up with my own car analogy though I am no automobile expert but they used to go on about how fast sports car could do 0-60mph (in the UK). 0-60 in 7 or 8 seconds is pretty fast I think. I feel similarly about learning new DAWs. How quickly can you get up to speed getting sound and some semblance of control over that sound out of the application? In this case it's very quick (33 minutes but then I am writing an article at the same time so it's 10 minutes... very quick... and would have been 5 minutes but I had to switch browser and use Chrome instead). This is highly accessible software. I'm going to add a bass part on the synth.

Click the little bar to loop it. How do I get to hear the synth track? I've managed that. "Automation is linked to 1 track per project. Upgrade for more!" OK, that's a limitation. About twelve alternative preset sounds for the bass before I need to start a free trial of Premium /sign up (£10.99/mth).

One last track to add and it's vocals and I am impressed actually. They know what my soundcard is (Behringer UMC404HD) and how it works (Cubase, please take note). Then I put down this little phat vocal that sounds like Biggie Smalls! I'm pleased with that even if all it says is 'Here we go, Here we go, Here we go!'

Change the pitch of those vocal loops. I can only do what is offered by the software and it's little. Now I'm exporting to MP3 and that's taking its time too. I forget to save the project but it has saved it for me automatically. Cool.

Soundtrap is an online music 'studio' - most DAWs are offline applications - and it advertises real-time collaboration on music projects with friends and/or fellow musicians. If this works well it could make a compelling feature.

I doubt Soundtrap will take off... except for the fact that Spotify's empire of music streaming is so vastly extensive that it could probably push all manner of strange apps on its listeners should it wish. Spotify acquired Soundtrap in November 2017 - a 'culturally, creatively and strategically great fit' for Soundtrap.

In conclusion, I very much doubt this is a value-for-money package. It is very easy to use so would make a nice application for beginners to computer-based music-making. The free package offer is pretty poor with lots of big limitations in what you can do. Many established music software companies provide free software that is far advanced on the free package here. The subscription options don't look greatly appealing either. Soundtrap by Spotify provides a very easy-to-use online music package and it does this very well but there are, I think, both free and proprietary music packages out there that will suit most musicians better.

[1] A freemium pricing strategy is one where "the basic product is provided free of charge, but money is charged for additional features" [Wikipedia]

[2] Later I discover it doesn't work for me with Firefox on Windows though curiously it does work with the very same (synced) Firefox browser on my Linux system!