Audiotool is a free, browser-based music production software and distribution platform developed in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It allows users to remix and collaborate on tracks in real-time. Users can create and publish their music tracks onto the site using

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

and indie culture.)

History

Version Demo

The first published version, titled "Hobnox Audiotool Demo", was published February 24, 2008. The Audiotool Demo was based on dynamic digital signal processing to provide very complex audio creation in Flash, and the graphical user interface was based on an unlimited-sized desktop to lay out the devices the user wanted to operate. This first design delivered some Roland emulations and effect pedals, but didn't offer the option to save the environment. At this early state, it offered features such as history, clipboard and auto-alignment of the devices.

1.0 Firestarter

Two years later, after a flurry of updates, the application broke out of beta with a new polyphonic synthesizer and a partnership with LoopMasters to provide samples within the program. Tracks could be published to the new Audiotool community, or worked on privately and saved for extended periods. Options were created for other users to remix tracks, depending on the licenses the original artist specified.

1.1 Ping Pong

Later in the same year, after input from the community, the 1.1 update features included the ability to download tracks (MP3/Vorbis), an embed player, the ability to create drafts (even when remixing tracks), create templates, track cover images, and performance enhancements. Following updates allowed dragging samples directly from the library to the desktop, and included a new two channel Crossfader, the revolutionary Rasselbock effect device, auto-connected devices, a sample-based drum machine, and an improved sample browser.

Audiotool 2.0

About one year from the launch of 1.0 Firestarter, Audiotool 2.0 was launched in collaboration with Burn-Studios and included a feature to import samples, recording from the timeline, a new 16-track mixer, and MIDI support. A following update in April 2012 included 5 new plugins, a phase modulation synthesizer, and ability to save device presets. A July 2013 update allowed users to collaborate on tracks.

Audiotool Next 1.0

February 2015, a major update was officially announced that would convert the application from Flash to HTML5, offering live collaboration and other new features yet to be announced. Later that year, some features announced included audio/video chat and a detachable timeline. The beta has been released to certain users of the site if they request for the beta on the homepage. On October 1, 2018, Audiotool Next was publicly released.

Audiotool features

The Hobnox Audiotool includes emulations of: *The

Roland TR-808 The Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 808, is a drum machine manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1980 and 1983. It was one of the first drum machines to allow users to program rhythms instead of using preset patte ...

*The

Roland TR-909 The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer is a drum machine introduced by Roland Corporation in 1983, succeeding the TR-808. It was the first Roland drum machine to use samples for some sounds, and the first with MIDI functionality, allowing it to sy ...

*The

Roland TB-303 The Roland TB-303 Bass Line (also known as the 303) is a bass synthesizer released by Roland Corporation in 1981. Designed to simulate bass guitars, it was a commercial failure and was discontinued in 1984. However, cheap second-hand units were ...

*The

Tenori-on The Yamaha Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument designed and created by the Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group at the Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. Description The Tenor ...

*The Machiniste, a sample based drum machine *The Heisenberg, a

phase modulation Phase modulation (PM) is a modulation pattern for conditioning communication signals for transmission. It encodes a message signal as variations in the instantaneous phase of a carrier wave. Phase modulation is one of the two principal forms ...

synthesizer *The Pulverisateur, a polyphonic synthesizer it also includes various effect pedals, which can simulate: *Dynamic range compression *Graphic equalizer *Exciter(effect) *Stereo Enhancer * Bit depth reduction *

Digital delay A digital delay line is a discrete element in digital filter theory, which allows a signal to be delayed by a number of samples. If the delay is an integer multiple of samples, digital delay lines are often implemented as circular buffers. This me ...

Flange A flange is a protruded ridge, lip or rim (wheel), rim, either external or internal, that serves to increase shear strength, strength (as the flange of an iron beam (structure), beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam); for easy attachment/transfer of ...

*Parametric equalization *

Phasing A phaser is an electronic sound processor used to filter a signal, and it has a series of troughs in its frequency-attenutation graph. The position (in Hz) of the peaks and troughs are typically modulated by an internal low-frequency oscillat ...

*Pitched digital delay *Reverb *Filters including (Lowpass, Highpass, Notch,

Bandpass A band-pass filter or bandpass filter (BPF) is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects (attenuates) frequencies outside that range. Description In electronics and signal processing, a filter is usually a two-port ...

) and a separate Auto-Filter *Stereo detunization (which produces a sort of

chorus effect Chorus (or chorusing, choruser or chorused effect) is an audio effect that occurs when individual sounds with approximately the same time, and very similar pitches, converge. While similar sounds coming from multiple sources can occur naturally, ...

) *

Distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

In mid-2013, Audiotool had 500000 users, 200000 tracks and the total of 44 million plays on all tracks combined has the abilities for their users to: * Create tracks/drafts/templates/remixes * Publish tracks that artist can decide whether other users are able to download (mp3/ogg), remix or collaborate. * Add tracks to albums

Awards

* German IPTV Award - Winner, Category "Creative Design", 2008 * Grimme Online Award - Winner, Category "Special", 2008 * Flashforward Award - Winner, Category "Sound", 2008 * red dot award - "Best of the Best" Category "Communication Design", 2008 * LEADAWARDS - "Webcommunity of the Year", 2008 * Webby Awards "Daily Honoree" Category "Music" - 2008 * eco Internet Award - "Nominee" Category "Content Distribution Platform", 2008 * World Summit Award Germany - "Winner", "E-Entertainment and Games", 2009 * LEADAWARDS - Winner "Silver" Category "Internet TV of the Year", 2009

References

External links

Audiotool

Audiotool Wiki
{{Digital audio workstations German music websites Digital audio workstation software Music production software