Soundation is a web-based, digital audio workstation. It was created in 2009 for the purposes of giving anyone with an internet connection the ability to make music online. Over the years, it has amassed almost 4 million registered accounts and a thriving community. It is surprisingly powerful for a web-based DAW and is the reason a lot of people have gotten into music production, including many signed Cryptic Coast artists (artists that have released with the label, artists scheduled for release, and artists that are supported by Cryptic Coast in general) and followers.

Soundation’s tools, instruments/synthesizers, and effects are relatively good quality. Some being better than others, these appliances provide a music maker with all the necessary ingredients to put a decent sounding track together. Most of the tools serve as the basic building blocks for production (most DAWs would include similar instruments and effects as stock plugins to provide the user with the bare necessities), such as a standard GM-2, essential effects (reverb, compression, delay, etc) and a synthesizer that is literally named ‘Simple Synth’ with four oscillators and standard attack/decay/sustain/release variability.

However, the studio has spawned some notable features that are very powerful, especially for a web-based DAW. One of which is the Parametric EQ, which is an 8-band equalizer that is available to premium users. It works incredibly well and sports 4 analyzer modes of the frequency spectrum.

Another amazing feature of the Soundation studio is the ‘Wub Machine’. This is an LFO focused synthesizer that is primarily used for creating filthy/grimy wubs found in dubstep and other bass genres. This instrument is iconic to Soundation and is easily one of the most fun to use, and one of the most recognizable within the community.

Despite the studio’s overall positive attributes, it is not immune to certain criticisms. For example, there are many features that Soundation would benefit from implementing that would increase the professionalism and creative capabilities of the software. Things like a sampler, real sidechaining capabilities (as opposed to the mock sidechaining tool known as the ‘fakie’), higher resolution exporting abilities, and much more. These features are things that the Soundation community has been wanting for years, but the developers have yet to deliver. The overall gripe that is holding Soundation back is the overall difficulty that persists when one is trying to create a professional sounding finished product. Not to say that it cannot be done, as is evident by multiple Cryptic Coast releases, but it is definitely more difficult to do in comparison to other DAWs. This is the reason why many talented artists within the community eventually move on from Soundation to more “mature” DAWs like FL studio and Abelton. In many cases, Soundation is considered a learning tool by its experienced users and can be described with the analogy of riding a bike with training wheels. Soundation’s team has embraced this analogy by offering premium packages to schools and learning programs related to music production.

Over the years Soundation has become increasingly more professional and powerful as a DAW, but what would really drive the nail into its legitimacy as a music production tool would be third-party plugin support. Soundation is nearly flawless and would be completely flawless if users could use it as a vessel for tools obtained from elsewhere. It is not fair to judge a DAWs capability solely based on its stock plugins. However, Soundation being a web-based DAW means that third-party plugin support would be very hard to implement. The best Soundation can do is hard code third party plugins into the software, which is not ideal because it takes a long time to fully implement and also eliminates some element of choice for producers (narrowing the endless amounts of plugins out there to use, to a select few), but it is definitely a step up from not having any third-party support whatsoever. This process of hard-coding has already begun with the ‘Europa’ synth.

Europa is a wavetable synthesizer created by Reason Studios and is now available for use as a Soundation instrument. It is a very good quality synthesizer and definitely earns the title as one of Soundation’s best features.

Much of Soundation’s success as a platform can be attributed to its thriving community. The community is easily one of the best things about the platform as a whole. Built into the website is a community tab that functions as a smaller scale version of Soundcloud. Many users have made a name for themselves as artists by using this medium and more engagement/activity is sparked every day by the trending system (top tracks based on community member likes), as well as the feature system (hand-picked favorites by the Soundation team, based on submissions to various groups within the community). It is safe to say that many producers would not be where they are today without the support they have gained from the Soundation community.

Here is a statement from overdoze (also known as Jérémy Giroux), a long-time Soundation user, and a Cryptic Coast artist (with releases like The Third One with SLOCM3Z, and paracosm):

“I knew nothing about music production when I created my account on Soundation. All I wanted to do was to create music. Three years after my first track, I got a feature on the website. I was self-taught. I learned everything from either messing around in the studio or collaborating with artists such as Oozie454, MONOXIDE and Dutchy. Now, I own FL Studio and I am learning Ableton. Without Soundation, I would never have gotten into music production. As a DAW (sorry Kal), Soundation is shit. But its on a web browser, the limitations are expected. I forgive it for this reason. My goal is to push its limits and go beyond.”

Another Cryptic Coast artist with several releases, known as mondaze, also has something to say about his experience with Soundation:

“Soundation is a great platform to target new musicians who want to learn a simplistic DAW without the hassle of technical learning curves, and also without having to download any software. It can be seen as a gateway to electronic music production as a whole. It’s the whole reason why I, as an electronic musician, have the experience that I do. I’m very glad Soundation existed when I first came around the scene. It helped me shape who I am as an artist.”

Sign up for a free account on soundation here: http://soundation.com/r/sero_tonin

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