Indaba Music, the leading online destination for music creation, is proud to announce the official debut of Mantis, its new web-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Mantis enables anyone, from anywhere in the world, to record, edit and mix high-quality audio – for free. In 2009, with the release of Mantis’ predecessor, Session Console 2.0, Indaba Music set the standard for Web-based DAWs, which Wired.com referred to as “protools in the cloud.” Based on feedback from hundreds of thousands of users, the new release sports an elegant redesign and marked increases in speed, stability and usability. Recently unveiled to select tastemakers, Mantis has already been embraced by early adopters including DIY bedroom producers and respected pros including reggae/hip-hop singer Matisyahu and Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo.
“The next evolution in music production is here!” said Matisyahu recently. “I look forward to using Mantis while on the road, when traveling with my full gear set-up is nearly impossible.”
Indaba Music Co-Founder Chris Danzig says, “For the first time, cloud-based audio production software is available for real musicians. Mantis is not a Flash widget for consumers to play with; it is a true digital audio workstation that musicians of all levels can use as everything from a mobile scratchpad to a complete recording and mixing solution.”
Enabling CD-quality audio (16-bit/44.1K) recording directly to the web, Mantis represents an achievement unmatched by other recording applications, and closes the gap between desktop and cloud-based audio software. Featuring non-destructive real-time effects including EQ, compression, flanger and reverb, and an ever-expanding library of more than 10,000 Creative Commons-licensed clips, Mantis is seamlessly integrated into Indaba Music’s session and contest platforms. A video demonstration of Mantis is available at www.indabamusic.com/mantis.
To date, Indaba Music’s global community of musicians have collaborated on more than 500,000 sessions, and have exchanged millions of files and ideas in the process. Meanwhile, major recording artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, T-Pain, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, The Crystal Method and many more, have taken notice of the site’s talented musicians, regularly working with Indaba Music to stage remix contests, source music for their future releases and find new collaborators. After teaming up with Indaba’s international community to remix his track “One Day,” Matisyahu recently chose one lucky winner to collaborate with him on a new song. Similarly, Rivers Cuomo not only enlisted Indaba members to remix Weezer’s song “Love Is the Answer” from the band’s recent album Raditude, but also selected an Indaba Music member to create an entirely new song.
While membership to Indaba Music and use of Mantis is free to all community members, Indaba Music also offers premium memberships that include access to an expanded clips library, advanced audio effects, cloud-based storage and private recording sessions. Pricing for “Pro” and “Platinum” packages is $5/mo & $50/yr and $25/mo & $250/yr, respectively.
ABOUT INDABA:
Indaba Music is employed by musicians around the world to collaborate through the exchange of files, ideas, and even rights. With a strong emphasis on community, users connect and collaborate as they would in any other social network-through search, algorithmic recommendation, and site programming. As of early 2010, www.indabamusic.com has nearly 500,000 users, growing at a rate of nearly 450% over the past year to include members from 185 countries. Influential technology publication Wired has covered Indaba’s breakthrough recording software extensively, and the company has also been featured in The Independent (UK), Rolling Stone, NPR, the Discovery Channel, the Christian Science Monitor, The Colbert Report, TechCrunch, Electronic Musician, SPIN and more.
With Indaba, the world of music has gotten even smaller, while the possibilities remain endless.
For more information, visit www.indabamusic.com
