Fender just launched its own free DAW software for recording music

The iconic instrument and amp maker Fender is diving deep into the digital domain. The company just announced ">Fender Studio, an all-in-one music-creation software platform. It's basically a digital audio workstation (DAW) but one that's intended for newbies. Think GarageBand and not Pro Tools. Just like GarageBand, Fender Studio is free.

The software looks perfect for going straight into an audio interface without any complications. Players can select from a wide variety of digital amp recreations. These include some real icons, like the '65 Twin Reverb guitar amp, the Rumble 800 bass amp, the '59 Bassman, the Super-Sonic, the SWR Redhead and several more. More amp models are likely on the way.

Along with the amp models, the software comes with a bunch of effects inspired by iconic Fender pedals. There's a vintage tremolo, a stereo tape delay, a small hall reverb, a triangle flanger, a compressor and, of course, overdrive and distortion. There's an integrated tuner and plenty of effects presets for those who don't want to fiddle with virtual knobs.

The software includes several dedicated effects for vocalists. There's a de-tuner, a vocal transformer and a vocoder, in addition to standard stuff like compression, EQ, reverb and delay.

Fender

There's also a cool feature for those who just want to practice. Fender Studio offers "remixable jam tracks" that lets folks play along with songs in a wide variety of genres. These let players mute or delete an instrument, for playing along. To that end, users can slow everything down or speed things up. Fender promises that new songs will be added to this platform in regular intervals.

As for the nuts and bolts of recording, the arranger can currently handle up to 16 tracks. Despite the track limitation, the software offers some real pro-grade features. There are various ruler formats, a global transpose, input monitoring, looping abilities, time stretching and even a simple pitch-shifting tool. Tracks allow for fades, FX sends and more.

Fender

The mobile version of the app includes a pinch-to-zoom feature, which is always handy with recording software. All of those squiggly lines can get tough on the old eyeballs.

Fender Studio is available on just about everything. There's a version for Mac, Windows, iOS, Android and Linux. It should even run well on Chromebooks. Again, this software is free, though some features do require signing up for a Fender account.

This is certainly Fender's biggest push into digital audio, but not its first. The company has long-maintained the Mustang Micro line of personal guitar amplifiers. These plug straight into a guitar or bass and offer models of various amps and effects. The company also released its own audio interface, the budget-friendly Fender Link I/O, and a digital workstation that emulates over 100 amps.

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