Intro
Playtime 2 is a so-called session view or clip launcher for the DAW REAPER. It is primarily designed for live performances, improvisation, jamming, looping and sketching arrangements. Musicians and producers can use it to experiment with different combinations of clips to see what works best before committing to an arrangement. Due to Playtime's interesting controller integration, clip organization, modification and export-to-arrangement capabilities, it can also be used for a variety of other purposes, e.g. for sound design or as a multi-track drum sampler.
Playtime is your entrance ticket to non-linear music production!
Here's one possible workflow:
- Record: Record snippets of audio or MIDI material into a 8x8 (or larger) matrix of slots. Those snippets are called clips. Alternatively, you can import existing MIDI or audio files.
- Play: Play with them! Either quite literally by using your music keyboard or a dedicated grid controller, or via Playtime's gorgeous user interface. If your clips are loops, they will by default play tempo-synchronized and start at the next bar.
- Experiment: Tweak, change and combine clips until you are satisfied with the result. You can organize clips into scenes that represent different parts of your song.
- Export (optional): When you are done experimenting, you can record a clip playing performance using Playtime's internal matrix sequencer and export it to REAPER's conventional arrangement view. Alternatively, you can export clips or scenes to the arrangement directly.
Whether you use Playtime just as a live performance instrument or as tool for sketching your arrangement ... the possibilities are endless!
Playtime deeply integrates with REAPER by leveraging its unique native extension API, enabling a much better user experience than combining REAPER with other DAWs.
Playtime 2 is currently in beta. Here's what this means for you:
- It already went through more than 3 months of alpha testing (by a limited amount of testers), bug fixing and polishing. It works nicely for the majority of testers.
- It is now being tested by a wider audience of users.
- You can already purchase a license.
- Projects that you save now should also be loadable by future Playtime versions.
- Some accessories are still missing: User guide, more videos, feature voting platform, entries on KVR audio etc.
- If you want to publish a review about Playtime 2, please wait until the final release. Thanks!
Videos
Features
Download
Playtime 2 is part of the Helgobox suite.
Getting error "no column found for name: flags"?
Some users have reported this error when installing via ReaBoot. It's an issue related to having an older ReaPack version installed and I need to look into it.
Since you already have ReaPack installed, there's an easy workaround: Choose "Via ReaPack" after clicking on the "Install Helgobox via ReaBoot" button and follow the instructions there. Write to info@helgoboss.org if you still experience problems. Thanks!
After installing Helgobox, you should see a welcome screen that allows you to add the Playtime button to the main toolbar. This button is the easiest way to access Playtime.
You may evaluate Playtime 2 for free within the scope of our evaluation license. The restriction is that saving and loading is disabled. In order to remove this restriction, you need to purchase a full license of Playtime 2 and unlock it.
Buy
Once you enter the purchased license key, saving and loading will be enabled.
Playtime 2.x Full License
| Procedure | When you click "Buy Now", you will be forwarded to 2Checkout®, our reseller. As soon as your
order is processed, you'll receive your full license and invoice via email. |
| Total price | €64.00 EUR |
| Tax | This is the final price. If you are in a country that employs VAT, this price also includes VAT. |
| Upgrade discount | If you are a Playtime 1 customer, you are eligible for an upgrade discount (reduction by €20). You should have
received an email with a personal discount coupon code that can be applied to the Playtime 2
order. If you haven't received it, please write a short message to
info@helgoboss.org.
Please note: Applying the discount after purchase is not possible! |
Documentation
Community
Official forum (GitHub)
The preferred place for giving general feedback or asking questions
Reddit Community
Alternative place for giving general feedback or asking questions
REAPER forum thread
Alternative place for giving general feedback or asking questions
Issue tracker (GitHub)
For reporting bugs
Idea tracker (GitHub)
For suggesting new features and improvements or voting for existing ones
Development (GitHub)
For seeing what I'm currently working on
FAQ
Roadmap
Playtime has just been released as beta version. Please check back in a few days to learn more about Playtime 2.
What's next:
- More videos
- List of features
- Roadmap
- User guide
Thanks for your patience!
For me, this is just the beginning. I still have lots of ideas for Playtime 2 and I'm sure many of you as well. After the final release, which should happen during the next months, my plan is to continuously improve Playtime with small quality-of-life improvements as well as larger new features.
Playtime 2 is built for the future. Until now, I have focused all my energy to build a solid, modern and extensible foundation. The first release contains the features that I consider as the most basic, plus a few features that are completely unique and no other DAW has. If everything goes well, the most exciting stuff is yet to come!
You will soon find a more detailed roadmap here!
Changelog
2.16.9 (2024-09-27)
#1199 Added column context menu action "Remove column (keep track)"
Added dedicated move-window button
Improved initial and minimum size of waveform view
Improved pane toggler alignment and behavior when resizing the window
Improved usability by showing horizontal progress bar if window is too small for showing the visual metronome in the center
#1224 Fixed bug that caused downbeat of next cycle being played under certain circumstances when stopping a MIDI clip with quantized stop timing
#1202 Fixed intra-block MIDI clip timing when using tempos other than 120 bpm
#1202 Fixed hanging notes and other skipped MIDI events when routing a column track directly to a hardware synth
#1200 Fixed Cmd/Ctrl+Click not working in Playtime toolbar MIDI learn buttons (was supposed to clear the MIDI trigger, but was re-learning it instead)
#1210 Fixed Playtime app becoming invisible when it was shown on a second screen before that's not connected anymore
#1227 Fixed broken retriggering on hard timeline seeks in REAPER < 7.23
#1226 Fixed parallel playback of ignited clips even though the column is in exclusive mode
#1201 Fixed tempo control showing wrong tempo when using time signatures with non-4 denominators
#1223 Fixed a bunch of other issues with time signatures with non-4 denominators
#1225 Fixed first MIDI notes not being played back when starting playback within Playtime
2.16.8 (2024-09-14)
#1192 Added support for recording from audio loopback input devices (finally a possibility to record the audio output of virtual instruments ... in the future, this will be more convenient)
#1189 Improved user experience by not auto-resizing side panes and restricting the minimum size
#1197 Improved user experience by memorizing pane sizes between disabling and enabling panes (not permanently!)
#1180 Fixed various issues with looped playback, smooth seek and enabling/disabling FX while REAPER is playing with PDC (needs REAPER 7.23+)
#1187 Fixed bug that could cause the column track folder structure to be destroyed when reordering columns (simple fix: Playtime now doesn't reorder tracks anymore when reordering columns)
#1193 Fixed crackles/clicks/dropouts on initial playback of tempo detection recording
2.16.4 (2024-09-10)
#1131 Added the possibility to record clips from stopped state with a count-in/pre-roll (simply turn metronome on and record, right-click metronome to set length of pre-roll ... makes users who come from other session views feel more at home)
#1163 Added track PDC information, including help texts (as a warning not to expect miracles when using high-latency FX)
#1168 Added support for REAPER's "Smooth seek": Clips will keep playing as if nothing happened. Current limitation: Smooth-seek to the left still leads to retriggering when using PDC.
#1119 Improved usability by always playing ignited clips when starting one specific clip when playback is stopped (makes users who come from other session views feel more at home)
#1146 Improved section and fade behavior and defaults in order to prevent unwanted auto-fades
#1132 Improved usability by making the static section an expert option and renaming it to "Source cut"
#1166 Improved usability by replacing the "Silence mode" design with a more traditional "Stopped" design (also, Playtime now starts by default in stopped state)
#1136 Improved keyboard control by handling SPACE even if set as a global shortcut in REAPER (needs REAPER 7.23+)
#1137 Improved usability by letting SPACE keep ongoing recordings instead of discarding them
#1164 Fixed clips completely losing sync when enabling or disabling high-latency FX due to PDC (for now only fixed when REAPER transport is stopped)
#1179 Fixed audio clips playing back slightly delayed right after recording (bug was introduced in 2.16.2)
#1143 Fixed Launchpad Pro detection on Windows if device name has a prefix (e.g. '2- ')
#1165 Fixed inability to use MIDI input devices with IDs > 63
#1149 Fixed App not getting keyboard focus unless clicking on specific areas such as the matrix view (keyboard shortcuts now work immediately after opening the app)
#1160 Fixed play cursors in MIDI editor and waveform view noticeably off when using high-latency FX (due to PDC)
#1156 Fixed audio clips turning silent when starting REAPER playback and having high-latency FX in the signal flow (due to PDC)
#1135 Fixed tempo detection recordings not working via controller
#1134 Fixed immediate playback of clip in stopped state not working via controller
2.16.2 (2024-08-21)
#1108 Added clip pitch adjustment in semitones
#1104 Improved usability by adding an icon to the track panel which shows the track input type
#1083 Fixed global keyboard shortcuts on Windows preventing text entry, e.g. renaming clips
#1083 Fixed unprocessed keyboard shortcuts on macOS being passed through to REAPER (not desired anymore)
#1105 Fixed possible error message "ring buffer too small for writing block" when recording clips with high sample rates
#1105 Fixed possibly incomplete recordings, especially when using high sample rates
#1118 Fixed already open FX not being focused on Windows when pressing the "Instrument" button
#1091 Fixed displayed MIDI trigger note octave (was 1 octave too high)
#1115 Fixed dialogs with text fields not closing on Windows when pressing Escape
#1098 Fixed error "not implemented" when exporting MIDI clips to the arrangement
2.16.1 (2024-08-09)
#1070 Added memorization of ignited slots when closing and reopening REAPER project (starting playback after reopening the project will play the ignited slots)
#1063 Added possibility to append or merge matrix sequence to/into existing arrangement
#1062 Added column context menu entry "Insert column for each selected track"
#1069 Added MIDI panic button to window title bar
#936 Added setting to hide license info from title bar
#1077 Improved silence mode by starting playback immediately when playing a single clip
#1076 Improved tempo detection recordings by displaying a warning in silence mode and by not playing ignited clips after recording
#1082 Improved usability by selecting corresponding REAPER track when activating a column or slot
#966 Improved arrangement export by not just using REAPER's time selection to determine the length of the export but also its starting position
#1066 Improved latency compensation when recording clips and only compensate when not using input monitoring (only matters when using high buffer sizes)
#1060 Improved MIDI overdubbing by showing overdubbed notes in the open MIDI editor in real-time
#1059 Improved usability by starting off with 8 rows instead of no rows (makes initial addition of rows obsolete)
#939 Improved auto-detection of Launchpad Pro by being more tolerant regarding its device family ID
#1086 Fixed GUI bug that caused the import-file dialog not covering all audio file types (now it simply shows files of all types)
#964 Fixed bug that caused immediate MIDI recordings to be played back with 120bpm instead of the original tempo
#964 Fixed error when attempting to insert a column when the corresponding project tab is not active (needs REAPER 7.19+)
#1072 Fixed metronome possibly being delayed if project resample mode is not the default resample mode (e.g. "r8brain free")
#966 Fixed bug in arrangement export that caused non-looped clips being written to the arrangement as looped items
#1071 Fixed bug that caused MIDI notes being played back even if they are muted
#967 Fixed possibly overlapping clip playback in exclusive column mode when other clip is triggered shortly after start of the bar (even if clip stop timing is set correctly)
#1000 Fixed PDC-related bug that caused initial material to be skipped when starting playback in REAPER or in Playtime
#968 Fixed another PDC-related bug that caused initial material to be skipped when playing back a recorded loop for the first time
#969 Fixed GUI bug in the waveform view that caused the waveform to be completely wrong in certain situations (e.g. when the audio file was not very short or if not much screen space was available)
#1065 Fixed another GUI bug in the waveform view that caused the waveform to disappear when the effective clip section is longer than the length of the audio file
#963 Fixed GUI bug that caused drag and drop between slots to not work in certain situations
#963 Fixed a related GUI bug that caused scrolling to go get stuck in certain situations
#970 Fixed bug that caused row copy to not copy the row name
#973 Fixed notes being triggered twice during MIDI overdubbing when using input monitoring
#940 Fixed GUI bug that caused settings panel "Controllers" being completely empty if no controllers are set up yet
#935 Fixed Windows-only GUI bug that caused serious issues with the full-screen mode
2.16.0 (2024-07-07)
Added Playtime as beta