By Brian Parker

Last week, software engineer and technology entrepreneur Steve Martocci and software developer Matt Aimonetti unveiled the beta version of Splice, a new application that allows music producers to track changes made to collaborative projects. Currently Splice is available only for Ableton Live, though plans to open up the platform to ProTools and Logic are reportedly underway. Martocci’s segue into specialized music production management comes after heading the successful startup GroupMe and investing in media management tool Gobbler.

Inspired by software used by programmers to develop and modify code, Splice streamlines the collaboration process by recording a timeline of changes and storing it visually on a cloud-based application.  Producers and artists can track edits and changes made to a project over time, making it easy to recall ideas and arrangements by any of the collaborators. Splice will work off of  a downloadable client, which creates cloud-synced folders that automatically save revisions of a project whenever you save your session. Any elements of the production, including audio samples, are saved onto Splice’s servers.

The technical question that remains is whether Splice will be functional between various DAWs running with different plug-ins, synthesizers, and audio I/O settings. Splice will have to address production workflows and systems in which local synthesizers or audio effects used by one producer may not be accessible to another collaborator who doesn’t own the same software.

Splice, according to Aimonetti, aims to open up the “fragmented” and “painfully isolated” creative process of music creation in the same way that software developers began sharing open source code. Splice’s “DNA Player” shares the creative process with an audience to garner a platform for feedback and offers an insider’s look at a song as it’s being made.  It is debatable whether music production bears demystification through a social platform that allows the unfinished project to be analyzed, and if that transparency has any effect on the quality of music being created. At any rate, Splice will certainly offer an efficient way to disseminate ongoing projects in real time, and clean up the workflow for remote collaboration.

You can watch Splice’s quick introductory video below:

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