Rax for Mac

3.0 stars

"Has GREAT potential, abandoned by developer?"

November 14, 2011  |   By sonicraft

Version: Rax 3.0

Pros

Great concept: bring all of your software instruments and effects into a live performance environment
Great feature-set, ways to route MIDI controllers to mix features, flexible mixer environment.
VERY logical interface and concept. Great ideas for built-in support, etc.
Seems very efficient on CPU.
An affordable alternative to Apple's MainStage (which requires a Logic license).
Has recording features, audio playback, and simple sample playback
Create "repertoire" with a master song list and as many "set lists" as you need
"Songs" load as quickly as your plug-ins can.

Cons

Well over a year since the last revision (June 2010) has the developer given up?
Not enough sales?
Two bugs have been on their forum for months:
Level faders don't work (on my rig)
initial AU scan fails (workaround: reboot computer and restart)
all that would take is a little window on first launch recommending restart before next launch.
Remote controls are ONLY global, there isn't a way to have remotes that only apply to a specific song
You cannot view forums unless you own the software-- now that I own the software I can tell you there are old bug reports that are unanswered and unresolved. That's all you need to know.

Summary

I really need this program to work. For live, you want a program that is solid (i.e., not buggy) that you can count on for an important gig.

It looks like it is not a very popular program so the developer does not appear to be actively working on it. That didn't stop them from charging me $79 for cripple-ware.

I had no way of knowing --prior to purchase-- that Audio-Engineering will happily sell a program at full-price that they are no longer supporting/developing.

If I hear from Audio-Engineering in the next few weeks and resolve this issue, I promise I will return and update this review. If not, you might think twice before kicking down $79.

Updated on Dec 23, 2011

UPDATE:
After a couple weeks, support said the fader issue is a conflict with NI's Kontakt, which breaks Rax's faders. Rax must be relaunched sans Kontakt to work again.

FYI, Apple released MainStage2 in the App Store (as a separate app from Logic Pro).

At $29, MS2 is feature-rich & flexible. Without purchasing Logic Pro, MS2 includes ALL of the amazing Logic VI's & FX plugs! Steep learning curve. Good docs. Fixed velocity for on-screen kybd.

Rax ($79) is user-friendly, intuitive/logical, and easy to use. It is a live host for your own AU and VST instruments & plug-ins. The program needs only a few fixes & tweaks to be a viable alternative. The user who likes uncompromised simplicity program will like Rax. Support and development are slow.

For me, Rax was a disappointment, as I paid full-price for cripple-ware. Still, I managed to use it on a series of gigs, so it wasn't a complete bust. Unless Rax fixes the fader issue sometime soon, I'll just reconfigure my sounds in MS2.

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