Press Release (V3) > NAMM TEC Awards > SOS Awards > SOS Review (V2) > TapeOp Review (V2) > Press Release (V2) > SOS Review (V1) > Word on the street
Press Release.
November 11, 2025
Headphone-Free Recording: Songzap becomes the first music DAW capable of multitrack production without headphones.
Music-tech innovation company RT60 launches Songzap V3 – an exciting update to their mobile songwriting studio app, introducing ground-breaking AI that makes Headphone-Free Recording a reality.
When Les Paul invented multitrack recording back in the 1940s, it came with one big caveat – musicians needed to wear headphones to stop playback ‘bleed’ from being recorded back in. Now, RT60’s intelligent HFR technology enables multitrack recording without the need for headphones. By isolating playback ‘bleed’ from backing tracks and overdubs in real-time, it frees performers from having to wear headphones, resulting in crystal-clear arrangements with no artefacts or ‘spill’.
The bleed removal is localised and instantaneous, with no need for any processing to run or complete online. Unlike current stem-isolation technologies, Songzap’s Headphone-Free Recording algorithm is source agnostic, capable of isolating elements such as vocal recordings from extraneous vocal spill – perfect for songwriters and top-liners creating layered ideas on the go.
Musicians, in fact, may not even realise that a clean-up process is taking place, as HFR works while they are recording. By the time the ‘stop’ button is pressed, the new performance has already been isolated from any backing tracks or previous recordings blasting out of their phone or tablet speaker.
The enhancements don’t stop there. The new version of Songzap boosts a meaningfully redesigned Loop-Recording GUI, with import, ‘pre-roll’ and ‘live (sync)’ modes, to cater for different music-making workflows and external sample integration. Combined with HFR, loop-recording in Songzap makes jamming and songwriting even more immediate and effortless.
RT60’s mission statement has always been to boost creativity for music makers by removing technological barriers through intuitive and intelligent designs. Their drum-tuning app, iDrumTune Pro, has been the number one iPhone music app in over 100 countries, and Songzap V2 became a NAMM TEC Awards finalist and SOS Best Music Software nominee in 2025. RT60’s innovations have recently received funding from Innovate UK (Creative Catalyst grant), the UK Intellectual Property Office and they were also supported through the prestigious BPI/Abbey Rd Grow Music incubator programme.
While developing Songzap V3, RT60 directors Professor Rob Toulson and Dr Mike Exarchos collaborated with a large pool of creative musicians working in different musical styles and contrasting workflows. What they learned was that music makers want zero barriers when inspiration strikes. Even the notion of having to plug in headphones or cable-adaptors when performing into their mobile device had to go. The result?
AI-assisted multitrack recording in the palm of their hands.
The basic version of Songzap is available for free on the Apple App Store, while a Songzap Premium subscription unlocks the full range of advanced AI features.
Headphone-Free Recording and Loop Record are Songzap Premium features, which costs $20 USD per year to access. A 14-day free trial can be activated from within the app.
To learn more about headphone free recording, visit www.songzap.app/hfr
To learn more about Songzap’s enhanced loop record features, visit www.songzap.app/newloopfeatures
RT Sixty Limited (operating as RT60)
40th NAMM TEC Awards Finalist!
September 5, 2024
We are overjoyed (and slightly overwhelmed!) to learn that Songzap by RT60 is shortlisted as a NAMM TEC Awards Finalist. To us, this is like the GRAMMY‘s of audio and music software development, so it’s something we’re very excited about and grateful for.
Songzap is shortlisted in the category Audio Apps & Hardware/Peripherals for Smartphones and Tablets; the other finalists are Avid/Sibelius, Roland, Yamaha, Steinberg/Cubase and Samply, so we’re in good company with some pioneering organisations that we have respected, used and looked up to for many years.
We built Songzap to help musicians who feel alienated by current music recording software packages (because they are overly complicated and tech-focused) and for songwriters who fear being replaced by AI – so we built a tool that helps artists themselves use AI in their creative process. We are passionate about helping this group of musicians worldwide, and we have lots of enhancements, improvements and further innovations in the pipeline. The TEC Award shortlisting is a lovely milestone along our journey and one that informs us that we are on a positive direction, inspiring us to do more.
We’re now getting everything set for exhibiting at NAMM in Los Angeles for January 2025 and we look forward to the Awards event, too. Most of all, we’re looking forward to meeting up with lots of music industry friends and reconnecting with our music-tech family. See you there!
Check out all the NAMM Tech Awards Finalists at https://www.tecawards.org/finalists/
SOS Awards Best Music Software Nomination!
September 23, 2024
Songzap2 has been shortlisted as Best Music Software in the respected 2025 Sound On Sound Awards. You can vote for us at the link below!
SOS Review (V2).
October, 2024
“the guys at RT60 have clearly thought hard about how best AI can serve creators rather than replace them — the way in which the automatic AI accompaniment reacts to the user’s own performance is nothing short of alchemy!”
Sound On Sound Magazine
TapeOp Review (V2).
September/October, 2024
“a 4-track for the modern age! …premium mode opens access to EQ and compression sliders in a second window, something I never imagined I’d see on a smartphone […] This app does what it sets out to do very well, and in an intuitive manner”
TapeOp Magazine
Press Release.
May 7, 2024
Music innovation company RT60 launches Songzap V2, the new version of their music-making mobile app for performers and songwriters, introducing ground-breaking AI technologies to support musicians and creators.
RT60 have been developing innovative applications for musicians and the creative industries, including iDrumTune Pro, which has been the number one iPhone music app in over 100 countries since its launch.
In 2023, RT60 won Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst Fund for the development of Songzap V2, a programme set up by UK Research and Innovation to provide support for high potential businesses in the creative sector.
The first version of Songzap was launched in 2022, created by RT60’s directors Professor Rob Toulson and Dr Michail Exarchos with a clear vision to help musicians create, develop and learn. The app is aimed exclusively at musicians and songwriters, rather than music producers, providing powerful creativity-enhancing features, minimising interface complexity and offering support via comprehensive online learning environments.
Songzap V2 ups the ante with innovative machine-learning features to boost songcraft. Perhaps the new feature that will be most talked about is Autozap, an intelligent process that listens to a performer’s recording, analyses their chords and rhythm, and composes a trio of drums, bass and keys accompaniments – turning a quick musical idea into a complete song. The user can then modify the intelligent compositions via tactile interfaces, browsing viable parts of different feels and complexities, and accessing a range of organically-curated drum, bass and keys sounds. Additional new features include a four-track loop recorder, a clip-based arrangement page and an advanced mixer to fine-tune recordings, while everything crafted inside the app can be exported to a DAW or professional studio for further refining.
Creative Director of RT60, Dr Michail Exarchos, describes the Autozap feature as:
“a powerful new concept for musicians who write alone and want to quickly hear their ideas in a duo, trio or full band context. During our own educational experiences, we recognised that many musicians are not comfortable with using current DAWs and production systems, so we wanted to develop a music recording platform that non-technical musicians can easily use, while also having access to the benefits of AI music technologies.”
RT60 has focused on an alternative take with their embrace of AI. Unlike their competitors, Songzap avoids the instant-generative-gratification paradigm and instead invites musicians to play, record, co-create and be assisted in their songwriting and arranging efforts. RT60’s CTO Prof Rob Toulson was previously Professor of Creative Industries at University of Westminster, and has been evaluating the growth of music AI tools over recent years. Prof Toulson comments that:
“We’ve seen many new technologies recently that enable music to be ‘unmixed’, automatically mastered or generated artificially from a simple text input. While these are clever innovations, they don’t add significantly to the creative landscape and moreover facilitate a ‘race to the bottom’, where non-musicians are empowered at the expense of those who have learnt creative skills and capabilities. Now that we better understand AI for music, there’s an opportunity to develop far-reaching tools that will help real musicians to be more creative, collaborate better, learn more effectively, and ultimately bring back innovation and individual songcraft to the music that we hear everyday.”
The basic version of Songzap is available for free on the Apple App Store, while a Songzap Premium subscription unlocks the full range of advanced features.
RT Sixty Limited (operating as RT60)
SOS Review (V1).
September, 2022
“a great way to organise and develop your song and recording ideas without getting bogged down in the inevitable distractions of a full DAW”
Sound On Sound Magazine
Word on the street.
Game changer for guitarist!
Game changer for guitarist!
Super intuitive and full of great features and functions
Super intuitive and full of great features and functions
FANTASTIC!
FANTASTIC!
Absolute genius.
Absolute genius.
Fun and useful for piano
Fun and useful for piano
Better than GarageBand
Better than GarageBand
Really cool and unique app
Really cool and unique app