All you need to know about Reason 6
Propellerhead Software has announced Reason 6, a major update to the well-reviewed music software, which finally integrates all of Record’s audio recording functionality into one product. In order not to completely lose face by not incorporating audio recording into Reason in the first place and creating a stand-alone product. Propellerheads is calling Essentials “the successor to Record,” that packs all the recording, editing, effects, instruments, mixing and mastering necessary to sound great in a streamlined package and providing all Reason products with audio recording and editing.
Combining all the features from Record into the new version, Reason 6 adds audio recording and editing, along with Propellerhead’s excellent mixing console, multiple parallel racks, Line 6 amp models, new effect devices plus additional features.
New creative effects designed for inserting directly into instruments and tracks include: Pulveriser, sound crushing effect with crunchy compression, dirty distortion and flexible modulation; The Echo, advanced stereo echo with modern delay and analog tape echo emulation: and Alligator, a three band pattern gate for complex rhythmic texturing. Interface enhancements, high definition audio transpose and true 64-bit compatibility highlight other new feature improvements.
Mix in studio grade quality
The fully equipped mixing desk adds a big studio signal chain to all your sound sources. Every audio and instruments track has its own channel strip — the built-in EQ, dynamics and advanced routing will give your music that unmistakable million-dollar console sound. The “radio ready” master bus compressor gives your mixes that extra punch.
Pulveriser
Pulveriser puts crunchy compression, dirty distortion, a multimode filter and flexible modulation in a single, sound-crunching effect.
The Echo
The Echo is an advanced stereo echo bringing together the brilliance of modern delays with the organic sounds of analog circuitry and old-school tape machines. The Echo is equal parts pristine stereo delay, sound sculpturing toolbox, and playable performance effect.
Alligator
Alligator is a three band pattern-based gate effect that turns bland pads into rhythmic textures, radically twists your loops, and tweak boring beats into blockrocking breaks.
Neptune
New in the Reason rack is the Neptune pitch correction and voice synth device. Neptune turns your performances into pitch-perfect ones in no time. Simply play your new harmonies on your MIDI keyboard for instant backing vocals.
Audio recording
Capture your ideas with a minimum of mouse clicks and menu actions — version 6 introduces unlimited hard disk tracks and rock solid audio recording in Reason.
Time stretch & audio transpose
With our now legendary non-destructive time stretch, you can actually record first and pick your tempo later. And with the brand new audio transpose you can even record first and change the key later. Change the tempo of your song, and the audio follows right along. Non-destructively change the pitch with a mouse click.
Recording meter
The large Recording Meter overlay lets you tune your guitar and set the levels from across the room.
Line 6 guitar and bass amps
With the virtual guitar and bass PODs® from amp and cab simulation experts Line 6, Inc. you are never short of interesting tones and timbres.
Comp editor
As a perfect performance may be less than perfect from scratch, Reason 6 features our swift and easy to use comp editor. Building the ultimate vocal track is as simple as selecting the parts that work and muting the ones that don’t. Exit the comp editor and listen to the results; a perfect take containing only the good parts.
Expert exporting
Want to move your song over to your DAW? In one single click, Reason will export your separate mixer channels as individual audio stems, with or without effects. Need just the effects? No problem.
More sounds
The included Factory Sound Bank has been expanded with thousands of new patches and loops for Reason’s instruments, and hundreds of patches for the new Pulveriser, The Echo and Alligator effects. Finding your sound has never been easier.
Artist Interview: Felix Cartal (Reason fan BTW)
Felix Cartal spent his early years as a musical pinch hitter… filling in for local Vancouver rock bands whenever they suddenly needed a member. After taking a class on MIDI production in high school, however, Cartal realized both the advantages of being a solo artist and the power of producing with Reason. His sound still borrows heavily from his punk rock origins, using synths to convey the heaviness and aggression normally coming from guitar amps.
After successful releases on Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records and tours with MSTRKRFT, Felix Cartal is still driven by his band roots both in sound and production philosophy.
Reason as a powerful mastering tool
Thanks to its external audio sampling and sample-playback capabilities, Propellerhead Reason 5 makes a handy mastering solution for your music irrespective of that music’s origin platform. SO long as you can bounce your music to a WAV file, you can play it back in Reason 5 and feed it through the impressive-sounding MClass rack effects.
While that may sound fairly straightforward, there are some nuances to this method. For instance: what device in Reason 5 should you use to playback your unmastered audio? That and more are covered in this methodical how-to video.
Shared by Gearwire
Sample Everything and Anything in Propellerhead Reason
Learn how you can use Reason to sample everyday noises, objects and machines around the house, circuit bent toys, and synths to create your own unique sonic fingerprint.
Reason CV to MIDI to Oberheim Xpander
Reason MIDI Sequence routed as CV over Audio to an Oberheim Xpander. The Xpander is a six-voice desktop version of the Matrix 12 with which it shares an identical voice architecture. In many ways they are the most flexible non-modular analog synths ever built. Each voice has five LFOs, each with about five different wave shapes, plus the ability to sample most other modulators; five envelopes that can repeat themselves, sync to an LFO, and so on; a lag processor (like portamento, but more general); three tracking generators (that apply a series of linear functions to a value over its range); some ramp generators (the attack portion of an envelope); a 15-mode filter and a user interface to make all of this accessible.
This is kludgey. Here’s the data patch:
1. Reason MIDI Sequence to a Thor
2. Thor Converts MIDI to Control Voltage Note and Gate signals.
3. CV Note/Gate are converted to Audio Signals and routed to Hardware interface audio outputs.
4. Audio Outputs are directed to Soundflower
5. CV as Audio routed through Soundflower into MaxMSP
6. MaxMSP converts CV as Audio to MIDI
7. MIDI directed to a hardware port on a Novation controller
8. MIDI cable to the Oberheim Xpander
9. You cut a hole in the box
Because this configuration does not use Rewire, Audio from the Xpander can be recorded back into Reason. There is, however, a considerable amount of latency.
Reason Control Voltage to MIDI Out – MaxMSP5
Reason maestor Peff has uploaded a nice demo on Control Voltage. Showing some early tests of routing Reason Note and Gate CV data from a Matrix Pattern Sequencer to MIDI note data.
this is still experimental and needs a lot more finishing before it will be viable, however early tests work with both internal and external hardware synths.
Sampling Inside the Reason Rack
Sampling isn’t always about sticking a mic in front of your dog to turn his bark into your next bass lead. Sometimes the best stuff you can sample is inside the Reason rack. Why would you want to do this if it’s already in Reason? There’s plenty of reasons and Mattias Häggström Gerdt will show you the why’s and how’s.
Artist Interview: Semothy Jones (Lily Allen, Professor Green)
The Propellerhead guys has released this interview with Semothy Jones. Semothy Jones was 8 years old when he heard a record that showed him the meaning of life: producing music. Admittedly unable to sing or rap, young Semothy faced a somewhat existential crisis: “I make beats, what am I?”
The answer soon revealed itself to him when his beats were sought out by UK artists like Little Boots and Professor Green. When Green and Jones decided to do a remake of the 90s hit “Dub Be Good to Me,” they had no idea that pop-royalty Lily Allen would jump on the chorus and take the album to number 2 on the charts.
Since being introduced to Reason in 2002, every Semothy Jones production starts and ends inside the Reason rack.
Propellerhead is looking for BETA-testers
Remember Reason Adapted, Reason’s smaller sibling that used to be included with various products? We’d like to introduce a new, tiny family member who’s getting ready to step into those shoes: Reason Limited. This is a compact version of the Reason+Record Duo, that will eventually be included free with products from other manufacturers. Can you help us beta test it?
https://www.propellerheads.se/betatest/sign-up/
Reason guru shows how to get the grips with controllers
During the past year Mr. Bernard with Propellerheads has treated us with 52 weeks of Reason/Record tutorials, but he apparently has not thrown in the towel yet. It’s great that Reason’s interface emulates physical hardware but what if you actually want to use it with physical hardware. The world of controllerism only continues to grow year after year. The new boutique hardware controller manufacturers paired with the explosion of iOS controller apps means that you have an infinite set of choices for your live set up when using Reason. James Bernard will walk you through some of the history surrounding controllerism and some of the latest gizmos.
DATAMASKIN
