Get Reason – How Reason 4 Gets Reason Rocking

The Propellerhead Software team have released version 4.0 of their flagship software studio, Reason – but should you run out and get Reason four straight away, or wait until you finally get the hang of those combinator split patches in Reason 3?

If you’re a hardcore Reason fanatic, as many electronic musicians clearly are, then the answer is a resounding yes (to get Reason 4 immediately, that is). In fact, if this is your condition, then you’ve probably spent the past few months frantically beta testing the current release and so are entirely familar with the nuances of Reason’s new incarnation already. For the less fortunate, however, perhaps a brief run-down of what’s new in Reason 4.0 would be useful.

The addition the props are making the most noise about is the Thor synthesiser, which is a polysonic, fully-automatable rack unit, the likes of which the world has never beheld. I’ll take the easy way out now and use some descriptions from my pre-release post (because I’m just back from Istanbul and too tired to think any more)…

Get Reason – Thor

The Thor features six different oscillator types and four unique filters, and the props claim it is the most powerful synth ever created. This is probably a moot point; from the screenshots, it does seem to be something of a behemoth.

Get Reason – ReGroove

The ReGroove unit is a groove management console which looks more like a mixer. This can be used to apply different groove or quantisation settings to 32 elements of a track, completely independently of one another if so desired.

Get Reason – The Details

The sequencer has gotten a massive makeover, and now includes vector automation, a transport track and track folding. The RPG-8 is the new monophonic arpeggiator, which has been in the pipeline for some time now. Other features include French, German and Japanese editions, extra factory patches and a tool window for optimising your workflow.

Get Reason – Japan Or Europe?

By the way, if you want to get Reason 4 and you live in Japan, you’ll have to wait until October 10.

Us lucky Europeans can buy Reason 4 right now from iMusician in the UK.