Swedish wizards Propellerhead Software have finally announced the offical release of Reason, the virtual studio rack that has to be one of the most eagerly-awaited product releases ever since it was unveiled almost a year ago at NAMM 2000. The software is in US stores now, with a worldwide release anticipated shortly. The RRP is wallet-trembling $399.00, so start saving now. In case you've been living in a cave, here's an overview of the beast from Propellerhead themselves, courtesy of the offical press release... January 4, 2001 -- Propellerhead Software, the company behind products such as ReCycle and ReBirth have announced the release of Reason, the infinitely expandable music system for Windows and MacOS Reason comes in the shape of a classic studio rack, packed with all the gear you could possibly need: Samplers, Analog synths, Mixers, Step time drum machines, Effects, and a realtime multi-track sequencer for fast and intuitive music making. Everything is there except the drawbacks, no tripping over cables or locating ground hum. All of Reason´s 16 devices have the look and feel of the real thing, but more importantly, they have the sound, the performance and the attitude to rival any hardware out there.. And you can use each device as many times as your CPU can handle. Reason hooks up to your MIDI keyboard faster than you can say Revolutionary Software, giving you MIDI control of all devices, knobs, faders and parameters. Whether you´re a big time producer or a bedroom DJ, a pro musician or an amateur tweaker, this application provides all the necessary tools to create, edit and mix the music of your choice, all within the comfort of your own computer. The complete device list reads as follows: NN19 - Sampler able to play standard wav and aiff audio samples. Complete with 5 filter options (notch, highpass, bandpass, lowpass 12db, lowpass 24db) and resonace, 2 envelops, 1 LFO, and portamento. The graphic keyboard mapping display makes it easy to position samples across the keyboard and there is even an automap option for the lazy. NN19 comes with 294 high quality sampler patches as standard, including Grand Piano, Rhodes, Guitars, Strings, Bass, Choir, Woodwinds and Synth samples. SubTractor - Polyphonic 2 oscillator synth w/32 waveforms, noise generator, FM, ring & phase modulation, 3 envelope generators, 2 LFO's, portamento, 5 filter options (notch, highpass, bandpass, lowpass 12db, lowpass 24db) plus an additional second lowpass filter with resonance. More than 400 patches are included as standard. ReDrum - 10 channel drum machine playing wav or aiff audio files. Each channel has control over pan, level, velocity, length and pitch plus two effect sends. The programming interface has 32 patterns, 3 dynamic levels, flams and shuffle mode. Programmed patterns can be dumped to the Reason sequencer for further manipulation and ReDrum can of course be triggered via midi as well. A choice of 60 high quality drum kits is included as a great starting point. Dr Rex - Rex files automatically match the tempo of the sequencer. This is done by slicing the audio in to its rhythmic components and then trigger the individual slices at the correct timing position within the bar. The end result is stunning. Choose from the 300 drum loops and 100 music loops included as part of Reasons sound library or the fast expanding third party library. Owners of ReCycle can of course also make their own rex files for use in Reason. The triggering of each audio slice can furthermore be dumped to a midi track, maybe as the rhythmic foundation of a bassline or maybe to construct a completely new groove. Want to do more? Dr Rex also feature pitch, pan, level and decay parameters for each individual slice plus 5 filter options (notch, highpass, bandpass, lowpass 12db, lowpass 24db) and resonance, 2 envelops and 1 LFO. Mixer - The Reason mixer feature 14 stereo channels each with 4 aux sends, 2 band eq, panning, mute, solo and of course volume control. Need more channels? Just add another mixer to the rack. REV-7 - Digital reverb with 10 preset algorithms. DDL - Digital delay line with settings by note value or milliseconds.D-11 - Foldback distortion, if you like it rough. ECF-42 - Envelope controlled filter, a choice of Bandpass, Lowpass 12db, Lowpass 24db filter with resonance and ADSR. CF-101 Chorus/flanger effect. PH-90 - Phaser. Comp-01 - Auto Makeup Gain Compressor. PEQ-2 - Two band parametric EQ with curve display Matrix Sequencer - Analogue and monophonic in style, Matrix is a great starting point for repetitive keyboard parts. A total of 32 patterns per song can be programmed complete with ties, CV and velocity curves. You can also use the Matrix to generate complex LFO curves to control parameters such as Filter, FM, panning, volume etc in other devices. Matrix patterns can of course finally be dumped to the sequencer for further manipulation. ReBirth Input Machine - A simple interface allowing users of ReBirth to connect to any device within Reason. Reason Sequencer - Yes, Reason is a complete solution. The sequencer offers all the necessities of midi sequencing including arrangement view, key-, velocity, rex-, drum-, controller and automation editors. Just connect your midi keyboard and start recording. And what about routing flexibility? Well, turn the rack around and a wealth of options will stare you in the face. CV, gate and audio connections are available on all devices for complete cross device control. Reason of course automatically routes in the most logical way. However you may have unique and creative ideas. How about controlling the synth filter with your drum loop, or panning a channel using the LFO from one of the devices! All configurations are of course stored with the song, so even elaborate routings will be easy to reproduce. And best of all, total recall. So no need to worry about remembering cable routings, patch settings and fader automation. Reason does it all for you. With more than 500Mb of sounds, loops & samples created by a team of professional sound designers, Reason provide a great starting point for any composition. And for musicians looking to share their work on the web, the "Publish song" feature makes download and transfer of song data efficient and fast. This includes facilities for omitting sounds already available to other users (such as the factory sound bank) and compression of other audio samples by over 50%. A sound bank database is also included to keep track of user, factory and third party sound libraries available. The database can work on a network, making it easy for users with multiple stations to seamlessly transfer material from one station to the other. Reason can link to most of the major sequencers (Cubase, Logic, Digital Performer) via ReWire, the fast growing industry standard, giving you the complete audio and midi power of your favourite program. This of course also allows you to continue working within the environment you are most familiar with and still have the sound power of Reason. System requirements MacOS Power Macintosh with 604, 604e, G3 or G4 processor or better (see the note below). 166 MHz or faster. 64 Megabytes of RAM. CD- ROM drive. MacOS 8.6 or later. 256 color monitor (or better), 800x600 or larger. A MIDI interface and a MIDI keyboard (or similar). OMS 2. x or later (included). Reason takes advantage of the Altivec (Velocity Engine) instructions used in the Macintosh G4 processors, which enhance performance. Windows Intel Pentium 2 or better. 233 MHz or faster. 64 Megabytes of RAM. CD- ROM drive. Windows 98, NT 4.0 or 2000 (or later). 256 color monitor (or better), 800x600 or larger. A 16 bit Windows compatible audio card, preferably with an ASIO or DirectX driver. Microsoft DirectX (only if the card supports it). A MIDI interface and a MIDI keyboard (or similar). Reason is now available in the U.S. from Steinberg North America, for a MSRP of $399.

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