Time flies, as they say. 25 years ago, the very first version of Reason saw the light of the day. The idea was to create a self-contained music production and sound design software, available to anyone with even a fairly average computer. The philosophy behind Reason was to “democratize the music making”, meaning everyone should be able to create music without having to shell out a fortune on musical instruments and hardware. The concept turned out to be a real hit and Reason continues to evolve to this day!
Background
After the huge success of the ReBirth application, released in 1997, Marcus Zetterquist came up with the idea of making a music production tool based on a rack concept, where you could connect various rack modules to each using virtual cables, to form a virtual music studio.
As Ernst Nathorst-Böös said “Reason was the software we wanted to create when we made ReBirth”. Due to the generally low performance of computers at that time this wasn’t feasible, so it had to wait a couple of years.
Ernst, Marcus and Peter (Jubel) agreed that the “hardware rack” metaphor made perfect sense and was quite easy for most users to grasp: you connect a cable from one jack to another, and that’s it. On the first prototypes the jacks were on the front panel of the rack. This was later changed, and they eventually ended up on the back panels. You could quickly switch between front and back by pressing the now famous [Tab] key.
In one of the first prototypes you can clearly see where this project was going:
Reason 1, 2000
Reason 1.0 was released in November 2000 and was all you needed for electronic music production. It featured a 14-channel stereo Mixer, the ReDrum Drum Computer, the SubTractor Polyphonic Synthesizer, the NN19 Digital Sampler (suitably named after the 1985 hit “19” by Paul Hardcastle), the Dr:Rex Loop Player, and the ReBirth Input Machine (to route the ReBirth RB338 audio into Reason if you wanted to).
Reason 1.0 also came with the Matrix Pattern Sequencer and eight “half-rack” Effect modules. Besides the devices Reason also featured a multi-track Sequencer for MIDI recording.
Reason created a true buzz on the market and really stirred interest world-wide.
Reason 2, 2002
Reason 2.0 was released in 2002 and came with a lot of enhancements and workflow improvements, such as a detachable Sequencer window and new Sequencer tools. Reason 2.0 also featured the fantastic Malström Graintable Synthesizer, developed by Magnus Lidström, who would later form the company Sonic Charge.
The NN-XT Advanced Sampler was designed so you could get more “real instruments” in Reason. It would also become the backbone for a lot of future ReFill sound libraries. In addition to the Reason Factory Sound Bank, Reason 2.0 also featured the Orkester ReFill. This contained a large collection of patches and samples of orchestral instruments for the NN-XT.
Reason 2.5, 2003
Reason 2.5 was released with the tag line “In Full Effect”. Despite being a free point update, Reason 2.5 contained some really great new devices: the RV7000 Advanced Reverb, BV512 Vocoder, Scream4 Sound Destruction Unit, UN-16 Unison, and the Spider Audio and Spider CV Merger & Splitter devices.
The BV512 Vocoder was modelled after Peter Jubel’s homemade BV-12 vocoder, which is now being sold as part of the (Kraftwerk co-founder) Florian Schneider Collection.
Reason 3, 2005
Reason 3 introduced the flexible Combinator device, which could be used for combining other Reason devices, to form a “super instrument” or “super effect” —or a combination of instrument(s) and effect(s). To make it easier to connect and use external MIDI keyboards for controlling Reason device parameters, the Remote protocol was introduced in Reason 3. It came with a selection of preset assignments for the most common MIDI keyboards and control surfaces on the market.
The Combinator+Remote combo was marketed under the motto “Replace Your Workstation” and we published a number of ads on this theme in music magazines.
With Reason 3 came also the MClass Mastering Suite, consisting of the MClass Compressor, the MClass Equalizer, the MClass Stereo Imager and the MClass Maximizer. We also packaged these four devices in a Combinator that we called the MClass Combinator Mastering Suite. This Combinator was perfect to use as a Master Effect last in the signal chain.
Reason also came with enhanced Factory Soundbank and Orkester ReFills.
Reason 4, 2007
Reason 4 brought the mighty semi-modular Thor Polysonic Synthesizer. It would become one of the most popular instruments ever in Reason and is being used extensively to this day.
Reason 4 also came with the RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator. There were some discussions internally if we should really call it RPG-8, because of the more violent existing “device” RPG-7 (a shoulder-launched, anti-tank, grenade launcher). However, we finally decided to go for the name since it sounded good: RPG-8 = Ar-pe-(g)gi-ate.
Reason 4 also featured the ReGroove Mixer, for easily applying non-destructive grooves to MIDI recordings. The ReGroove Mixer is still heavily used, especially on the Hip Hop scene.
Reason 4 introduced Clips in the Sequencer. Can you imagine that before Reason 4 there were no clips at all?
Record, 2009
In 2009 Propellerhead Software released its stand-alone audio recording software Record. Record came with a great audio time stretch algorithm, which allowed for the audio recordings to be slowed down or sped up with virtually no artifacts. A lot of users say it’s still the best time stretch they have heard. Designed and implemented by our own DSP guru Peter Jubel.
The extremely comprehensive Mixer in Record, meticulously modelled after the mighty SSL 9000 K mixing console, was also a huge success. At a reasonable price musicians could now get access to a “million-dollar mixer” in a computer software. Of course, the Mixer also featured the magical Master Bus Compressor. We moved the letters one step forward in the alphabet and called it the “TTM Mixer”. TTM for Totally Transparent Mixer. This name never became official, though, and was only used internally in the code. In Record (and later in Reason) it was simply called the Main Mixer.
Another great feature in Record was that you could run Reason 4 in it completely seamlessly. If you had Reason 4 installed on your computer, Record automatically detected this and loaded up all Reason 4 devices in Record. The best of both Propellerhead worlds!
Record also featured the straight-forward ID8 instrument device (for ideation) and the Line 6 Guitar and Bass Amps. With Record 1.5, released in 2010, came the fantastic Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth, which could be used for vocal pitch correction and for generating chords from (monophonic) vocal input signals.
Record was marketed with the slogan “Record You”.
Reason 5, 2010
Reason 5 came with some very nice features, such as Blocks in the Sequencer. Blocks allowed you to start with writing the different parts of your song and then arrange your song by drawing in those parts. Blocks always live “in the background” so you could easily add variations and unique parts on top.
The powerful semi-modular Kong Drum Designer was also introduced in Reason 5. It came with a number of different Drum module types, as well as Effects, that you could configure to taste and save as patches.
The Dr:Rex Loop Player was significantly updated to contain 8 loop slots instead of the single slot in Dr:Rex. Consequently, the device was renamed Dr. OctoRex. There was an internal discussion whether we should just call it “OctoRex” (to rhyme with Dr:Rex), but we decided to go with “Dr. OctoRex” to not mix up the names.
With live sampling, all sample players in Reason also became samplers. Redrum, NN19, NN-XT, Kong now all could record samples on the fly from your audio interface.
Like with Reason 4, Reason 5 could also run inside the Record program, making them a perfect match. Reason 5 could be run inside Record 1.5, which was released the same year.
Reason 6, 2011
In Reason 6 the Reason and Record programs were merged into a single application. Now, the Reason sequencer finally featured audio tracks! As we said in the Reason 6 introduction video: “When all you want is everything, all you need is Reason.”
Among the new devices in Reason 6 were the three creative effects: Pulveriser, The Echo, and Alligator—the first devices created with our newly developed Rack Extension technology (see Reason 6.5 below), although this wasn’t communicated officially at this point. Reason 6 also inherited the Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth, the ID8 instrument and the Line 6 Amps from Record.
Reason 6 came both a 64-bit and a 32-bit application, to be compatible with the computer OS versions that existed at that time.
Reason 6.5, 2012
In Reason 6.5 the Rack Extension technology was officially introduced. This technology made it possible for external developers to develop their own instrument and effect devices and ship them as Rack Extensions—a plugin format unique to Reason. The Rack Extension format allowed for very tight integration with the Reason architecture, offering audio and CV signal routing just like in the built-in devices. Thanks to the sandboxing technology, the Rack Extensions also became future proof and independent of future computer OS versions.
From this point onwards Propellerhead Software also started producing a lot of Rack Extensions that could be purchased separately and added to the Reason Rack, for those who wanted. This way we could develop more “specialized” devices that didn’t necessarily “fit all”.
The Reason 6.5 Upgrade was a “Pay What You Want” upgrade, which allowed Reason 6 owners to upgrade to Reason 6.5 at a price of their own choice.
Reason 7, 2013
Reason 7 came with the External MIDI Instrument device, which allowed control of external MIDI instruments from Reason. Reason 7 also featured audio slicing and quantising, the Spectrum EQ window, and several Main Mixer enhancements, such as Output Bus Channels. A new effect device was also included, Audiomatic Retro Transformer, which offered a palette of great effect programs at a push of a button.
Reason 7 was frequently marketed with the slogan “Reason Has a Rack for That”, to highlight that you could do almost anything with the available Rack devices—including the add-on Rack Extensions.
Reason 8, 2014
Reason 8 came with updated sequencer graphics, workflow improvements, and with a brand-new browser. It also came with two new built-in Softube Amps (that would later replace the older Line 6 Amps in Reason 9). In the Reason 8.3 update the RV7000 Advanced Reverb was updated to mkII. RV7000 MkII featured a Convolution mode, where you could load impulse response samples that RV7000 MkII could use for generating effects. In the Reason 8.3 update Reason also became a 64-bit only application.
Reason 9, 2016
Reason 9 introduced the Player concept, a new type of MIDI generating/processing devices that could be attached to instrument devices and “play” them in various ways. Three Player devices were included in Reason 9: Dual Arpeggio, Note Echo and Scales & Chords.
Pitch Edit Mode in the sequencer, to auto-correct monophonic audio, was another big feature in Reason 9. “Bounce in Place”, to convert instrument MIDI notes to audio was also one of the new features.
Reason 9 also came with around 1000 new patches. The Pulsar Dual LFO device was also added to the built-in devices.
Reason 9.5, 2017
The Reason 9.5 update included quite a significant new functionality: support for VST2 plugins. This was a much-requested feature from a lot of users. Up until now, Reason could only use its internal devices and Rack Extension devices. Reason’s built-in VST Rack Device could host any compatible 64-bit VST2 plugin and also featured CV jacks so you could control and modulate your VST plugin from other devices in the rack.
VST plugins could also be combined with other devices in Combinator devices, to form your custom-made instruments and effects. Reason 9.5 also featured Delay Compensation, to compensate for inherent latency in certain devices and VST plugins.
Reason 10, 2018
Now it was high time for Reason to get some really powerful new synthesizers. Reason 10 was biggest content update so far, and included the flexible Europa Shapeshifting Synthesizer, the experimental Grain Sample Manipulator, and the optional add-on instruments Klang, Pangea, Humana, and Radical Piano. The time-based Synchronous Effect Modulator was also introduced.
Besides the new devices, Reason 10 also came with a vastly expanded sound library, including the Loop Supply and Drum Supply ReFills and the “Reason 10 Sounds” sound bank, which contained a huge number of Combinator patches.
Reason 11, 2020
Reason 11 was the first Reason version released by Reason Studios, after having changed the name from Propellerhead Software. Reason 11 came with a number of workflow enhancements in the sequencer, such as curved automation, multiple notes drawing and muting of individual notes—plus crossfading of audio clips. Two new audio modulation effects were also added—Quartet Chorus Ensemble and Sweeper Modulation Effect—plus three separate effect devices, derived from the Main Mixer channel strip: Channel Dynamics, Channel EQ and Master Bus Compressor.
Another huge new feature in Reason 11 was the Reason Rack Plugin, which let you use the Reason Rack as a separate VST3/AU/AAX plugin in other compatible DAWs. This allowed for users of other DAWs to get the “Reason sound” straight into their DAW—a much appreciated feature!
Reason 12, 2021
Reason 12 featured scalable user interface and all Rack devices now used high-resolution graphics. Reason 12 also made it a lot easier to use multiple Combinators in series as Insert Effects in the Mixer. The Combinator was updated to Version 2, which heavily improved its functionality, letting you create your own unique instruments and effects with custom-made user interfaces.
Reason 12 also came with the Mimic Creative Sampler—a great sampler instrument for chopping up and playing back samples in very intuitive ways.
Finally, Reason 12.5 came with the long awaited VST3 plugin support.
Reason 12 was also the first Reason version you could choose to subscribe to instead of purchasing outright. This was made possible with the Reason+ concept, which let you subscribe to the latest Reason version—and to all Rack Extensions made by Reason Studios on a monthly or yearly basis.
Reason+ also provides weekly releases of Sound Packs. Sound Packs consist of around 10 meticulously crafted Combinator patches that you could download and use in Reason and in Reason Rack Plugin.
If you didn’t want to subscribe to Reason+ you could still purchase a licence like before, though. This works the same way today.
Reason 13, 2024
The current version, Reason 13, is focused on workflow and sounds. Reason 13 features an upgraded sequencer, a brand-new browser, five new devices, and more sounds.
All patches, samples, and loops are now in one place—the new Browser. All content in Reason is manually categorized and tagged. That includes all sound banks, all Reason Studios devices, and all Reason+ Sound Packs (for Reason+ subscribers). You can also tag your own sounds if you like.
The Sequencer has been split into two. With the new Edit Area it’s easy edit the details in your music without losing your way in the arrangement. Several new workflow improvements, improved zooming, layout changes, and easy access to editing features, make it a lot easier to create and edit your music.
The Polytone Dual-Layer Synthesizer is a modern take on a classic “analog style” synthesizer. It has two layers that can be stacked or morphed between for super fat or evolving sounds.
The Ripley Space Delay effect combines delay and reverb with unique flavors of filtering, noise, and distortion.
The Reason 13.1 update brought two new Player devices: Note Tool and Random Tool—perfect for manipulating MIDI notes in various ways. Reason 13.1 also lets you customize the Device Palette and what’s displayed in the Browser, using custom Tags. Reason 13.2 and 13.3 came with further workflow improvements and new functions.
That’s where we are today. Let’s see what the future brings.
Happy 25th, Reason!
Background
After the huge success of the ReBirth application, released in 1997, Marcus Zetterquist came up with the idea of making a music production tool based on a rack concept, where you could connect various rack modules to each using virtual cables, to form a virtual music studio.
As Ernst Nathorst-Böös said “Reason was the software we wanted to create when we made ReBirth”. Due to the generally low performance of computers at that time this wasn’t feasible, so it had to wait a couple of years.
Ernst, Marcus and Peter (Jubel) agreed that the “hardware rack” metaphor made perfect sense and was quite easy for most users to grasp: you connect a cable from one jack to another, and that’s it. On the first prototypes the jacks were on the front panel of the rack. This was later changed, and they eventually ended up on the back panels. You could quickly switch between front and back by pressing the now famous [Tab] key.
In one of the first prototypes you can clearly see where this project was going:
Reason 1, 2000
Reason 1.0 was released in November 2000 and was all you needed for electronic music production. It featured a 14-channel stereo Mixer, the ReDrum Drum Computer, the SubTractor Polyphonic Synthesizer, the NN19 Digital Sampler (suitably named after the 1985 hit “19” by Paul Hardcastle), the Dr:Rex Loop Player, and the ReBirth Input Machine (to route the ReBirth RB338 audio into Reason if you wanted to).Reason 1.0 also came with the Matrix Pattern Sequencer and eight “half-rack” Effect modules. Besides the devices Reason also featured a multi-track Sequencer for MIDI recording.
Reason created a true buzz on the market and really stirred interest world-wide.
Reason 2, 2002
Reason 2.0 was released in 2002 and came with a lot of enhancements and workflow improvements, such as a detachable Sequencer window and new Sequencer tools. Reason 2.0 also featured the fantastic Malström Graintable Synthesizer, developed by Magnus Lidström, who would later form the company Sonic Charge.The NN-XT Advanced Sampler was designed so you could get more “real instruments” in Reason. It would also become the backbone for a lot of future ReFill sound libraries. In addition to the Reason Factory Sound Bank, Reason 2.0 also featured the Orkester ReFill. This contained a large collection of patches and samples of orchestral instruments for the NN-XT.
Reason 2.5, 2003
Reason 2.5 was released with the tag line “In Full Effect”. Despite being a free point update, Reason 2.5 contained some really great new devices: the RV7000 Advanced Reverb, BV512 Vocoder, Scream4 Sound Destruction Unit, UN-16 Unison, and the Spider Audio and Spider CV Merger & Splitter devices.The BV512 Vocoder was modelled after Peter Jubel’s homemade BV-12 vocoder, which is now being sold as part of the (Kraftwerk co-founder) Florian Schneider Collection.
Reason 3, 2005
Reason 3 introduced the flexible Combinator device, which could be used for combining other Reason devices, to form a “super instrument” or “super effect” —or a combination of instrument(s) and effect(s). To make it easier to connect and use external MIDI keyboards for controlling Reason device parameters, the Remote protocol was introduced in Reason 3. It came with a selection of preset assignments for the most common MIDI keyboards and control surfaces on the market.The Combinator+Remote combo was marketed under the motto “Replace Your Workstation” and we published a number of ads on this theme in music magazines.
With Reason 3 came also the MClass Mastering Suite, consisting of the MClass Compressor, the MClass Equalizer, the MClass Stereo Imager and the MClass Maximizer. We also packaged these four devices in a Combinator that we called the MClass Combinator Mastering Suite. This Combinator was perfect to use as a Master Effect last in the signal chain.
Reason also came with enhanced Factory Soundbank and Orkester ReFills.Reason 4, 2007
Reason 4 brought the mighty semi-modular Thor Polysonic Synthesizer. It would become one of the most popular instruments ever in Reason and is being used extensively to this day.Reason 4 also came with the RPG-8 Monophonic Arpeggiator. There were some discussions internally if we should really call it RPG-8, because of the more violent existing “device” RPG-7 (a shoulder-launched, anti-tank, grenade launcher). However, we finally decided to go for the name since it sounded good: RPG-8 = Ar-pe-(g)gi-ate.
Reason 4 also featured the ReGroove Mixer, for easily applying non-destructive grooves to MIDI recordings. The ReGroove Mixer is still heavily used, especially on the Hip Hop scene.
Reason 4 introduced Clips in the Sequencer. Can you imagine that before Reason 4 there were no clips at all?
Record, 2009
In 2009 Propellerhead Software released its stand-alone audio recording software Record. Record came with a great audio time stretch algorithm, which allowed for the audio recordings to be slowed down or sped up with virtually no artifacts. A lot of users say it’s still the best time stretch they have heard. Designed and implemented by our own DSP guru Peter Jubel.The extremely comprehensive Mixer in Record, meticulously modelled after the mighty SSL 9000 K mixing console, was also a huge success. At a reasonable price musicians could now get access to a “million-dollar mixer” in a computer software. Of course, the Mixer also featured the magical Master Bus Compressor. We moved the letters one step forward in the alphabet and called it the “TTM Mixer”. TTM for Totally Transparent Mixer. This name never became official, though, and was only used internally in the code. In Record (and later in Reason) it was simply called the Main Mixer.
Another great feature in Record was that you could run Reason 4 in it completely seamlessly. If you had Reason 4 installed on your computer, Record automatically detected this and loaded up all Reason 4 devices in Record. The best of both Propellerhead worlds!Record also featured the straight-forward ID8 instrument device (for ideation) and the Line 6 Guitar and Bass Amps. With Record 1.5, released in 2010, came the fantastic Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth, which could be used for vocal pitch correction and for generating chords from (monophonic) vocal input signals.
Record was marketed with the slogan “Record You”.
Reason 5, 2010
Reason 5 came with some very nice features, such as Blocks in the Sequencer. Blocks allowed you to start with writing the different parts of your song and then arrange your song by drawing in those parts. Blocks always live “in the background” so you could easily add variations and unique parts on top.The powerful semi-modular Kong Drum Designer was also introduced in Reason 5. It came with a number of different Drum module types, as well as Effects, that you could configure to taste and save as patches.
The Dr:Rex Loop Player was significantly updated to contain 8 loop slots instead of the single slot in Dr:Rex. Consequently, the device was renamed Dr. OctoRex. There was an internal discussion whether we should just call it “OctoRex” (to rhyme with Dr:Rex), but we decided to go with “Dr. OctoRex” to not mix up the names.
With live sampling, all sample players in Reason also became samplers. Redrum, NN19, NN-XT, Kong now all could record samples on the fly from your audio interface.
Like with Reason 4, Reason 5 could also run inside the Record program, making them a perfect match. Reason 5 could be run inside Record 1.5, which was released the same year.
Reason 6, 2011
In Reason 6 the Reason and Record programs were merged into a single application. Now, the Reason sequencer finally featured audio tracks! As we said in the Reason 6 introduction video: “When all you want is everything, all you need is Reason.”Among the new devices in Reason 6 were the three creative effects: Pulveriser, The Echo, and Alligator—the first devices created with our newly developed Rack Extension technology (see Reason 6.5 below), although this wasn’t communicated officially at this point. Reason 6 also inherited the Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth, the ID8 instrument and the Line 6 Amps from Record.
Reason 6 came both a 64-bit and a 32-bit application, to be compatible with the computer OS versions that existed at that time.
Reason 6.5, 2012
In Reason 6.5 the Rack Extension technology was officially introduced. This technology made it possible for external developers to develop their own instrument and effect devices and ship them as Rack Extensions—a plugin format unique to Reason. The Rack Extension format allowed for very tight integration with the Reason architecture, offering audio and CV signal routing just like in the built-in devices. Thanks to the sandboxing technology, the Rack Extensions also became future proof and independent of future computer OS versions.From this point onwards Propellerhead Software also started producing a lot of Rack Extensions that could be purchased separately and added to the Reason Rack, for those who wanted. This way we could develop more “specialized” devices that didn’t necessarily “fit all”.
The Reason 6.5 Upgrade was a “Pay What You Want” upgrade, which allowed Reason 6 owners to upgrade to Reason 6.5 at a price of their own choice.
Reason 7, 2013
Reason 7 came with the External MIDI Instrument device, which allowed control of external MIDI instruments from Reason. Reason 7 also featured audio slicing and quantising, the Spectrum EQ window, and several Main Mixer enhancements, such as Output Bus Channels. A new effect device was also included, Audiomatic Retro Transformer, which offered a palette of great effect programs at a push of a button.Reason 7 was frequently marketed with the slogan “Reason Has a Rack for That”, to highlight that you could do almost anything with the available Rack devices—including the add-on Rack Extensions.
Reason 8, 2014
Reason 8 came with updated sequencer graphics, workflow improvements, and with a brand-new browser. It also came with two new built-in Softube Amps (that would later replace the older Line 6 Amps in Reason 9). In the Reason 8.3 update the RV7000 Advanced Reverb was updated to mkII. RV7000 MkII featured a Convolution mode, where you could load impulse response samples that RV7000 MkII could use for generating effects. In the Reason 8.3 update Reason also became a 64-bit only application.Reason 9, 2016
Reason 9 introduced the Player concept, a new type of MIDI generating/processing devices that could be attached to instrument devices and “play” them in various ways. Three Player devices were included in Reason 9: Dual Arpeggio, Note Echo and Scales & Chords.Pitch Edit Mode in the sequencer, to auto-correct monophonic audio, was another big feature in Reason 9. “Bounce in Place”, to convert instrument MIDI notes to audio was also one of the new features.
Reason 9 also came with around 1000 new patches. The Pulsar Dual LFO device was also added to the built-in devices.
Reason 9.5, 2017
The Reason 9.5 update included quite a significant new functionality: support for VST2 plugins. This was a much-requested feature from a lot of users. Up until now, Reason could only use its internal devices and Rack Extension devices. Reason’s built-in VST Rack Device could host any compatible 64-bit VST2 plugin and also featured CV jacks so you could control and modulate your VST plugin from other devices in the rack.VST plugins could also be combined with other devices in Combinator devices, to form your custom-made instruments and effects. Reason 9.5 also featured Delay Compensation, to compensate for inherent latency in certain devices and VST plugins.
Reason 10, 2018
Now it was high time for Reason to get some really powerful new synthesizers. Reason 10 was biggest content update so far, and included the flexible Europa Shapeshifting Synthesizer, the experimental Grain Sample Manipulator, and the optional add-on instruments Klang, Pangea, Humana, and Radical Piano. The time-based Synchronous Effect Modulator was also introduced.Besides the new devices, Reason 10 also came with a vastly expanded sound library, including the Loop Supply and Drum Supply ReFills and the “Reason 10 Sounds” sound bank, which contained a huge number of Combinator patches.
Reason 11, 2020
Reason 11 was the first Reason version released by Reason Studios, after having changed the name from Propellerhead Software. Reason 11 came with a number of workflow enhancements in the sequencer, such as curved automation, multiple notes drawing and muting of individual notes—plus crossfading of audio clips. Two new audio modulation effects were also added—Quartet Chorus Ensemble and Sweeper Modulation Effect—plus three separate effect devices, derived from the Main Mixer channel strip: Channel Dynamics, Channel EQ and Master Bus Compressor.Another huge new feature in Reason 11 was the Reason Rack Plugin, which let you use the Reason Rack as a separate VST3/AU/AAX plugin in other compatible DAWs. This allowed for users of other DAWs to get the “Reason sound” straight into their DAW—a much appreciated feature!
Reason 12, 2021
Reason 12 featured scalable user interface and all Rack devices now used high-resolution graphics. Reason 12 also made it a lot easier to use multiple Combinators in series as Insert Effects in the Mixer. The Combinator was updated to Version 2, which heavily improved its functionality, letting you create your own unique instruments and effects with custom-made user interfaces.Reason 12 also came with the Mimic Creative Sampler—a great sampler instrument for chopping up and playing back samples in very intuitive ways.
Finally, Reason 12.5 came with the long awaited VST3 plugin support.
Reason 12 was also the first Reason version you could choose to subscribe to instead of purchasing outright. This was made possible with the Reason+ concept, which let you subscribe to the latest Reason version—and to all Rack Extensions made by Reason Studios on a monthly or yearly basis.Reason+ also provides weekly releases of Sound Packs. Sound Packs consist of around 10 meticulously crafted Combinator patches that you could download and use in Reason and in Reason Rack Plugin.
If you didn’t want to subscribe to Reason+ you could still purchase a licence like before, though. This works the same way today.
Reason 13, 2024
The current version, Reason 13, is focused on workflow and sounds. Reason 13 features an upgraded sequencer, a brand-new browser, five new devices, and more sounds.All patches, samples, and loops are now in one place—the new Browser. All content in Reason is manually categorized and tagged. That includes all sound banks, all Reason Studios devices, and all Reason+ Sound Packs (for Reason+ subscribers). You can also tag your own sounds if you like.
The Sequencer has been split into two. With the new Edit Area it’s easy edit the details in your music without losing your way in the arrangement. Several new workflow improvements, improved zooming, layout changes, and easy access to editing features, make it a lot easier to create and edit your music.
The Polytone Dual-Layer Synthesizer is a modern take on a classic “analog style” synthesizer. It has two layers that can be stacked or morphed between for super fat or evolving sounds.
The Ripley Space Delay effect combines delay and reverb with unique flavors of filtering, noise, and distortion.
The Reason 13.1 update brought two new Player devices: Note Tool and Random Tool—perfect for manipulating MIDI notes in various ways. Reason 13.1 also lets you customize the Device Palette and what’s displayed in the Browser, using custom Tags. Reason 13.2 and 13.3 came with further workflow improvements and new functions.
That’s where we are today. Let’s see what the future brings.
Happy 25th, Reason!
