REASON 14 HAS ARRIVED!
The latest and greatest version of Reason is now available. Read on to find out more about the big workflow overhaul and some useful tips on how it works from Mattias, Product Manager of Reason.
I’m proud to announce that Reason 14 is now available. Instead of reading this blog post, I suggest you go get it, grab the upgrade or download the new version if you’re a subscriber, and start making music! If you’d rather hear more about how Reason 14 can change the way you make music for the better and get some useful tips, read on and we’ll get into it.
We need new noise
The workflow overhaul in Reason 14 is quite comprehensive, but also very flexible and much needed. In this blog post, I want to take the opportunity to introduce the new defaults. It’s what we believe is one of, if not the best way of making music in Reason.
When you open a new document in Reason 14, it’ll default to a new template song. You can of course change this later but it is a great starting point for quickly picking up the new workflow. The main area of Reason is the sequencer and that’s the base view of your document. It’s where you create new tracks, record, edit, and arrange your music. To the left of the track list is the new Track Panel. Any time you create a new instrument or audio track, you can see it in the Track Panel when you select it.
It’s in the Track Panel we encourage you to create your effects and start browsing patches. For example, in the default template there’s just one track with a Polytone. By clicking + Effect you can start adding insert effects to the polytone, either by browsing for patches or choosing an Effect Device. Of course you can also drag devices from the Device Palette or patches from the Browser straight into the Track Panel. Once an effect is in there, it’s easy to both re-order your effect chain and bypass one or many effects with the green Bypass buttons.
And if you don’t want a Polytone as your instrument, you can easily replace it by dragging another instrument on top of it or by cross-browsing for new patches by clicking the Folder icon that appears when you hover over the Polytone thumbnail.
At the bottom of the Track Panel, you have this track’s associated basic mixer controls—Mute, Solo, Pan, Width and Level. You can also bring up the Spectrum EQ with the button next to the VU meter. In addition, it’s easy to both enable and add send effects just above the fader and even assign the channel to a new output bus at the very bottom of the Track Panel.
Working in the Track Panel is quick and immediate, all while never losing focus on your song. But what if you actually want to tweak the devices? That’s what Reason’s all about after all. Then it’s time to head to the Rack! By default, the Rack is now in a separate, always-on-top window. You can open it with the Rack button in the top bar or F6, just as before, but it’s even easier to get where you want through the Track Panel. Just double-click a device or hover over it and click the View in Rack arrow. This will bring up the Rack, showing you all devices associated with the track, focused on the device you just clicked on.
The shape of Racks to come
It’s at this stage the other big workflow change in Reason 14 becomes apparent: Rack per Track. When you create a new instrument or audio track, a new corresponding Rack column is also created. This will keep your projects organized and easy to navigate, basically mirroring whatever you see in the Track Panel.
The separate Rack window defaults to Single Column, which goes hand in hand with Rack per Track but can be useful without it too. It locks the Rack window to show just one column to keep you focused and help with navigation. Just selecting another track in the Track List will view that Rack, following you along in your process. Once you’re done tweaking, you can simply close the Rack with ESC or F6 for example. It’s a bit more like a traditional plug-in window—bring it up when you need it and close to focus on the arrangement—but focused on an entire signal chain.
So, to recap, by default you choose what you focus on in the Sequencer Track List. You get an overview of what’s on the track in the Track Panel, and when you open the Rack it will show you the devices on the selected track.
But what about routing between devices on different tracks? Don’t worry, there are many ways to work in Reason. In version 14, you can right-click any CV or Audio jack and get an improved routing menu sorted by tracks—making it easy to route without actually dragging cables.
“But I love dragging cables and I have a really complex Rack setup. I even built a calculator with CV!” I hear you scream. You’re not alone (well, maybe you’re alone in this particular case) and you might have different needs even between projects. Because of this we took great care to introduce the new workflow in a way where you can choose which parts to use and when.
Want to see several Rack columns at once? Just turn off Single Column, and change the Rack window size. Don’t want the Rack in a separate window at all? Not to worry, head to the View menu and toggle Show Rack in Separate Window. Don’t want a new Rack per Track? Under Options > Rack Settings you’ll find both the Auto-Group Devices and No Grouping modes so you can organize the Rack however you want.
Pump the brakes
This third Refused reference is pretty forced, sorry, but this blog post is getting long so I’ll try to pump the brakes here. With Reason 14 we strived to keep everything that’s great with Reason and put it in a new context that helps you focus on the only thing that matters: making music. I hope this little introduction helped you get started with the new workflow and that it’ll make as much of a difference to your music making as it’s done ours. We’re all very excited to hear how you like it and even more excited to hear the music you’ll be making with Reason 14!
