Warm pads, punchy basses, bright brass and gliding leads: YouKnow puts a hands-on, 1984-inspired polysynth into the Reason rack. Start with one of 99 original Protocodus sounds, or build a patch from Init. The spacious 8RU panel keeps the complete signal path in view, so shaping a sound feels direct.
Shape the sound
Mix saw and pulse waves with sub oscillator and noise, then shape them with a high-pass filter and a resonant low-pass filter that can self-oscillate. The circuit model follows the oscillator, filter, amplifier and chorus behavior. Chorus I and II spread the sound into stereo; the dedicated I+II combination supplies a narrower texture. Adjust chorus hiss independently from the synthesizer’s noise source.
Play it your way
Play compact monophonic lines or full chords with a selectable limit of 1–16 voices, Poly 1, Poly 2 and Unison modes, glide, velocity response, pitch bend and modulation. Unit Character varies modelled component tolerances and saves with the patch. Aging explores service drift and noise changes, saves with the song, and can be returned to 0% for the freshly serviced state.
Connect the rack
Connect Note and Gate CV for a monophonic part while MIDI remains polyphonic. Six further CV inputs modulate Cutoff, Resonance, Volume, Amp, Sub and Noise. Tempo sync makes the LFO rate and delayed onset follow the song; its note divisions appear on the front panel. All 43 sound, performance and quality controls support sequencer automation and Remote mapping.
Choose your processing
On the rear, 1x/2x/4x Quality, alternative saturation and filter calculations, and Normal/Max Circuit Rate let you choose processing to suit the arrangement. Front readouts show those settings without flipping the rack. Higher quality and voice counts use more CPU. Factory sound balance is stored on the visible VCA Level control, with a separate master Volume control for the mix. Requires Reason 14 or later.
The existing audio examples feature earlier V1 recordings.
Version history
1.3.5
A refreshed satin graphite panel with clearer lettering, visible fader scales and flat rear routing symbols. Processing optimizations reduce CPU use while retaining the preceding circuit refinements and factory sound settings. The update also includes more accurate filter, amplifier and chorus transitions; Normal/Max Circuit Rate choices; quieter background chorus hiss; and a correction for repeated MIDI notes that could remain held.
Factory balance uses the visible VCA Level control, with a −36 to +24 dB range. Existing automation assignments remain intact. Older songs created before the visible-level calibration changes may need their levels readjusted.
1.3.0
Refined oscillator, filter, amplifier and chorus modelling, high-frequency noise and component variation. Corrected Unison glide, smoothed Unison level changes and rebalanced factory headroom.
1.2.0
Refined the nonlinear chorus input and reconstruction, BBD clock timing, oscillator/noise balance and output-circuit response. Retained the Rack MIDI/CV controls and tempo-synced LFO.
