Propellerhead Reason 4 Sneak Preview

Propellerhead Reason 4Propellerhead has announced it has started beta testing for Reason 4.

Reason 4 introduces:

  • Thor, a sophisticated synthesizer;
  • The ReGroove mixer, a new way to adjust the rhythmic feel of tracks;
  • RPG-8, a versatile arpeggiator;
  • A newly rebuilt sequencer; and
  • Workflow enhancements that give musicians the control and power to make great sounding music faster and easier than ever.

“This is clearly the biggest update to Reason ever. For users, this will be as inspiring as using Reason for the first time,” says Ernst Nathorst-Böös, CEO and founder of Propellerhead Software. “We can’t wait to hear the music our users will make with the new version.”

If you’re psyched already – you can apply for the beta progam.

Otherwise, we’ve got a sneak preview of the new features:

Thor Synthesizer

Thor, Polysonic Synthesizer, takes sound creation to a new level, according to the company, offering a “museum” of synthesis techniques wrapped into one instrument.

With six open “slots,” Thor brings together six different oscillators with four different filter types plus wave shaping, enveloping and effects. Thor facilitates a plethora of modulation routings enabling users to exchange audio and control signals just like original analog synths. The result is a fantastic, full-sounding software instrument that is extremely light on CPU usage.

Preview the sound of Thor below.

Propellerhead Reason Mixer

The ReGroove Mixer brings traditional groove and swing quantization from sequencers into the more flexible, usable paradigm of a mixing console. Using the ReGroove Mixer, users can apply in real-time varying amounts of swing, shuffle and grooves to tracks.

This revolutionary approach gives users 32 “groove channels” that can be assigned to sequencer tracks and lanes, providing individual settings for groove strength, timing shift, velocity, duration and other parameters nondestructively. Users can create tighter sounding tracks with more human feel and even attain better mixes using ReGroove. Users can create their own groove templates.

In addition, Reason 4 will ship with a large selection and variety of grooves—from grooves extracted from live recordings to grooves taken from vinyl funk gems of the 70s.

Propellerhead Reason 4 Sequencer

Reason’s sequencer has been redesigned and rebuilt into a more intuitive and powerful tool (see Live). Users can quickly make global edits using “clips,” assign notes and controller events to different “lanes,” manage multiple takes, and edit events numerically—to name but a few of the hundreds of enhancements.

Controller data now uses vector automaton for the smoothest of transitions. Users can manage tempo and time signature changes through a transport track. The inclusion of a floating tool window makes getting to frequently used tasks a snap.

Reason RP-8 Arpeggiator

The RPG-8 monophonic arpeggiator device provides a wide away of controls for arpeggiation. Very easy to use, yet deceptively powerful, the RPG-8 provides endless creative possibilities for each of Reason’s sound sources.

A demo below showcases RPG-8’s capabilities.

Other Stuff

The new Reason features a number of other improvements and enhancements. Reason 4 is now fully localized into English, French, German and Japanese, including all menus, interface items, help files and documentation. The transport control and hardware interface have been redesigned for easier use. A floating tools window lets users access devices, editing commands and groove controls without having to invoke menu commands or dialog boxes

The included Factory Sound Bank has grown with a number of additions, as well as a large set of signature Thor patches from well-known artists and sound designers. The Combinator and NN-XT devices have seen improvements and new features that are especially useful for sound designers and live musicians.

Pricing and Availability

Pricing on Reason version 4 will remain the same: MSRP is EUR €449 / USD $499. Upgrades from any prior registered version of Reason are MSRP EUR €99 / USD $129.

All users purchasing Reason after June 1, 2007 will be entitled to a free upgrade with proper invoice/receipt documentation. This will be handled by local distributors once Reason 4 is released. The official release date for Reason 4 has not yet been set; it will be determined based on testing results and manufacturing timeframes.

92 thoughts on “Propellerhead Reason 4 Sneak Preview”

  1. This update is major news for many reason fans and for me too … I think it’s the most substantial upgrade, not just for reason but also for an audio software ever … nice one props!

  5. @synthhead, Thor is certainly the biggest thing in Reason 4 but alone the new Arpeggiator is already welcome enough for me. The sequencer enhancements are about time! The Groove Mixer … well, not really that impressive in the demo video but we will see. With Thor we finally also get some FM sound in Reason, I’m curious how it will work out.

  7. Looks interesting. Thor is a nice addition for it’s FM power, but a dedicated FM synth module with 6-8 Operators would have been better in my opinion.
    I’m also a little disappointed to not see the Combinator developed further. I wish the old devices would be upgraded with more CV inputs for existing parameters.
    Arps are nothing that couldn’t be done before, but it’s nice to see a dedicated module for that.
    I’ll check it out at release, but I’m not very excited about this yet.

  9. I am a true Reason head sinse Reason 1.0 landed, loved the software tried all the others that are avalible on P.C , and nothing compares to reason.. I went through all the stages of upgrades, and i like the sound & the look of Reason 4.0, I will most definately be upgrading..
    Keep doing what you do best Propellerhead….1

  10. sequencer needs to be update so you can drop in wavs directly and edit them in there like acid… i will never be complet unitl thats is done .. working on samples is a joke and so hard.. drop in a vocal and see if you can cut it up and play with it ..not

  11. ive been using reason since day 1 its the most user friendly program i have ever used, but im sick of the “not so great” sound engine!!! they need to get back to basics and remove the soft synths from the programs exe and make them into individual VST’s (yes this would mean that the would have to take their heads out of the sand and become VST compatible)then use the extra power to push the sound engine thru the roof!! it can be done!! and if they did! it would be the best music program by far!! i mean imagine using something like vangaurd over the top of redrum, rex and the vocoder eh?

  13. I COULDN’T AGREE MORE WITH MARVIN MEDIUM,

    As a long time reason user it’s about time propellerhead got off their pedistal and introduced VSTI, and introduce audio, if this was to happen, imagine the outcome.
    What about Re-Wire u may say, fair enough it works, but it’s about time reason should be developed as a true standalone music application!!!!!!!!!!

    i can’t wait to see the new version still!!!

  16. The new synth is truly phenominal and you just can’t tear yourself away from the fantastic sound creations. The arpeggiator makes Reason the perfect tool to use to create electronic music, I always found it difficult to do anything without it. There are a ton of experimental sounds that would be fantastic to use in soundtracks. For me there is no question, I am upgrading to Reason 4. There will be a whole new generation of music producers once this is available. There is no easier, affordable, efficient way to create electronic music.

    For you VST fans, I’m not so big on that. Most of the ones I have lock up or never worked to begin with. If you have Reason 4 you have all you need to create tracks. You will need something else to record vocals or live instruments obviously, but then this replaces a beat box not a recording studio.

  17. I produce myb own music….been using reason 3 with cubase sx3….its magic together….I love the new look…its serious….I have to upgrade tho….hope the sound library is bigger and better co im competing with my buddies that use logic 7

  18. The upgrade is welcomed. The FM synthesiser is a nice add on and will prove to be an excellent piece of kit to play around with. I will be ditching my FM7 in favour of this. In connection with VST compatability, you do have the flip sie of the coin which is re-wire. the purpose of Reason is to provide all instruments in modular formIf you are VST orientated then I would recommend FL Studio or a hosting application such as Cubase or Sonar. Personally I got fed up with the whole issue of CPU performance and problems due to badly written code for some of the VST plug-ins that I had and basically decided to ditch these for a single workstation which I have to say works very well. One addtion I would have liked to have seen (and this hasn’t been mentioned in any forum on the net) would have been the extention of the mastering suite and in particular a fully fledge .wav master similar to Adobe Audition or Soundforge. This would have allowed me to export in different formats, a completed album and set exact paramenters as a global function without the need for additional software. At £499.99p, I don’t think this would have been to much to ask. The reverb units are good however an additonal dedicated convolution reverb unit would have also been useful. Overall, the development of this software has been fast and will receive a huge welcome when it’s released. Steinberg and Cakewalk should take note of just how fast the technology is really moving in this field.

  19. I probly dont know as much as you guys but i know how to make music with reason, and since i have been using for a year i feel that reason is part of me and i am very excited about the new release, also if anyone knows what that one effect is for the thor above that is in the demo song could yall please tell me, or give me some more info, because i deffintely want to use that, it is the same effect the bad “Imogen Heap” uses in there song “Hide and seek” and i have been trying to find something like it for a year now, e-mailme please if you know more about the sound, [email protected]

  20. Ok so not being able to drag in a .WAV or .MP3 files etc in Reasons main sequencer could be seen as a hindrance but let’s face it…who wants to listen to 16 bars of the same loop! Recycle is a good tool for sound files. Personally, your better of using the .Rex player and then going into the sequencer to edit your beats one by one to create an interesting and original pattern (something that you can’t do quickly in Acid or Sonar). By the time you have added a Scream 4 Patch and boosted the signal frequenies within the mastering suite, you will be pleasantly surprised by how quick it is to create a nice, variating beat with lots of punch. Reason 4.0 will allow you to make fine adjustments to the groove so that you can add a realistic feel to it quickly and the .Rex player algorithms do work quite well in splitting the charecteristics of the sampled loop. (someting I always found a problems with using other software). Remember, 9 times out of 10 you will have to reduce the gain on the bass rather than increase it so a bit of gentle EQ across the bandwidth only serves to make the beat even more interesting. Adjusting the compression levels can also create nice results quickly. Many processes can be applied to a loop very quickly and effectively so I personally think that you are better off using the tools Reason has to offer rather than relying on a singular approach to loop creation. After all, once you’re happy with your beat, you can copy and paste through the sequencer track, save it as an orginal “remixed” loop and then add this to your track between the markers for whatever length you require, not to mention converting it to a .Rex file for tempo changes using Recycle.

  21. The thing im happy about the most is the sequencer – it looks great, its come into line with other software now – and tempo/time signature automation – Thank god at last 🙂

  22. Honestly,

    I have Reason 3. I have been using this program from it’s begining. When are they just going to stop beating arount the bush and just add VST support. “Greedy company”. They just want you to buy Cubase also.

  23. US AT TILT RECORDS CANNOT WAIT FOR REASON 4..
    THE NEW UPGRADE LOOKS SICK…
    ARE YOU ABLE TO EDIT IN WAVE FORMAT NOW?

    MAT N STEVE G

  28. I Have been working with reason 2.5 and then onto 3.0 for some time now. I must admit it has been the best CPU friendly software I have ever worked with. Iam very keen on acquiring this new version but, I am disapointed though that there is no recording track for Audio, this would have been a huge step forward, as most of my other software which does the trick are CPU eaters. The whole new look is great, and Thor looks beyond believe, but I would haved like to have recorded my hardware synths direct into it… : (

    I am hoping that there will be future upgrades with this facility

  29. it just seems to me that where reason is taking 1 step forward al the other big names are taking 2 steps forward…come Propellerhead sort it out i now only us ableton 6 live because. I hope that there receiving emails like ours so thay can learn from there mistakes…. i really do want them to WOW me with reason it just looks like il have to wait untill 5 comes out!!!

  30. yea like every body says all reason needs toadd to their next version is vst support, wave/mp3 edditing, better sounds quality, and audio recording. If reason had all those, it wold be the best music production software out there with out a doubt. Ive use eeeevrything ever released lol(cubase logic, sonar, ableton, even ejay) now Ivecome to the conclusion that reason is the best because of its low CPU usage. but overall i like the new version
    8/10

  31. This Is An recvolution is music making…no other program has the looks and the music making technology as this…! TOO SICK…cant wait to get my hands on this!

  32. ….many here miss the real reason(!) VST support is not included… the whole point of Reason is to be a rack full of synths, samplers, etc. that you can use without having to mess around with latencies, crashes, hitting the CPU limit, etc… Believe me, I have some VST’s that I love… BUT, load 2 or three into your favorite DAW and watch it come to it’s knees… really kills the inspiration!… I believe that when we get to the point of not being concerned with CPU limitations (kind of like where we are now with storage) we may see VST support and audio support as part of a future release…One thing I would agree with is support for control of external MIDI synths/modules…this certainly wouldn’tamount to much if any CPU drain. Finally, after recording using collections of synths and samplers for the last 20 years (!) I have to tell you that the concept of Reason for me is beautifully implemented… if your’re looking for a serious digital audio system, have you checked out Pro Tools HD?… I mean, buying a small set of plug-ins for that system can cost many times the price of Reason… For us mortals, Reason is a terrific piece of kit that can be included as part of a larger production system… very best, John

  34. jgirv, ProTools is not a fair cost comparison between Reason and a VST capable sequencer. Cubase Studio 4 is only US$350 and with that you can run a host of awesome VSTs like KarmaFX for no extra cost.

    Propellerheads are going to have to wake up and get competitive if they want to stay alive in the fast moving sequencer market.

  36. It’s a shame that it does not have vst support, but i don’t think i have ever had a crash in reason and that’s probably the reason why. If there was another vst instrument i wanted to use with it, then i just fire up sonar and run reason with that, cuz thats what i do anyway for long vocal parts, so not any great loss, the only thing i wish was they would make it a proper full screen resizing interface instead of having it a long oblong rentangle in the screen.

  37. Reasons is the coolest looking software for music out there that i’ve found. Me and My friend are very talented with making music with keyboards buy we don’t have a way to transfer the music we make to a cd. This will allow us to make even better, professional sounding music and put it on a cd. Our goal is to make it big and create music for “Big Time” rappers. Hopefully, we will be successful. Our music, to us, sounds way better than most of the stuff out there now. We’ll see what happens.

  38. I have Reason 4.0 and I’ve made good tracks with this program over the years, but it also has generally fallen short and been pretty frustrating. mostly because much of it very intuitive and some incredibly unintuitive.
    The new Thor is incredible, and the mastering is a deal. The thing that drives me apoplectic is how hard it is to use prerecorded samples in this program. I have to grind them through recycle, and then match them tempo wise. I think I finally am figuring how to do this, but the first time I cracked open LIVE, this task was solved for me. Why is that Live will take any AIFF file and just start playing it. What is with the proprietary rx2 crap. You can bring samples into the NNXT but good luck sequencing them. I’ll figure this out eventually, but its not easily apparent, and I really FAR prefer the way Live manipulates samples. You can dupe them and pick parts out in the edit window in seconds. until Reason gets that functionality, it WILL SUCK BALLS.

  39. i’ve just had my first play with reason 4 and i thought it was amazing. 🙂
    i like the rack based approach. very slick!

    and then it hit me…

    no audio recording!
    no vst support!

    so, i’ll stick with acid pro 6. 🙁

  41. Reason sound sucks! it has always sucked and will always suck! nothing in reason sounds like its separated. it sounds so thin and poor in quality. Ableton live rocks with all the vsti plug ins. like Lounge Lizard and Rhino Blue and Korg. plus all the Diamond waves mastering plugins are professional quality. giving you that real studio sound.

  42. Good heavens!

    I’ve been using Reason–pretty much daily–since v1.0 (Feb 2001). I just bought the update and am happily discovering its power.

    Some folks need to drop their illusions. I really don’t care to change minds that are already made up–use what makes you happy, and please, feel quite free not to use this wonderful tool–your loss–it makes no nevermind to me.

    But I’m writing this for you folks who may have never used it or are considering getting it…

    –“sound engine issues”: Myth. If you don’t understand audio, mixing, eq, compression, effects…I really don’t know what to say–other than: stick to something safe, like golf. If you can’t figure out how to make your stuff sound good, no app is going to Save You. Reason sounds great. If you’re buying into the “neg-meme” trope of the sound engine not sounding good, well, you’re a whiny lemming, in my opinion. If you hate it, and your ears are really that offended, use something else, and go with God. (Questions for further study: what’s your monitor situation? Soundcard? Listening space? Experience level? Creativity quotient? Ability to creatively problem solve?)

    –VST/VSTi stuff: The Props have, since Day 1, intended Reason to be a “virtual synth studio”. If you think about it like that–Lordy, it does almost everything else! If you want the whole VST experience, use ReWire–I have both Cubase SX 3 and Live 6, though I almost always use Live these days. When I want to add NI stuff (Massive, Reaktor, Absynth, Guitar Rig, Elektrik Piano, Kontakt, etc) I just ReWire it all up and go nuts. Next question…

    –Audio (wav/aiff editing) support/mp3/blahblahblah: This doesn’t have it. It’s not supposed to. It’s rock-solid, and low on CPU. If your Grandmother had balls…she’d be your Grandfather. See what I mean?

    –ReCycle: I’ve had it almost as long as I’ve had Reason. Want easy to manipulate audio in Reason? Make a REX file. I do almost all my vocals that way. Once you’ve sliced it, it’s way easier to manipulate than an audio file, anyhow.

    So, kids, if you’re thinking Reason is useful for what you do, go get the demo, try it–then buy it. It’s a fantastic value in my (and many, many people’s opinions.) If you don’t like it–go buy what you think you need. I love Reason, and it changed how I made music. As I said, I almost always ReWire it to Live, and it’s the basis of 90% of my tracks.

    Now go play nice.

    🙂

    Nick
    millionVALVE

  43. I must admit I’m a little annoyed with it.

    I went out and purchased it today, and its a great program, no doubt, but I really hate this limited screen space thing they have going on. I want to be able to use all my screen, not 1/3 of it. I want to be able to stretch it a bit and work with it that way, not have to keep scrolling etc or trying to maximise to do something else. If this version had a proper “maximise” feature I’d be over the moon.

    I was really hoping they sorted it out in this release 🙁

  44. I must admit I’m a little annoyed with it.

    I went out and purchased it today, and its a great program, no doubt, but I really hate this limited screen space thing they have going on. I want to be able to use all my screen, not 1/3 of it. I want to be able to stretch it a bit and work with it that way, not have to keep scrolling etc or trying to maximise to do something else. If this version had a proper “maximise” feature I’d be over the moon.

  45. millionVALVE :

    If you have to reWire to other apps that DO use a lot of cpu in order to get the job done, isn’t it kind of useless to make a point of how little CPU Reason uses? If it needs other applications, then by inheritance it actually IS using all of the CPU, because it is the application that is calling the others in order to work (parasite relationship, eh?). So unless your using Reason all by itself and not calling any other apps (or whatever via rewire) it is nonsensical to portray it as this all-in-one, low resource using application.

  46. Can some one please advise me.
    Can you import wav files strait into Reason 4?

    And what will i need to sample my own sounds strait in to Reason 4?
    ie sound card recomendations if thats what i need? i am on budget.

    Thanks
    Matthew

  47. Nick millionVALVE is right on Par, it seems like most of us should golf to get some of this digital road-rage out of our system.

    It’s elegant, simple and works very well for what it’s intended to do. An amazing tool which most producers should own. With that said, most producers should own a host of software. Reason wasn’t intended to be everything to everyone and clever producers understand this ergo the stacks of equipment that Trevor Horn, Snoop Dogg and Timberland own.

    Live it, Love it and use them all especially Reason!

  48. Look… everyone has their complaints about this software… the only reason for complaint is ignorance… If you want to do something in reason.. all you have to do is figure out how… You can do ANYTHING in this program..
    Everyone is complaining about not being able to drop mp3s and wavs into reason.. thats what ReCycle is for… Never heard of it? Try it, save your edited file and open it in DrRex.. and it will shut you up… It really makes sampling a breeze…
    Everyone is worried about VST compatibility.. why dont you try actually creating your own instruments and sounds in reason? There are UNLIMITED possibilities when it comes to that in reason… so many different alterations are available and effects.. the way I see it… SCREW VSTs… there is no longer a need for such a CPU draining piece of software…

    All of these complaints i hear just strike me immediately as coming from lazy people that don’t want to spend the time needed to figure things out… You spent time figuring out VST’s and other programs… why not spend a little time figuring out an entirely different piece of software that in the end… is ALL you will ever need…

    I’ve got tracks for days that i’ve made on Reason over the years… and i’ve spent 200 bucks on a midi controller.. now someone please tell me the downside to that?
    Since i started using Reason.. I Refuse to buy a workstation.. there is no need for one, or an MPC for that matter.. DR Rex and Recycle do it all…and then some…

    And another thing lol… I don’t know what the deal is with all these people complaining about the sound quality…
    Sounds to me like you can hear something wrong but just don’t know the first step to take to fix it… You can COMPLETELY mix down and engineer all of your tracks WITHIN reason… What the recording studio does to it is up to them, but i can garuntee if you know what your doing, it will save the Studio engineers a LOT of time… it’s saved me plenty…

    To conclude…
    BUY THIS SOFTWARE!!!
    since we all know time = $, and if your serious about making quality music, saving time, saving money, and making it too… You will

  49. I have allways loved the ease & simplicity of the Reason sequencer & Cubase SX a bit fiddly, so i would do most song writing in Reason & only using SX for VSTi add ons (Rewire)
    But this new Reason 4 sequencer is well complicated. Each track is fixed to an instrument, you can’t create a blank sequence track, so for example if you load a midi file of a song, each track auto creates a combinator device & if you remove the combi device the sequence track deletes! rubbish.
    totaly destroying the flexibility of the original reason seqencer.
    Propellorheads have made it over fussy & complicated I’m gonna start sequencing Reason devices with Cubase now.

    Sounds Fantastic though, love the Devices. the gripes with sound quality is utter bunkum. i exported a pure sine wave from various music making software & spectrum analysed the sound & there was no difference from the orig & the exported versions. just reason was quieter than the others, a 0db peak to peak normalise & it was fine . just set the device to high quality export.

  51. reason 4 s good iv used the prog since version one im forced to leave reason to mix down because of 2 reasons:

    1/ the dreadfull mixer display
    2/ the signalprocessing devices

    the synths are fine the effect modules are fine the drum machine fine now the seqwencer is fine but the signal processing and mixer are NOT! if ne props read this please please improve these issues make the mcomp and meq the true compressor and eq they deserves to be and sort the gui out on the mixer

  52. I am always intrigued by the reason vs fl, live, etc. debate… It is like the Mac vs PC debate. Whatever works for you is fine. I just think that if you have used a software for several years, it will be hard to convince you of its shortcomings. That is the thing. I have been using FL Studio for about 4 years now and I love it. I’ve been dabbling with reason for maybe a little over a year or so now and I do think it is a VERY powerful program. But, to me fl does more. Yes vsts can hog cpu. Sooo, find which ones are doing that and don’t use them. And as far as audio goes… I have one word… EDISON!!! This feature alone blows reason away. I want to be able to do as much as I can in ONE piece of software, not have to open 3 or 4 different things just to record audio and the like. If I had been using reason for 4 years I probably would say oh who cares about audio, or vsts, or the stupid 1/3 screen rack. But ALL my Fl Studio beats sound like MPC joints because of the vsts that I use and yes i have to monitor them to make sure there are no cpu hogs in the mix. Hell, there are 1000s of free vsts out there. I rewire reason into fl if I REALLY need one of those synth sounds, but I can recreate every last one of those reason synths with My Rob Papen synths, or my morpheus, hell even the FREE Synth 1 (CLASSIC!!!)…

  53. For those who think it shuld do everything….

    If you buy a Porsche 911 would you take it off road? No you would’nt!!

    If you want .wav’s to work then ReCycle will do the job, however i find it’s only good for beats and not synth loops…maybe i’m doing something wrong?

    I love Acid loops so i have bought Acid Pro 6 and Reason 4 to get the best of both worlds. loops in Acid and the rest from Reaon via ReWire. Both Acid and Reason are low CPU users so hopefully i shouldn’t have a problem.

    Can’t get my head roun Live but alot of people seem to like it. Must have more of a fiddle!!

    Reason is what it is and as said if you take the time to learn it properly then it will be very rewarding.

    Enjoy!

  54. I’m one of those people who put themselves through MIDI Hell from the mid-80s to the mid-90s … Reason works exactly the way I struggled mightily to achieve back then, and it’s so much more powerful. VSTs are nice and all (I have a bunch of the Native Instruments stuff and Ableton Live) but the workflow with them is more involved, I still find myself more often than not working in Reason because I can get my musical ideas out of my head and into my computer with relative ease without sacrificing sound design customization or audio quality. I use the other tools & like ’em, but for pure bang for the buck Reason is ahead of the pack hands down. While I love the new Thor synth in Reason 4, I think I really appreciate the expansion of the sequencer window – it took a little getting used to, but the learning curve was not steep and it’s way better to work with than earlier Reason releases.

  55. reason 4 really sucks!!!

    i was messing with reason for many years and i was a huge fun of the program until the release of version 4 which made me realize many obvious things which i didnt want to admit in the first place.

    reason came out in 2000, and although it wasnt designed to support vst technology, almost every user in propellerhead forum was asking desperately for vst support.
    its quite obvious why reason users wanted that. from 2000 till now vst technology became very powerful and cutting edge technology in music industry. all reason synths and effects sound quite weak comparing to what is out today!

    but propellerheads keep ignoring what their users want and keep adding some good or less good devises to make reason more update or appealing.

    whats the point to add mastering suite when there are extremely good mastering effects out there with precise controls like izotopes ozone or waves ssl among many others?

    other users need more complex delays or filters or gates or synths or guitar amps or audio recording, etc.
    So what is going to be? wait 10 more years to see these features as updates in reason? all these problems should have been solved by adding vst technology.

    some they may say that you can have all these features by rewire, but composing and arranging music in 2 applications simultaneously is quite frustrating!

    from version 3 to 4, we’ve waited more than a year to see props destroying the sequencer. this update found some supporters but many users also found the new sequencer quite frustrating and slowing down their work flow (including me). the old tested sequencer was actually the power of reason! its simplicity and directness was the power that attracted thousands of users.
    now that magic is gone!

    in version 4 props added thor and thay’ve announced it as the ultimate synthesizer but it still sounds pretty weak compare to what vsti’s are out today! even though, you have to know really good programming to get rich sounds in thor.

    so… after messing and adoring reason for 8 years i finally realize that reason is never going to be a pro music application.
    for hobbyists and music learning schools is an awesome program, but for pro music making still sound weak and limited.

  57. I’ve updated to reason 4 about 7 months ago. Although i really like the new additions like arpegiator, thor and time clock, I have to admit that the new sequencer is very disappointing!

    The first reason that i was get involved with Reason was the simplicity of its sequencer! In version 4 this simplicity is disappeared! 🙁
    By adding only 15 of devices the arrangement window just cant breath! The main cause of this, is the large graphics of sequencer on devices, buttons, etc.

    Another serious problem on sequencer is the many visible parallel lines in the arrangement view.
    In previous version the arrangement view was clear enough which was a key point to write music on the fly without loosing your inspiration.
    In new sequencer i found my self often trying to recognize the name of its device or trying to find what device correspond to track.

    One last word, Thor demands a lot of time to learn to program it, its not an easy synth.

    Severely disappointed!

  59. Reason 4 has some very good features like thor, apreagiator, etc, but the new sequencer is a huge disappointment!
    The sequencer view is frustrating, slowing dramatically the work flow! Reason sadly has lost his ultimate power which was the simplicity of older sequencer.

    I strongly feel that reason is slowly dying after this release! It has nothing vital to offer! 🙁

  60. Cant agree more with previous posts! Reason 4 sequencer is such a nightmare!!! I still cant believe they’ve redesigned it so badly!!!
    Its so pity!!!
    Otherwise all other additions are good, but sequencer leaves a bitter taste!!! 🙁

  62. Those that complain about Reason 4 and it’s supposed faults, either don’t know how to use it or they don’t know what they’re complaining about. These people should go use other software that works better for them OR they should make the most of the software by learning it inside out (and there is a lot to learn!). It’s that simple. There’s a lot of people out there that would buy this great piece of software from you and will learn how to actually use it. Don’t moan with everyone else if you can’t or if you have a problem with the sequencer or the font, go use Fruity Loops, Ableton, Sonar, Cubase, Logic, Acid or something. There’s a lot of choice out there.

  63. Users have a point here! Almost every new device is good in reason 4 except the sequencer. I feel that they’ve design it with no big care!

    A new redesign, more effective and is needed!

  64. Yes I agree also! Although every new device is worth to update, the new sequencer is badly designed!
    I’m very pissed off with this and I’m waiting to see big changes in next version!

  65. I’m tired waiting Reason to adpt vst technology! 8 years passed since it came out! How many years we have to wait to use vstis inside reaosn without rewire?
    And yes, in Reason 4 the sequencer is a nightmare!

  66. My only argument on reason 4 is the sequencer, otherwise everything’s else is perfect!
    To be honest I was expecting to see audio recording and wav editing after all these updates but…
    A revamp of sequencer is definitely needed!

  68. I’ve obtained Reason 4.

    After some use, it seems to me that all new features are good. However, I find the sequencer update to be the most hidden perl. If you are used to the old sequencer, at first it may seem like no-good. Given some time, though, it will show how much easier it makes working in organization

    [everything is modularized in groups :: grouping, naming groups, slicing groups, hiding [muting] group parts, grouping of automation tracks and note tracks, group content display, group coloring, group editting, group muting, vector automation, track groups minimazing/maximing, track zooming, track editting on spot, assignment of regroove on tracks and then permanent application, recording groups, the list goes on]

    and how it prepares the way for sample tracks [i.e. recording etc]. Once I’ve got working with the new sequencer, I can no longer imagine going back to the old one.

    Also, the graphics’ refreshes are smoother and faster.

    Just an encouraging thought.

  69. I’m sorry but I completely disagree with your opinion!

    I have 2 computers for my music creation, on one computer I’ve installed R3 and on the other R4.
    Now, although I’m working more than 8 months with R4, every time I’m opening a song In R3 or create a new one, its so obvious that the work flow in R3 is so much easier.

    Of course all other features you’ve mentioning above are very useful like vector automation, coloring groups or Thor and arpegiator. But I don’t agree on minimizing/maximizing tracks, for me its a useless feature because when tracks are minimized you cant work with them any longer due to its mini size.

    In general the main problem with new sequencer is that every single device/track has very FAT graphics and crowding the arrangement view too easily even when adding only few devices!

    The simplicity and cleaner view of R3 sequencer is helping me stay focused on my project without loosing my inspiration!

    They should definitely ADDRESS these problems in new versions if they want to keep their customers happy.
    In fact, I’m not willing to upgrade if they keep the same sequencer in next version. Why should I when I’m working faster and easier with Reason 3?

  71. Hi,
    I’m looking for a program wich may allow me to record bass, guitar… through a simple audio interface such as the m-audio firewire solo. I’ve noticed reason 4 is quite a complete program concerning the arrangement, the electronic beat or synthetized bass tracks. The problem is, every tutorial and everyone on forums keep talking about these amazing features and not about real time recording. So i wonder, can you record your own guit or bass tracks through your interface and arrange it with this program?

  72. Sorry Mark, Reason has no audio inputs and no internal wave editing. You can only insert samples. Reason is very complete studio, but only within itself. It has no audio in, and no midi out, (except through rewire). You probably want a sampling program like ‘Live’ to record and play along with. Then, you could even use reason for different instruments.

  73. “It’s a shame that it does not have vst support, but i don’t think i have ever had a crash in reason and that’s probably the reason why.”

    Hilarious.

    You Reason fanboys will say ANYTHING to convince yourselves that Reason’s HUGE limitations are not really a problem. It’s “so stable” and “It’s like a whole rack of synths”. Jesus.

    Can I use Omnisphere in Reason? How about Sampletank 2, Sonik Synth 2, Miroslav Philharmonik, Zebra, and a hundred different FREE VSTs, most of which are JUST AS GOOD AS THOR?

    Please, feel free to post up some of the ‘amazing’ sounds that Thor allegedly can produce. I haven’t heard a single one yet.

    As for the new sequencer being worse than the old one – why doesn’t that surprise me? As for the Propellerheads still limiting Reason to a fixed width of the screen – that is beyond stupidity, but I expect nothing more from them.

    Try using Buzz. Free. Perfectly stable. (I’ve never had a crash with Buzz08, and I use Polac VST and umpteen different VSTs in a song.) FAR easier to compose with, using the Sequence Editor. No other software offers such an intuitive way of representing your song, and no other software offers such an incredibly FAST way to edit your music.

  74. "It’s a shame that it does not have vst support, but i don’t think i have ever had a crash in reason and that’s probably the reason why."

    Hilarious.

    You Reason fanboys will say ANYTHING to convince yourselves that Reason's HUGE limitations are not really a problem. It's "so stable" and "It's like a whole rack of synths". Jesus.

    Can I use Omnisphere in Reason? How about Sampletank 2, Sonik Synth 2, Miroslav Philharmonik, Zebra, and a hundred different FREE VSTs, most of which are JUST AS GOOD AS THOR?

    Please, feel free to post up some of the 'amazing' sounds that Thor allegedly can produce. I haven't heard a single one yet.

    As for the new sequencer being worse than the old one – why doesn't that surprise me? As for the Propellerheads still limiting Reason to a fixed width of the screen – that is beyond stupidity, but I expect nothing more from them.

    Try using Buzz. Free. Perfectly stable. (I've never had a crash with Buzz08, and I use Polac VST and umpteen different VSTs in a song.) FAR easier to compose with, using the Sequence Editor. No other software offers such an intuitive way of representing your song, and no other software offers such an incredibly FAST way to edit your music.

  92. Hey you fucktards, if you didn't know, I will point out that nothing beats Fruity Loops. Especially not any crappy Mac-shit. Have a nice day. 🙂

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