Propellerhead Reason 4 review

The flexibility of computers' interfaces and resources allows developers to venture into new territory that's impossible or prohibitively expensive to achieve in hardware. As a result, a computer running a few VST Instrument plug-ins can easily outclass the flagship keyboard workstations from the likes of Yamaha, Korg and Roland.

Reason has played a pivotal role in the market, with a battery of synths that set new standards for sound quality on its initial launch in 2001. Its interface was novel, too, with a virtual rack of modules complete with virtual cables around the back, and a self-contained approach including mixing and MIDI sequencing. The downsides were that it didn't support the VST standard - either as a host or a plug-in - and that there were no audio recording facilities for adding live performances. However, the ReWire protocol allowed it to synchronise with the major audio sequencers, acting as a multiple-channel plug-in.

First things first: Reason 4 doesn't introduce audio recording. This is regrettable, as even the most basic recording functions would be a benefit. ReWire is still the only solution to this predicament, which is fine for those who already own Cubase, Sonar or another compatible recording application, but an additional expense and complication for those who don't. Still, the cut-down Sonar Home Studio fits the bill and keeps this expense below £100.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other new goodies in version 4. Top billing goes to a new feature-packed and hugely configurable synthesizer called Thor. Its six oscillator types include virtual analogue, various forms of digital synthesis and a sophisticated noise generator. There are no sampling facilities, but it's easy to plumb the NXTT sampler module into Thor for use as an additional oscillator.

Next come a pair of filters, with a choice of four filter types, before the signal path passes through a standard volume envelope and ends with global delay and chorus, plus yet another filter. Three more envelopes and two low-frequency oscillators are available, and it's even possible to use audio signals to modulate other audio signals. Modulation source and destination options are vast, and an analogue-style step sequencer rounds things off nicely. So Thor is complex, and sounds exciting, but it's more for synthesis nerds than for dabblers, who'll rely on the presets.

The other new and very welcome module is an arpeggiator. At its simplest, the RPG-8 turns a chord into flourishes of rippling notes, but it is packed with additional features including octave layering, up, down and random motion and other modifiers.

Reason 3's MIDI sequencer was basic, but version 4 brings vast improvements. It finally supports tempo and time-signature changes, looks smarter and is more efficient. All tracks relating to a particular module are grouped into Lanes, and controller data is recorded and edited as vectors rather than streams of discrete values. A new Tools palette makes it easy to modify the pitch, velocity and timing of MIDI data. The new ReGroove Mixer is confusing, as it looks like a mixer but is actually an interesting spin on the groove quantise concept, whereby subtle timing nuances from one recording (or a preset template) are applied to others. We'd prefer to be able to apply grooves per MIDI clip rather than per Lane, but otherwise it's a powerful implementation of an extremely useful feature.

To mark Reason down for its shortcomings is missing the point. It's less music-production platform than impossibly powerful hardware synthesizer. In this light, it's hard to fault. The breadth and quality of its sound palette is beyond rebuke, and synthesis anoraks will love the depth of programming potential. The improved sequencing and quantising tools are welcome, but we'd still advise anyone using Reason in a production environment to do their sequencing in a ReWire host application. However, those who use Reason simply as a bank of virtual instruments will certainly be getting their money's worth.

Author: Ben Pitt