Reason 9 announced
MIDI processors, pitch manipulation, new visual modes and more coming to Propellerhead’s DAW
Originally designed to mimic a 90s rack-based studio setup, complete with virtual patch cables to wire the whole thing together, Reason has grown over the years to include typical DAW features like audio recording and editing, third-party plugin support (via Rack Extensions), and powerful sequencing via its Blocks system. Has the imminent version 9 got what it takes to keep up with the competition, though? Let’s take a preliminary peep…
The headline feature is a new category of Reason Rack device, Players, three examples of which are included in v9. They’re MIDI input processors, basically. The Scales & Chords device locks the input to a specified key and scale, ensuring that you can’t play out-of-key notes, and it can also transform single notes into chords. One-finger keyboardists take note! Dual Arpeggio, meanwhile, pulls no punches, and is two arps in one box. The Props say it “picks up where Reason’s classic RPG-8 left off”, which bodes well, as that device is rather powerful as it is. The final Player is Note Echo, which repeats MIDI notes to create echo effects – echoes can diminish or increase in Velocity and/or Pitch.
On the audio processing side, there’s the slick-looking new Pitch Editor, offering an Auto-Tune/Melodyne-style graphical adjustment of vocal (and presumably other monophonic instrument) recordings. You can tweak pitch, timing and volume, introduce vibrato, and convert the detected notes to MIDI.
Other handy additions include a bounce in place feature to turn instrument passages into audio clips, reversal of MIDI and automation, note-splitting with the Razor tool, and new visual themes (default, blue or dark).
Reason 9 hits the shelves on 21 June, and is priced £289, with upgrades from any previous version at £99. There’s also the slimmed-down Reason Essentials package at a budget-friendly £49.
URL www.propellerheads.se