Reason Studios Reason 12

It’s a little known fact that Propellerhead’s
(now Reason Studios) decision to name its
powerhouse music creation suite ‘Reason’,
stemmed from a fanciful piece of software in
Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective
Agency. Capable of retroactively analysing the
decision-making process, Adams’ ictional
program justiied any choice you might have
made mathematically, with inarguable
reasoning. It’s somewhat ironic, then, that here
in our DAW-saturated landscape, we ind
ourselves in the position of scanning for those
key ‘reasons’ why the latest iteration of the
Studios’ lagship is worth your money
– particularly with its noteworthy rack-based
recording system (emulating the traditional
hardware setups of yesteryear) still being a
prominent ixture of its make-up, and something
quite unlike every other DAW.
Reason has its dyed-in-the-wool devotees,
largely for its remarkable sound-generating
potential which overshadows its competency as
a truly standalone DAW. With version 11, we saw
the long-requested ability to run its rack-based
toolset into other DAWs as a VST/AU realised,
and now this 12th coming sees a sublime new
sampler, multiple under-the-hood performance
tweaks and a considerable upgrade to Reason’s
key blender, the mighty Combinator.
Twelfth night
Unlike other DAWs, which generally orbit a
simple, horizontal, multitrack view, Reason
maintains a primary view of instruments and
efects (designed like classic gear) linked via
wires, with its sequencer almost a secondary
consideration. The company clearly know that
this setup remains the soul of Reason’s appeal in
2021, dodging a ight with Goliaths like Logic
and Ableton Live, and instead continuing as a
dynamic creative generator, that works
alongside (and inside) other DAWs.
Reason Studios
Reason 12 £399
It reshaped the music software landscape 20 years ago, but is the latest
version worth a try for those unfamiliar with its rack-based worklow?
DEVICES
Choose from
Reason 12’s
Instruments,
Effects, Utilities
and Players
BROWSER
SHORTCUTS
Links to loop
and sample
sources, both
local and via
Reason Sounds
MIXER PANE
Click to reveal Reason’s
mixer controls
INSTRUMENT
BROWSER
Choose a Reason
instrument from
the list
BROWSER SEARCH BAR
Updated for Reason 12 to present
results much more quickly than before
SEQUENCER MASTER CONTROLS
Start/Stop, set the tempo and
quantise controls for your track
MIMIC SAMPLER
Reason 12’s new addition is the
superbly flexible Mimic sampler
THE RACK
The main view
of Reason
presents the
control graphics
for all of its
devices
MIMIC’S
CONTROLS
Deep controls for
time-stretching,
tone-tweaking,
reversing and
much more
THE SEQUENCER
Reason’s straightforward
sequencer allows you to
build your tracks
So, we’re not just looking at another DAW
then? No, far from it. Instead Reason is an
experimentalist’s dream, with heavier emphasis
on its instruments, tools and efects than its
audio editing and mixing abilities. Version 12
takes this further, with its central new ingredient
being the stunningly slick sampler, Mimic.
Mimic easily steps into place alongside
Reason’s powerful Europa and Thor synths and
the lexible ReDrum as a new central component
of the sound-crafting toolkit. An all-in-one
sample manipulation machine, Mimic presents
four sample modes with which to mangle and
re-shape your dragged and dropped sounds;
Pitch mode simply layers your sample across
your controller keyboard, allowing you to
trigger it in varying pitches musically, as with a
traditional sampler; Slice mode quickly dissects
your sample by transient and layers these slices
across your controller, so you can trigger
diferent parts of the sample at will; Multi-Slot
72 / COMPUTER MUSIC / December 2021
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