Reason 6

Well kiddies, here is the day a lot of us have been waiting for. Reason 6 is now officially out! I’ve been waiting for this for months! I’m sure those of you who have previous versions of Reason and Record are all busy downloading the upgrade patch, and I won’t be surprised if a lot of Reason users will be spending the whole weekend just immersed in all the new goodness, trying stuff out, remixing songs using the latest effects, etc. And I’m also very eager to read the reviews, which I’m sure a lot of people are now working on as we speak. My expectation is that it’s really going to be an overwhelming swell of positive reviews. We hope to give a comprehensive summary of reviews for Reason 6 here soon. Stay tuned!

It seems that Propellerhead Software is brewing a very unique promotional campaign for the release of Reason 6. For those who are already owners of Record and Reason (whatever version), you can decide how much you’d like to pay for the Reason 6 upgrade. This time it’s you, the user, who decides how much their software is worth. You can pay anything from just $1 to several thousand dollars, it all depends on you. The promo lasts from September 30, 2011, the release date, to October 31, 2011. You can read more about the news here. Owners of Record Reason Duo, or Record for Reason Owners, are qualified for this offer. If you own only Reason without Record, or Record without Reason, you can avail of the standard upgrade offers.

Well, I think it’s very generous of Propellerhead to think of such an offer. The whole Reason 6 upgrade was already a concession to their loyal fans, who have always wanted a stand-alone package that could do audio recording, plus retaining all the powerful features of Reason along with its unique interface. It took a while in coming, but they finally did it. I think asking the users (though I’d rather call us fans because Reason has attained a kind of celebrity status in the music production community) to name their price furthers that experience of putting the customer first, and building even more trust and relationship overall. Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some who’d purchase the Reason 6 upgrade for $1, and I think (I’m not proud in saying this) I’d be one of them. Now don’t get me wrong though, I think Reason 6 is worth more than three-hundred dollars even, but being a full-time student at the moment I don’t think I can sacrifice too much. Well, ok, maybe $5 then.

But if you’ve really grown up with Reason, and better yet, if you’ve made money through your music with Reason, then I think now is a good time to just show how much you appreciate the people behind this great piece of software. And that’s especially since Reason 6 marks a milestone in its development, being the biggest update ever in its more than ten year history. It’s time to show Reason 6 some love!

The first ever preview of Reason 6 at the Producer Sessions Live at the SAE Institute in London was a glowing success, as Mattias Häggström Gerdt demonstrated all the new features. What will long-time Reason users experience when they boot up Reason 6 for the first time? Mattias’ answer: “a ton of new things”. For one, Reason 6 is a fusion of Record and Reason, the first time in its history. This means that you get the full mixer, the amps, the Neptune pitch adjuster, as well as a new layout in your Reason interface.

Second, it turns out that Reason 6′s theme this time is: “creative effects”. And you’ll immediately notice that there aren’t any new instruments or synths in this upgrade, but three great new flexible effects, the Pulveriser, which is a compressor and demolition machine all in one, the Alligator, which can create new rhythmic textures, and the Echo, which Propellerhead hopes to be the final word when it comes to echo and stereo delay effects. These effects strive to take the existing sounds and synths that you already have in Reason to a whole new dimension. Using any one of these effects can give you a completely different sound, as if you had a completely new instrument hardly recognizable from the original.

I’m also excited for its public release on September 30, 2011! Please check our website again for a summary of reviews and hopefully the best discount price for Reason 6.