Reason 6

Just a few days after Reason 6 was released, MusicRadar.com came up with their review of Reason 6. The verdict? An amazing five stars. The main pros, according to them, include: “Incredible ease of use. Great new devices, Fantastic pitchshifting/timestretching. Virtual SSL console sounds superb. Rock-solid operation and low CPU usage.” Of course the headline when it comes to Reason 6 is it’s new audio track capability, thanks to integrating Record into the main Reason program. And if you’ve ever tried Record before, then you know that it works very well when it comes to audio recording.

Music Radar also took notice of Reason’s powerful per-clip pitchshifting of audio, which works really well when it comes to vocals. The results are really good especially for pitching a few steps up or down. It’s not very natural when it comes to far ranges, but who needs to do that anyway? It seems that Music Radar took more notice of the pitchshifting feature, whereas Resident Advisor (previous review) took more notice of the time-stretching feature. I think both features combined make the audio processing capabilities of Reason 6 truly one of the best in the market. The audio mixer interface, an SSL-modelled desk, is still as good as ever, and effective as a final mixing tool.

Music Radar also calls the three new devices “fantastic, with a huge range of creative applications.” I think that’s no surprise, since the theme of Reason 6, in addition to the new Record integration, is “effects”. The most obvious use for the Pulveriser, according to the reviewer, is on drums, though it can have a very sweet effect on other instruments as well. There were good comments on the other two devices, The Echo and the Alligator, which we’ve already heard from other reviewers (and which we’re not so surprised about).

Of course, Reason 6 might not be 100% perfect. Some comments according to Music Radar include the limited file type support, and also the lack of certain advanced DAW features. By these “advanced DAW features”, I take it to mean the lack of support for third-party plug-ins. Well, we know the consistent philosophy behind Reason 6 since the very start. It was all about stability, and stability means being self-contained. I doubt that the guys at Propellerheads will compromise on that point any time soon. In fact, you could say that it’s what sets Reason apart from all the other Digital Audio Workstations out there.

In conclusion, according to Music Radar reason always was a great track-starter, but because of all the new additions to Reason 6, it has become a terrific track-finisher too. “In short, absolutely everybody should try Reason 6; whether they’re a complete sceptic or a hardcore Reason devotee.” I think that the new additions make Reason 6 an absolute must have for any musician or producer’s software arsenal.

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Friday, December 2nd, 2011 at 1:34 pm • Reason 6 • RSS 2.0 feed • leave a response or trackback