Published
Mon, May 31, 2010, 12:40
- After drip-feeding the announcements last week, all details of Propellerhead's updated flagship products are now available.
Propellerhead's Reason 5 and Record 1.5 are now in a period of beta testing, with a full release scheduled for late summer, 2010.
5 days, 5 key new features; Propellerhead spent the whole of last week offering bite-sized announcements surrounding updates for their flagship Reason and Record programs and have now completely shown their hand. First up was news of Reason 5's Dr. Octo Rex loop player, which essentially takes the previous Dr. Rex model and fits eight individual units into one combined offering. Users can switch between eight loops on the fly, while also utilizing an expanded set of per-slice settings, including things like pan, pitch, filter frequency and reverse slices.
Blocks—available in both Reason 5 and Record 1.5—is Propellerhead's new sequencing option which takes a pattern-based approach to arranging by converting parts of your composition to, er, blocks. Record 1.5 will also get its own pitch adjustment/voice synth which goes by the name of Neptune.
Perhaps the most highly anticipated feature (particularly for long-term Reason users) is the new live sampling input. The long-awaited facility grants users a simple means to get external sounds sources into their tracks, and comes with its own rudimentary built-in sample editor. A further carrot for current and prospective users alike is the option to
synthesize your own drum sounds via the Kong Drum Designer. At its core is 16 pads and 16 drums, nine different drum modules and a further 11 support generators and effects for matters of sonic colouration.
Propellerhead will release Reason 5 and Record 1.5, late summer 2010.