Reason 2.5

The focus is on freeing you up to make music, not bogging you down with arcane software knowledge. System includes a realtime sequencer, synthesizers, samplers, drum machine, ReCycle-based loop player, mixer, effects, pattern sequencer, and more. If you (and your computer) are up for it, Reason can do it.

With this version, Propellerhead brings you 4 more sound processing tools and 2 science projects to make your music weirder, wilder, better, and more beautiful. If you enjoy luxurious reverberation, flexible vocoding, creative distortion, instant fatness, and advanced signal routing, this is your kind of update. It includes the RV7000 reverb, the BV512 digital vocoder, the Scream 4 Sound Destruction Unit, the UN-16 Unison, the Spider Audio Merger & Splitter, and the Spider CV Merger & Splitter.

The RV7000 is a stereo effect unit dedicated to embedding your sounds in rich, transparent-sounding reverb. And despite its pro studio sound and million-dollar features, it's very easy to use. The basic controls on the main panel provide instant access and control, while the rest--8 knobs for algorithms and parameters--can be accessed from a fold-out remote at the touch of a button.

The BV-512 is the simple-to-use digital vocoder with superior sound quality and advanced abilities you need in your studio. Besides being a 4 to 512-band vocoder capable of modulating sound in both old-school analog style and digital FFT fashion, this unit also doubles as a fully automated equalizer with a twist. The BV-512 can be used for everything from classic robot vocals to weird harmonic effects.

Scream 4 is like having all your favorite distortion and overdrive stompboxes transformed into one shiny, rackmounted Reason unit. Add a touch of speaker modeling and a rough-sounding EQ section and you have the ultimate sound destruction unit. Use it for digital bit crushing or regular crushing, or just for adding a little analog warmth and body to your sounds. Scream 4 features 10 different signal damage and distortion effects, each with its own evil character: Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Tube, Tape, Feedback, Modulate, Warp, Digital, and Scream.

UN-16 Unison is a software reincarnation of that mysterious Unison button on early '80s synths. It fattens up incoming sound by emulating the effect of 4, 8, or 16 detuned versions of the incoming sound playing the same note in ultra-stereo. The result is rich and wide and slightly similar to a chorus effect, only fatter.

Spider Audio may not be much to look at, but for the seasoned producer, it might be what you've been searching for. The Spider Audio utility has 2 purposes in life: to merge and to split audio, therefore bringing more of the hardware studio's patching capabilities into the software realm.

Effective May 14, 2004, the ElectroMechanical Refill loops collection is included in every Reason package. Registered Reason 2.5 users can download the ElectroMechanical Refill collection for free from the Propellerhead Software website.

The bonus ElectroMechanical ReFill is a collection of previously unreleased multi-sampled keyboard instruments: Rhodes mkI & mkII, Wurlitzer ep100 & ep200, Hammond Model A organ, Hohner Clavinet D6 and Hohner Pianet. Each instrument is represented in 5 to 10 patches. The ElectroMechanical ReFill will come with documentation and demo songs on the CD.