Propellerhead Reason 5 & Record 1.5 – What’s New

Propellerhead today officially announced Reason 5 and Record 1.5. – what they are calling their biggest update to the duo yet.

Here’s what’s new:

  • Kong Drum Designer (Reason): Load, sculpt, build and tweak your sounds with your choice of drum synthesis, sampling, REX loops, physical modeling and custom-made effect modules for percussion on Kong’s 16 pads.
  • Dr Octo Rex Loop Player (Reason): The upgraded Dr. Octo Rex loop player loads eight REX loops into one player and lets you switch between them on the fly.
  • Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth Device (Record): Super flexible processor to correct and shift pitches, create backing harmonies, formant shift or “take your vocals into outer space.”
  • Block based pattern sequencing mode makes song creation fast and flexible (Both):Go from pattern-based arrangements to linear–to patterns again. Take your music beyond the eight bar loop.
  • Live sampling (Reason): Re-explore the lost art (and fun) of sampling. Every sample player becomes a sampler; record with a single click — further tweak with the built-in editor.
  • Multi-core optimization, on-screen keyboard and expanded Factory Sound Bank

Reason 5 and Record 1.5 should be available in late summer 2010.

Pricing:

  • Record for Reason Owners Sidegrade (includes Reason 5 upgrade) EUR €149 / USD $169
  • Reason 5 Upgrade from any version EUR € 99 / USD $129
  • Record 1.5 Upgrade from any version free download
  • Record Reason Duo EUR €405 / USD $449
  • Reason EUR €305 / USD $349
  • Record EUR €279 / USD $299

31 thoughts on “Propellerhead Reason 5 & Record 1.5 – What’s New

  1. I'm very happy with the video's inclusion of stylish urban black dudes. That def gives kong street cred. I'm also stoked that i will now have 16 virtual pads (…which are pretty much "buttons" cause they don't really exist). I'm sooooo in MPC territory now!!!!!!!

    lol.

    ok… so they are telling us that kong is for hip-hop? SWEET!!!!! it doesn't chop. It's ok though cause instead we're getting the same overused xox-style drum stuff from the 80s. That's old skool, homie! Now I don't have to make those same sounds with subtractor anymore…

    I'm sooo gunna be the next biggest gangsta produca eva!!! yeah, i know reason 5 isn't even remotely close to what pro hip-hop sample with… but I don't care cause this is the biggest update yet?…. the propellerheads guys are swedish vikings or something… the fact that they even found a black guy up there to lie to us shows the amount of work they put in…

    I'm upgrading as soon as I can find a sucker to buy my NI maschine… cause ri-nizzle is theshizzle dizzle.

  2. cmon… the truth is kind of funny… i like the drum synth BTW… not so much the 808/909 stuff but the modeling kind of reminds me of my old machinedrum… i don't really understand the reasoning behind having 16 virtual pads other than to make people think MPC… more of a marketing gimmick than a new feature… (I've been using a pad controller with reason for years and don't really see the need. Maybe I'm missing something tho…)

    I think propellerheads is in a tough spot right now. Rex is a dying format, and recycle needs a major overhaul if it wants to stay useful.

    I don't want to have to sample in reason, close reason, open recycle, rex my loop, close recycle, open reason, load kong, assign it to a pad, make the velocity work right, hope i don't need to edit the chop, find out I only need one sample edited, close reason, and repeat the process 1000 times until I pass out from exhaustion…

    that kind of workflow is honestly MORE time-consuming than using an old hardware sampler from the 90s… by then I could have already started sequencing on an mpc60 using floppies… that's kinda sad… agree?

  3. you need to pay attention to details. you obvious missed everything it can do. and you are obvious a newbie preaching the moronic word of lemmings.

  4. I think it has the on-screen pads because Propellerhead has always tried to push the "virtual hardware" angle as far as possible. From the swinging cables on the back of every device, to the giant scrolling SSL strips in the Record mixer, they want to emulate the visceral connection people have with hardware.

    Also, as the iPad teaches us, touch screens are coming 😉

  5. The only thing which I don't like about modern software businesses (note: this isn't solely aimed at the propheads, the same goes for Ableton (my personal favorite) and others) is that once a new version comes out you won't be able to grab the previous version for less.

    I really think that if companies are smart they should try an honest approach which is good for the users. You could call this "squeezing the last drop of money out" but its simply a matter of how you dress your product.

    Meaning: I am an Ableton Live / Max for Live user, I simply love it, its my main DAW and gear and if I start talking about it I can go on for ages (usually without becoming too much of a bore too). Having said that I still have a soft spot for Reason, I consider myself an official Reason fan (don't own it). Its "different", flexible, pretty neat IMO and while others consider the lack of anti aliasing options a (small) con; I love it. Maybe cliche'd, I dunno, but I feel it separate's the pro's from the dummies (no offense intended just stating my bias opinion).

    Bottom line.. Reason 4 goes for approx. E 300,-. Record (current version) for E 130,- (for Reason users). Now, instead of simply dropping the whole previous software line when 5 comes out, why don't they continue to sell it at a good reduced price instead? For example; new its approx. 430, cut it down to 215 or even 150 at a later time.

    I know; because most companies allow "reduced" upgrades its not efficient to sell their previous product for (say) 150, then allow an upgrade for 150 which boils down to… Amazing; approx. 300,- ? That's all in all close to the full price you'd pay when you'd step in.

    It can be done IMO, yet they don't do it. None of them. So please spare me the "its a warm company, caring for their users". If they really cared they'd allow you to purchase older products at a hugely reduced price in such a way where even an upgrade (w/c)ould be beneficial.

    Heck; why not sell packages "as is". With buying you wave your rights to an upgrade? No need to do maths; just try to squeeze more out of the product.

    In all honesty: I'd buy a (good/strong) reduced Reason 4 (with or without Record) next year without even caring about an upgrade. Because I have no need for upgrades; that gap is filled by Live for me, which is my main DAW. I even work with Samplitude 10 SE (Magix seems to be one of the few companies who DOES grasp this idea) and I really LOVE it. I use it to put my Live work onto CD's, sometimes even editing bits and pieces.. Who cares its old? It works, it does an awesome job for me. I can even ReWire it into Live!

    Oh well, long story…

    Bottom line: I think some software companies could be a lot more lenient towards their customers. Just my 2 cents.

  6. I counted at least 3 "wannabe music demo styles" in that video : hip hop, techno, and reggaeton. and yet that baboon domi baby only makes fun of black guys on a street corner. Dude i get it! You are not a fan of Reason, but to act and write the way you did tells me more about how uncomfortable you are about the very first part of that video that you really are about Kong.

    And don't tell me you voted for O. so now you are OK to write stupid stuff like that.

    Sad man. Really sad.

  7. Great idea – it would cut down on piracy and could get new people to try out the software.

    Sell the old version for $200 and charge $100 to upgrade and they'd come out ahead.

  8. Great idea – it would cut down on piracy and could get new people to try out the software.

    Sell the old version for $200 and charge $100 to upgrade and they'd come out ahead.

    The problem would probably be increased support costs. They might have to support a bunch of different version and that could be a mess.

  9. unableton? i heard it's down more then up? and cost $550? and reason/record for $399… man that's a no brainer. and it only took me a couple of sentences to make the point.

  10. Cooldood…

    I have a home in the islands. I'm of mixed background. I make a living off of hip hop. You definitely didn't understand my joke… I was poking fun at abletons attempt to cater to the hip hop crowd.

    Y'all need to chill out a little… As I said, I like reason… But I think it needs a makeover.

    A lot of this stuff is hype and not the most obviously needed features IMHO . If you read my last post, you will see I have a point. Anyone who is seriously sampling the shit out of records and chopping stuff up and making their own kits from scratch ha run into the problems I have listed. To make reason a truly self contained production studio, it needs to address this.

    5 looks cool… It's just not what long time reason owners and forum users has been begging for.

    Ohnohedidnt, I use ableton daily. And yes it has just as many issues as reason.where reason is at least reliable, live crashes constantly. Live's built in instruments are not up to my standards either. I use it because it is the better of two imperfect situations. Reason has nothing on ableton when it comes to manipulating audio creatively. It allows plugins to compensate for it's crappy metallic sounding ones. It let's me use rewire as a slave and host. It costs more, but also has the potential to sound much better.

    Elbjorg….holy shiiii iiiiiiii ur right…. That would change a lot for me!!!!

  11. Domi, pocking fun or not i wish you could re read what you wrote. I am a big fan of Reason but nothing is perfect and that app is like an annoying mosquito in the DAW's world for some people. Anyone's critics is valid regarding any app or gear or style, there is nothing wrong with yours regarding what the props do with their tool and how they manage the expectation of their user base. I have noticed the same kind of "pocking fun" tone at the dude from beatkangz. too. I have great sense of humor and am relax most of the time.

  12. hell yeah dood. the way i see it, the louder you are, the greater likelihood of waking someone up.

    of course I clown on the beatkangz… and actually for the same reason. they came out with a product and advertised it as an mpc killer… complete with really funny and stereotypical ads/moments. when the product came out, some of the most needed features were missing. don't keep reading too far into it… i work in the hood and thats how we joke around. since this isn't about u tho….

    back to reason 5, i guess it is what it is… people who want a new drum machine and autotune will love it. kong might sound awesome, and hopefully will have a machinedrum vibe to it…

  13. I think y'all are missing the points here – I believe they have been made enough times but I'll say them again.
    1 – All you "fans" of Audio software (you know who you are – excusing piracy with the old "evaluation" purposes crap!) are the very cause of the high cost of a lot of audio software.
    For every legal version of a given piece of software there's usually 100s of illegal ones.
    2 – Reason/Record are amazingly cheap for what you get. They are not sold as a total music solution. They are incredibly easy to learn and intuitive to use. In short they're trying to put some of the fun back into making music on a computer.
    3 – No Propellerheads, no ReWire!
    4 – It's all modular. No excuse for all you people who moan about the way the instruments sound, stop being so lazy and make your own! (or at least stop using pre-sets!)
    5 – Yes all Reason's instruments are modeled on real hardware – but they always give them a twist. You may not get what you ask for BUT – what you get is always more useful than it seems at first and always a lot of fun.
    6 – Dr. Rex Loop Player – the clue is in the name! – If you want to make Rex loops, get ReCycle!

    Sorry if this has come across as rude but in order to get across how cost effective Reason/Record actually are – In order for me to build a real hardware-based studio capable of re-creating even the simplest of my Reason 4 songs would mean spending more on cables alone than I did on my whole current studio set-up (MacBook Pro – Focusrite Saffire – CME UF 69 – Live 6 – Reason 4 – Logic Pro 8).

  14. 1. not a "fan" of software. I buy what I use, and own a copy of almost every major daw available. I have pretty in-depth knowledge of most of them.
    2. yes and no. factor in the price of recycle and record, and your "amazingly cheap" bundle is now more expensive than EVERY other major daw. lol
    3. you like rewire? i guess to each his own…
    4. "modular" does not mean sound quality. or have anything to do with presets.
    Sound quality is dependent on the tech used to create the audio.

    I spoke to one of the propheads guys years ago. He explained to me that one of the reasons that it is so solid is because of the compromises made in sound quality. it sounds a bit more low-fi.

    5. i agree.
    6. if you want to sample heavily, don't use REX files. they are horribly limited and use an outdated stretching algorithm. there are many more advanced and easier to use methods of sampling and chopping nowadays. i own recycle. i stopped using it because of how inefficient and limiting it is.

    Your comment on how cost effective reason is doesn't make sense. Reason is not hardware, and the comparison is not realistic. reason is not the only game in town, and a comparison to other software (that also replaced hardware) would make a different point.

    with allllll that said, i like reason. it's great for some things, good for others, and horrible at some things too… I use what helps inspire me to write great music. To each his own.

  15. domi.
    Yes beatkangz did not helped themselves by acting the way they did. I know how we act and talk in the hood. This is beyond the scope of anything here and you; it is cool to play the victim and victimize each other in the hood. Elevation of our spirit should be a trend, but i guess it is a losing battle for people who see symptoms of the Stockholm syndrome on every corner of every bodegas.

    There was a time when you would walk to a studio BECAUSE nothing here was anywhere else. The desk was unique or "fixed" to be different, some eqs were built by in house tech, Not everything was working, you got 8 tracks or 16 when very lucky, and editing were done with razor blades. Done for ever. Of course i do not regret those days, things are way smoother now no matter what platform you choose. But when everything converges to the same way of thinking there is a risk to loose genuine creativity. The struggle was part of creation, the same way is true for Nature and natural selection. The musical echo system needs crazy companies like the Props and dude still making beats with their MPC 2000, tools way more limited than ReCycle is.

    Let's embrace the tools we have, bring our creativity up, not down.

    see Ya!

  16. Victimization, Stockholm syndrome? Natural selection… Really?

    Bro, this discussion is supposed to be about what's NEW in REASON… The new instruments and peoples reactions to them… I don't want to have some conversation about race or the good old days or how I should feel lucky that I'm not cutting my fingers editing tape.

    My humor obviously hit a soft spot for you… I'll try to be a little more sensitive… Now do you have anything to say about reason 5?

  17. You're right, the Reason updates are mostly needed ones to compete, and I don't think they wanna take a loss on Recycle (but they'll have to..) as being able to 'chop' would make it redundant… Personally, I think Reason (and Record) is the most prettiest of the DAW's, as everything has a touch of the 'real world' to it…

    Saying that, Ableton wipes the floor with everything I've ever used when its comes to Audio & Arrangement manipulation… Jury is out for me til I go to work on the beta..

  18. Totally agree with this thinking. You can see this idea at work in the Valve Steam store where they have specials for 50% off or even 90% off. Apparently they make more money during these specials than when the games are initially launched!

    Lets be honest many of the people who try out these applications are just having a noodle and give up after a few months of fiddling.

  19. Sorry, guess I'm biased – I started out programming synths and samplers in a friend's shed on ancient and temperamental gear (Think Oberheim Matrix in a damp atmosphere!)- Reason/Record are perfect for me lol!
    As for Reason 5, they've given a hint that Kong will have at least some interesting audio routing capabilities so now I just want to get my hands on Neptune to check out what's round the back – it's a shame they are not more forth-coming with the routing options for cv and audio on the new devices!
    If anyone knows anything about possible routing PLEASE post something about it!

  20. It's amazing how reason users can program music on the arrange window. That itself is a feat all together. I've heard awesome productions made solely on reason. It's a great product.

  21. Im really looking forward to using the latest updates. I think I can do some pretty cool b-vox processing with Neptune, enjoy the idea of having a easy to use interface/design space for synthetic drums, love the much needed "Blocks" in Record for arrangements and think that the Octo-Rex could lead to some pretty out of control soundscapes.

    Add the bomb free stability, optimized performance and amazing sounds via re-fills…

    AND Coupled with Live/Max DSP, this is really a no brainer for me. I'm in!

    And as far as Prop's "Hip Hop" marketing. Why wouldn't they thy to hype the MPC aspect of this part of the update? Sorry to inform you "Domi Babi", but dumbing down a message and associating with a standardized piece of gear in marketing well, kinda works?

    I know you were trying to be funny and bag on this update marketing campaign…but f%^k me if you didn't come of sounding like a elitist douche (IE " Isn't even remotely close to what pro hip-hop sample"). I know lots of "pro hip hop " producers who happily use Reason all the time.

    Or perhaps you need to define your idea of what a "pro" is?

  22. there is a reason that the prop guys don't specifically target high-end studios: commercial studios (that are profitable) are a niche market and the money lies elsewhere. I get it.

    I do, in fact, feel superior… but only when compared to you… just kidding… no I'm not… I might be… I guess that would be a different convo… So… back to reason…

    pro – up to date with current technologies, a dedicated control surface, an open and customizable environment… i could go on. My personal gripe is with REX files and how limited they are (compared to even a hardware MV-8000, which is kinda sad.) BTW… if you actually read my comments, you would know that I like and use REASON… fun and inspiring doesn't mean competitive.

    considering my last post on this was over 12 weeks ago, you must have had a strong urge to comment… I def got to you… you were intrigued enough in your reactions to put my name in quotes (like you were mouthing the words sarcastically when you wrote it.) I, on the other hand, am only responding because I think you need a role model.

    I also think you might be a little sensitive… like a menstruating hemophiliac… 12 weeks ago… stop bleeding on the thread.

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