Reason Studios has announced an update for Reason: Reason 12. It will be released on September 1st but Reason+ subscribers get the new stuff as soon as it’s available. What new stuff? Well this new stuff:

The hi-res Rack

All your favorite devices will feel like you’re seeing them for the first time, you can zoom Reason to fit your set-up, and all 3rd party Rack Extensions will be ready for hi-res on day one. That last one is pretty damn cool and a testament to the future-proof design of the RE technology.

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Scalable eye candy, nice one!

The new sampler

Reason 12 also includes a brand new sampler. Sampling really is an integral part of music production and often the best way to add that magical “something-something” to your sound. This sampler goes way beyond what’s available in Reason today. It’s designed to quickly explore and play back sounds in interesting ways—be that from your collection of samples, something recorded on the fly, or even an export of the very track you’re working on. There are loads of cool features in there, like our legendary time stretch and brand new ways to play your samples, and I can’t wait to show you more soon.

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Looking forward to this! Creative sampling. I am expecting this to be a fun tool. Easy to use, drop some samples, record some samples and mangle them in new creative ways. I am expecting this NOT to be a NNXT killer but more like a blend between Grain, Dr. Octo REX and NN19 plus additional nifty features and effects. We’ll see…

The new Combinator

With the new sampler and plethora of good-looking, great-sounding devices out there, we wanted to put the sound and workflow of the Reason Rack front and center. Enter: the Combinator. It’s both one of the most powerful sound design tools anywhere in the world as well as the easiest, best way to find great patches and just make music. Updating the Combinator is also one of the most highly requested features of all times—from more CV inputs and controls to easier programming and more patches. We’re making good on all of this!

The Combinator in Reason 12 is overhauled to be fully customizable, more powerful, and easier than ever to work with. With the wealth of devices available to power it, you can build Combinators that feel like new devices. Create a custom interface with the controls you want laid out how you like, add images, set up expressive macro controls, change the panel size, and more to make any patch your own.

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Finally! I am a huge fan of the Combinator. It inspired Ableton to add the Instrument and Audio Effect Rack to Live many years ago. And like Live’s updated Rack in version 11, Reason decided to do the same thing.

This new Combinator is something I have hoped for for many years. Creating new combi patches that feel like new devices sounds cool to me! It’s also something that is welcome for creating even more interesting R+ Packs. I guess this is also the reason both the new Sampler and Combinator are included in this release. Reason is definitely focussing on next level patches. And ’cause this is also what I do (I am official Reason patch designer since Reason 3) this really makes my day> future!

More soon…

This all feels VERY promising. Can’t wait to get my ears dirty!