Published 9/9/05
Virtual instrument reborn as free download
Propellerhead have ceased support and development of Rebirth, but the software is now free to download and they've produced a Reason Refill version, also free.
Launched in 1997, Rebirth recreates the sounds of Roland's TB303, TR808 and TR909 and was the predecessor to, and blueprint for, Reason, offering analogue modelling synthesis, sequencing and effects in a friendly, self-contained package.
An instant cult favourite, Rebirth was further refined in version 2.0, reviewed in SOS November 1998 (read review). There have been no updates since then, and Propellerhead have now decided to concentrate their efforts on the development of more recent and future products. Personal customer support is also no more, with company citing the fact that they receive very few queries these days, nearly all of which are answered in the FAQ section of their web site.
Those who've been hoping for a Mac OS X version might be disappointed, but Propellerhead are offering the software as a free download (Rebirth v2.0.1) for Windows 95 onwards and Mac OS 9, and you can't say fairer than that. It'll also run under OS X in Classic mode.
They've also released a free Rebirth Refill for Reason 3 with 100MB of Combinator patches and launched www.rebirthmuseum.com, a web site dedicated to Rebirth, featuring a potted history of the software, a user forum and a downloads section filled with Rebirth songs and tons of mods and add-on applications created by Rebirth users.
Finally, for a limited time, Rebirth users can upgrade to Reason 3 for only $179.
