Reason Studios Reason 13

The Reason UI has had a slight re‑org, with a new split sequencer view and a tidy up of view selectors and editor functions.

Thirteen is unlucky for some, but not for Reason users, who gain a new synth, a particularly nice delay and all sorts of other improvements to boot!

Reason has settled into an upgrade cadence where every other year sees some kind of infrastructure update, a new premium device or two and some utilities/updates. Reason 13 continues this pattern, with an overhaul of the device and patch browsing system, a new synth, a new effect, and a rejig of the sequencer/editor workflow. This last will be encouraging to those who use Reason standalone, rather than as a modular device rack in another DAW.

Polytone

Let’s start with something fun. Polytone is, you guessed it, a polyphonic synth. This is conceived as an accessible polysynth with all the important stuff up front — the poly equivalent to the Monotone synth found in both Reason and the Reason Compact app. Or Subtractor 2.0. This is not to say it’s basic; it has everything you need to emulate the classic big‑name polys, some interesting extra sound‑generation options plus one show‑stopping trick up its sleeve.

A glance across the front panel confirms all the standard ingredients are present: two oscillators with cross‑FM, a filter, dedicated amp and filter envelopes, general purpose envelope and LFO mod sources and of course some chorus and reverb to serve. A major part in keeping things simple is the choice to leave out the spreadsheet‑esque mod matrix that’s been bolted onto the bottom of most new Reason instruments since Thor. Instead, all mod assignments are in context and on the panel like on a Jupiter/OB‑8.

Points of interest include the versatility of the oscillators, osc shape‑shifting for all types, static or key‑tracked filter FM and an Age control that makes everything progressively wonky. Alongside the usual source waveshapes you get a Digital mode (wavetable) and a choice of band and ‘chaos’ noise generators in addition to the mixer section’s noise source.

Perhaps the defining feature of Polytone is the big A/B selector at the top. The synth has two independent but equally spec’ed layers. You can choose to blend these via a crossfader or mod source, but much more interesting is the Morph option, which glides all panel parameters between their two layer positions.

Browser

For version 13, the Reason crew have had another swing at refreshing the preset/sound/device browsing experience. The left‑hand side bar, which was the previous home to all things browsey, is now a simple device and plug‑in palette. A new search and tag‑based sound finder which deals purely in patches and files has been created as a floating window.

Patch and file browsing now happens in a new tag and search based browser.

My initial reaction to this was incredulity. I liked the way Reason’s browser worked, and a floating window seems far from elegant, especially when it comes to the Rack plug‑in with its relatively limited (and still fixed!) real estate. It’s also a drab grey, and the window is captive within the Reason window or Rack plug‑in window, so you can’t park it on another screen. While I’m piling on, the ability to set favourite instrument and effect devices has been lost down the crack between the docked device browser and the patch browser.

Rather than just dismiss all this with a ‘What were they thinking!?’, let’s try to figure out, well, what they were thinking. First, Reason’s browser and libraries had got a bit disjointed from years of iterative additions. Second, I guess they wanted to get with the program of descriptive tag and search based browsing. And those of us who prefer to start with a specific sound source now have a clean and nicely docked device‑focused browser.

The browser indexes all content that Reason is interested in (instrument patches, samples, MIDI files, etc), and everything that comes with Reason is tagged. You find things you’re interested in by filtering by type, text and tags. You can’t filter by device type, but you can sort results by device. You can also select a specific location (eg. the Reason Library, or a Refill) and switch to filtered directory‑based navigation.

The floating window does block your view of the Rack, but many instrument plug‑ins have a full‑page browser view, and I guess the thinking is that you’re either browsing or using the Rack, not both at the same time. If you want to drag something from the browser to the Rack or Sequencer, the browse window temporarily rolls itself away.

So, it’s not all bad, and actually works well alongside Reason’s patch auditioning superpower. When initiating browsing from the Add Device command or from any device’s patch loader, clicking patches live loads them into the Rack so you get an in‑context preview.

Reason Rack plug‑in users get the new devices and browser, but there have been no other functionality changes.

New Arrangements

If you use Reason as a DAW rather than a device rack, you’ll benefit from improvements to the Sequencer. It now uses a split‑screen view, letting you see the focused MIDI or audio edit view while still having access to all the other tracks. You can revert to a toggled‑style view by maximising the focus view section.

The three audio edit modes (Slice, Vocal, Comp) are clearly labelled like tabs in the reorganised left‑hand editor column, mirroring the new top‑bar view selectors in the main toolbar for Mixer, Rack, Sequencer, etc. This zone replaces the old‑fashioned (ahem) floating tools window. Making selections in the tracks area immediately updates the focus edit area, bringing Reason into line with how most DAWs operate.

That’s not to say being different is bad. Reason’s multi‑lane MIDI track system is inspired, for example. But there are still annoying oddities, like only being able to edit MIDI in one clip at a time, and the weird way that when moving clips the later clip is always on top.

Adding another horizontal UI strip exacerbates the issue with Reason’s layout, where the main view areas are, by default, stacked atop each other. Sometimes using Reason feels like making music through a letterbox. This, and the new browser design, suggests that the Reason team all tend to work with large 4k/5k displays. Reason works if you master the view shortcuts, or if you detach and rearrange the views, but it may be time for a fundamental rethink of how it presents itself and sometimes overcomplicates things.

Ripley is a new spatial effect that combines delay with reverb. This is a real beaut, my favourite thing in the Reason 13 update. Just put the default patch on anything and smile.

Everybody Online, Looking Good

Ripley is a new spatial effect that combines delay with reverb. This is a real beaut, my favourite thing in the Reason 13 update. Just put the default patch on anything and smile. Ripley has a modular design starting with the dual delay section. The feedback freeze function provides endless fun and experimentation as parameter changes continue to mess with sound in the buffer.

The feedback filter has a unique shiftable range control. This can be swapped out for an eight‑band filter bank with frequency shifting and stereo offsetting, which produces various flavours and psychedelic swirls. Noise and EQ modules can sit inside the feedback loop and you can patch in external devices via the rear panel.

The reverb can be parallel or in line with the delay, and they work really nicely together. More modules provide distortion and bit‑crushing, and mix ducking. This last is like an auto‑throw that’s perfect on vocals, dropping the effect level while an input signal is present, then opening it up at the ends of lines.

Finally, a modulation section and matrix provides two LFOs and an envelope follower that can be routed and scaled in various ways, and there’s even a single button and knob that can be assigned for quick manual performance control.

Mo Tools

Sidechain Tool, Gain Tool and Stereo Tool devices are seemingly straightforward utility modules that all do a bit more than you might think. Sidechain Tool is an effect that, in its default Auto Pump mode, simulates side‑chain ducking/pumping without the need for any actual side‑chain routing. You just set a rate — quarter notes will do the trick for four‑on‑the‑floor beats — and the signal passing through is ducked accordingly.

Three surprisingly useful new utilities.

Instead of the mental gymnastics of the traditional compressor method, where threshold, ratio and time settings determine the envelope, you just define the duck curve directly. Brilliantly, you can slide the overall response envelope in time, allowing you to swing the pump and lock in different grooves.

You can also trigger the pump from an external source, and you can even engage an actual side‑chain mode, whereupon the front panel changes to a traditional compressor layout. Beyond the advertised use, Stereo Tool makes a great stutter effect, especially on a send, and the pump curve can be used as a CV mod source.

Stereo Tool’s panel labels it a Mono to Stereo Tool, which it certainly is, but it will also do the inverse. It provides a pleasing spread that doesn’t feel like your brain is being sucked out, and has a crossover control for leaving the low end untouched.

Finally, Gain Tool does a ton of useful things if you like building device patches. As well as level it also does panning and width control, and has dual‑channel mixer, crossfader and router modes. As a Combinator builder, I’m stoked to finally have a simple, non‑hacky way to add a stereo, equal‑power crossfader for blending sound sources.

Final Thoughts

Clear highlights in Reason 13 are the new devices, especially the Ripley delay and Sidechain Tool. For Reason standalone, I like the new Sequencer layout and workflow, and I’m delighted that multi MIDI Clock outputs are now possible. The new browser is puzzling but growing on me and has uncovered forgotten treasures in the library. On the frustrating side, there are no improvements to the Rack plug‑in’s functionality and we still don’t have independent Rack zoom in the main app. I for one would be happy to forgo new features and devices next time round in favour of a rethink on some of these quality of life issues. In any case, Reason continues to be a packed and inspiring musical playground.