Reason Essentials from Propellerhead Software is a streamlined version of Reason 6 that gives you the fundamental set of tools needed for making music with your computer. This software offers you these virtual devices: audio and MIDI sequencers, mixers, mastering modules, instruments, samplers, and effects. It also comes with a 1GB factory sound bank and relies upon Propellerhead's ReWire technology for integration with other music programs, like Sonar, Cubase, Pro Tools, and more. Although Reason Essentials is a more basic software package with less frills, it can still provide you with that you need to record, add effects, arrange, mix, and master your music.
On the pre-production side, you can record audio to as many hard disk tracks as your computer can handle. You can change the tempo of your audio after it's recorded. For instance, you can record a guitar solo slowly and then speed it up on your computer to fit into the tempo of your song. With the Comp Editor function, you can record multiple takes and build one track from the best parts. The fast, flexible audio and MIDI sequencers easily let you lay out your music. The MIDI sequencer allows you to automate every button, fader, or knob and fine tune your sound, to boot.
For playing music, you have the option of utilizing the Subtractor synth, the advanced NN-XT sampler, the Dr. Octo Rex loop player, the Redrum drum machine, and the ID8 Instrument device with its wide palette of sounds, including pianos, guitars, basses, strings, brass-wind, synths, drums, and brass. If you want to write ReBirth-style synth runs, the Matrix is a 32 step-per-pattern sequencer. For organizing all of these while you work, you can use the Combinator, which allows you to build chains of instruments, effects, pattern sequencers, and more. Plus, you can save these chains for use in other projects.
To add to the impressive list of features, the Spider Audio and Spider CV modules allow you to merge or split audio. That means you can merge audio from multiple tracks if you want to process them with the same effect. You can also split output from a track into four different outputs with different effect processors. In terms of effects, Reason Essentials lets you soak your sound with the Scream 4 distortion, RV7000 Advanced Reverb, Line 6 guitar and bass amps, delay, and flange/chorus.
On the production side, Reason Essentials gives you a virtual mixing console with flexible routing options, a built-in two-band EQ on every channel, advanced effects handling, full automation, and that radio-ready master bus compressor gives you a big studio sound. In addition, you can use the ReGroove Mixer to give your music a more human feel. To top off all of these offerings, Reason Essentials also offers the MClass Mastering Suite for adding a polish to your songs.
Reason offers a huge array of modules for use with each track in your song. Ever-tweakable, each rack can be edited from its own front panel and multiple instances of all the modules can be opened. You are only limited by your computer's processing capacity. Choosing an item from the "Create" menu places the module in the rack, logically patched into the signal chain. A single key-press will turn Reason's rack around to reveal patch points for every port on every module, allowing you to make custom patch configurations.
The software can function either stand-alone, or as a ReWire application. Full Integration with other manufacturer's audio software via ReWire allows audio from Reason to be output to an external software workstation, for further processing and/or mixing with other audio tracks. When the overall project is ready to be saved, the whole studio setup is stored along with the music, including the associated sounds, samples, loops and drum kits.
In addition, the sequencer allows you record multiple takes and then select the best parts of each take to fashion a perfect track. The sequencer in Reason Essentials also allows you to change the song tempo after you've recorded audio. So, if you want to record a fast, tricky guitar solo but can't nail it in real time, you can slow down the song, record the solo, then bring the song back to the original tempo on your computer.
In addition to the mixing console, the ReGroove Mixer is a real-time groove management device designed to give your music a more human and less programmed feel. You can apply different non-destructive groove settings to up to 32 musical elements in your song. Each of the groove channels feature controls for groove amount, slide, and shuffle plus more detailed settings. The Reason soundbank comes with a great selection of groove patches, many of them created from analyzed recordings of real musicians as well as classic groovy tracks.
Piano
The Piano category features a grand piano, an upright piano, a dance oriented piano sound and vibes.
Electric Piano
The Electric Piano category holds two classic electric piano sounds plus a digital FM type piano and a Clav.
Organ
The Organ category contains two classic tone-wheel organ sounds, one transistor organ sound and a pump organ.
Guitar
The Guitar category sports an acoustic steel string guitar, a clean electric guitar, a half-acoustic jazz guitar and a dulcimer.
Bass
The Bass category features one fingered and one picked electric bass, an acoustic upright bass and a synth bass.
Strings
The Strings category holds orchestral strings, arco strings, a small string section and a choir sound.
Brass-Wind
The Brass-Wind category features Fat Brass, Brass Section, French Horns and Flute.
Synth
The Synth category contains two classic monophonic synth lead sounds and two characteristic polyphonic pad sounds, one with fast attack and one with slow.
Drums
The Drums category sports four extensive combinations of drums and percussion instruments aimed at different musical styles. Each "drum kit" contains between 53 and 65 different instruments, so there is plenty to choose from!
With Matrix, the resolution selector allows playback of the pattern in a range between 1/2 notes to 1/128th notes. The playback resolution is of course completely independent of the sequencer, which means you can try out different resolution ideas while the sequencer is playing.
The Spider CV can split and merge audio on CV and gate signals. For instance, you can split the CV signals from the Matrix Pattern Sequencer to trigger several synths with the same pattern. You can merge the outputs of several LFO's to create some very complex modulation patterns.
The Line 6 Guitar Amp and Bass Amp are amplifier and speaker cabinet simulators based on the renowned modeling algorithms developed by Line 6. The two devices feature accurate simulations of five of the most coveted vintage amplifier and cabinet models, that you can freely mix and match.
The Scream 4 is an effect rack with ten different types of distortion: Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Tube, Tape, Feedback, Modulate, Warp, Digital, and Scream. It also includes P1 and P2 knobs that let you tweak parameters, the former controls bit resolution and the latter controls the sample rate. In the "Fuzz" setting, P1 alters the Tone and P2 controls the level of Presence. Plus, this effect has a +/- 18 dB Equalizer and a type of speaker simulator for tweaking or beefing up your distortion.
The RV7000 Advanced Reverb is an advanced and flexible reverb effect that lets you dial in your desired reverb sound in seconds, and saving it as your own preset. The reverb engine consists of nine carefully crafted reverb algorithms, with seven individual parameters each: Small Space, Room, Hall, Arena, Plate, Spring, Echo, Multitap and Reverse, each with up to seven individual parameters. This effect also has a built-in EQ and Gate knobs for further tweaking your reverb.