Propellerhead Software are proud to present Reason 2.5 - an upgrade to their flagship music software program. The world's most popular music software adds four brand new sound processing tools and two utilities for signal path routing. Reason 2.0 registered users will get the 2.5 update for free.

The Reason 2.5 update is good news to anyone with an interest in music production in general and heavy-duty effects processing in particular. And if you are a registered Reason 2.0 user, the news is beyond good. Because for you, this update is completely free. That's correct, all you have to do is to wait for an email from Propellerhead Software telling you that the update is available and Reason 2.5 is all yours.

Whats new in 2.5?

RV7000 Advanced Reverb:
The RV7000 is a stereo effect unit dedicated to highquality reverberation.

This device is set on embedding your sounds in the kind of rich, transparent sounding reverb that only the most sophisticated reverb machines are capable of. In short, it sounds amazing. And despite its pro studio sound and million-dollar features, this machine is very easy to use. Your basic reverb controls are located on the main panel - for instant access and control - and the rest, eight separate knobs for algorithms and their parameters, can be accessed from a fold-out remote at the touch of a button.

The RV7000 is advanced and flexible without ever getting too complicated, and lets you dial in your desired reverb sound in seconds, and saving it as your own preset. The future of reverberation, only for Reason users.

The Sections
The RV7000 is made up of three separate sections whose controls and settings are easily accessed from the fold-out remote panel: the Reverb, the main workhorse in RV7000, always enabled. The EQ, for processing of the wet signal. And the Gate, which can be applied to any chosen reverb program or algorithm, allowing for very sophisticated gating effects.

The Reverb
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.

Where some algorithms simply make up the basic reverb types, others are less traditional: Spring is a very accurate emulation of a classic spring reverb, and Echo is a Reverb/Dealy combo that works wonders with vocal samples.

The EQ
Hitting the EQ switch on the front panel calls up a handy parametric and low shelving equalizer for additional tweaking of your reverberated signal. Combine this section with the HF Damp and HF Smooth knobs on the front panel, and be the master of your wet signal's every frequency.

The Gate
Instead of having a traditional gate algorithm squeezed in with the others, the RV7000 keeps it's gate on the outside, lettting you apply gating to any and all reverb types. Ever heard a gated Spring Reverb? You have now. You are also free to trigger the gate with CV or MIDI, and to record and automate it as you desire. Which is of course the case with all the knobs and parameters inside and and outside of the RV-7000.
Happy reverberation.

BV512 Digital Vocoder
No studio setup is complete without a proper vocoder, so here it is: the BV-512, superior sound quality, multitalented and advanced - yet simple to use.

Besides being a 4 to 512-band vocoder capable of modulating sound in both old-school analog style and digital FFT fashion, this unit also doubles as a fully automated equalizer with a twist. The BV-512 can be used for everything from classic robot vocals to weird harmonic effects.

To Vocode
A vocoder takes two input signals, the carrier, which provides the pitch, and the modulator, supplying the characteristics.

Traditional vocoders require you to sing into a microphone while playing a keyboard. Not this one - with the BV-512 you can combine any two sound sources. Try vocoding your percussion track with the bass line or the string pad with the rhythm guitar.

The Bands
A vocoder splits the incoming audio into a number of frequency bands. More bands gives you more control and more detail. Where most vocoders max out at eight to sixteen bands, the BV-512 gives you up to, you guessed it, 512 bands. In 4-band mode, the BV- 512 provides a gritty, analog, lo-fi sound. The 512- band setting is another beast altogether. In this mode, a digital 1024-point FFT-based algorithm provides the clearest, most detailed and most audible vocoding you ever heard from a computer.

The Voco EQ
A flick of a switch turns the BV-512 into a 4 to 512 band stereo equalizer. Use the higher settings for detailed control of the spectrum.

Or try the four and eight band modes for a decidedly more lo-fi sound that adds an unmistakable vocoder "color" to your input signal.

More than you asked for
But wait, there's more! The Shift knob lets you shift the carrier frequencies up and down for an unreal sweeping effect. There's a cv-controlled hold mode for freezing the spectrum of the incoming modulator.

There are separate attack and decay controls for fine-tuning the shape of the sound. The filter bands can be controlled in real-time from a regular MIDI keyboard. And if you switch to the back of the unit you get some really unique patching possibilities, like letting any band control any other.

Automation
Like all other Reason devices, the BV-512 Vocoder can be fully automated, band level settings included. Record your front panel actions, or use the pen tool to draw in layers upon layers of wild frequency changes. The Shift knob is just one example of a control that's dying to be automated. One session with BV-512 and you're hooked for life.

Scream 4 Sound Destruction Unit
Imagine having all your favourite distortion pedals and overdrive boxes transformed into one shiny, rackmounted Reason device.

Add a touch of speaker modeling and a rough sounding EQ section and you have Scream 4, the ultimate sound destruction unit. With a wide variety of built-in damage methods, Scream 4 is capable of mangling audio in more ways than one. Use it for digital bit crushing, or regular crushing, or just for adding analog warmth and body to your sounds.

If you're into creative distortion, this unit is your friend to the end.

Damages Types
Scream 4 features ten different damage methods or distortion types, each with its own evil character: Overdrive, Distortion, Fuzz, Tube, Tape, Feedback, Modulate, Warp, Digital and Scream.

The P1 and P2 knobs let you tweak parameters within the selected damage type; in "Digital", P1 controls bit resolution and P2 controls the sample rate. In the "Fuzz" setting, P1 alters the Tone and P2 controls the level of Presence.

The Damage Control knob controls the amount of damage inflicted on your incoming audio, from mild overdrive to full-on mayhem.

Cut
The Cut section is a basic but effective +/- 18 dB Equalizer. With sliders for the classic low, mid and high frequency areas, this section adds more control to your already controllable distortion chain. And don't be fooled by the name, this thing can boost as well as it cuts.

The Body Section
Last in the signal chain is the Body Section, an effect within the effect designed to add a litlle muscle to your sound. The Body Section could be described as a type of speaker simulator, but that's only half the story. There are five basic Body types to choose from - each with its own vibe and method - and separate controls for Body Resonance and Body Scale.

Add to that the Auto knob, an amplitude respondant envelope follower which controls the scale parameter, creating a very special "auto-wah" effect.

UN-16 Unison
Unison is exactly what the name suggests; a software reincarnation of that mysterious "Unison" button on those early eighties synths. Transformed into a Reason rack unit. UN-16 Unison fattens up incoming sound by emulating the effect of 4, 8 or 16 detuned versions of the incoming sound playing the same note. In ultra-stereo. The result is rich and wide and slightly similar to a chorus effect, only much fancier.

Having a Unison effect in your rack gives you the option to apply its magic to more than just synthesizers: Feel free to widen your REX loops, fatten your samples or beef up your snare drums.

Spider Audio & Spider CV
No knobs, no buttons and no display. Spider Audio may not be much to look at, but if you're a seasoned Reason producer, it might be just the thing you've been searching for. The Spider Audio utlity has two purposes in life: to merge and to split audio. All this splitting and merging brings more of the hardware studio's patching capabilities into the software realm. Try merging multiple audio signals and process them with the same insert effect, as in sending three of Redrum's toms to the same compressor. Or try splitting an instrument's output into four, and send them to four different effect processors. Like brother Audio, Spider CV lacks all the visual trademarks of an effect device, because just like Spider Audio, it isn't one. Spider CV is exactly the same kind of utlity as Spider Audio, but here the splitting and merging is performed on CV and gate signals. Which lets you get very scientifical about your music: split the CV signals from the Matrix Pattern Sequencer to trigger several synths with the same pattern. Or merge the outputs of several LFO's to create some very complex modulation patterns.

And you know it doesn't end there…

THis is a massive update to Reason 2.0 and whats more its free to anyone who purchased the original 2.0 version of Reason! Very generous indeed!

Thanks propellerheads! :)