Today I’m happy to announce that Reason 13.1 has been released. This free update to Reason 13 adds two new devices, new features, and quite a bit of polish. If you’re the type of person who loves the nitty gritty details, you can find the complete fix list in the usual place. Let’s take a closer look at some highlights.
Reason 13 added three new utility devices (Gain Tool, Sidechain Tool, and Stereo Tool) to make common audio processing tasks faster and more intuitive in the Rack. We initially also planned to include a Player that did the same kind of utility work for MIDI, even building a prototype called the Note Doctor. In the end we had more ideas than time, the device grew, and sadly Note Doctor didn’t make it into the initial release. Now in Reason 13.1 we’ve refined those ideas and it resulted in not one but two new utility Player MIDI effects: Note Tool and Random Tool.
Note Tool is designed to enhance any MIDI performance. It can solve problems like adjusting the velocity curve to make up for a shoddy keybed or quickly transposing all or some notes. My personal favorite feature is the Hold modes, super useful for sustained notes and chords without having to use a sustain pedal—freeing up your hands for tweaking rotaries or even playing guitar. Note Tool can also filter out notes based on pitch and velocity and only process these, for example you can make a split and restrict the velocity of your left hand playing while being as expressive and dynamic as you want with your right hand.
Random Tool, on the other hand, is less about control and more about letting go. With several ways to randomize pitch, velocity, and note length it can inject some variation and surprises into your MIDI. Dial it up to max and complete chaos will ensue. The only part that isn’t based on chance or randomization is the Conditional section, but it was so fun we couldn’t help but add it. It’s basically a 1-8 step sequence where you choose which notes pass through or not. It’s particularly fun to use an odd sequence length on an even numbered sequence.
Both these Players have a lot of CV connections, both in and out. There are plenty of CV note/gate output pairs to send notes that are filtered outs or from certain sections to other devices. I really encourage you to experiment with this, it’s tons of fun!
New devices are of course exciting, but Reason 13.1 also contains many bug fixes, improvements, and new features. A lot of work has gone in to the new Browser, adding both new functionality and fixing issues. You can now create custom tags both in the Browser and Device Palette. This is great for organizing and quickly finding what you need. In the Device Palette we’ve also added the new Favorite and Hidden tag by default, enabling quick favoriting and even hiding plugins and devices you never use. You can of course also get even more granular and add the tag “Granular” for your granular synth plug-ins, pun intended. It’s easier than ever to do too, both tagging and custom tag creation is available on the right-click context menu in both the Browser and Device Palette.
Other improvements in the Browser include filtering by container. Now you can filter on the name of a ReFill, Rack Extension, Folder, or Sound Pack. These will of course show as suggestions when you type but their content will also be included when matching “Any”, that is when you type something and simply hit enter. So now “Bass” will show you results from the category Bass, with names that include “Bass”, and inside any container that includes “Bass”. Together with the new Info Area at the bottom of the browser, it’s also quicker to see where an item is located, if it’s categorized and tag, and more.
The sequencer also has both fixes and new features. MIDI notes will now preview when moving them with the keyboard, not just with the mouse. On the context menu, you also have a new way to quickly split Clips and Notes. Simply right-click on a clip or note and select Chop To… and choose a set resolution or Grid. Another useful way to edit added in Reason 13.1 is Split Clips at Song Position (handy shortcut: alt/opt+X ). This will split any selected clip(s) where the song position pointer is currently at—great for listening your way to good editing.
There’s even more stuff in Reason 13.1 but this blog post is getting long, so check out the complete fix list if you want the full breakdown. Hopefully the new devices, features, and improvements will lead to even more music.
Reason 13.1 is available now as a free update to Reason 13, so just launch it and download the auto-update. Don’t have Reason 13 yet? Now’s a great time to hop on Reason+, buy, or upgrade.
Mattias Häggström Gerdt
Product Manager
Reason 13 added three new utility devices (Gain Tool, Sidechain Tool, and Stereo Tool) to make common audio processing tasks faster and more intuitive in the Rack. We initially also planned to include a Player that did the same kind of utility work for MIDI, even building a prototype called the Note Doctor. In the end we had more ideas than time, the device grew, and sadly Note Doctor didn’t make it into the initial release. Now in Reason 13.1 we’ve refined those ideas and it resulted in not one but two new utility Player MIDI effects: Note Tool and Random Tool.
Note Tool is designed to enhance any MIDI performance. It can solve problems like adjusting the velocity curve to make up for a shoddy keybed or quickly transposing all or some notes. My personal favorite feature is the Hold modes, super useful for sustained notes and chords without having to use a sustain pedal—freeing up your hands for tweaking rotaries or even playing guitar. Note Tool can also filter out notes based on pitch and velocity and only process these, for example you can make a split and restrict the velocity of your left hand playing while being as expressive and dynamic as you want with your right hand.
Random Tool, on the other hand, is less about control and more about letting go. With several ways to randomize pitch, velocity, and note length it can inject some variation and surprises into your MIDI. Dial it up to max and complete chaos will ensue. The only part that isn’t based on chance or randomization is the Conditional section, but it was so fun we couldn’t help but add it. It’s basically a 1-8 step sequence where you choose which notes pass through or not. It’s particularly fun to use an odd sequence length on an even numbered sequence.
Both these Players have a lot of CV connections, both in and out. There are plenty of CV note/gate output pairs to send notes that are filtered outs or from certain sections to other devices. I really encourage you to experiment with this, it’s tons of fun!
New devices are of course exciting, but Reason 13.1 also contains many bug fixes, improvements, and new features. A lot of work has gone in to the new Browser, adding both new functionality and fixing issues. You can now create custom tags both in the Browser and Device Palette. This is great for organizing and quickly finding what you need. In the Device Palette we’ve also added the new Favorite and Hidden tag by default, enabling quick favoriting and even hiding plugins and devices you never use. You can of course also get even more granular and add the tag “Granular” for your granular synth plug-ins, pun intended. It’s easier than ever to do too, both tagging and custom tag creation is available on the right-click context menu in both the Browser and Device Palette.
Other improvements in the Browser include filtering by container. Now you can filter on the name of a ReFill, Rack Extension, Folder, or Sound Pack. These will of course show as suggestions when you type but their content will also be included when matching “Any”, that is when you type something and simply hit enter. So now “Bass” will show you results from the category Bass, with names that include “Bass”, and inside any container that includes “Bass”. Together with the new Info Area at the bottom of the browser, it’s also quicker to see where an item is located, if it’s categorized and tag, and more.
The sequencer also has both fixes and new features. MIDI notes will now preview when moving them with the keyboard, not just with the mouse. On the context menu, you also have a new way to quickly split Clips and Notes. Simply right-click on a clip or note and select Chop To… and choose a set resolution or Grid. Another useful way to edit added in Reason 13.1 is Split Clips at Song Position (handy shortcut: alt/opt+X ). This will split any selected clip(s) where the song position pointer is currently at—great for listening your way to good editing.
There’s even more stuff in Reason 13.1 but this blog post is getting long, so check out the complete fix list if you want the full breakdown. Hopefully the new devices, features, and improvements will lead to even more music.
Reason 13.1 is available now as a free update to Reason 13, so just launch it and download the auto-update. Don’t have Reason 13 yet? Now’s a great time to hop on Reason+, buy, or upgrade.
Mattias Häggström Gerdt
Product Manager
