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Say hello to Kong, Dr. Octo Rex, Blocks and more...

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Reason has been a firm favourite of ours since its original release a decade ago. Not just a virtual studio in concept, it offers a literal representation of a traditional MIDI studio, revolving around a simulated rack to which a huge range of devices can be added.

Effects, synths, samplers, drum machines, mixers - all can be dropped into the rack and connected as you see fit by flipping around to the rear of the units and plugging virtual cables into their I/O ports. Sequencing is pretty much the only part of Reason that's not tied to the rack.

Unlike almost all modern music applications, there's no third-party plug-in support - and there likely never will be, although you can connect Reason to other apps via the ReWire protocol.

"Ultimately, Reason's restricted nature is also its strength."

Now Reason 5 is here, and following what seemed like an eternity tinkering with the restricted beta build, we're finally in possession of the finished, boxed version. But is it really any good? And are there any hidden drawbacks? That's what a review aims to uncover, so let's get to it…

If there's one new feature that has our pulses pumping the most, it's the Kong Drum Designer. Each of its 16 pads can control any of 16 drum channels, each of which holds its own sound source module.

The one you'll probably use most is NN-Nano, a stripped back version of the NN-XT sampler. The other modules are Nurse Rex (a mini Dr. Rex) and seven synthesisers.

Tip of the hat

Each pad can be assigned to any drum channel and also bound to one of four 'hit types'. Sound modules respond to these; for example, Synth Hi-hat offers closed, open and two intermediate positions.

NN-Nano's hit types, meanwhile, are four discrete multilayered setups. For Nurse Rex, hit types can fire off a loop, slice or slices. There are also pad-level Link and Alt group, level, pan, tone, decay and pitch controls, and two external sends and internal Bus FX send.

Oh, and then there are the effects! Each pad has two slots, for one of nine effects or an additional tone or noise generator. Our favourite is the Overdrive/Resonator, but the Rattler comes a close second. We'd like to have the effects in the Reason rack too, but for now, you can route signals through Kong.

There's also a send effect slot (eg, for reverb/delay) and a master slot for compression, etc. The small Q buttons positioned adjacent to most of Kong's parameters select them for Quick Edit mode, whereby all 16 pads display relevant controls. For example, hit the Q button next to the Pan/Level knobs and each pad turns into a mini X/Y pad for instant editing of pan and level.

It's a fabulous system. There are a few omissions, though: when loading multiple layers, there's no automatic velocity mapping, and Kong lacks the seemingly obvious per-pad delay/offset function. But overall, it strikes the right balance between power and immediacy, and on the back panel, you'll find every connection you might need.