Propellerhead’s Reason has always been a great self-contained music production package for people who want to do everything ‘in the box’, but early versions were limited in that they couldn’t record audio and couldn’t be expanded with plug-ins.

Both of these issues have now been addressed; as of Version 6, Reason was combined with Record, Propellerhead’s short-lived audio recording software, and version 6.5 heralded the arrival of Rack Extensions - bespoke instrument and effect add-ons that can be purchased through Propellerhead’s online store.

Version 7 upped the ante still further with the addition of MIDI Out, deeper editing of audio recordings, the ability to convert recordings to REX files, a number of mixer tweaks and the new Audiomatic Retro Transformer effect. All of which adds up to one of the most enjoyable music making experiences you're likely to find as a computer musician.

FULL REVIEW: Propellerhead Software Reason 7