Propellerhead releases Reason 6.5, opens Rack Extensions store

Your Reason rack is about to get a whole lot more interesting.
Your Reason rack is about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Propellerhead has announced that Reason 6.5 and Reason Essentials 1.5 are now available. What's more, the Propellerhead Shop, in which you'll be able to purchase the heavily trailed Rack Extensions, is now open for business.

Click here for an overview of all the Reason Rack Extensions currently available

Updates to the new versions of Reason are free - full pricing details are below. Propellerhead's Pulsar Rack Extension is free to everyone who upgrades before 30 September.

We'll be exploring Reason 6.5 and the first Rack Extensions in due course. For now, check out the official press release below.

Reason 6.5/Reason Essentials 1.5 and Rack Extensions press release

Propellerhead today released new versions of their award-winning music making platform: Reason 6.5 and Reason Essentials 1.5. New in these versions is the introduction of Rack Extensions—a groundbreaking new technology from Propellerhead that opens up the rack to third parties, enabling developers to create their own instruments and effects for Reason and allowing users to expand their collection of instruments and effects with the Reason devices they want.

Propellerhead has also opened the doors to the Propellerhead Shop—the central location for all Rack Extensions. All Rack Extensions are full Reason rack citizens, delivering the same ease of use and total integration as all other devices in the rack, including automation, unlimited undo and cables on the back as well as integration with Reason's patch browser. In the Propellerhead Shop users can get fully functional thirty-day trial versions of all available Rack Extensions, downloaded and installed into the rack with a single click.

"Rack Extensions combines all the things that musicians love about Reason with the creativity and inspiration that comes from having tons of instruments and effects at your fingertips. And it manages to do all that without any of the drawbacks of old plug-in technology. It really is the best of both worlds," says Ernst Nathorst-Böös, Propellerhead CEO. "Reason 6.5 is an incredible update to Reason, changing the world of music making on computers, again."

Reason 6.5 and Reason Essentials 1.5 are available as free upgrades for all owners of Reason 6 or Reason Essentials version 1, downloadable from the Propellerhead web site today.www.propellerheads.se/download/reason-upgrade

To get people started, Propellerhead offers the Pulsar Rack Extension—a dual LFO and mono synth with plenty of character—as a free download in the Propellerhead Shop to everyone who upgrades before September 30, 2012: shop.propellerheads.se

UK Pricing and availability

Reason, Reason Essentials and Balance are available now for purchase at the following suggested retail pricing:

  • Reason - £349/€405/$449
  • Reason Essentials - £99/€120/$129
  • Balance with Reason Essentials - £349/€429/$449 (Includes a free upgrade to Reason 6.5 for any registered Record or Reason owner)
  • Reason Upgrade - £139/€149/$169 (From any Reason version, and Balance)
  • Upgrade for Adapted/Limited/Essentials Owners - £229/€299/$329
Ben Rogerson
Deputy Editor

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.