Propellerhead Software announce the release of signature patches from some of the world’s leading artists and sound developers for Reason 4’s new Thor polysonic synth from Richard Devine to Daniel Wang.
Thor takes sound creation to a new level, offering a veritable “museum” of synthesis techniques wrapped into one instrument. With six open “slots,” Thor brings together six different oscillators with four different filter types plus wave shaping, enveloping and effects. Thor facilitates a plethora of modulation routings enabling users to exchange audio and control signals just like original modular synths. The result is a fantastic, full-sounding software instrument that is extremely light on CPU usage. Thor Polysonic Synthesizer is a part of the new Reason 4 stand-alone music production system for Mac and PC platforms, and will be available later this year*.
Creating the best sounding synth on earth is merely the beginning. Having superb patches available right out of the box is the dividend. For that very reason, Propellerhead invited some of the world’s leading synthesists and sound developers to add their own Thor patches to the Reason sound bank including Daniel Wang, Morgan Geist, Pascal Gabriel, Plaid, Richard Barbieri, Richard Devine, Sonic Boom, Tipper, Two Lone Swordsmen, Gordon
Reid, and Vengeance.
“Thor’s sound was tremendously detailed and rich,” says Richard Devine. “I loved the way you could stack and layer the modules piece by piece to work it one piece at a time. I was able to get some extremely beautiful pads, strings, and ambient sounds. The oscillators had a beautiful range and could go extremely rough or smooth and warm. It’s very versatile and unique.”
“Insofar as a virtual synth can emulate all these sounds in the digital domain, I found Thor simply wonderful,” adds Daniel Wang. “Amazingly well programmed and conceived. As for whether Thor, or any virtual synth, can reproduce the nuance of an acoustic guitar or a fuzzy Arp filter… that is a question more for music philosophers than technicians.”
Richard Barbieri agrees. “I think it knocks the spots off of ‘pretend’ soft versions of classic synths. I’ve had a few people refusing to believe the sounds were part of Reason’s armory when I used it ReWired to my DAW software.”
*Thor Polysonic Synthesizer is a part of the new Reason and will be available later this year for MSRP EUR €449. Upgrades from any prior registered version of Reason are MSRP EUR €99. All users purchasing Reason after June 1, 2007 will be entitled to a free upgrade with proper invoice/receipt documentation. This will be handled by local distributors once Reason 4 is released. As available, all pricing and release information will be updated on the Propellerhead website.