Reason 5 and Record 1.5 – Neptune pitch adjuster revealed
| Posted in Music Technology
Reason 5 and Record 1.5 news announcements are continuing to emerge this week, with this afternoon witnessing the launch of Neptune, described as an “advanced pitch adjuster, audio transposer and voice synth” for the former. The reveal follows several days of announcements on the Propellerheads website designed to whet users’ appetites for the forthcoming updates of the world-famous recording and sequencing softwares.
The announcement of Neptune has been trumpeted with the declaration that “getting a vocal performance right means so much more than hitting the right notes at the right time”. According to Propellerheads, near-perfect vocal takes can be tweaked in Neptune to correct minor mistakes, freeing producers to use vocal recordings that boast the best performance but are not yet note-perfect.
The brand new feature slots neatly into the current trend in the music industry to make creative use of pitch-adjustment, showcasing it within pop releases with an exaggerated synthetic performance. That effect is achievable with Neptune by cranking its settings to maximum. However, in the accompanying Neptune video (see below), Propellerheads is keen to point out that Record 1.5 Neptune is more than just a regular pitch-adjustment tool, promising users that they will be in “complete, real-time control of their vocal lines”.
In practice that means that as its simplest function the Record 1.5 feature will fine-tune the pitch of an audio track, fixing flat notes by allowing the user to select an appropriate root key and scale to match their requirements. The software will also transpose recordings into a different key. However, the manufacturer is pushing Neptune’s voice synthesiser as its most groundbreaking development, describing it as delivering “endless creative options”. The synth works by taking a user’s MIDI keyboard input and creating new harmonies around vocal tracks in real time. Alternatively, the synth can create an entirely new melody irrespective of the original vocal recording.
With the forthcoming double-release of Reason 5 and Record 1.5 intended to create a deeper level of synergy between the sequencing and DAW software packages, the announcement of Neptune will likely raise eyebrows in the production community. Potential users won’t have to wait long to try it, however – both upgrades will be offered free to anyone purchasing Reason 4, Reason Premium or Reason Duo from Monday up until the upgrade’s imminent launch. Those who have owned Reason for longer will similarly be able to upgrade for a modest fee on both packages my simply buying Record 1.5.
Come back tomorrow for another newly announced feature from Reason 5 and Record 1.5.
About Barney Jameson
A contributor, editor and in some cases creator of more music and pro audio magazines than he cares to remember, Barney Jameson is a veteran of writing about gear, and a pretty keen singer songwriter to boot.
Having started his musical education reading old copies of the Melody Maker while riding the tube to University in the mid-nineties, Barney once sang in a band called Sugarstone, troubling record company chequebooks not quite enough to make it a career option. Instead, he achieved his goal of starting a music magazine of his own when he founded Playmusic in the early noughties. Later on, having exploited VIP access to as many festivals as possible, he wrote about the pro audio industry throughout Europe and the Middle East, travelling to far-flung destinations such as Dubai, Doha and Muscat (nice mountains).
As the latest addition to the DV247 team, Barney has big plans. But when he’s not plotting online domination of the musical instrument world, he keeps himself busy writing songs on a battered old acoustic guitar and playing them to audiences in his home town.
Tags: Reason 5, Record 1.5, Record 1.5 Neptune