Propellerhead introduces Layers synth.

[ltbrunt00]

I am all Synth'ed out at the moment but I can't judge this one until I try it. For every one person who is not impressed I'm sure there is thousands of users looking at this going WTF I got to have this.

This does seem like the poor mans version of the Arturia Collection.

[etyrnal]

Eh, no innovation.

Propellerhead has completely stopped trying to innovative, and are now ONLY playing it OVERLY SAFE. Probably since they were "bought out" (took money from investors) ?

When the create new devices now, instead of making theirs "got to eleven", they only got to 4.

It's like they're keeping it a noob-oretum and thumbing their noses at the long time advanced/expert users. Every new device keeps getting overly simplified. They completely ignore long time users, seemingly making decisions based on opinions of people who aren't even current users. Like they are designing for noobs they HOPE to get as new users instead of making reason more powerful continually.

They need to split reason into two versions, one for babies, and one for very serious hobbyists and professionals.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

[chimp_spanner]

Eh, no innovation.

Propellerhead has completely stopped trying to innovative, and are now ONLY playing it OVERLY SAFE. Probably since they were "bought out" (took money from investors) ?

When the create new devices now, instead of making theirs "got to eleven", they only got to 4.

It's like they're keeping it a noob-oretum and thumbing their noses at the long time advanced/expert users. Every new device keeps getting overly simplified. They completely ignore long time users, seemingly making decisions based on opinions of people who aren't even current users. Like they are designing for noobs they HOPE to get as new users instead of making reason more powerful continually.

They need to split reason into two versions, one for babies, and one for very serious hobbyists and professionals.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

Haha stay calm man - they've put out some great REs and tbh this is probably the first I will pass on. Reason is as easy or as hard as you need it to be. Them releasing simple devices doesn't mean you can't use it in a complex way. And even professional users like simple devices; speaking from my own perspective when music is work, the least time I spend on sounds the better. So there's no correlation between ease of use and professionalism. They just missed the mark on this device, IMHO. It's by no means a sign of the end of Reason as a sandbox for tweakheads or sound designers because we can still do all the stuff we always could, and then some.

[QVprod]

Eh, no innovation.

Propellerhead has completely stopped trying to innovative, and are now ONLY playing it OVERLY SAFE. Probably since they were "bought out" (took money from investors) ?

When the create new devices now, instead of making theirs "got to eleven", they only got to 4.

It's like they're keeping it a noob-oretum and thumbing their noses at the long time advanced/expert users. Every new device keeps getting overly simplified. They completely ignore long time users, seemingly making decisions based on opinions of people who aren't even current users. Like they are designing for noobs they HOPE to get as new users instead of making reason more powerful continually.

They need to split reason into two versions, one for babies, and one for very serious hobbyists and professionals.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

A bit harsh. As mentioned a few times in the thread this is basically a Pink Noise RE with Propellerhead branding. I wouldn't base the future off of this release. None of their other RE's are anything like this.

[tobypearce]

It does look like Analogue Monsters refill made into a RE.

Now if they did that with Way Beyond Fairlight I'd probably buy it in this version just to say thank-you to Bitley for making such an amazing refill. (Of course, this would rely on the original authors of the sounds actually being paid for their sampling work.)

[chimp_spanner]

It does look like Analogue Monsters refill made into a RE.

Now if they did that with Way Beyond Fairlight I'd probably buy it in this version just to say thank-you to Bitley for making such an amazing refill. (Of course, this would rely on the original authors of the sounds actually being paid for their sampling work.)

Oh man, tbh a RE of WBF (even IDT) would absolutely slay. I would re-buy it just to give the guy some extra money. It's one of the best ReFills I own. it's just a little daunting to navigate sometimes what with all the different visual styles!

[QVprod]

(Of course, this would rely on the original authors of the sounds actually being paid for their sampling work.)

The Pink Noise logo is on the back of the device. I'm sure that wouldn't be an issue.

[mayzon]

Can't say I'm bowled over by this. Seems like an attempt to breathe some life into the Re market. I love Re's but this is a dead fish imo!

[seqoi]

Reason is finally adjusting it's approach to being more for the musician and less for the technician. Props have always suffered from the technician culture while exploiting their little niche. *** For those who have labored long for multi-synth combinators, modulation matrix designs, and 3rd party patches, you will not be impressed. For the other 300 million modern musicians, you're gonna love it.

Yeah speak for yourself then because i can easily jump in 300 million and i am not that technician either yet i am finding this release a bogus. Why? No not because it is not another Parsec level but because it is clearly something which can be achieved easily with existing default and free devices. Easily. It takes 15minutes of your time to build a combi and then you can start creating. Not to mention that this way you are on to road of creating unique presets rather then having all the same sounds like your other 300 million fellas have.

On top of that this release for people like me which used hardware synths and have 15+ years of experience with another DAWs (there are 359 million of us if you ask) is pretty much let down because i had something like this decades ago.

My point is PH was known for inventing and creativity bursts. This release does not fall in to this category at all. To me it looks like rushed release. Jut look back panel options. I mean they release Parsec which is like from the future then they release something so marginal that one have to wonder what is happening with their mindset? Like this is not them.

I am glad that they released this "IDT x4" rompler because i would be very disappointed if they bundled this release for Reason 10 as some sort of wanna be feature and one of Reason 10 highlights.

[EnochLight]

I'm not sure what's up with all the hate on Propellerhead just because they release an IDT made with a partner. Suggesting they are no longer innovative just seems silly - literally every version update that Reason has introduces improvements and features that most of us, at the end of the day, end up using in some capacity. How is this not innovative?

I mean seriously - I could easily argue that Reason/Props weren't innovative at all until 6.0 came out, and it's only gotten better since.

[aeox]

I'm not sure what's up with all the hate on Propellerhead just because they release an IDT made with a partner. Suggesting they are no longer innovative just seems silly - literally every version update that Reason has introduces improvements and features that most of us, at the end of the day, end up using in some capacity. How is this not innovative?

I mean seriously - I could easily argue that Reason/Props weren't innovative at all until 6.0 came out, and it's only gotten better since.

I'm not saying that people won't enjoy this RE, or find many applications for it. Just voicing my personal opinion I suppose. Everyone likes different things

[esselfortium]

I kind of like it. It's definitely on the simple side, but I'm having fun programming it. Especially with the pattern sequencer, I've been finding it easy to come up with sounds and combinations I probably wouldn't have otherwise thought to put together.

[Loque]

I guess, a few of us just had bigger expectations on a new RE from PH. But this RE might be useful for some easy-dial in results for a few ppl, but not me. Hopefully they (PH and PN) get enuf money for some cool stuff to follow.

[joeyluck]

My first impressions quick review:

- Awesome samples and great sounding patches. If you are in the camp of 'samples over emulation' when it comes to recreating hardware synths for your production; Pink Noise is among the best.

- Many of us, including myself, have bugged sample-library/ReFill designers to create REs. Here is one.

- IMO, the interface offers something easier and faster to work with than a Combinator. An NNXT ReFill and Combinator can offer more flexibility, but each Combinator patch isn't as straight forward. Approaches for individual patches can be different and if you are looking to make edits to patches, you are uncollapsing devices, taking up much more screen real-estate, unveiling hidden editors, and trying to decipher what is going on. I don't mean to make every Combinator patch sound complicated, and there are benefits to it for sure, but a tailored interface is of course more straight forward and efficient for patch editing and creation.

- This is an instrument very similar to the likes of Re-Tron or Re-Strings. There's no need for this to be overly complex. If you are looking for sample-based synth recreation, it doesn't need to be jam-packed with features. IMO, you should then be looking for an emulation and not a sample library instrument.

- When I first started to watch the video, I thought this was heading into a creative use of panels in the SDK. Thinking it would be some internal drag and drop of synth panels into an empty space of the device. And maybe each panel having a look reminiscent of the device it samples from. That would have perhaps added a bit more to the cool factor.

- If you own and like the Analogue Monsters ReFill, this is supposedly still worth a look according to Pink Noise who had this to say on Facebook:
"Propellerhead Software released a new rack extension: Layers. This RE is based on the sample content of Analogue Monsters, it's worth to check out - even if you are a happy Analogue Monsters user!"

I'm having fun with it. Might not be a purchase for me right this second, but I think it's pretty great for the intro price. I don't own the Analogue Monsters ReFill (I have the demo). This might be something I pick up down the road during a sale.

[EnochLight]

I'm not sure what's up with all the hate on Propellerhead just because they release an IDT made with a partner. Suggesting they are no longer innovative just seems silly - literally every version update that Reason has introduces improvements and features that most of us, at the end of the day, end up using in some capacity. How is this not innovative?

I mean seriously - I could easily argue that Reason/Props weren't innovative at all until 6.0 came out, and it's only gotten better since.

I'm not saying that people won't enjoy this RE, or find many applications for it. Just voicing my personal opinion I suppose. Everyone likes different things

Thing is, I don't equate a relatively "ok" IDT release as "OMG teh Propz aren't innovative any teh moorz". (<= not directed towards you, BTW) As I said, every version of Reason that comes out brings something to the table that is new for Reason. You may not think it's innovative, but many others do.

It's no different than Apple's iPhone. Ten years ago, it brought things that were already being done (mobile web? Check. Camera phone? Check. Touch interface? Check). But they did it in a way that made using those features a lot more fun and frankly, it worked better than everything else out there. Does it have its critics? Yes. See: every Android phone user out there.

One can apply the same logic to Reason. And there's virtually no way that they can keep releasing RE's/IDT's/whatever that satisfy everyone's definition of innovation, that's for sure. But, I digress...

[miscend]

Is it using the samples from Analogue Monsters? Or are these all new samples.

[EnochLight]

Is it using the samples from Analogue Monsters? Or are these all new samples.

From what I understand, it's mostly Analogue Monsters content with some new added in. The USP feature is the fact that it's all packaged in a nice GUI/UX and (arguably) inspiring right out of the box.

[joeyluck]

Is it using the samples from Analogue Monsters? Or are these all new samples.

[NekujaK]

I don't have a problem with this device in principle - nothing wrong with a sample player loaded to the gills with great presets, BUT.... I do have a problem with the price tag. Not oniy does this device appear to be based on an existing refill, but it's priced like a top-of-the-line RE synth, which it is clearly not.

REs are now competing with VSTs for my plugin $$$$, and there are several great synth preset players out there for as little as $10. At $100, or even $70, this seems like a crass money-grab by the Props.

Sorry, don't mean to be negative, but I expect more from a company that has a reputation for innovation and creating cutting edge products,

[WongoTheSane]

I have to agree with JoeyLuck and EnochLight. Sometimes, a workhorse is what you need, and this device is just that. You can whip up a new beautiful patch in a matter of minutes, much easier than stacking Thors in a combi. And innovation has its downside too: it gets old much faster than sturdiness. I would recommend trialing it, you'll probably be surprised by how quickly you can get great sounds out of it.

[Loque]

I don't have a problem with this device in principle - nothing wrong with a sample player loaded to the gills with great presets, BUT.... I do have a problem with the price tag. Not oniy does this device appear to be based on an existing refill, but it's priced like a top-of-the-line RE synth, which it is clearly not.

REs are now competing with VSTs for my plugin $$$$, and there are several great synth preset players out there for as little as $10. At $100, or even $70, this seems like a crass money-grab by the Props.

Sorry, don't mean to be negative, but I expect more from a company that has a reputation for innovation and creating cutting edge products,

You need to make it expensive to look like it is great and everybody wants it. Works pretty well on some cell phones, right?

[joeyluck]

Maybe bundling it with the ReFill would be a good idea.

[K1TTENM1TTEN]

Not gonna lie, I was absolutely not blown away by any of the demos of this. In my opinion Bitley's Way Beyond Fairlight refill absolutely wrecks this new RE (this is coming from someone who's majority of music they write is completely "80's" inspired). Even Skrock's Solaris and Tectonic RE's "do" what Layers is trying to do better than Layers does (and those I picked up for $9 each). I am not really sure what PH's thought here was, especially for the price; it would have been better to just offer this for a $15-20 add-on or include it free with an update or something. The sounds are pretty non-inspiring, and if we are looking for accurate emulation of these devices there are VSTs that simply do them better, more accurately, and for less money. Normally I dig the stuff PH puts out, but I feel this is definitely one of those "too little too late" things to come out, especially now that VSTs are able to be used in Reason. On the plus side my wallet feels nice being $60 fatter.

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I already have the ReFill. This device makes me think of their large urban producer market. There are plenty of folks who just want to make beats. I follow some pretty talented hip hop and r&b guys on YouTube and this device would be great for them.

[Exowildebeest]

Smart move to cash in on the retro-hype if you ask me. Fun video as well. Should really appeal to the vaporwavy crowd.

Not the most spectacular release, no, I was hoping for a unique new Props sampler when I saw the e-mail.