THOR is a semi-modular synthesizer built around exchangeable components such as oscillators and filters, and a very comprehensive modulation matrix. This synthesizer is in development for a coming version of Reason 4. Below you can take sneak peak at THOR, see a video and listen to some sounds it makes. I think it will be an amazing machine to drive …
THOR preview video by Mr. James Bernard
This is a low quality video, but it’s the only one for now …
THOR audio demos:
Update
THOR features:
- six different oscillator types: analog (like is moogs, oberheims, prophets, arps, rolands etc), wave table (like in waldorf ppg, prophet vs, korg wavestation etc.), phase modulation (like in casio cz-101, vz-1), FM pair (like in Yamaha DX7, DX200 etc), multiosc (like Jupiter’s SuperSaw and others) and noise osc (these are the usual one, white and pink noise) , each with it’s own distinctive parameters;
- four unique filters: ladder filter (like the low-pass Moog filters), state variable filter (like the Oberheim filters), formant filters (mimics human voices and vowels) and comb filters (alter and destroy anything).
- six open filter and oscillator slots let you load up three different synth filters and three separate oscillators simultaneously;
- powerful modulation matrix gives you complete control over your signal flow;
- advanced and unique analog style step sequencer - use it as a modulation tool, trigger phrases from specific keys, create intense arpeggios, generate piercing percussion lines.
- it comes loaded with signature sounds from - Pascal Gabriel, Richard Barbieri, Richard Devine, Sonic Boom, Vengeance and more others.
I know the audio demos doesn’t do it justice, but as you can see from the gazillion of features THOR IS THE ULTIMATE SYNTH!
THOR screenshot
See more pictures from Propellerheads NAMM 2007 Booth.
This is pretty amazing, too bad we have to wait for this in a future version of reason, oh btw I hope to God this Thor thing has a arpeggiator, but other than that it looks dope.
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Well, one thing’s for sure … it has an analog style sequencer. I’m curios what it will do when it’s combined it with Matrix
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Yes, it does. According to the Propellerhead’s Vice President of Marketing and Technology, the 16-step sequencer is a true arpeggiator as well. It does notes as well as modulation duties, etc. At least that’s what he said on video at NAMM. For proof, check the video out at Harmony Central below.
http://www.harmony-central.com/theater/wnamm07.html
(lower right hand corner of page)
thanx dj day for that info this might be huge!!
Very nice sound, when will next version of Reason be released?
No one knows when, but we hope this year, maybe august, september or october … Thor looks so great that it’s worth the wait
I do agree
I can’t wait. Thor looks like the best synth the Props have turned out yet because of its semi-modular architecture and in-built step sequencer.
Must get practicing with that Matrix…
wow___i want it now, sounds amazing!!!!!
I Hope there’s alot of sounds from the Moog
the thor looks heavy but i hope there are devices than just that
Yawn, that’s meant to be exciting? I’ve got freeware VSTs which will kick the crap out of that lame synth.
magnetik - how can you say that? You’ve not used it, only heard early sound examples and some bad-quality video-camera audio. At the very least you can reserve judgement. I’m sure it’ll be good, the Props always turn out high-quality stuff.
Are you kidding? Look at the interface, it’s absolutely awful. Semi-modular? Don’t make me laugh, it’s no more modular than Albino 3. And that step based arpeggiator? Talk about rewinding back to the 90s.
Anyone impressed by Thor obviously has no idea how far synths have progressed. If Propellerheads made a VST version of Thor they wouldn’t be able to sell it.
What’s wrong with the interface? Seems in keeping with the rest of Reason’s stylistic approach to me.
And it seems to me as semi-modular as it needs to be, since it is already part of Reason’s modular environment. Of course if Thor was a VST it would need to include more than it does, but as it is Reason already includes everything you need.
And the whole point of Reason itself is the retro hardware tweaky feel. So knobs and flashing buttons for the step sequencer seem entirely appropriate to me. Matrix already exists, remember.
What Reason does from start to finish is strike a balance between full modularity and user friendliness. Reaktor’s already been done and it’s confusing as hell. I trust the Props to deliver again, as they have before.
All I’m saying is that you’ve seen a picture and heard some early sound examples, and you’ve decided it’s crap. You’ve not played it, not seen or used any of the modules, and only seen bad-quality shakycam footage of it in use. As I said before, you can reserve judgment - it’s the sound that’s important.
Correct, it is in keeping with Reason’s stylistic approach and that’s the problem. Reason is becoming more and more dated. Propellerheads need to make some bold moves because they are catering to an ever shrinking market. Sequencers like Live, GarageBand and Sequel will dominate the low-end sequencer market and take away Props market share.
Honestly, watching Reason fans jump up and down about Thor is like watching retro authors getting excited about a new electronic typewriter after everyone else has moved on to laptops.
fair point. The DAW market is definitely saturated with offerings at all levels.
Rumour has it that this might be the last version of Reason. I find that believable.
No doubt they’ll be doing new things with Reason 4 too, though - like adding the Combinator in 3.0 That was a huge leap, an industry first if you will.
And to be honest all of Reason’s problems and limitations melt away when you get a Rewire host.
for those of you who want to criticize the props, you are entitled to your opinion, but proppellerheads have a sound design philosophy. they stick with what works, test propperly. and listen to their customers. something many companies don’t do. I reckon thor will be a hit. one thing is for sure, once users get their head around that beast, they will be making some cool sounds. the video doesn’t do justice to the product, and remember also that the footage you saw was a beta version. so rest assured the production release will be polished and ready to rock your socks off!!
I’ve updated the page with more audio demos from Thor and also new information on it’s great features … check them out!
Hey Magnetik, just curious what type of music do u make and what do u use?
I make various genres of dance from electro to hardcore and also some chillout and ambient stuff. I use mostly Logic followed by Live and Cubase. I have a registered copy of Reason but I don’t use it any more.
Do u have any hardware, I have an MPC 2500, and i use reason as a synth in combination with the mpc and rewire into sonar caz its user friendly like that
I had a fair bit of hardware, things like the Virus B and Supernova II. I sold it all though. Software is much more convenient and new plugins give excellent results. I have used rewire but I’d much rather use a synth like NI Massive than rewire Reason into Logic.
I got a chance to play with Massive round a mate’s the other day. It is totally amazing. The modulation is great, and I especially like the way the filters react to feedback and overdrive, analog-stylee. Also, the various distortions on the list, especially the bit crusher and sample&hold are a thing of beauty.
It’s going on the shopping list.
I like it. And this is coming from someone who, whilst not prejuidiced against software synths (I own many) only uses one - FM7. My set up is 99% hardware and of that about 50% is analogue. I feel that Thor makes a moderate step forward in creating the audio quality of a real analogue synthesizer - yep, I think it’s probably the best software ‘analogue’ synthesizer I’ve heard so far, and there are some good ones already IMO. I don’t fancy my chances in telling it apart from a real machine. But what’s really important about Thor I feel is the analogue machine-style interface and of course the very well done modulatioin matrix. In this I think it’s definitely on top at the moment. I predict that it will be*the* ‘analogue-to-digital-converter for a lot of people who haven’t gone that way just yet. It might do it for me, although I think I will always retain some hardware.
Well said Magnetik. Thor is nothing special at all, there are scores of free VSTs, let alone commercial ones, which are just as good as the ‘amazing’ Thor. I’ve yet to hear a single patch that sounds even particularly original - everything I’ve heard from Thor sounds like tens of standard VST synths that have been around for years. But the Reason fans HAVE to convince themselves that it’s ‘amazing’ and a ‘monster’, because otherwise they’d have to admit that they’d wasted their money.
Why is anybody still limiting themselves by using Reason, when there are so many other much better programs on the market (or free), which allow you to use VSTs? It’s totally beyond me.
To put it simply, there is only so much variation you can produce with synthesis. You can only produce so many different sounds, and then that’s it, you’ve pretty much covered it. And the good news that that has already been achieved, a long time ago (comparatively), and you can produce all the sounds you need on loads of free VSTs, like Helix, etc.
But if any Thor users want to prove me wrong - do your worst! Post up some ‘amazing’ Thor patches and I’ll prepare to be ‘amazed’ …
Note: This comment was edit by removing offensive parts and nothing else. Please be civilized … Thank You! Andrei O.
To further elucidate my point - I searched for ‘Reason 4 Thor’ and came across an article on the SoundonSound site (quelle surprise), entitled, get this:
“Following last month’s introduction to the Thor synthesizer, we embark on a patch-building project and explore several of the key features of Reason 4’s god-like new synth…”
Yes, I’m sure it’s “god-like”… NOT. I wonder why SOS are all over Reason 4, but haven’t reviewed Orion or FLStudio for over THREE YEARS? I suppose their authors have been doing nothing for the past three years, but “the Props” are just so wonderful and ‘trendy’ that we must all be told how wonderful Reason 5,363 is when it comes out.
We all know, of course, that if Reason 4 was £50 then SOS would be ignoring it and hyping up whatever program was MORE expensive than it. How very logical of them. If it’s expensive, it must be good, apparently …
Note: This comment was edit by removing offensive parts and nothing else. Please be civilized … Thank You! Andrei O.
LOL, at the end of the day these are all tools to make music, none are greater or worse, its how you use them, further more by limiting yourself your further get more creative in making music. Dj Premier uses an MPC 60 … and can do stuff most ppl can’t with the best software … It ain’t the program, it’s the man running it! check out reason electric basses … that’s creative!
“these are all tools to make music, none are greater or worse, “…
Sure, that’s it. I was wrong all along. I suppose that the first build of EnergyXT is the same as the current one, and the first build of Reason is the same as Reason 4. Funny how the authors of these new versions always spend their time telling us how much BETTER they are than the previous versions, isn’t it …
What a typically response from a Reason lover - “We’re all the same. We’re all equal.”
That’s great for those at the bottom of the heap, because they get automatically raised to the middle, but those at the top get dragged down to their level …
I see you couldn’t rebut anything I’d written, Mr.Carew…
Let me repeat the article on the SoundOnSound site:
“Following last month’s introduction to the Thor synthesizer, we embark on a patch-building project and explore several of the key features of Reason 4’s god-like new synth…”
“god-like”.
Sure it is.
So Mr.Carew, can you or one of the other Reason fans post up some of the ‘amazing’ patches that Thor has? I haven’t heard any yet… I won’t hold my breath.
Note: This comment was edit by removing offensive parts and nothing else. Please be civilized … Thank You! Andrei O.
I’m not only a reason fan for one, I use Reason, I also use FL here and there, I use Massive etc … just for what ever mood I’m in. Your negative statements are a result of your total ignorance, Thor is new to Reason, it makes sounds like the rest I couldn’t care less on how your waiting to hold your breath. BTW while your doing that, could you see these are tools to make music. I can prolly make a track with pots and pans and make it sound good, it doesn’t matter what I’m using, tools are tools at the end of the day … question for you though what type of training have you had to boast such an attitude. Why you spend your time on a blog that’s been out dated for how long now? I made a post last year about something that interested me in a tool I use to make music … I use Thor in reason ‘caz it beats lugging around a Triton to the studio for certain patches I use. I don’t always use Thor or Reason for that matter …
Note: This comment was edit by removing offensive parts and nothing else. Please be civilized … Thank You! Andrei O.
Thanks for proving my point …
I see you couldn’t even post up ONE example of how Thor is BETTER than scores of free VSTs that are out there already …
Your post is a typical example of somebody who can’t admit they are wrong. Thor is not ‘amazing’, it’s nothing special, we already have more than enough synth VSTs on the market, and Reason 4 is as underpowered as the original Reason was, yet it’s still hyped up endlessly by the magazines, and the suckers who buy it and then have to justify their purchase by telling everybody else how “It’s like a whole rack of synths.”
If you think that all music software is the same, then why do magazine reviews exist? Why do developers of music software ever get past the first hour of programming? Surely they would have achieved everything they wanted to within the first hour, after all - they’re “all the same”, right? And Reason 4 is no doubt the same as Reason 3 and 2 and 1, and the same as FLStudio, and the same as Renoise, Buzz, etc.etc.
Note: This comment was edit by removing offensive parts and nothing else. Please be civilized … Thank You! Andrei O.
Just to repeat my question:
“So Mr.Carew, can you or one of the other Reason fans post up some of the ‘amazing’ patches that Thor has? I haven’t heard any yet… I won’t hold my breath.”
I’ve looked all over the internet, and not found one ‘amazing’ patch from Thor. I’ve watched Youtube videos, and thought “Is that it? What’s so new and amazing about that?”
So come on Reason 4 owners, can’t you show me ONE decent patch on Thor that can’t be done on Helix, or umpteen other free VSTs?
NOW LETS GET ONE THING STRAIGHT. I NEVER SAID REASON WAS THE BEST PIECE OF SOFTWARE! I SIMPLY SAID I WAS LOOKING FORWARD TO IT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING … I EVEN WENT TO THE PRODUCERS CONFERENCE IN TORONTO LAST YEAR TO TALK TO JAMES BERNARD ABOUT THOR. THE THING HAS THE ABILITY TO BE PUT IN A COMBINATOR. I CAN COMBINED A THOR PATCH TO BE THE BASS TONE ON A UPRIGHT I HAD MAPPED IN THE NN-XT TO GIVE ME THAT RIDICULOUS BOTTOM … I DON’T USE PATCHES, I MAKE MY OWN … THAT’S WHEN I EVEN USE THOR … I HAVEN’T MESSED WITH IT IN MONTHS … I MAKE ALL MY OWN REFILLS AS WELL, I FEEL BETTER KNOWING IT WAS ME RECORDING AND MAPPING OUT INSTRUMENTS ON MY OWN … I HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO LIKE MAKE MUSIC … AND WHO CARES ABOUT CRITICS … They get paid to write on how good or bad something is … like who cares … now if it was a Grammy award winning producers that wrote the comments and shit then i would actually read those things … but there not! I make hip hop, rnb and reggae why do I need the Thor unless I making some dirty south beats (which I don’t really do so much). It’s the only thing I use it for ‘caz most of the time my beats are underground type flow that make your neck break feel me?? I MAKE MAD MONEY MAKING BEATS AND RECORDING PPL, so what ever I use to do that is fine by me … NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK!
Note: This comment was edit by removing offensive parts and nothing else. Please be civilized … Thank You! Andrei O.
Thanks for proving my point yet again….
You said in your original post: “LOL, at the end of the day these are all tools to make music, none are greater or worse,”
This is clearly untrue. Is Protracker on a C64 better than Renoise on a PC? Obviously not.
Your comments (love the caps.) only serve to prove my point. You seem to be protesting too much.
You think Thor is great - but you can’t post up a single patch that’s BETTER than scores of free VSTs? Do you not see the problem there? What’s so great about Thor, if you can’t show us a decent patch produced with it, that would make it worth buying Reason 4 for?
buy it or dont the choice is yours i couldnt care less on how stupid you sound about pro tracker on a pc thats been outdated since time or whatever, i use reason i use massive i dont even use vsts caz i use rtas, i use protools, i use kontackt, i use a ton of software when im on a plane simply for composing i might use what i did in the final product but I’m a Hardware Fan, thats what i was raised on, software is software that runs on a os that has to much going on inside to bog your project down no matter how much ram u have or how fast ur cpu is, I own dedicated hardware to do my craft on. I only use reason a a tool and not the sequencer, i use a Atari 1040ST as my sequencer…there is nothing tighter with ppq as the atari..i use it soley for sequencing, i own a 24 trk tape machine i use this to drive tape sateration into my recordings i record smpte to a channel on the tape i have it synced to protools..protools follows because of the atari, i sync reason to the atari and i dont always rewire i have a seperate macbook just for reason and nothing else,..blah blah and blah i could go on for days but MY POINT IS IN NO SHAPE OR FORM DID I TRY TO CONVINCE ANYBODY ABOUT BUYING REASON 4 FOR THOR…I DIDNT PROVE YOUR POINT BECAUSE WHAT I SAID HAD NOTHNG TO DO WITH WHAT YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU HATE THE WORLD OR WHATEVER YOU WERE SAYING..your prolly at ur comp right now eh sanford…im in miami relaxing in the keys with my boys at this very minute typing soley on my iphone caz im pimp like that caz i make money making music, REAL MONEY you know the green, that paper, that scrizzle, that doe! Im successful…hell i even made a couple hits just using reason lol, WHO CARES WHAT U USE…The best recordings in history werent even created on a computer(can u belive that LMAO…). The Beatles, The doors , Jimi Hendrix…need I say more…USE WHAT YOU HAVE TO ACHEIVE WHAT YOU DESIRE!!!
when the fire settles…..
Thor is badass, no doubt. Reason will always be relevant, but we’re seeing it moving more towards the role of a component to be ReWired with other DAWs than a stand-alone solution. I believe the main reason for this is that there is still lack of support for audio tracking and direct waveform editing in the sequencer window. That has always felt a bit limiting but the advantages of Reason have always outweighed that for me. I know not everyone feels that way though.
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Can you post up some MP3s of it for me then?