Two of the most popular software synthesizers (software that turns your computer in a musical synthesizer) are Propellerhead's Reason, and its upstart competitor, Cakewalk's Project5.

Both were recently updated with new versions. Reason is up to version 3.0 and Project5 (which debuted in 2003) is on version 2.

After spending the weekend playing with the two programs, I sort of know how Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush must have felt in the early 1980s when they played the first Synclavier and Fairlight synthesizers.

Those two synthesizers were the first sampling synthesizers, and unlike these two infinitely more affordable programs, cost tens of thousands dollars--each--back in the early '80s. But because they were capable of revolutionary new sounds, musicians who could afford them, such as Gabriel, Bush and Jan Hammer, flocked to them. As a result, the music of the 1980s sounded very different from the guitar-dominated previous decade.

What these new updates allow are much easier arranging and composing, and could have an equally important impact to home recording, as well as "DIY" (to borrow a Gabriel title) soundtrack work. And as the Long Tail of the Internet means that music and video are increasingly moving away from Hollywood, that's a good thing.

Reason's "Combinator" Makes Layering Sounds a Breeze

Let's start with Reason, because over the past five or six years, it's become the benchmark for software synthesizers. Its rack mount-style GUI has made it very easy for even a complete beginner to load up a synth or two and produce sounds very quickly.

The big new feature in Reason Version 3.0 is a plug-in that only makes getting those sounds easier. Called "The Combinator", it comes with dozens of presets that daisy chain together an assortment of Reason's built-in virtual synths and effects to produce a variety of layered sounds, ranging from a full symphony orchestra to ensembles of related instruments (such as brass, strings, and percussion), to all sorts of electronic-sounding instruments.

Songwriters looking to plug a string or brass arrangement into their songs should now find that much easier. A chord or a line played on a MIDI-equipped keyboard (or a MIDI guitar synth, like I often use) will result in a big rich sound from the Combinator's layered instruments.

Reason also adds a mastering suite to their package, and a few other new details, as this review from Remix magazine explains.

Project5's "Arpeggiator" Makes Inventing New Synth Riffs a Snap

While Reason will work on both PCs and Macs, Cakewalk has, since their start in the late-1980s, specialized in instruments for the Windows-based PC. They released Project5 in mid-2003 with the headline "Beyond Reason"--nudge nudge, wink wink.

Perhaps because it was explicitly marketed as a Reason-killer, Project5's first version seemed somewhat lacking (at least to me). Its interface was nowhere near as intuitive as Reason's. And while there were some nice preset sounds, they didn't seem as extensive as Reason's huge bank of patches.