According to dictionary.com, synthesizers are electronic instruments, often played with a keyboard, which combine simple waveforms to produce more complex sounds, such as those of various other instruments. Within Reason, synthesizers simply act as the definition describes; by allowing you to edit the waveforms, you can manipulate how an instrument sounds, making it sound like another instrument or even something from a different universe.

Remember, to create a new synthesizer, you can either right click in the empty rack space and select Subtractor or Malstrom or you can click create at the top of the window to the command bar and click on Create then the synthesizer you wish to use, (the Subtractor or Malstrom).

This is what the Subtractor Synthesizer looks like:

You can either manually edit the form of the wave by manipulating the knobs, slides and buttons or you can open a prefabricated setting by clicking on the little button with the file folder on it. Once you click the folder, a patch browser will pop up and it looks and acts very similar to Windows Explorer.

You then will click on the folder with the "1" on it and then click on the "Reason Factory Sound Bank" folder, then the "Subtractor Patches" folder because you are working with the Subtractor. Then you can browse through a bunch of different kinds of patches, (bass, fx, monosynths, pads, etc.) and find what sound you really want. You can edit the settings for the patch if you wish by changing positions of knobs, buttons and slides to get the perfect sound and then if you wish, you can save the settings by clicking the button with the disk symbol next to the button you clicked to get to the patches.

This is what the Malstrom Synthesizer looks like:

The settings are very similar to the Subtractor but the Malstrom sounds different and also has a very small volume knob at the bottom right. You can edit the same things as you can on the Subtractor but they are positioned differently. To open a patch is the same process you did with the Subtractor but you simply choose the "Malstrom Patches" folder within the "Reason Factory Sound Bank" folder rather than the "Subtractor Patches" folder.

The next instrument we are going to tackle is the Digital Samplers.