Reason. Do pros use it?

Actually, I love reason. Depending on what you’re looking to get out of your final product should determine whether or not you would like to use the program. I run it with a midi keyboard and my PC.

I’m not exaclty known as a professional producer, though I have created original remixes that have been released (with Reason). It sounds great and if you keep adding on patches and refills, it only gets better.

When it comes to the interface and what you say are the small knobs and buttons – that’s where your midi comes into play. You can set your external midi controller to trigger nearly everything on the screen – leaving you with lesser need to rely on your mouse.

I remixed a track for a Chicago artist with Reason by creating the instrumental track. I reworked all of the vocals in Acid and imported the instrumental track – then layered it all together. Sounds great! Unfortunately, I do not own the rights to the track, so I cannot upload it for you to hear. If any of you come across and artist named "Jason Antone" – look up the track "With You" – Disko’s House Remix. That’ll give you a feel for what you can do with Reason.

Again – It’s all about your personal preferences. I don’t think calling it cr@p is fair. This just may be a misunderstanding of how to use the software for your own personal goals.

Pro-Tools is also fantastic, BUT – These are two completely different platforms that should not be compared to eachother. It’s like comparing a shopping mall to an online store. In the end, you get the same product – it’s how you go about getting it is what’s different.

Happy Sequencing!

If your friend is trying to say that professionals don’t use Reason, or that Reason can’t sound professional, then I respectfully submit that your friend may be somewhat ignorant. You’d be surprised at how many professional artists use Reason in thier recordings. The main "gripe" about Reason is that, well, it "sounds like Reason". But with time, experience and tweaking, Reason can be made to sound extremely rich and lively. I’ve got a Virus TI sitting on my desk with some of the best synthesized percussion I’ve heard, but I still use Reason for drums & percussion for it’s ease of use and versatility.

Bang for the buck, I’d say Reason is one of the best buys on the market for what you get, and when it comes down to it, you’ll never really "outgrow" it.

Just to name a few, Black Eye’d Pee’s, Prodigy, MYLO… all use reason. If you can understand it, its amazing. Even when it isnt used in rewire mode, as a standalone softsynth/sequencer, its unreal. It’s only downfall is its incompatibility with basic audio files like .wav.

Its my major tool of production…. use it along side with 1 or 2 more programs and you’ve got a full studio on your hands. Tell your friend he likes little boys.

AndyMac wrote:

[quote quote="chocolatechip":3v5yozeq]its all that ridiculously complicated rewireing the back of the rack in reason with those spiders and all the other units that you have to do to get the best sound out of reason. Most dont have the patience to learn it. i know i havent bothered! but its not to say i wont in the future when ive got more time and patience.

to be honest the wiring at the back of the rack is one of reasons greatest features i think personally anyways.[/quote:3v5yozeq]
I have to agree with you. The wiring in Reason is lovely and it makes it possible to do some crazy stuff with the audio signal from the units.
And you can always click off show cables if it get’s to much.

The wiring on reason makes it amazingly versitile. When you spin the rack around, its dawnting at first, but its just common sense.

The basics: the wires connect synthersizers, drum machines etc all together, then to a major mixer (simple)

Fun: You have an eight channel drum machine, but you only want distortion on the snare drum–> Run the main output of the drum machine straight to the mixer, and run the wires from the snare channel to a distortion unit in the rack, then back to the mixer. (still simple, yet awesome).

It can be much more complex, and its more for those who enjoy playing with cables. By no means is reason designed for everyone, but if your serious and enjoy plugging things into other things… its the best.

Very true to what Badboyc said

The mastering tools in Reason 3 are far nicer. I know tons of people including myself who ReWire it just for the ReDrum – with these mastering tools you can now add on all the compressors and other effects you want which makes a huge difference. Frankly I think Propellerheads would just be better off releasing the ReDrum as a VSTi in itself, save the hassle of having to ReWire the entire program.

Sure the cables can be fun but in the end they are just added hassle I’d far rather have the program do it itself, but being able to individually apply effects to different channels is an upside to this.

The combinator in Reason 3 gives you 1000000000x the potential for making new instruments out of and really kicks the production quality up. If you haven’t checked it out you should. I mean I still don’t use it as my main DAW but its good for people who are beginning and don’t have tons of VSTi’s kicking around to go with their program.

As for your friend buying Acid – well shit thats one of the lamest programs out there and definitely isn’t professional. Then again people saying Fruity Loops doesn’t look to professional and I know of a lot more big name producers that use it than use Reason. In the end its what suits you best and what your abilities are within the program. For me thats Ableton with Reason on the side.

Let’s take back even a few steps. Now, I can’t reference the band who did it, but anyone who is between the ages 18 and dead remember a little, bitty casio keyboard (a toy we probably got for our 6th birthdays). Probably about the siz of an Oxygen 8 and took about 4 AA batteries.

Remember this?

It had a little "demo song" button. You all remember that track – and if you don’t… go search for the song, "Daa Daa Daa". It was in a Volkswagen commercial about 7 years ago.

Come on – Pro’s using Reason? They used a teeny weeny casio toy! (Granted, it was a sample) But still.

So – I move we close this topic. Yes, pros and novices alike do use Reason. It has been proven above. As far as the rewiring goes – I think that topic alone deserves a thread of its own. Agreed?

[quote quote="mrjynx":3pbl2wd2]Nooo how can you campare reason to NS-10s?! I know wot your saying, ns10s dont add any bass etc, ie so you dont under compensate between systems, but its not like cubase (for example) is addind anything that aint there in the first place….?! [quote quote="mrjynx":3pbl2wd2]

NS10’s and Reason have one thing in common (with regards what an engineer requires) and that is a ‘flat’ sound.

mrjynx wrote:

Shouldnt a good mix engineer be able to make things fit, however fat/wide/over polished etc they are?

Yes, to an extent you can mask certain things, but nodody can work miracles, unless your Paul Daniels. But, when the sound is mixed (and processed) on ‘coloured’ monitors, and it needs quite a bit of top-end that is requested, you have to increase the noise floor to get it. And that makes things a lot less desirable. Not to mention phase issues. The end result though, is a compromise between an excellent sounding mix, and something that would definately sound excellent if the correct approach had taken place.

mrjynx wrote:

to me, reasons just something thats been written to emulate the more expensive, better written sequencers, and because of its flexibility and ease of use has caught on….

Reason was created for a specific purpose, and that was to create a Software Studio Rack, with an integrated sequncer. It was never meant to be able to compete with DAW based sequencers like Cubase, Logic, Sonar, etc.. The sole aim was to give people a program that would entice them from using their hardware samplers, drum machines, ’emulators’, small mixing consoles, and racks of effects. This was simply the way forward, and still is today. Why people try to put it into the same category as Cubase, and even Pro-Tools, I don’t know, because it is and never will be made to attempt those areas. I’ve seen people ask Reason or Cubase? They’re both in different categories.

[quote quote="mrjynx":3pbl2wd2]a well written virtual synth, for example using a sawtooth wave, will phisicly RIP the air… its abrasive, you can FEEL it….

(I know it doesnt really, but its so well written that it does it in a convinsing way)[/quote:3pbl2wd2]

It will, and being well written it should, but that is doing it’s purpose. Reason’s ‘synths’ are there to expanded on, and be added to the Production.

mrjynx wrote:

a poor written synth, just creates an emulation of a sound… and you can tell its just an emulation of a sound… you end up having to compensate the highs to brighten it up, compress to get some power, or atleast run the volume hot, and dont get me started on that grainy mid section….

But that is what you are meant to do, it’s the art of processing to get the sounds you desire for the mix.

[quote:3pbl2wd2]do all that in reason and that little red light from hell starts mocking you….
[/quote:3pbl2wd2]

Thats because Reason’s light clips around the -6dB level, which is considered the ‘standard’ for leaving enough headroom. I never record anything above -6dB anyway. Apart from snoring.

[quote:3pbl2wd2]I have free VSTs that even run from a stand alone sequencer still sound good, so I dont think the budget argument really stands up….
[/quote:3pbl2wd2]

The budget argument stands, because if you went and bought all the gear, in Reason, in hardware form, it would cost a small fortune and a reduction in beer money for a year or so, depending on income.

[quote quote="mrjynx":3pbl2wd2]I can make nice sounds using reason, I just dont wish to spend my whole life using the malstrom, just to say I can, when I have a lovely legacy collection waiting for me in cubase….
(well ya only live once)… [/quote:3pbl2wd2]

But thats the thing, Cubase, as I have said, is a different ball game, but if you load 10 samplers in Cubase and 10 in Reason, the CPU would take a bit more of a battering.

[quote:3pbl2wd2]on the other hand, if I`d have been asked this a year ago say, I`d have said reason all the way, simple cos my ears aint become acustomed to better sounding stuff…[/quote:3pbl2wd2]

Theres nothing wrong with better sounding stuff, but I see things as whats the best can I get out of it when it goes into the final production stage. I wouldn’t dream of using Reason, FL, Acid etc… for final production. Because final production is for the bigger boys called Cubase SX, Logic, Sonar etc…

[quote quote="mrjinx":3pbl2wd2]well, thats me rant dun, dint mean for that to sound in any way agressive…lol

(PS: I`m way to inexperienced to understand a word of wot I just said… hope it made sense… )

Toodle pipski….![/quote:3pbl2wd2][/quote:3pbl2wd2][/quote:3pbl2wd2]

No, probs, I always take what you say as being agressive anyway.

PS. I have an Amiga 1200 thats way better than Pro-Tools. Work that one out.

I have been working on this cd and co-producing it with a few hip hop producers, dj Kemo from the Rascalz, Swollen Members, Kaos, camp that is all he uses I was shocked, but mind you he uses it to write beats, I mix the stuff in pro tools mostly cause I have 3 mix cards and I can run hella plugs.

i’m not a professional per say (I have a day job) but have had two releases which were put together purely using reason. I think if you have the patience and a little bit of talent then it’s a great tool. My only critisim is that the overall sound you get out of reason is a little flat copared to other kit…
good luck