Reason

[Mighty Jalapeno]

1.) Does anyone here use this terrifying juggernaught of software, and

2.) What have I gotten myself into?

[Dream]

You've gotten yourself into... super Awesome!

I used Reason a lot back in version 2.5, and I loved it. It's powerful, intuitive, musical and capable of sounding really fantastic. Now that it's got proper sampling, it's definitely a top notch music environment. My only advice is to flip the rack around and plug everything into everything. The library sounds and loops are boring, just like for every software system. The real fun is making things do weird stuff they weren't designed to do. Having almost endlessly flexible signal and CV routing is Reason's big advantage over most packages.

I'm excited even though it's not even me who's got the thing

[Ingolifs]

I use Reason 4. I've been using it for a bit over a year now, having managed to learn how to use the program (and learn how music works in the first place) through a lot of trial and error.

The stuff I make now is actually quite decent. You can listen to it here http://soundcloud.com/tbevan


Anyway, I'm very familiar with the program, and i've been eager to teach someone how to use the program for some time... so if you have any question at all, don't hesitate to ask.

[SirMustapha]

I use it mostly because of the samples, which overall are pleasant enough. I intend to explore it further after I get my next album done, and I agree that the most exciting possibilities lie in routing and cabling things in unexpected ways. There are no "rules" for how to do things, and no danger of blowing up equipment (except, perhaps, your speakers), so it's great to dive in and try.

[Ivor Zozz]

Used it for about six years now.

It's a really flexible and modular environment, letting you do things not possible in most sequencing software. Lots of fun.

[SiriusBeatz]

Hardly an expert with Reason, but I can tell from my experiences with other software that it's a very powerful package. You get some pretty high end and versatile synths in there, plus a couple solid samplers with nice sounds preinstalled from the get go. You can get a lot done in it from day one with some experimentation.

I've since moved on to new software called Renoise that uses a wholly different paradigm, but I'm liking the switch so far. I get access to the ever-expanding world of Virtual Studio Technology (VST) that you can't use in Reason, and I can do a lot more sequencing by the QWERTY keyboard, which is nice, because I do my production on a laptop, and don't like to carry around a big old MIDI keyboard with me if I don't have to. It's built along the lines of older programs called trackers, so it's not for everyone. Basically, you use this little, vertically-scrolling spreadsheet to enter the notes, which is fine for me, since I've realized I really don't like Reason's actual sequencing section very much at all.

Anyway, Reason is still cool because you get a whole bloody lot of neat sounds to play with for about $300 (I think that's what they're selling it for, these days), and it's really stable and efficient when compared to other similar programs like FL Studio. Like others said, you also get some pretty interesting possibilities with modular signal routing and whatnot. But the issue with Reason is that once you've bought it, you're pretty much stuck using what's given to you - it doesn't offer much in the way of expandability. Plus, if you're like me, you'll quickly learn that composing with a mouse is way too slow to be inspiring at all. So if you don't mind losing all the neat inbuilt sounds and modularity of Reason, but having the option to bring in a lot more than what they give you with a little extra searching for VSTs, you should take a look at Renoise. Nowadays, I just use Reason for sounds to bring into Renoise.

If you *really* like having built in sounds, you could also try FL Studio, which also comes with a bunch of neat toys, runs for a pretty comparable price, and also uses VSTs.

[Dream]

But the issue with Reason is that once you've bought it, you're pretty much stuck using what's given to you - it doesn't offer much in the way of expandability. Plus, if you're like me, you'll quickly learn that composing with a mouse is way too slow to be inspiring at all. So if you don't mind losing all the neat inbuilt sounds and modularity of Reason, but having the option to bring in a lot more than what they give you with a little extra searching for VSTs, you should take a look at Renoise.

I don't think Reason sticks you to anything at all. You said it yourself, you can move sound from Reason into anything else at all via ReWire. Since you're still running Reason alongside whatever other software you're using, you don't lose any functionality at all. I'd say Renoise, being a tracker, isn't a good choice for anyone wanting to add to Reason. Reason can already place clips of sound precisely in a grid within its compositions, which is the main function of a tracker. I wouldn't recommend learning a tracker's completely different approach as a first step beyond Reason. I'd recommend any fully featured DAW with ReWire support or JACK implementation. Reaper is a good example I've mentioned around here before. That's if one wanted to add other functionality to Reason. If I wanted to move up from Reason within the same paradigm, the only place to go would be Native Instruments Reaktor.

[SiriusBeatz]

You can ReWire pretty much any DAW into any other DAW these days, so I wouldn't really call that much of a special functionality of Reason. And I still think that the lack of VST support pretty much cripples Reason from being a very complete package. Yes, in terms of really crazy synthesis, you can do quite a bit with Reason, but if you wanted to write an orchestral score for a movie or something, your best bet would be the Orkester ReFill, which, frankly, isn't even all that great compared to the East West Quantum Leap stuff. And besides, Reason can only act as a Rewire slave, so whatever you Rewire it into is going to likely be more fully featured anyway.

Secondly, for a guy who's just getting into computer music (as I presume the OP is), I really don't see how a modern tracker like Renoise would be a poor choice. It's cheap, running around $72 US these days, and has a pretty active community willing to help newbies with learning the program and finding some free and relatively good instruments and VSTs. It's not as visual as something like Reason, but if they haven't been spoiled by the eye-candy, I don't see how that makes much of a difference Honestly, Renoise is my first tracker, and I don't really see how it's a very limiting sequencing environment at all, as long as you don't play too much stuff in live. Then it gets a little messy with all the delay/velocity/volume column entries. I'll admit that a piano roll is a lot cleaner, but I think the tracker view is a lot faster for guys working without a MIDI keyboard. Saved me another 70-odd bucks I was going to spend on a nanoKEY.

As for Reaktor, I feel like that's great for guys who just want to make some really wild sounds and effects, but you can't really sequence much with that. And I don't think it does ReWire, and Reason doesn't do MIDI out, so you're stuck with one or the other if you buy it, whereas Renoise could load Reaktor and sequence whatever monstrosities you've created.

Anyway, I'm not really saying there's anything inherently wrong with Reason. I'm just saying that I've since moved on, because Reason doesn't really offer the kinds of things I need - namely, some degree of third-party expandability, a sequencer section that better suits my workflow, and a lower price point The only thing that's bugging me about Renoise is the rather poor support for long audio tracks like live vocals or guitars. But then, Reason did that pretty poorly too, and I didn't feel like shelling out another $200 to fix it with Record. I figure the Renoise developers will have that fixed in the next version, which should be out pretty soon.

Props to REAPER, though. Haven't used it myself, but I've heard very good things. I might invest in that if proper audio tracks aren't incorporated into Renoise with this next version or so. Then I could do sequencing instruments in Renoise, and do recordings in REAPER.