KVR Audio

Phase47 · Post by **Phase47** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 12:59 am

I just heard something that was produced in Reason top-to-bottom. I would have never guessed - it sounded, really, really good - as good as anything that could come out of Live or Logic.

I haven't used Reason since 2.5, and always thought of it as more of a toy than anything else. I used to Rewire it into Logic for little arpeggios or drum parts. I haven't looked at it since then. Has this thing matured into the real deal? I was seriously impressed with this piece I heard. Somebody clue me in!

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 2:21 am

Phase47 wrote:I just heard something that was produced in Reason top-to-bottom. I would have never guessed - it sounded, really, really good - as good as anything that could come out of Live or Logic.

I haven't used Reason since 2.5, and always thought of it as more of a toy than anything else. I used to Rewire it into Logic for little arpeggios or drum parts. I haven't looked at it since then. Has this thing matured into the real deal? I was seriously impressed with this piece I heard. Somebody clue me in!

I would say that Reason has matured a lot since 2.5 as both a stand-alone device and slave for rewire projects. One of the biggest changes I found great in version 7 was the new SSL based mixing board because it provided a more hardware based studio-like workflow while sounding pretty darn good.

Since version 5 Reason now can record audio either from itself and from Version 6 it can record audio from outboard gear and instruments. Version 7 provides plenty of new audio tools and it also has Midi out so you can send midi from reasons devices which was a huge request for a long time on the PUF boards.

As you probably know one of the "game changing" features for reason is the new RE devices which allows 3rd party programmers to create reason rack devices. It is still new and the platform is actively being updated but you will find some high quality devices from U-he, Fxpansion, Softube etc.

I think the RE platform has helped provide reason with a wider palette of sounds and removes the stigma of reason having a "toy like sound". The inclusion of the 3rd party rack devices does come at performance costs which are unique to the devices you buy so not all of them offer the same reason renown low CPU usage.

Reason still has the same concept of rack gear which gives you access to the back panels and lets you go crazy with custom routing. There really is a lot to offer and when using the propellerhead devices you still get the same ultra low and stable performance that you got with previous versions. I would honestly suggest giving the demo a spin because it is essentially the full version apart from saving.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 4:44 pm

Reason seems to be one of those products that gets dismissed out of hand. It's certainly far from the poor quality tool that many seem to paint it as, and of course, the whole argument about the quality of the audio processed from it is bullshit as much as it is for any other audio processing software.

3rdFloorSound · Post by **3rdFloorSound** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:01 pm

robojam wrote:Reason seems to be one of those products that gets dismissed out of hand. It's certainly far from the poor quality tool that many seem to paint it as, and of course, the whole argument about the quality of the audio processed from it is bullshit as much as it is for any other audio processing software.

For a long time I wondered where that assumption about the "reason sound" came from, I've been using it since version 3 with great results. Then I began listening to the music made by the people complaining about it and recognized they stuck to the presets in the factory sound bank rather than tweaking their own. They experienced the same reason sound because they were using the same presets.
I guess I was just too curious about all the buttons and knobs in the beginning, and never went through that.
-----
Audio used to be a pain, but that's been solved,
The main mixer is a serious improvement over what it once was,
spectrum analyzer, in lane rex slicing, etc.
There are still some quirks that need to be worked out but they get rarer with each new version.

Hey, I liked it so much I became a refill developer.

V0RT3X · Post by **V0RT3X** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:20 pm

robojam wrote:Reason seems to be one of those products that gets dismissed out of hand. It's certainly far from the poor quality tool that many seem to paint it as, and of course, the whole argument about the quality of the audio processed from it is bullshit as much as it is for any other audio processing software.

I don't know why it does get dismissed, I personally really enjoy Reason and am going to be purchasing it again as soon as i get some funds on hand.

The way that I've been using it with Ableton Live makes me feel like I have a secret weapon combo because they work so solidly together.

robogone · Post by **robogone** » Mon Mar 10, 2014 5:56 pm

V0RT3X wrote:
robojam wrote:Reason seems to be one of those products that gets dismissed out of hand. It's certainly far from the poor quality tool that many seem to paint it as, and of course, the whole argument about the quality of the audio processed from it is bullshit as much as it is for any other audio processing software.
I don't know why it does get dismissed, I personally really enjoy Reason and am going to be purchasing it again as soon as i get some funds on hand.

The way that I've been using it with Ableton Live makes me feel like I have a secret weapon combo because they work so solidly together.

That's exactly how I use it and I feel like I have almost endless creative options.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 1:32 am

Yes I frequently use Reason 7 with Cubase 7.5 and have no issues. Reason is great for getting ideas down quickly and working with various grooves. I finish things off in Cubase, usually rewired together, and it is AWESOME!

Some nice tweaks coming soon as well!

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Tue Mar 11, 2014 2:10 am

The bottomline is Reason 7 > Any studio in the 80s-90s. So if you like any song from the 80s or 90s, that sound can be made with Reason.

summer2000 · Post by **summer2000** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 4:16 am

keyman_sam wrote:The bottomline is Reason 7 > Any studio in the 80s-90s. So if you like any song from the 80s or 90s, that sound can be made with Reason.

So Reason is not so good to get a similar sound for any songs from 2000 and beyond, right?

keyman_sam · Post by **keyman_sam** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 12:35 pm

summer2000 wrote:
keyman_sam wrote:The bottomline is Reason 7 > Any studio in the 80s-90s. So if you like any song from the 80s or 90s, that sound can be made with Reason.
So Reason is not so good to get a similar sound for any songs from 2000 and beyond, right?

Ofcourse you can. The implication was that, what used to be a top-notch professional studio is now contained within a single piece of software.

KevWestBeats · Post by **KevWestBeats** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:28 pm

Phase47 wrote:I just heard something that was produced in Reason top-to-bottom. I would have never guessed - it sounded, really, really good - as good as anything that could come out of Live or Logic.

I haven't used Reason since 2.5, and always thought of it as more of a toy than anything else. I used to Rewire it into Logic for little arpeggios or drum parts. I haven't looked at it since then. Has this thing matured into the real deal? I was seriously impressed with this piece I heard. Somebody clue me in!

Reason 2.5 and Reason 7 are totally different animals. Reason still has its little annoying things about it but its coming along very well. Its a power house now and the Rack Extension format will eventually make Reason just as powerful if not more than other DAWs once it matures. Props stuck to their guns and made a very niche program

damoog · Post by **damoog** » Sun Mar 16, 2014 3:18 pm

Reasons audio quality has come on heaps since 2.5..the ssl sounds incredible to my ears,even on its own

stroker_ace · Post by **stroker_ace** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:11 pm

KevWestBeats wrote:the Rack Extension format will eventually make Reason just as powerful if not more than other DAWs once it matures.

Uh, no.

It's not like the other DAWs and VST developers will take a nice, long break to give Rack Extensions time to "mature"; they will be moving forward, too.

KevWestBeats · Post by **KevWestBeats** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:34 pm

stroker_ace wrote:
KevWestBeats wrote:the Rack Extension format will eventually make Reason just as powerful if not more than other DAWs once it matures.
Uh, no.

It's not like the other DAWs and VST developers will take a nice, long break to give Rack Extensions time to "mature"; they will be moving forward, too.

It's not like vst devs are the only people making re in fact they are in the minority. Reason users tend to be patient and many re devs are reason users

Ogopogo · Post by **Ogopogo** » Mon Mar 17, 2014 7:40 pm

KevWestBeats wrote:Its a power house now and the Rack Extension format will eventually make Reason just as powerful if not more than other DAWs once it matures. Props stuck to their guns and made a very niche program

I can't see that happening. As long as devs have limited time/resources they will concentrate on standards that most daws support. There will probably never the same range of choice for Reason as there is for a host that supports VST or Au.

Reason?