KVR Audio

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:06 pm

I just won a copy of Reason 10, I've used Reason before, I have 2.5 adapted that I never use, but now that I have the whole app, I guess I can devote some time to making something of it. So i guess my question for users is, does vst hosting work OK, what REs should I check out, I'm heavily invested in Reaper and VSTis so I don't think I am switching platforms, but how best can I slip Reason into a Reaper based workflow. I haven't been very prolific lately, I am thinking Reason may either for the distract me, but then maybe it will channel some creativity gnomes. Anyhow, advice?

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:17 pm

braj wrote:I just won a copy of Reason 10

Grats. I'd take it too.

Regarding RE's, i'd wait for a sale on ReSpire, which is the RE version of Spire. It's on sale occasionally, for $69. Although, if you already have it as a VST, there might be no need to buy the RE as well. Dunno about the other RE's. I never really saw any essential "must have", to be honest. Nothing that's not already been done better in the VST world.

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:32 pm

Yeah, I'm not looking to invest in REs. Is there a way to magnify the rack at all?

Winstontaneous · Post by **Winstontaneous** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 8:44 pm

IME Reason 10 is the least efficient VST host I have - I'd consider Reaper the most efficient.

I especially like Reason for recording other people while I'm playing/engineering, also for comping takes and tuning vocals and general timestretching.
It's premapped to several of my controllers and just works.
High points for me in Reason are: full featured mixer, RV7000 reverb, Alligator gate, Pulverizer compressor/filter, Kong drum machine, Malstrom and Thor synth, Scream distortion. New sample/wavetable synth is cool. Modulation options are great and I come up with crazy rippling harmonic textures quite easily.

Things I don't really like:
- Its playback head management sucks compared to Reaper/Logic where you can change behavior of what happens when you hit spacebar (goes back to loop or song beginning or last playhead position). In general sorely needs user keyboard shortcuts.
- Many of the ancient instruments including Subtractor are fun and useful but the old filters sound like cardboard (and I mean the thin cereal box stuff, not a burly corrugated refrigerator box

), especially on the Dr. Rex loop player. These were developed when computers were about 10X slower and had much less RAM. Would love to see an optimized update for all the old devices.
- It's not as easy to swap out plugins as in Ableton Live/Reaper and complicated racks turn into spaghetti right quick~
- Don't think there's a way to solo FX returns
- Realtime sampling is cool but there's no simple way to record arbitrary combos of tracks/master as audio in realtime - this is so easy in Ableton ("Resampling" input on an audio track) or Reaper ("Receive from all tracks"). NOT talking about render or bounce in place - I mean old-school analog style where you record what you're hearing in realtime either as stems or stereo mix).
- I wish Propellerheads had focused more on Reason as "super-efficient instrument/effects processor" rather than "me-too DAW"
- Other than Polar pitch shifter I avoid paid REs, would rather invest in cross-platform plugins

THE INTRANCER · Post by **THE INTRANCER** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:08 pm

If it was me in 2018 and I'd won a copy of Reason 10, I'd sell it and put the money towards a better commercial daw if Reaper was all I had.

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:20 pm

THE INTRANCER wrote:If it was me in 2018 and I'd won a copy of Reason 10, I'd sell it and put the money towards a better commercial daw.

Yeah, i get that, but it was free, I have always liked Reason, I'm willing to give learning it better a go. I'm not sure I can sell it anyhow.

I have an older Windows all in one that I might put Reason on, run it without VSTs as a closed box, I think it would do well with that and give the computer a use.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:31 pm

Or just rewire Reason into another DAW, and enjoy the best of both worlds.

THE INTRANCER · Post by **THE INTRANCER** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:34 pm

braj wrote:
THE INTRANCER wrote:If it was me in 2018 and I'd won a copy of Reason 10, I'd sell it and put the money towards a better commercial daw.
Yeah, i get that, but it was free, I have always liked Reason, I'm willing to give learning it better a go. I'm not sure I can sell it anyhow.

I have an older Windows all in one that I might put Reason on, run it without VSTs as a closed box, I think it would do well with that and give the computer a use.

If it's an NFR copy, I guess you're out of luck in selling it if it is... also it's worth keeping in mind that as Reason has developed over the years, the minimum requirements have also increased but really, nobody really wants to work at that level if they can.

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:39 pm

Yeah, there's nothing that says it is NFR. But anyhow, Reaper is much faster to do nearly everything with from what I can tell so far. I didn't pay anything for Reason, I kind of don't feel right selling it, I think I'll gift it to a friend if I don't find I need it.

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:43 pm

chk071 wrote:Or just rewire Reason into another DAW, and enjoy the best of both worlds.

Yeah, I don't have fond memories of working with Rewire and another DAW. I'm not really sure Reason would add anything for me not available already in Reaper. I think if I get something going in Reason I want to finish in Reaper, I would probably just export stems.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 9:59 pm

Reason is an awesome tool in of itself. The workflow is great and the tools, though dated work well together. Adding in VST, as much as it was requested, was not the best idea. I love the purity of Reason without the VST aspect. If I want VST I can load Cubase.

Using Reason in conjunction with Cubase was always my favorite way of doing it (via ReWire). It can be inspiring once you get to know it.

pc999 · Post by **pc999** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:34 pm

Do you really need to try VSTs with reason?

As far as was I knew Reason have some of the best synths/samples on the market, I would spend my time around them.

braj · Post by **braj** » Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:40 pm

Yeah, I dunno about Reason having the best synths. VSTs work fine from what I have seen so far, Korg Odyssey didn't kill my CPU so I think it is usable.

Digic · Post by **Digic** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:37 am

braj wrote:
Yeah, I don't have fond memories of working with Rewire and another DAW. I'm not really sure Reason would add anything for me not available already in Reaper. I think if I get something going in Reason I want to finish in Reaper, I would probably just export stems.

Reaper don't have a drum machine, so you can rewire Reason and make use of Kong Drum Designer or Redrum, make patterns and shit, coz i think it's easier than throwing a bunch of samples on multiple channels in Reaper. That's one way of utilizing Reason. Ofc, you can do a lot more.
For start i recommend Propellerheads YouTube channel, maybe you'll find something useful over there.

braj · Post by **braj** » Thu Feb 22, 2018 12:42 am

Digic wrote:
braj wrote:
Yeah, I don't have fond memories of working with Rewire and another DAW. I'm not really sure Reason would add anything for me not available already in Reaper. I think if I get something going in Reason I want to finish in Reaper, I would probably just export stems.
Reaper don't have a drum machine, so you can rewire Reason and make use of Kong Drum Designer or Redrum, make patterns and shit, coz i think it's easier than throwing a bunch of samples on multiple channels in Reaper. That's one way of utilizing Reason. Ofc, you can do a lot more.
For start i recommend Propellerheads YouTube channel, maybe you'll find something useful over there.

Yeah, Reaper uses VSTs, so it has drum machines. I would rather use Reason as its own thing without the complication of working across two environments.

I just tried scanning my main VST folder and that been no fun at all. If I do use VSTs with Reason, it will be sparingly.

New Reason 10 owner, where to start?