What is Reason? New promo video from Propellerhead

[machinesworking]

until very very recently in what is still in a beta version state.... CPU processing was about 4 times more efficient in Studio One..I'd estimate.

I'm not at all surprised Reason has CPU issues, especially using VSTs and their own plug in format, , but then you're also saying they solved this?

Not a goal post shift on your part, you just weren't being clear (at least in my reading of what you wrote). It's totally possible in pretty much any DAW to do complex editing, and complex music. Track counts, and how comfortable it is for you to do that, is a different story of course.

[THE INTRANCER]

I'm not at all surprised Reason has CPU issues, especially using VSTs and their own plug in format, , but then you're also saying they solved this?

Not a goal post shift on your part, you just weren't being clear (at least in my reading of what you wrote). It's totally possible in pretty much any DAW to do complex editing, and complex music. Track counts, and how comfortable it is for you to do that, is a different story of course.

It's in a similar thread, posted a bit further down here... but here's the direct link.. https://www.propellerheads.com/blog/rea ... ow-in-beta

Essentially, Props have claimed that they are on par with other DAW's and that rack based devices have benefited from the changes. But really, until a release candidate version is released to those beta testers who are testing it, it's really going to be taking the props word for it as the initial beta will have background logging code behind it and thus any performance increase there is, just won't be accurate enough to judge. Generally there is a significant pullback in performance of released Beta's.

If it doesn't shape up, the props will certainly hear about it over on reasontalk.

[machinesworking]

I'm not at all surprised Reason has CPU issues, especially using VSTs and their own plug in format, , but then you're also saying they solved this?

Not a goal post shift on your part, you just weren't being clear (at least in my reading of what you wrote). It's totally possible in pretty much any DAW to do complex editing, and complex music. Track counts, and how comfortable it is for you to do that, is a different story of course.

It's in a similar thread, posted a bit further down here... but here's the direct link.. https://www.propellerheads.com/blog/rea ... ow-in-beta

Essentially, Props have claimed that they are on par with other DAW's and that rack based devices have benefited from the changes. But really, until a release candidate version is released to those beta testers who are testing it, it's really going to be taking the props word for it as the initial beta will have background logging code behind it and thus any performance increase there is, just won't be accurate enough to judge. Generally there is a significant pullback in performance of released Beta's.

If it doesn't shape up, the props will certainly hear about it over on reasontalk.

Big claims to fill for sure. After doing a bunch of testing in my experience there are two tiers of DAWs in terms of CPU use, Live, Bitwig, MPC2 all come in at about 65% of what DAWs like Studio One, DP10, Logic, Cubase etc. come in at. The later category in tests come in at roughly 10% of each other CPU performance wise, with Reaper usually pulling out maybe one more instance than the others etc.

I'm going to the a guess and predict that Reason will end up being somewhere closer to the first "modern DAW' category, and not be as CPU friendly as the second. Obviously I think a company as good as Properllerheads can at least get their DAW into the first category, I just kind of doubt that a company that took 15 years to introduce VST in the first place doesn't have major challenges trying to implement all the complex buffering and pre-rendering tricks the other DAWs use to help keep CPU under control.

[machinesworking]

Oh, and I would also guess that Reason would be just dandy CPU wise and track count wise using their own plug ins. They did an absolutely fantastic job at that in 2.5 etc. when I used it regularly on computers that could run only a handful of VSTs.

[hhuang9611]

I almost made the decision of switching from ableton to reason for sometime but then the lack of support for VST midi output is such a bummer. I use a lot of midi vsts like cthulhu, instachord,cream, etc.

[tony10000]

If you want to hear what you can do with Reason these days, listen to tracks by EMBRZ. He has a contract with Ultra Records and his stuff is definitely first class:

[BlackOctopus_Slade]

I have been a user of Reason since very first one and still use it every single day for production and writing paired with Pro Tools! It still works even though its stand alone DAW in the latest versions with latest version of Pro Tools too, which is amazing (just has a bit of a work around to get it to Rewire now), and allows me to get the best of both worlds. Its true though so many people these days are in Ableton and don't even know of Reason or those that knew of it think its still just a few rack production synths and drums machines/samplers etc and dont realize how powerful it truly is.

[antic604]

Essentially, Props have claimed that they are on par with other DAW's...

You're in for a big disappointment if you're expecting that.

Notice, how they were cautious in their communication to mostly mention Live as a reference. Anyone familiar with DAWs will know that software that's more geared towards live performance and experimental music (Live, Bitwig, Reason) will have lower DSP performance, because they're designed to run - without a hitch - complex patches, with heavy modulation & routing, non-linear sequencers, ability to swap stuff (patches, clips, full scenes) on the fly and lots of random control elements. Now try to do some editing to the clips, alter your arrangement or change the patch in Cubase while it's playing and it'll either skip few notes or stop playing altogether for fraction of a second. That's not the case in those other DAWs, because they were built for it. The downside is you can't put 72 instances of bx_console E like you can in Cubase, Reaper or Studio One that employ complex pre-buffering mechanisms which provide smooth playback but fall apart if you start changing stuff on the fly.

10.3 will handle VSTs better, but not Reaper-better

[festeringheap]

...new producers that started in last 5 years have probably never heard of it or it looks alien to them, unlike any other DAW on the market.

Imo, every DAW looks alien to me. Unless I choose to find out more about it.

Anyways, some thoughts on Propellerhead video:

I guess the DAW market is pretty saturated. Everyone who has been in production the last 1-5-10-15-20
years knows what they want and need, and have it already.

So you need to target existing users and get them to continue to upgrade and/or buy additional instruments/effects/loop through DAW shops.

There is more interest these days with (mostly) older people using modular, so it's no surprise that the first PropShop RE shown in the video was Complex-1. They will likely be more to come in the future from Propellerhead. Lots of older users with memories of synth cabling with disposable money to spend on modular toys.

With the saturation of DAW owner - mostly male, there has been a move into having more of a female presence in music production advertising lately - Izotope, Arturia, Propellerhead come to mind off the top of my head.

This vid features a teenaged girl doing the voice-over - a clear departure from the usual dude that did their videos in the past. In the video, there is also a young woman with headphones using iOS Reason Compact on her iPhone. A young person can start work on the iPhone and then continue on in desktop Reason with instruments** in the sequencer.

Tough sell there, I think. Easier to start on GarageBand iOS where you could sing a vocal as well and continue into free version of Garageband for Mac, then shell out $399 for Reason. Even Logic Pro X is cheaper at 199. However, Propellerhead has to try anything for more sales.

---

**looks like there will be more "instrument(s)" coming soon in Reason Compact for iOS as that's what the video says. (Well, they say instruments, and Europa is only one instrument...) Looking forward to see what happens there, as, so far, each update has basically been a new in-app purchase for another Europa Soundpack. (Not that I fault Propellerhead for going for the easy money. I'd like them to succeed and continue to make money)

[xbitz]

fyi, Reason 10.3.0 - Fast deployment version is reachable, beta testing time

[reggie1979]

fyi, Reason 10.3.0 - Fast deployment version is reachable, beta testing time

Guess I'm not getting in on this cycle

[xbitz]

quite fun that the luckily found block offset makes Reason usable (if u are in AL,FL etc. like pattern based workflow) ... still there is no clip looping, ghost clips ... nothing

so quickly sharing here too, why I have to reinvent the/a new workflow in each DAWs dunno, anyway the GUI still looks nice in Reason

[THE INTRANCER]

You're in for a big disappointment if you're expecting that.

Notice, how they were cautious in their communication to mostly mention Live as a reference.

What... Ableton Live ? I've not noticed any reference to that DAW or in fact any DAW in particular...do you have a reference you can quote ?

[cthulufunk]

Like rlared said above, we tend to simply do things a bit different and focus on parts of the DAW that are our strengths, that users want and that result in more music and fun. More options doesn't always lead to more music. But everyone's different so I get that might not appeal to everyone.

"The enemy of art is the absence of limitations" - Orson Welles

[machinesworking]

Notice, how they were cautious in their communication to mostly mention Live as a reference. Anyone familiar with DAWs will know that software that's more geared towards live performance and experimental music (Live, Bitwig, Reason) will have lower DSP performance, because they're designed to run - without a hitch - complex patches, with heavy modulation & routing, non-linear sequencers, ability to swap stuff (patches, clips, full scenes) on the fly and lots of random control elements. Now try to do some editing to the clips, alter your arrangement or change the patch in Cubase while it's playing and it'll either skip few notes or stop playing altogether for fraction of a second. That's not the case in those other DAWs, because they were built for it. The downside is you can't put 72 instances of bx_console E like you can in Cubase, Reaper or Studio One that employ complex pre-buffering mechanisms which provide smooth playback but fall apart if you start changing stuff on the fly.

10.3 will handle VSTs better, but not Reaper-better

OK that was the train of thought for years and I have totally parroted what you wrote here, but Reaper changes all that. For the record Reaper is not my favorite DAW, DP10 and Live are used more often by me to this day, but Reaper does not stutter, break audio, or any of that when doing all those tasks.

It was true in the past, but it's not true now. I'm not expecting Cubase, DP, Logic and even Reason to rewrite their audio engines with the amount of protection that you get in Live, Bitwig and Reaper, but Reaper distinctly dispels the old train of thought that a DAW has to be a CPU pig to have uninterrupted audio.

I'm not holding anything against Reason here though, it came out 19 years ago and has a legacy of code to support, if it comes in at Live levels that makes total sense. Just saying we can stop patting these companies on the back for not having uninterrupted audio at a roughly 35% CPU deficit on average, that's not the case anymore as proven by little nerdy Reaper in the corner doing mad algebra without punking the audio.