Why you switched to Reason?

[Tannaliini]

Why did you switched to Reason?
And from what DAW?

[trtzbass]

I got Reason 10 because of the VST rack business and found a wealth of great sounds that spark my creativity every single time I fire it up.
I am on Logic an S1 but now, whenever I have to get something together quick, I don't bother. I fire up the standalone and do everything in there. Super fun ,quick and I also love the mixer.

[zoidkirb]

Came into Reason 10 from Cubase mainly. Was attracted by Europa at first and it was the first synth I learnt to program properly.
Eventually I really learnt to appreciate the amount of powerful modulation tricks it's capable of, and also the power of its 'Player' midi generator/fx/sequencers.
That being said I didn't fully switch, as there is a lack of certain features, and a bit of a clunky gui/workflow for me.

[THE INTRANCER]

Because I could unscrew the screws from the subtractor in 2001..

[cryophonik]

Why? I didn't need a Reason, so that's why I didn't.

[Calenberger]

Reaper was out.

[antic604]

Reaper was out.

You can almost say it gave you a BIT of WIGgle room, right?

[Calenberger]

Reaper was out.

You can almost say it gave you a BIT of WIGgle room, right?

Nearly. Actually it gave me a BIG WIT

[antic604]

I've not really SWITCHED to Reason, but I use it occasionally - standalone or as a Rack VST - and here are my thoughts copied from Reasontalk.com post two years ago, but still valid

You all know me from this forum or FB groups as someone constantly ranting about low-res GUI, lack of track grouping or track freeze, outdated sequencer, Props' plans and priorities, etc...

Yet, every time I open Reason I get this exhilarating feeling of inspiration, of creative joy (which doesn't necessarily end up with a finished product, but that's a different topic). As you also know - at least from the footer to my posts - I have & use Bitwig and to much lesser extent Studio One and I never get the same feeling when opening those. So I tried to list the things that make me feel that way for Reason. Please feel free to add, comment, etc.

The looks & visual workflow - despite my many grievances about low-res, unzoomable GUI and windows management, I think Reason is the most beautiful DAW there is, if I just squint my eyes. I know that this shouldn't matter for making music, but for me it does and the fact that it's so tastefully designed, clean and very colourful (I even choose REs to buy with that in mind) gets me inspired - I HEAR a bassline when I see Subtractor or Maelstrom, pads when I see Grain or Parsec, leads when I see Europa, VK-2 or FM4, f**ked-up rhythms when I see Synchronous or Distillery and warmth (or grit) when I see Pulveriser or Scream. It probably takes more time to set up a complex multi-device & multi-track patch in Reason than it does in Bitwig and definitely much more time to then adjust it if I wanted to; but the process of dragging in the devices, tweaking them, patching cables, checking the audio & CV signals at different stages, etc. is so satisfying and somehow tactile, even if it's tedious in some other ways. Lastly, I can't say how much I love the SSL Mixer - sure it's not an emulation, is terrifyingly overwhelming at the beginning and it has its limitations, but when you get to know it it's such a breeze to quickly shape the individual sounds and mix them together. And it - again - looks fantastic, with all the colour and visual aids (meters, blinking lights, on/off indicators).

I mean just LOOK at it all:

r10.jpg

Factory presets - it's expected nowadays that DAWs and devices come with presets, but typically they're rather bland and uninspiring, as if they were designed without the intent that they have to be used to make music. Just have a look on factory presets for Live's Operator or Analog and on Bitwig's presets for Polysynth or Phase-4. They're nothing to write home about. Conversely, in Reason I can browse through 10-15 randomly picked factory presets in given category and I can be sure I'll find something that'll inspire a melody, chord progression or rhythmic pattern. I won't even go into Combinator patches, that sometimes sound like a self-contained songs. This also extends to effects' and effect chains' presets, that are immediately useful.

RE environment - this might be controversial, but after I've finished my current project I'm disabling Reason's access to my (quite vast, by now) VST library, simply because I think I can achieve most of the same things with RE (at least on my hobbyist level) and more importantly because I feel much "safer" in RE world. The fact that those devices from many developers are in my SINGLE account, from where they can be downloaded and updated, is mind-boggling. Every time I open one of the other DAWs I'm frightened that maybe some VST won't load, gets corrupted, that maybe there's a new version and I don't know about it and don't remember the login/password to its website or have no idea where it's installed, etc. No such things with REs. I can install Reason anywhere, log in and d/l everything and it's just there, ready to go. Sure, they can't be used in other DAWs (not anymore ), they're not cheap, etc. but if financially it is not an issue, then it's such a great place to be in, especially because a lot of them compare in quality with professional VSTs and many of them are unique, playing to the modular strengths of Reason.

Sequencer - I know I complain about it a lot, but I can also recognise a lot of things that positively distinguish it from other DAWs, at least those that I'm familiar with: very extensive MIDI tools under F8, easily accessible and useful editing tools under Q-Y keys, multiple MIDI lanes per track, separate S/M buttons for MIDI tracks and automation tracks, patterns for sequencer & player REs, automation clips, Blocks mode, bulit-in audio comping and pitch adjustement, stretching of audio with Ctrl+drag of clip's border. There's a similarly long (or longer) list of things that the Sequencer's doing wrong or is missing, but those above are the little things that contribute to the joy of using Reason.

The community - I'm trying to be an active member of internet communities (FB, forums) for all the DAWs that I own, but none of them compares in terms of vibrancy and creativeness to Reason's. The sheer amount of (great, although rarely my taste) music being posted, news, questions and helpful responses is staggering, especially considering how much smaller the user base is compared to Live in particular. It's really encouraging to see other people also being happy - or sometimes frustrated - using the same software to write music.

[Distorted Horizon]

I've used Reason since V1. It was my first daw

[chk071]

Thinking about it... it was my first DAW too. Back in the days, when we were young, and the warez were hot.

That was Reason v2.5 though. Think I got rid of the CD's in the last clean up campaign.

[Distorted Horizon]

Thinking about it... it was my first DAW too. Back in the days, when we were young, and the warez were hot.

Exactly I was like 15 when it came out and the price was insane back then. V7 was the first one I purchased a license for. Still hanging on V10 license, waiting for a nice deal to upgrade to 11 suite (or what ever it's called).

[antic604]

waiting for a nice deal to upgrade to 11 suite (or what ever it's called).

https://www.jrrshop.com/propellerhead-r ... te-upgrade

$221.61 with 'forum' code, but perhaps it'll go down during May Madness (if it happens, that is).

[Distorted Horizon]

waiting for a nice deal to upgrade to 11 suite (or what ever it's called).

https://www.jrrshop.com/propellerhead-r ... te-upgrade

$221.61 with 'forum' code, but perhaps it'll go down during May Madness (if it happens, that is).

Thanks. I often check jrrshop, but the price could be a bit lower still