Reason 12 is here

[Propellerhands]

Yes, Reason is indeed easily the most stable DAW/host I've ever used... it very rarely crashes.

You don't say! Had my first Reason crash few minutes ago. But I suspect it was the Serum which caused it, because newest version of Serum feels like alpha right now than stable release. Want to downgrade. Other than that, I agree, over 15 years I can not remember Reason crashing on me until today. Maybe on version 11 once, but again, it was VST fault. Stock Reason is stable af.

[chk071]

Reason Studios brought the evil crashy-ness in with the VST support.

[jens]

No, it's still super-stable...

[jjpscott01]

Yeah it’s rock solid for me even with vst’s I have 0 crashes.

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[EnochLight]

Firstly, purely from the visual aspect, it still looks like a cluttered mess (using Reason 12) on the screen

Um.. OK. I'll bite. How is the Reason Rack Plugin, in Logic, a cluttered mess? It's literally a single rack of gear. It's only as cluttered as you make it.

and secondly, when I loaded the rack up in Logic, I couldn't help but feel immensely underwhelmed by the sounds.

Eh... that's subjective, clearly. That said, if you add the "New Reason 12 Sounds" favorite, available below, it curates all of the new content new in R12, and there's some absolute gems in there. Install this where your Favorites are kept before opening Reason in Logic.

[hotmitts]

I agree about some of the stock sounds, they should relegate to an archive folder that's an optional install maybe.
Don't find the interface cluttered, seems straightforward and quite neatly done visually to me. I recently started using Studio One, which supposedly is one of the simpler DAWs to navigate - personally I find that confusing and un-intuitive in many ways, maybe just because I'm not used to that workflow (keep having to zoom around/close windows/ zoom back/open windows etc etc) and yes I've learnt the hotkeys and such

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[Propellerhands]

feel immensely underwhelmed by the sounds.

What do you mean? Presets/patches? I would agree half of Reason presets are crap, especially for older synths. But in general, their samples (drums, strings) are decent or good. And there are tons of them, I haven't even touched 90 percent of them because rarely browse, just make my own.

I am a dead set lazy prick when it comes to sound and quite a simple chap. I just bought Invader 2 because it is great sounding with presets that just slip into the mix beautifully with a real nice warmth to them, no tweaking by me required. I guess I have the mindset of so many back in the day when they jumped into their DX7 presets on all their songs.

One thing I will never be able to say is "I just make my own", though.

I envy people who can make music using presets. Because honestly, I can count on my 10 fingers the times some preset or sound inspired me enough to use it in my own tracks (*cough* omni.. *cough* ..sphere *cough cough*). I just can't manage to arrange them in certain way to get an 8 bar loop. It would definitely be a lot quicker than trying to come up with ideas while tweaking Subtractor or Synth1 to get this pad/pluck sound that I want and could use. I have seen many examples of people (YouTube) just almost instantly finding the sound that they want and then going along and coming up with idea (or full track). And voila - 30 minutes and they get at least a 16 bar loop.

I know it sounds paradoxical, but I only seem to come up with ideas if I design a sound itself at the same time. Maybe because I am always undecided where I want to start, from pad chord progression, a basic riff or a bassline? Or maybe some ambient texture with 7 notes.

I wish I became a painter or a writer.

[Propellerhands]

maybe just because I'm not used to that workflow (keep having to zoom around/close windows/ zoom back/open windows etc etc)

If there is one thing I hate about Reason as a DAW is its zooming stuff. It is just...Makes me wanna get up and turn off everything. In comparison, Ableton is almost perfect in this regard. But Reason? First you have to find that tiny tiny 1 pixel size + thing on your monitor. Infuriating.

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[JockMcRonan]

outta here

[jens]

feel immensely underwhelmed by the sounds.

What do you mean? Presets/patches? I would agree half of Reason presets are crap, especially for older synths. But in general, their samples (drums, strings) are decent or good. And there are tons of them, I haven't even touched 90 percent of them because rarely browse, just make my own.

I am a dead set lazy prick when it comes to sound and quite a simple chap. I just bought Invader 2 because it is great sounding with presets that just slip into the mix beautifully with a real nice warmth to them, no tweaking by me required. I guess I have the mindset of so many back in the day when they jumped into their DX7 presets on all their songs.

One thing I will never be able to say is "I just make my own", though.

I envy people who can make music using presets. Because honestly, I can count on my 10 fingers the times some preset or sound inspired me enough to use it in my own tracks (*cough* omni.. *cough* ..sphere *cough cough*). I just can't manage to arrange them in certain way to get an 8 bar loop. It would definitely be a lot quicker than trying to come up with ideas while tweaking Subtractor or Synth1 to get this pad/pluck sound that I want and could use. I have seen many examples of people (YouTube) just almost instantly finding the sound that they want and then going along and coming up with idea (or full track). And voila - 30 minutes and they get at least a 16 bar loop.

I know it sounds paradoxical, but I only seem to come up with ideas if I design a sound itself at the same time. Maybe because I am always undecided where I want to start, from pad chord progression, a basic riff or a bassline? Or maybe some ambient texture with 7 notes.

I wish I became a painter or a writer.

Yeah, whatever inspires you - there is a myriad of ways to go on about creating music and every single one is perfectly fine and valid as long as you feel that you are able to (kind of) express what you want to.

But just to give a different perspective: a piano basically has exactly one sound - and probably more music has been composed using this instrument than any other one.

[Propellerhands]

But just to give a different perspective: a piano basically has exactly one sound - and probably more music has been composed using this instrument than any other one.

You are right. But for me: that's why piano is my most hated sound ever. I don't listen to piano music and do not use it in my own music. I can give an exception only to piano with shimmer effect, like long reverbs etc. But even then such music gets boring pretty quick. That's why I always loved synth music. The sounds are always (mostly) different.

[machine_spirit]

You are right. But for me: that's why piano is my most hated sound ever. I don't listen to piano music and do not use it in my own music. I can give an exception only to piano with shimmer effect, like long reverbs etc. But even then such music gets boring pretty quick. That's why I always loved synth music. The sounds are always (mostly) different.

You're missing out. 90% of synth sounds can be dumped in about the same amount of categories as there are flavours of piano timbre anyway. Ok, that's not really true but there is a significant chunk of truth there.