Reason sound doesn't sell is not true

[djanthonyw]

I bought Reason when Thor first came out. It was my first attempt to move from hardware to ITB. I was immediately struck by how bad the Reason reverb was compared to my Lexicon PCM 81. Reason reverb sounded gritty and cheap in comparison. I abandoned Reason after messing around for a few weeks because of the reverb and being underwhelmed by Thor.

I now work almost exclusively ITB. I am using Valhalla Room for reverb. I don't bother patching in the Lexicon hardware. The Valhalla stuff is good enough and more convenient when you're ITB.

I think reverb is the perfect example why the original closed Reason model didn't work. The Valhalla guy is a reverb maniac and has spent years coding nothing but reverb algorithms. No one on the Props team was as experienced or interested in reverb. Their reverb was inferior to both Valhalla and Lexicon.

You would find the same thing if you compared all the virtual analogs plugins available (Diva, TAL, Monark, Arturia SEM, etc.) to Thor. The world of standard format plugins has a deeper developer talent pool than the Propellerheads team. They finally recognized this by adding Rack Extensions but I think it's too late. The world has moved on.

I prefer Valhalla Room to the PCMs. Bounce a wet track and shelf the bass a bit then mix with the dry original.

I do as well, but with VintageVerb. You should try this stress test. If you follow the link in the description, you can download the original files, and the example files. I downloaded the Lexicon file, plus the original and tested VintageVerb with it, and it pretty much beats the Lexicon test with all of VVV's algorithms.



Besides this, to keep inline with the thread's subject, Ever since Record and Reason were merged, Reason's sound quality is pretty damn good. I loved the sound of Record and at the time before console emulation plugins were out, was seriously considering it as an option to mix in. I think this track is a great example. It was one of the Record song demos at the time.

[eXode]

You would find the same thing if you compared all the virtual analog plugins available (Diva, TAL, Monark, Arturia SEM, etc.) to Thor. The world of standard format plugins has a deeper developer talent pool than the Propellerheads team. They finally recognized this by adding Rack Extensions but I think it's too late. The world has moved on.

It's funny because none of the plugins you mention were even remotely availble when Reason 4 (with Thor) was released, back in 2007...

Even today, there are not many softsynths that can rival Thor's modularity. It's one of the best designed synthesizers, ever. So you being underwhelmed by it speaks more for your short attention span than anything else. :P

[IncarnateX]

To the unskilled every tool is a toy
To the skilled every toy is a tool

That said, Thor can give me a harder time for some of the timbres I want compared to other synths. I can be done, but with harder work. However this is simply reflecting my personal preferences and skills. Others might find Thor best at what they want . There is really no contradiction in this thread here unless people want to generalize from their personal views to the rest of the 7,177,828,443 people on Earth (increasing as you read this) but unfortunately that is often the case , isn't it?

[mellotronaut]

To the unskilled every tool is a toy
To the skilled every toy is a tool

well said and +1

[djanthonyw]

Even today, there are not many softsynths that can rival Thor's modularity. It's one of the best designed synthesizers, ever.

Some people care about sound more than the features of a synth.

[eXode]

Even today, there are not many softsynths that can rival Thor's modularity. It's one of the best designed synthesizers, ever.

Some people care about sound more than the features of a synth.

Thankfully Thor sounds great too. Moog, Oberheim, FM, PD, all those sounds are available at your fingertups. :)

[V0RT3X]

To the unskilled every tool is a toy
To the skilled every toy is a tool

That said, Thor can give me a harder time for some of the timbres I want compared to other synths. I can be done, but with harder work. However this is simply reflecting my personal preferences and skills. Others might find Thor best at what they want . There is really no contradiction in this thread here unless people want to generalize from their personal views to the rest of the 7,177,828,443 people on Earth (increasing as you read this) but unfortunately that is often the case , isn't it?

I really enjoyed using Thor. The standard bread and butter sounds kind of sound "meh" but when you really start tweaking things I find that thor is a very capable synthesizer.

I usually would create my own sounds from scratch and mess about with the matrix. IF there was a few features I would want to improve on what their already is it would probably be..


- Step Sequencer Patch bank storage

- Wave stepper like Massive has with patch bank storage

- A Wave shaping oscillator that can let you load your own oscillators like Z3TA+2


Personally i think the Idea behind Thor is a very great one and I think it would be great to see something like that as a AU or VST plugin.

[Arglebargle]

Joking aside, I do think all the Reason synths and fx have a certain "sound", and it's kind of cheap and hokey. I've demoed it numerous times and have always been underwhelmed by pretty much everything.

[krucial]

Yep!

[hibidy]

That dude is annoying but at least partially correct, knowatimsayin?

[jancivil]

I had Reason, v 2.5. I liked Maelstrom quite a lot. the effects, well it was exactly the experience I'd had before DAWs, the stuff I had access to was inferior quality, I wasn't going to get Tha Sound. we'd go into the recording studio to sound viable .
I like the paradigm of voltage control->modular, that's fun to fart around with but it still felt dinky home studio for me. I don't remember liking but that one synth though.

[jancivil]

That dude is annoying but at least partially correct, knowatimsayin?

I wasn't annoyed. I know what he's saying, but I learned to mix my music. that is what compelled me to get something together. My path to improvement was accelerated by having stuff that really sounded good, according to and suiting me & my music, and by how well the interface suited me.

I'm picky about reverb, I think too many if not MOST reverbs are terrible, ruinous. I thought the thing in Reason was on a part with the one built into the Tascam 4-track cassette I had in the late 80's basically. I stayed away from reverb until I got Vienna Suite.

I can suck at mixing because I didn't like Reason, no big thang knowutahmsayn.

[hibidy]

That dude is annoying but at least partially correct, knowatimsayin?

I wasn't annoyed. I know what he's saying, but I learned to mix my music. that is what compelled me to get something together. My path to improvement was accelerated by having stuff that really sounded good, according to and suiting me & my music, and by how well the interface suited me.

I'm picky about reverb, I think too many if not MOST reverbs are terrible, ruinous. I thought the thing in Reason was on a part with the one built into the Tascam 4-track cassette I had in the late 80's basically. I stayed away from reverb until I got Vienna Suite.

I can suck at mixing because I didn't like Reason, no big thang knowutahmsayn.

Lolz

[kmonkey]

That dude is annoying but at least partially correct, knowatimsayin?

He is far more accurate the most of the peeps..

[hibidy]

True, but why do people have to over-act? I mean, this is like so many youboob vids that is ONE GUY who thinks they have to speak for everyone.

I did mention he was mostly right, right?