Reviewed By AsPeeXXXVIII [all]
August 21st, 2015
Version reviewed: 8.1 on Windows
I've used Reason Essentials for all of my music production for a year now. The two main reasons (no pun intended) I decided to go with Reason when I contemplated switching out of Reaper last year were its relative affordability and unique look, namely the so-called Rack Extensions.
Now Reason isn't a DAW in the purest sense. It is, to be more precise, a music production suite. Nevertheless, Reason comes with a selection of stock Rack Extensions and sounds that covers a variety of musical needs. Techno, rap, DnB, ambient, even orchestral or heavy metal - you can do all of it in Reason. And the best thing is that you can only get the Essentials version and still be able to do all of it.
However, even a DAW as versatile as Reason is not without its flaws. Namely, due to its unique Rack Extension format, Reason doesn't support common plugin formats. Thankfully that flaw is partly fixed by the sheer number of additional Rack Extensions available in the Propellerhead Shop. Another downside is that if you don't have access to Internet, you have to run Reason in Demo Mode, which does not allow the opening of files.
Pros:
Cons:
Final verdict:
An excellent music production suite with enough sonic variety to cover almost any genre imaginable, even in the most basic and cheapest edition. Highly recommended for versatile multi-genre musicians.
Read ReviewYes. A great workstation. I'm amazed at how easy is to create any kind of music style when sitting in front of that luxurious infinite stack of Synths and effects including the new Mixer. The audio stretching is impeccable! And the new effects are able to transform beyond recognition (if you so desire) any audio going through them.
Love the new workflow and the rack extensions, and i didn't think i would but it really opens up a new world of sonic capabilities.
Terrible review, doesn't cover half of the things in reason and a glaring mistake saying that SYLENTH is included in the software??
This is obviously written by someone who doesn't know the software at all.
I think that Reason now MUST have a decent MIDI OUT instrument, i mean with Bank MSB and LSB, with more than 1 assegnable knob (maybe 16...) because almost every keyboard has more than 128 patch, and I don't want to program bank change msb and lsb into the sequencer, it is very very uncomfortable...
The workflow improvments in Reason 8 are great, Reason now feel almost like a modern DAW, but still far some other DAWs.
The way you add insert effects to an instrument is still not very handy, as the cabling system. I think that the "real device" paradigm of Reason has its limits.
Otherwise, it's a great package for the price, think of what you get for that price in the hardware world. But the upgrades are pricey.
129 € for the Reason 8 upgrade is almost a fraud. Certainly there has been a lot of work behind the scene, but it was just about bringing Reason workflow to a descent level compared to other DAWs.
Reason is fine, but we are in October 2017, and still - after all these years with increased monitor screen estate the Props have yet to make the Reason rack scalable. Maybe the solution used in Terry Gilliams move Brazil (1985) is a viable addon??
Not so easy as you might think; it's 1:1 design pixel by pixel and this is done in order to create ultra clear graphics. If you zoom a photography it will look pretty okay at all resolutions but these are highly detailed instruments where function is above everything else, and boy do they function! Best synthesizer studio on a computer anywhere.
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