This video, via sonicstate, captures an overview of Propellerhead Reason 7 from Ryan Harlin.
Harlin demonstrates the new features in Reason 7, including the introduction of MIDI, some neat mixer functions – Spectrum EQ, bussing and parallel processing, plus the new audio processing module – Audiomatic.
If Propellerhead made a modular synth ecosystem that supported 3rd party modules I would be all over that in a heart beat. Modular Synthesis has probably exploded in the last 8 or so years. I bet the market demographic that would pose interest in such a thing has almost quadrupled in that time.
They do already. That’s exactly what Reason is: a big modular system. Third parties can create modules for Reason in the form of Rack Extensions.
I think he meant “a modular synth ecosystem that supports existing 3rd party modules (like VST and AU)”
Dylan
You seem like you don’t know much about the current state of Reason.
It allows for modular patching of devices, including 3rd party ones, via Rack Extensions. The downside of these is that they are Reason specific. The upside is that patching them is much more flexible & powerful than with VSTs.
Also, Expert Sleepers gas announced a new module that will let you patch a modular hardware synth into Reason. It looks pretty sick!
I WANT TO PUT MY DICK INTO A POLIVOKS SYNTHESIZER.
“OMG, Technology”
Awesome! I effing love Reason. They never get enough attention.
Reason so desperately wants to be a real DAW… but it fails in so many ways!
They have managed to make the worst implementation of midi out ever – that just looks hideous!
And good to see that they finally admitted that it actually sounds like crap, unfortunately the sticking plaster ‘audiomatic’ or whatever it is, sounds just as shit!
Propellorheads are a joke! If you want all this functionality and way, way more, spend your money on Ableton, they’ve been doing everything you see here as standard, in a flexible, intuitive and easy to work with way for years and you are not constrained in any way – why anyone would buy into this walled garden of sonic fail I have no idea… Embarrassing!
And ignore the folks who marked my honest and realistic post down… they are obviously struggling to get a grasp on reality!
Of course you may choose to believe someone who clicks a thumb more than someone who writes actual real reasons for avoiding this crappy software company, but don’t say you weren’t warned! You will be disappointed if you believe their hype and buy this!
Your statement would have merit had you provided “actual real reasons” but your declaration that Reason fails as a DAW is unsupported by evidence unless you consider your love letter to Ableton proof, in which case, your entire argument is “Reason sucks because I like Ableton Live better.” If Reason fails “in so many ways” to be a real DAW what are they? Your post is long on vitriol but short on detail.
Hi Ian,
Sorry maybe it wasn’t clear enough, the two main reasons I cited, as demonstrated in this self-defeating video are:
A terrible midi implementation – a device for each midi out? Come on!
Awful sound quality! Did you actually listen to what the orangeaudiostickingplaster did to that poor drumbeat? And the guy enthusiastically “sticking them everywhere” and it still sounding awful!!
I wish there was a national society for the prevention of cruelty to sound because I’d be reporting these heartless bastards!
And more generally that the functionality is what would be in a DAW but is somehow crippled to the point of awkwardness and unusability in a hideously contrived way that only Propellorheads could dream up. It’s about as far away from a useful Audio Workstation as you could possibly get!
My ‘love letter’ said one thing, that the functionality they are lauding here as ‘new’ has been around for years, in a far better and more usable framework in Ableton. This is not a personal preference, it’s fact. A quick simple comparison of the two will completely validate this.
I’m not sure how I can be any clearer or how i have failed to present facts as these here are pretty much 100% watertight facts…
Shrugs. Don’t really care, thought I should warn people not to listen to this poor misguided fool in the video who thinks it sounds great and waste their hard earned cash – I saw it as a service to humanity – but if you want to go ahead, it’s your free choice!
Wats funniest about this is that the interviewer looked like he was dying to laugh at him the whole way through, why, because Propellorheads, Reason 7, this guy doing the demo – are all one big joke!
You still fail to present facts as to why it fails as a real DAW. From what I understand PH never even sold Reason as a Daw or an app to replace your DAW, thats why we have Rewire. Your hatred is misguided. Ableton users such as your self seem to pop up everywhere on the professing how great Live is and why everything else sucks. One would think since Live is so great you would be spending quality time making great music with it. No you have to troll the web with hateful BS towards a company and people you do not know. You need to take a look at your self. Did PH hurt you or your family in some way?
The functionallity may have been around for years. Who gives a fuck? Its now available to Reason user and thats all that matters. I dont care about live, I dont like it, I also dont waste time bashing it on the web even though is would be an easy target especially in regards to it bugginess. Reason users are busy making music while sad folks like yourself are trolling the web professing Lives greatness, it quite pathetic really. By the way I am a former Live user, it does nothing for me, so thank god we have options. Go make music if you can and stop wasting your time with hatefull diatribes over software.
Woah there… Hateful BS?
Spending my time trolling? Being all angry? Doing this instead of making music? Don’t think so, looks like it’s you who has the problem – can we have less of the personal attacks please!!!! Calm down, relax, go make a cup of tea and maybe make some music hey!
I’ve presented the facts – awful midi implementation, absolutely disgusting sound quality! These are facts! I respect your right to think differently but you’re just plain wrong!
This is just a reality check and trying to save people from this awful software – because it is rubbish! If you can’t see that, well good luck to you, as I say, I don’t really care! And fwiw I would recommend any other software over this, Ableton just so happens to be the example that came to mind, Logic, even the Adobe stuff, is way way better than Reason. All of them are because in my opinion Reason is a closed system that is awkward to work with and sounds shit! That’s my opinion, if you don’t like it that’s fine but there’s no need to get all defensive and start attacking me personally!
So, please calm down ok – don’t give yourself an embolism or something over a difference of opinion… Crazy!
Oh dear steve. I own ableton, reason, srudio one and reaktor and maschine. Hell I even still use buzz tracker sometimes. Your claim that reason sounds shit is pretty lame. Sure the orange audiomatic is a basic plugin, but its neither here nor there, its just a sound colouration device. One great thing about reason (and buzz tracker before it) is they made me work and learn how to use the modular rack to improve my sound. It used to be all about building up your sound with basic devices provided by propellerheads (and great things where achievable), but now thanks to many third party developers creating rack extensions there is huge sonic scope. Its an exciting program to use, and messing round with control voltage is educational and inspirational. Thats why reason will always have a home in my studio. But keep hating steve, just dont forget to broaden your horizons sometimes… I could do you some good 😉
Agreed – back in the day Reason used to be good compared to everything around and I too learned a lot from it. Unfortunately because of their closed mindedness and insistence on forcing everyone to come and play in their environment rather than opening it up to regular vsts, etc… they have created a system that compromises on most of the free workflow enjoyable in all the other systems you mention. The evidence is right there in the video, they have done my work for me. Did you actually listen to what the orange box sounded like? Do you seriously think that one device per midi out is a great solution? Seriously? Ok, I’ll leave you to enjoy that if that’s what you think.
But again with the ad hominem, I am very open minded and am speaking from experience, over 20 years and counting, probably just like yourself. But if the best you can do is say that a closed system is good and then resort to a personal attack then your argument is lost! I respect your right to a different opinion but do not respect your refusal of my right to have mine and your insistence on making this a personal attack like I am stupid or closed minded or something. Shameful!
This is all quite pointless, I hope that my posts make people think twice before parting with their money into this system, but if not, so what? No big deal – its their money, their lookout!
You still fail miserably in providing facts as to why midi out is bad and why Reason sounds bad. I wont waste any time pointing out artist who are getting great sounding music in Reason its pointless as you have an axe to grind. You were hardly attacked personally. You are the one who refered to the guy in the vid as a fool.
By the way you are wasting your time “warning” people. They have ears, eyes, and access to demo Reason as long as they want. They should decide what works and sound right for them without the need for your “expert” opinion. You have your opinion, people have choice. Point is again, you are wasting your time. In your world your opinion is right, everyone is a fool. You see the stupidity there?
I will not waste any more time on this with you.
You have misinterpreted what I said, I never said midi out was bad!
I never said everyone was a fool either… You won’t win arguments by twisting my words, again, if that’s the best you can do you fail!
Um no you are the one thats failing miserable here. You still cannot provide evidence to back up your claim that Reason sounds bad and MIDI implementation is terrible/bad. What you need to do is simple, backup your claim with evidence. Post music made in Live and and the same music Reason to prove how bad, it is. The video above is not enough here. Put up a video of yourself in a studio using Reason and Live proving your point. After all you will be saving people who can decide for themselves what is right for them. Your opinion will be taken seriously when all of this is done. Its thats simple.
I think you may have lost the plot a little bit here. Don’t be so ridiculous, you can’t win arguments by asking for something so absurd either! It would be very easy for me to make something sound shit in either environment which makes your whole process of proof fundamentally flawed.
if the evidence in the video is not enough for you, even after i pointed out exactly which bits of it provide the damning evidence, then go ahead, use Reason, I don’t care 🙂
I don’t have to prove anything to you, I couldn’t give two hoots about whether you respect my opinion or not, it’s a free world, think what you like, it’s all alright, honestly!
Can’t stop laughing 😀
“It would be very easy for me to make something sound shit in either environment which makes your whole process of proof fundamentally flawed.”
Haha.
With that said it would be very easy to also make something sound great in either app. So there goes your opinion that Reason sounds bad. I know this will be hard for you to grasp.
This is not a competition to win an argument. You were simply ask to back up your claim. You point to a video demonstration on youtube. Its not enough to backing up your claim. You have 20 years of experience you should know this. You have the expertise to rescue others, put that expertise to work and back up your claim. The people who you are planning to rescue will be thankful I am sure.
you did not point anything at all !!!!!
now what do you mean by the worst sound and all that because on paper it iis the same for all DAWS so unless you got specs to proove that this daw sound worst then a other one your just a poor troll !
same goes for midi , what do you mean ??? apart from reading you going crazy hate on it I dont read you pointing facts at all but more insulting spéculations from a point of view !
from what I read it could be you bad at what you do some please if it’s not that then bring real facts and say _<> but nothing in what you say got any facts so bring the specs you talk about or admit your a troll 🙂
learn how to mix is more then using vst synth preset one with compress preset 2 !
Steve
It’s clear you don’t understand the strengths of Reason’s modular approach, which allows flexible MIDI patching.
It won’t matter to users doing basic sequencing, but will for people with more complex needs.
Look at 18:05, Korg Mono Poly is coming!
wow….good eye! I don’t think I would’ve caught that!!
Thanks Nick for another great review!
click on pause on 17.44
Nick farted again!
You see it hitting him around 17.34
i always have got great use out of reason, its never pretended to be a DAW and i find it functions best strapped behind your preferred host in rewire mode. its a really fast method for creating beats, trying melodic ideas and the routing system was completely innovative when it first came out. Thankyou propellerheads and keep up the good work please
I’m afraid I have to agree with Steve here, well mostly!
Despite the awful audiomatic demo, the audio is possible to make sound good, but there’s a Reason ‘colour’ to everything that’s quite hard to get rid of. I know that a lot of the commercial music created in Reason is processed quite heavily in other environments afterwards to bring it up to scratch.
The midi implementation is clunky, yes it’s possible to create quite complex setups, but it’s a mess! Other environments do a much better job of this, cleaner quicker and much easier to use.
And I agree 100% with the notion that the walled garden is a very good reason not to buy into this. The third party modules are great if you’re already trapped in their ecosystem, and of course it makes sense for developers to provide for this system. But can you use standard VSTs or AUs in Reason – no! Can you use Reason modules in a standard DAW – not without Rewire and keeping careful track of associated files etc! This generally means i dont bother, i can get as good, if not better sounds from the plugins in my DAW – the integration is easier, faster and more reliable. Also what happens if Propellorheads go under? The impact of losing all your plugins would be huge compared to any open DAW development company collapsing where you could simply continue to use them in another open DAW! Food for thought anyway!
Overall, yeah Reason is fun and it’s possible to do good stuff in it, but if you’re serious about music production there are far more flexible and powerful options out there that would make a much wiser investment.
Well as both a logic and reason user I have to jump in here. I have used reason as my main sequencer for the past 7 years. Logic was used in rewire bit the other way around. All main tracks were written in reason and I used logic to host Other plugins I needed for extra processing. Now with reason 7, a good knowledge how to use soindflower or a good interface supporting loop back I am now 99% within reason. I use native instruments kontakt and komplete as my main sound sources outside of recorded audio and I Absolutly love the workflow now. Yes there is something in reasons “sound” at least versions 1-6.5 but 7 totally changes the game. Use what is best to you and what gives you the best results. I personally can’t fuckin stand Live and it’s video game layout but it doesn’t matter. I use what’s best for me, and that’s reason 7 with NI komplete via loop back & midi out. Peace!
Well as both a logic and reason user I have to jump in here. I have used reason as my main sequencer for the past 7 years. Logic was used in rewire bit the other way around. All main tracks were written in reason and I used logic to host Other plugins I needed for extra processing. Now with reason 7, a good knowledge how to use soundflower or a good interface supporting loop back I am now 99% within reason. I use native instruments kontakt and komplete as my main sound sources outside of recorded audio and I Absolutly love the workflow now. Yes there is something in reasons “sound” at least versions 1-6.5 but 7 totally changes the game. Use what is best to you and what gives you the best results. I personally can’t fuckin stand Live and it’s video game layout but it doesn’t matter. I use what’s best for me, and that’s reason 7 with NI komplete via loop back & midi out. Peace!
One of the biggest points I’ve not seen yet is what environment inspires an individual.
And that’s all individual preference. I’ve used Cubase, Logic and other daws but always, always come back to Reason.
Its a “fun” environment to work in, it inspires me, sounds great ( just as good as any other daw ) and that’s why I choose it.
I love how Reason sounds like analog tape. So much personality.
Seriously: digital sounds neutral. Flat. Therefore I love dynamics microphones more than ever before. And I use colorisation using EQ to change the sounds, to make it warmer. Or compression. Reason has some great devices for that which are build in. And some RE’s are superb for that matter also.
I’m a huge fan of Reason. It’s best DAW ever for recording and mixing. Parallel channels for example: mind blowing! And that Master Bus compressor? Magic. the EQ on every channel? Perfect. It’s time stretching algorithm: smooth as butter.
Reason haterz gonna hate. You can’t debate the ignorant preset generation. Oh…and I’ve been recording VST’s inside Reason for quite some time. The new midi out tools integrate perfectly, and make automation a breeze. Fantastic update- Some fools never learn.
I have or tried SawStudio, Nuendo, Cubase, Protools, Live, Studio One and Reason. They are all just tools we use to make our music…like a artist uses a paint brush. They are all good at what they do and you should have no problems getting a good sounding song from any of them. The more important thing though is which one is going to be best for you and only you can answer that question. Reason is for me 😉
Bashing another paint brush is kinda silly.
I think you guys are acting a bit ridiculious, I like bothr Reason and Live they are both great programs and very creative in their own ways…. Reason is modular and has some of the coolest RE plugins coming, While Ableton has AU?Vst support for the stuff that isn’t possible in Reason and that I honestly don’t want in Reason, Ableton I have Max for live and some cool editing tricks my favortie synths by Tone 2, Native Instruments, Arturia…. While Reason I coulkd experiment for hours and days… Expand your horizon try them both…. It’s kinda inmature argueing what is better, it’s opinion people hate Reason because the like Live, Cubase, Sonar, Logic… and the other way around is stupid…. their both good…. If you Reason fan boys tried Ableton instead of saying it’s terrible, you may like it, You Ableton addicts should try Reason instead of bashing it…. you can do some creative stuff… I can load a sound in Antidote in Reason and Lennar Digital’s Sylenth and they both sound fat…. Reason and Ableton are good programs, don’t limit yourself, It limits your creativity 🙂
i completely and wholeheartedly agree that sound quality is an issue with reason . i mean , it was built with a focus on stability , and use on systems that were less powerful , by way of a smaller cpu and ram use . ive heard somewhere that its not “sample accurate ” which leads to tiny dropouts of sound, not noticeable per instrument or track persay ,but overall leads to a noticeable lack of punch. i dont know if thats true or not , but look at it like this . why would there be such a debate about this topic , if it was baseless? you dont see people arguing over the quality of fruity loops or sonar or anything else for that matter .further more , have you seen the amount of articles ,from various sources , on how to fatten up your reason tracks ? how many gizmos and wiring the rack and patching crap must be done to get it to sound like other stuff does out of the box . i dont know about you guys , but i got rid of my rack of synths and patch bays and wires 10 years ago and if i never see the back of a rack full of wires again , it will be too soon . .. there is no fairy dust that will polish a turd . no plug ins that can fix it . ive also heard the reason for the thin sound is the reason mixer bottlenecks the sound , and that when you use reason in a host , via rewire and bypass the mixer , it brings out the sound . that maybe true , i dont know but just to bypass the mixer and rewire all of your instruments separately to bring into a host can be a total nightmare , especially when a reason session already has dynamics galore/ fx plugged into the chain . have fun trying to rewire the audio and all the junk required to make the track sound better . its almost like the dynamics and fx processor become a musical part of the song , because without all that , it just sounds awful . look at the other end of the spectrum , ni reaktor has about as fat as a sound as you can get from a computer , but its always been a hog as far as cpu /ram etc . why? because its required to make something sound fat . its not like they designed it and wanted to make it harder on people . back in the day you needed a really powerful soundcard to run anything in reaktor without latency or audio problems . and reason ran on my pentium 1 laptop with 256 mb of ram perfectly . if this wasnt an issue , than there wouldnt be a million articles on the subject . and anyone who is upset because reason doesn’t vst isnt the brightest bulb either .obviously reason works perfectly in your choice of vst host . ableton , protools , whatever , i mean ,. you really want reason to be your master control for everything , with its torture midi editing and and lack of flexibility ? throw it in a real system- ableton , protools , whatever , then waste an hour wiring it up in rewire and then your good , just dont over use it or make a whole song out of it . cuz it sounds like doo doo no matter what and no magic fairy dust processing dual split reverb combinator phase finalizing maximizer can help . .. its cool for family fun and the kids ,in fact my little sister has it , but not something used in professional environments , as it was never targeted for professional environments . i mean , how many daw software titles , other than reason do you see for sale at target ,wallmart , fry’s .toys r us ? its a product for the kids . it was designed with stability and low spec system requirments in mind rather than sound quality and fatness. who can refute that? idont think thats even a secret really . .