I remember when "record" was in beta, i wrote on their forum that it needs proper audiowarp engine (for quantizing loops etc) since it was tool for working with audio. And you know what? I was banned.

 

Compared to other DAWs, reason is to me a severely dongled but self-contained production package. It's built to be just that. There is no doubt that you can do great productions with it, even without using numerous Rack Extensions, and being limited to what it is, at least you won't be distracted by trying yet another synth, another eq, compressor, reverb, whatever in order to get slightly better results - or at least try to. All the default virtual instruments and fx are mostly fairly high quality so sou can get very far with the package.
But what if you want to try out the new great drum kit, a sampled piano, EP, guitar, bass, organ, vibraphone? Or if there's a new great and unique effect VST that does something you simply can't realize in Reason by patching together a large rack?
I always felt Reason had its strength in supporting a creative workflow by offering us a great standard set of tools, but I more and more ended up using Live. Today, Live has much of that on board too, but it is just so much more open to the outside world!
The only thing really missing is maybe a semi-modular, powerful, easy-to-use synth like thor that supports many different synthesis architectures in one instrument, and a drum synth at least as good as the one in Maschine.

 

ableton 9.5 + reaktor 6 = no "reason" to use it anymore ;)

 

To their credit, there has been some cool Refills created for Reason in the past. Lots of them available from our familiy site and I sucked most of them up onto my Hard drive, but not got around to trying any yet.

Can Reason itself (up to the last available ck'd version at our family site) be run as a VST inside other DAW's ?
What was it's resource load (CPU, RAM) like?

 

Reason why Reason does not receive more love . . . proprietary system (I think that's the correct term). It doesn't play well with others. Protools is another one, but that has a strong hold on pro studios.

 

Oh my word Pipotron3000 and claytonr you made my day!!!!I totally agree, I started at Reason 1 and "paid-upgraded" up to Reason 6 and then thought...what the heck, there are so many fantastic DAWS and vst's available out there why stick to a thin-sounding closed end app when one has an unlimited choice of excellent sounding warez to choose from and then buy what you like. I hope the Props read this or a copy get forwarded to them somehow

 

i run reason as a slave in ableton, so its like a softsynth, works well....but i only use it for sounds ...

 

For me, it was because it used up tons of hard drive space (With the refills installed) for very little in return. Ableton, with Hypersonic 2 as an example, gave me better and quicker results too.

 

Just for the benefit of the doubt, I'm trying Reason 5 right now and oh boy, am I struggling (I usually use Studio One), this is not intuitive at all, or maybe it's because this release is already five years old.

 

Well it takes a different way of thinking. Once you are used to the rack, building mega patches or multiple patches that interplay with each other is far easier than a traditional DAW. With reaktor and sort of max for live being so flexible nowadays, it is becoming redundant. It is still better than those two for modular stuff imo. Just shed loads more expensive and distracting!

 

Last edited: Nov 16, 2015

That would be cool if you can point me to this emulator please?

 

The last version I used without too many complicated crap was version 4. I agree with all of the negative comments. Especially, the ones regarding its outdated "proprietary" nature. Far too many inroads in the DAW world have become available. Of course, Reason will always have its hard-core user base. So, as "One Reason" accurately stated, they will not be hard up for cash. However, based upon what I've been reading here and elsewhere, many of its former users have decided to move away. Personally, I'll never go back to Propellerhead -- EVER! ('Ding-Dong' Dongles notwithstanding). <lol>

 

Well, it definitely has its own way of working. Automation, etc are a bit different than with other daws. But the sound isn't nearly as bad as people tout. Thor is actually quite a decent sounding synth. If they made it a standalone VSTi I would likely still use it. But working with reason is a pain by today's standards. Using it as a Rewired instrument is also not a perfect solution as it becomes a chore to switch back and forth between windows, etc. Routing the sound itself is fairly straightforward but I like controlling everything from a single place. I use a LOT of automation and detail-adjustments. So anything that makes this process more difficult has no place in my workflow. I've found excellent replacements for ANYTHING reason does very well. I miss nothing. Cubase Pro 8 has been great to me.

 

Just look at reason as a VST that uses ReWire to connect and it's all good.

 

think it's just a very unreasonable program...

 

Why cuff yourself in the first place with this software? I like the VST format as it allows me to use any DAW i see fit. I haven't felt the need to rewire Substractor and i'm into trance none the less. Dune 2 is waaaaaaayyyy better for this style...

 

Maybe this is their future. Reducing the program to something that can be used in other DAW's. It would be a good selling point anyway.