SeriesReason Studios Reason

This software is easy to use but you need some idea of computer music to use it. However, there are lots of forums to help you out and the Reason site is very helpful when you have a problem. It's very easy to install and update. PERFORMANCE It works perfectly fine on my 13-inch macbook pro (2.5 GHz, 4G RAM). I have no latency. OVERALL OPINION I've been using it for 4 years and it was the easiest software to learn to make computer music. UNBEATABLE value for money!!!!!

Reason 6.5 is a DAW that gives you an unlimited amount of tracks for audio, and a whole bunch of effects right out of the box. The soft synths that come with it are decent too, but they are not good enough to make you want to use them without purchasing any other synths. There are a lot of sounds/synths but the quality of them is average at best. But the effects stand out big time to me, they have made some major upgrades to the effects section giving more and better sounding effects than ever before. Installing Reason 6.5 took a long time on my laptop (which is where I use it the most) which I didn’t understand because my laptop has more than enough disk space and it has a fast processor. I am guessing it was just because Reason 6.5 just had a lot of stuff to install and load onto my disk space even though it didn’t seem like it took that much disk space up. The best part about Reason 6.5 is that you will have everything you need right out of the box to start creating a song and finish it all in this program without the need for anything external. You can start your composition and record to it, then mix and master your whole song right in Reason 6.5. If you want to start getting better sounds and plug ins down the road then you can do that and they will work perfect with Reason 6.5. The workflow of Reason 6.5 could not be better because it is made for a beginner but is efficient enough for a veteran user. I choose Reason 6.5 over a lot of other software’s for that reason only. If I were to go back in time knowing what I know now I would have started working with Reason 6.5 over anything else. Reason 6.5 is all 64 bit operation and it is very easy to time stretch your audio without it effecting the quality. Reason 6.5 is a do it all monster!

There were no installation or compatibility issues getting Propeller Head's Reason 5 set-up. I don't really know whether or not the manual is clear or sufficient, but can guarantee that you will learn much more from tutorials online than the manual. Just explore and be creative with your sounds. That is to say, the general configuration, unless you are familiar with music production, is pretty complicated. The interface is set up to act like a rack of analogue audio equipment, so when you want to put on a new device you have to know where you want it routed to so it will work properly. This can be very complicated for people used to using Digital Audio Workstations. It may sound crazy but these DAWs are designed to make simpler the process of affecting a signal, removing unnecessary aspects such as wiring everything together. Yet Reason, whether it is for a vintage or professional look ends up making more difficult something that is made so much easier in other programs. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I installed Reason 5 on the computer in my school's production studio last year. I know it was a Mac and that the installation was a breeze, but unfortunately I can not remember the specifications of the configuration. The way I usually operated it was by using it as a ReWire application in either Ableton or Logic, which worked like a charm. I used this plug-in for around three months, getting to a point where I was very confident with the sounds I was making. Then I discovered Massive and FM8 and Absynth and kind of forgot about Reason. Honestly I think it was totally worth it to let it go - the experience I've had designing sounds in Massive et. al has been far superior to what I experienced working with Reason. OVERALL OPINION Overall Propeller Head's Reason 5 is a good piece of software, sure, and it can work as a stand-alone DAW. If the configuration is what you're looking for, ie you don't mind a challenge, I say go for it. As long as you give it the time and find that you are producing the sounds you want to, why not. It just wasn't the best choice for me, and I have found much better alternatives since.

Propeller head Reason 1 changed the way that I looked at software for music creation. Reason 1.0 was the first time that I saw the power of softwares and wanted to get away from all of the hardware in my studio. I was able to free up a ton of space in my studio at home by getting rid of the hardware and going with Propeller Head Reason 1. Reason had everything that I needed anymore and I had a great run with reason software. Reason allowed me to see the potential that a software has, and it opened up the gateway for me to use a bunch of other programs that created all of the compositions I have made today. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I ran Propeller Reason 1 on my windows xp computer and it worked great, never had 1 single crash or freeze up. Also upgrading it was extremely easy as well, just did an online upgrade it only took about 10 minutes and I had the newest version of Reason. I have been using reason off and on for about 8 years strong, but today I don’t use it as much as I use to . I feel that Reason’s Mixer hasn’t moved into the right direction with the way that I like everything set up. Reason is a very powerful program but I thin they took to much time making it look like a powerful program instead of making it user friendly but still powerful. OVERALL OPINION Overall Reason is a great software, I wouldn’t recommend it for the beginner because it will throw you for a loop, there are other software’s out on the market that a beginner can try for free and download and if they like it they can purchase. But after you get use to using and sequencing with software I suggest you come back and try Reason.

When I purchased it , it was loaded with stock and preset sounds and samples. But unfortunately like most of the computer software programs all of the stock drums were really weak to me, same thing with a lot of the other computer sequencing programs on the market. I feel like if you pay 300 dollars for a software it should at least come stocked with some pretty good kits of all genre’s. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE Once you get all of the that down its no different than a lot of other programs on the market. I was actually expecting it to stick out from fl studio and acid and or cubase but it didn’t. So that’s why Im just saying its good, because all of those other softwares are good too. Its basically just picking which one your want to go with and feel most comfortable on . Understand your gear is a big part of the musical process and you can understand Propeller Head Reason 2.5 pretty quick. OVERALL OPINION Overall the program is great, it works and sounds great. Sequencing is extremely easy even if its your first time using a computer software to do your music and or compositions with you will be able to do them in no problem. You may have to read through the manual a few times in order to clear up a few things but its mainly just getting use to the menu and options. give it a try! But once you get use to the menu’s and options you will see that Propeller head reason has all the bells and whistles. But you don’t want to get with those once you dig in deep with this program you will be surprised on what you can do with this program, this is a powerful program that has been around for a while and isn’t going anywhere.

I wasn't involved with the installation process of Propellerhead Reason 4 as it was already installed on the machine that I have run it on. Although I can't say anything about installing it, I do know that there haven't been any problems running it since I have been using it. The interface of the software is reminiscent of Reason 3.0, but in general it looks a lot more modern and there are a ton of new features to play with. I find that it is overall easier to use than 3.0, but it did take me a little while to get used to the switch. The manual for the software is put together well and is definitely helpful to have around when learning how to use this. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I have used Propellerhead Reason 4 on an Apple G5 desk top that usually runs with a Pro Tools HD system. This is a very powerful set up and is more than capable of running this program. If you are running a lesser system, it may vary on how well this runs on your system. It really just depends on your personal set up, but if you are running Reason 3.0 or another sequencer in the vein of Reason already, I think that you should be able to run this software without a problem. OVERALL OPINION Overall, Propellerhead Reason 4 is a lot better than 3.0. If you aren't familiar with either of these, Reason is overall a very powerful piece of software and is an almost perfect all in one stop for making MIDI music. The sounds are quite realistic and varied and of course you can always make your own sounds and import them into this. My favorite feature of Reason 4 when compared to 3.0 is the addition of the arpeggiator as you can really get some interesting tones with this. The price of this version of Reason I believe is the same as it was before, but this time around you are getting a lot more value. All in all, if you are looking to get into making music with MIDI, Reason 4.0 is one of the best sequencers that money can buy.

Propellerhead Reason 3.0 is a multi purpose electronic music sequencer. It works on its own for composing MIDI and virtual based instruments and also can be rewired into an audio sequencer like Pro Tools or Cubase. I was able to install Reason 3.0 easily on a number of different systems. It is easy to do as I've never had an compatibility issues. I don't have a manual for this software, but it could definitley come in handy as the program is pretty in depth. SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE I am currently running Reason 3.0 on a Mac Book Pro with a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM. I used to run it on a Hewlett Packard lap top with a 3.0 Ghz processor and 2 GB of RAM. I have been able to run this smoothly on both systems both as a stand alone and running it through Pro Tools LE via rewire. Reason 3.0 has run smoothly since I installed it. OVERALL OPINION I've been using Reason 3.0 for about three or four years. I use it for programming drum beats to use as a scratch track. I use it with an M-Audio Keystation 49e to play the virtual instrument in the sequencer. I mostly use the redrum and looper sections of this program, but the synthesizers also sound great. I usually put the drum beat back into Pro Tools and record acoustic instruments over it. Reason is a powerful piece of software with a lot of capabilities. I don't know what other software I would compare this to other than Apple Logic as they are somewhat similar. I like both programs for different reasons and both work great in a number of different situations. I love using Reason 3.0 and hope I am able to upgrade to Reason 4 as I have heard great things about it!