It’s highly recommended!
It was very fast to learn, fast to run - I can let it play dozens of instruments with hundreds of notes playing on a humble Mac mini.
I’ve made sounds with Subtractor, Malström, NN19 and NN-XT digital samplers. It’s possible to build very complex and fat sounds with all of them, especially now with the Combinator with which it’s possible to combine synths in a very powerful manner.
The first thing I did with it was to make a sequence of vocoder “robot” voices using a sawtooth string sound, a vocoder and a sampler with my voice, here.
Sounds fun… I am somewhat familiar with Reason, so I know it’s a very cool and very powerful program. Too bad I can’t afford it (and don’t wish to pirate it), no?
Sounds fun… I am somewhat familiar with Reason, so I know it’s a very cool and very powerful program. Too bad I can’t afford it (and don’t wish to pirate it), no?
It’s just SEK 3980, or USD 499. I bought it via an internet shop located somewhere in the southern Sweden.
After registering I had access to thousands of more sounds/instruments, a part of the value in registering a legally bought Reason copy.
I compared it to Logic Pro and realized how dirt cheap Reason actually is for what we get.
One other strong reason for me to buy it was that it’s unusually well optimized for the Mac, the Mac mini can play more instruments than many others at the Propellerhead forums having PCs with more impressive specs, and the Macs’s latency (the time between I play a note on my keyboard and when Reason play a sound) seem to be better than theirs too.
Good, good. I’ve always viewed Reason as an external sound module. I never used it myself, though, since I’m a hardcore Logic user (I’ve used it since version 3).
Does Reason have any automation facilities? Logic is notorious for its extensive automation features. Any value of any plug-in can be automated (recorded and then recreated during playback).
You must mean automation of anything happening in Reason including the synths.
Do you see the green lines around various parts of the mixer and the synth?
These “parameters” were automated by me while it was playing a few bars again and again. The only thing I didn’t manage to automate was the amount of polyphony.
It can create a new track in the sequencer which can be set to control any device in Reason, which then can be fully automated. I’ve used it mostly for fading in and out of instruments, and moving them in stereo.
I have 2.5. I was interested in how different it is. I could not find a vocoder.
The version 2.5 has most of what the version 3 has, including the BV512 Digital Vocoder.
The new things in Reason 3: New remote support, the Combinator, new browser, the MClass effects, line mixer 6:2, a new factory soundbank, sequencer improvements and new audio features.
The main benefit in the 303 upgrade was much better performance, but with an annoying missing refill icon bug. I had to fix that one by having the old version 3.0 too and “open with” Reason 3.0 + “Change all”.
I haven’t thought about importing MIDI files yet, I’m too busy composing.
I’ve been having fun with synthesizers since early 80’s but I’m thoroughly impressed by what modern computers with powerful software can do. Reason was worth every dime!
But yeah, I’ll try that and tell if I had any problems or not.
Wow, look at all those knobs and doodads. It all looks extremely complicated, so much so that I’m inclined to think the application’s interface is too much like real instrumentation.
Wow, look at all those knobs and doodads. It all looks extremely complicated, so much so that I’m inclined to think the application’s interface is too much like real instrumentation.
... and you’re not going to give it a try? Trust me, there is a LOT you can do with Reason, even if you don’t know how to work all the modules. You can always start with a drum machine, then work your way out, like i did (at first… I’ve just played with the demo and in stores).
Wow, look at all those knobs and doodads. It all looks extremely complicated, so much so that I’m inclined to think the application’s interface is too much like real instrumentation.
Yes, I agree. Propellerhead made reason to be as much like “real” synths as possible. Right down to the patch cords on the back of the virtual devices. You can start making music right away though. The depth of the App is daunting or enticing depending on your perspective. It’s definitely not a GB 2 alternative.
Wow, look at all those knobs and doodads. It all looks extremely complicated, so much so that I’m inclined to think the application’s interface is too much like real instrumentation.
Yes, I agree. Propellerhead made reason to be as much like “real” synths as possible. Right down to the patch cords on the back of the virtual devices. You can start making music right away though. The depth of the App is daunting or enticing depending on your perspective. It’s definitely not a GB 2 alternative.
You can always choose to ignore the synth programming if you feel intimidated by it and only load patches and record music in the sequencer.
I feel it’s complicated to learn the Combinator and how to let the instruments modulate each other by connecting different parts of them. I haven’t managed to create anything useful yet other than the vocoder.
The MIDI-file import was simple but enough, all I had to do was to figure out which patch & synth to connect to each track. I tested with these, “Autobahn” and “Computer Love”. It worked as it should, I think.
