Reason 2.0 users

I am considering getting Reason because it is cheaper than getting a motif or triton rack and can do more as far a signal processing. Do you think it would be better to cop reason or stack my chips for a rack module.

What are the Pros and cons to Reason?

Uno/1

gams

i use reason 2.0. i love it. my only hardware is my mpc (and my guitars )
reason 2.0 pros:
unlimited samplers/drum machines/synths/rex players (limited only by cpu)
for the price you cant buy 1 decent drum machine/sampler or synth and with reason you get a rack full of them, plus effects, plus the freedom to wire the things together however you want, it is unreal.

the only con is really that you need a good soundcard too (with low latency). if you are lookin at reason get an m-audio auiophile 2496 soundcard and you will be set. i just got one 2 weeks ago and reason triggers instantly when i hit a key on my midi keys or hit a pad on the mpc. instantly. its perfect. people might say your computer and therefore reason arent portable, but a rack full of 3 samplers, 4 synths, 2 drum machines and a mixer and effects isnt very portable either soooo i dont buy that argument. i say download the reason demo and find someone that knows how to use it to show you around in it and you will probably be blown away. oh yeah the other con is that synths have knobs and are hands on realtime tweakable, but i use my moFx unit as a midi knob controller so i get the same thing in reason. full automatable too.

B,

I have a pretty stabel PC (P4 2.0 Ghz) and a good sound card (M-Audio Quattro). So, I think I should be fine in that aspect.
Lets say I create a few sequences with the MPC as sequencer and reason as a sound module. Will I be able to export the midi file into the MPC with the exact program sounds from Reason?


Uno/1

gams

well it doesnt quite work how you described. generaly for using the mpc and reason you would sync the two using mpc as the master. this will cause the tempo to be the same and whewn you hit start on the mpc reason will start. i would sequence everything (except for the mpcstuff) into reasons sequencer (well thats how you have to anyways). you would want a midi keyboard, but you can get a 37key fatar for like 60. youd be all set with that computer. i have used tons of samplers and syths and fx in reason and ever gone above 10% cpu usage on my amd1600. i definately think you would be better off with reason and a good midi keyboard with knobs (oxygen8 maybe) than with a triton or whatever.

I would start with Reason

Reason is capable of sooo many things. I will work on a Reason preview trak for you showing you some of the things you can get out of it. Unlike a hardware synth/sampler, you'll find things 10 months down the road that you never knew was possible.

Have you downloaded the demo yet?
A exellent resource is www.reasonstation.net

The people are kinda techno snobbish, and you wont see allot of Hip Hop threads, but trust me- they exist.

The routing possibilities in Reason is exellent, plus is will teach you basic studio setup, midi relationship, synth programming and a track building. Allot of engineers use it. I found a site showing Nothing studios (NIN) and they were all huddled around a laptop with Reason and in the bakground you can see all of their hardware.. haha.

Anyway- download some of the tracks from Reason Station and listen closely to the sounds.

I will post some more stuff ASAP about it, but I would suggest picking it up before buying a hardware synth. It's a great source for sounds, and works brilliant with any samplists hardware.


Reason 2.5 should be out soon...

Can you load samples into Reason?

Uno/1

gams

yes you can load wav files into the nnxt and nn19 rack samplers, you can load waves of drum hits (or any sound) into the redrum drum machine and you can load rex (recycle files) into the dr rex players. it makes it real easy to slice a break then use the individual hits in reason (like we do with our mpcs)

B & Ego,

Good looking on the info fellas.

Uno/1

gams

please read my post in " studio environments" and tell me if reason will work with what I have.

reason is cool,but theres some damn fine hardware out there for that kind of money.who pays for software anyway (just kidding) (maybe)

there might be some ok hardware @ $250 but definately not as much as you get in soft versions with reason. I think you could get 1 drum machine (used) or 1 synth or 1 sampler (used) or 1 mixer at that price. definately could not get an expandable modular full setup (minus audio recording) in hardware anywhere near that price.

reason is nice. I have heard some really cool sounding tracks come out of it. But it isn't as nice as Cubase SX or Logic. Logic in my books is the best but since Logic is no loger being made for the PC I might have to end up and get a G4 sooner or later. Now reason IN CONJUNCTION with cubase SX or Logic is cool. You can rewire reason into these two programs which give you the capabilities of using all the reason functions and the functions within one of those other two sequencers. Such as, DirectX plugins or VSTi's.

I mean I guess since I know logic well enough to create my midi environment and figured out how to do all the crazy automation and stuff I am kind of biased towards it. But I know people who use both and think Logic is far superior.

Don't get me wrong I like reason. I use it to get ideas down then rewire it into logic to take full advantage of logic's capabilities.

yeah, but reason and logic or reason and cubase are apples and oranges. reason doesnt allow you to track audio. nor is it is vsti host. but compare the cpu usage in reason to vstis and it is way more optimized. plus you can rewire reason into either of those programs sooo. its allgood.