This review is from: Propellerhead Reason 4.0 Recording SoftwareReason Version 4.0 - Mac - Review 9-15-2008In order to give a meaningful review of Reason 4.0 and the major improvements in this latest version of Propellerheads' music creation software package, I first need to state exactly what Reason is, and what it is not.The most descriptive definition of Reason is that it is basically a "virtual rack mount studio", complete with a built in sequencer, faithfully simulated in a single software package. For those who are familiar with rack mount studio units, Reason incorporates most (if not all) common hardware rack mount units you would find in a typical recording studio. This includes mixer boards, effects processors (such as reverb, distortion, chorus and flanger units, etc.), two very robust digital samplers which can use samples and wave files as instrumental components, a drum sequencer, a drum sequence sampler/playback tool, and several analog synthesizer units as well - and much, much more. Each of these devices can be "cable patched" into one another within Reason in almost any conceivable combination, and all of the units look and act like their hardware counterparts would in an actual recording studio. Also, you can "create" as many of these virtual hardware components as you need and the only limitation you have on how many you can effectively use is limited only by your computer's processor speed, RAM, and the sound card hardware in your computer. Since Reason 4.0 uses software to simulate the functions of these virtual hardware units, having a high-end soundcard is NOT necessary to get the most out of the Reason package. Any decent PC or Mac sound card or chip is capable of getting near perfect sound quality out of this package - even the basic sound hardware found in a standard off the shelf Mac laptop such as the MacBook Pro will do just fine.As a digital music creation platform, Reason has been very good for years, with one noticeable feature missing: The ability to record "live" instruments, such as guitars or vocals. While this lack of live recording ability has always made Reason a questionably "complete" DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software package, what it lacks in recording capability it more than makes up for by what it does best: Be a one-man-band/studio in a single box. For those who are already using another software package such as CakeWalk Sonar Studio for live recording, Reason does have the ability to be "rewired" into other packages that support rewiring, such as Sonar. As an add-on component to other DAW software packages, Reason adds a some huge capabilities to other programs and can more than stand on it's own for creation of any conceivable type of electronic music from hip hop to classical to jazz and far beyond.If you are looking to do a lot of live instrument recording, you might want to look at another software package, but if you are doing something "instrumental", say composing a music piece for a television commercial, look no further. Reason has you covered - in a very big way.This basic description of Reason as a "one stop recording studio" was accurate for version 2.5. While Reason Version 2.5 was very robust, there were several features that were noticeably missing:- The ability to easily combine samplers or synths into "layered" instruments (more than one type of sound being controlled by a single sequencer track)- A coherent and robust piano roll / track view with typical visual components (e.g. as found in other DAW packages such as Sonar)- A mastering suite of tools for controlling final mix down of tracks into a final polished and well engineered song- The ability to change tempo within a music project by measure- A very robust and complex synthesizer capable of producing a huge range of different soundsStarting with the last drawback first, Reason 2.5 and 3.0 contained 2 main synths: The Subtractor Analog synth and the Malstrom Graintable synth. Reason 4 also still contains these two instruments. While these two synths were plenty capable of producing a host of "vintage" style synths sounds, they lacked the kind of customization that can be found in other high-end digital music packages such as Apple's Logic audio software, making music such as "trance" or "techno-electronica" style music incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to do in Reason. This has now changed in a radical way for the better. More on that in a minute...Reason 3.0 was a huge step in the right direction for Reason users. There were two major advances in Reason 3.0:- The addition of a FULL suite of recording and mastering tools including a parametric EQ unit and a compressor unit, (among others). The mastering suite units were a huge leap forward for Reason because they allowed composers to control exactly how a finished song should sound - and even how individual instruments within the song should sound - and these units also greatly reduced the occurrences of audio-clipping which can ruin a digital recording. As with all other Reason "hardware units" the user has the ability to create and use as many mastering units as needed for any given project, limited only by processor speed and the amount of RAM in the user's computer.- The addition of a new rack unit called the "Combinator". The Combinator was another giant improvement on the Reason package because it allowed users to "group" any other kinds of Reason units into 1 "package" or "group" and then assign the entire group to a single sequencer track. This meant that a user could now throw a mixer, some effects units, and several instruments into 1 package and treat the entire package as a single instrument from within the sequencer. Obviously, this stretched Reason's sound producing capabilities much further and allowed the user to create multi-layered polyphonic instruments with ease.Reason 3.0 was a great leap forward, for sure, but there were still t...
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