Customer Reviews

PROPELLERHEAD Reason 3.0 ( Windows/Macintosh )

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I need to begin this review with an important disclaimer: I am an armchair musician, the kind of person who played an instrument in high school but hasn't been serious about music in a long time. I am also a person who loves gadgets, including musical ones like synths. I was bitten by the synth bug in the late `80s when I discovered techno music and the great analog masters of the `70s like Isao Tomita. (I remember having great times listening to Tomita and trying arrangements of `The Planets' suite with a buddy from high school who had an Oberheim analog synth and a sequencer. Good times!)

In other words, I am . . . a dabbler. So this review is from a technophile, music-loving amateur's perspective.

It was actually Propellerhead's demo software that inspired me to take another crack at music as a hobby after many years away. I got myself a nice M-Audio keyboard and the full version of Reason and dived in. In short, I am in hog heaven.

Whether you are a dabbler or a pro, I suspect the first thing you will feel upon firing up Reason 3.0 is, "holy cow, there is a LOT of stuff here." The software is just insanely packed with features. Synths, effects modules, samplers, and more... It is literally like having a room full of hardware. And when you hit Tab the rack turns around so you can use virtual patch cords to wire everything up. And oh yeah - it sounds great!

Reason has so many features, in fact, that it's intimidating for a new user. You'll quickly be making some good sounds, but getting the sound you had in mind to BEGIN WITH is where the skill comes in. It's like going from a Yugo to a race car: now you can adjust the suspension in 10 different ways, but how do you know what you want to do unless you are already a gearhead?

And this is why I mark Reason down from 5 to 4 stars: I wish it held my hand more. The manual isn't bad, but the program is so rich that I am going to have to invest in a tutorial package to get the most out of it. I can't blame Propellerhead TOO much, for admittedly I am a dabbler in a pro's world, but I suspect I am not alone in this feeling judging from the amount of 3rd party Reason products out there.

One thing for actual keyboard players to be aware of: since Reason uses your computer's CPU to generate sound, there is a small amount of latency between a key hit and the sound being produced. On my system, an Athlon 64 3000+, this delay is 34 milliseconds. That is hardly perceptible, but anyone used to a real hardware synth could find it annoying.

If you are a hardware junkie, get a keyboard controller with as many hardware inputs as possible. I am using a Radium M49, which has 9 sliders, 8 knobs, one foot pedal jack, plus the pitch and modulation wheel - and when I am playing with the Reason synths, I wish I had more. Of course you can twiddle all the virtual knobs with the mouse, but sometimes there is no substitute for the real thing.

Lastly, be sure to visit the publisher's web site. They have a lot of cool free downloads and user forums.

CONCLUSION

Even an in-depth review can only scratch the surface of this incredible piece of software. Especially when looked at it from the perspective of creating DUB, and after establishing the endless technical possibilities, it can be said without apology that Reason 3.0 is what the computer based DUB producer of today is waiting for.

While you are producing your music, you're already dealing with the sounds and the effects. You're building your tune on the vibe rather then your technical insight. This means, your final product will simply be the climax of your own experience. Reason definitely takes the boring school vibe out of computer based DUB production. Making the riddim and dubbing it will be the methods of which you will be educating yourself.

Propellerhead Software knows very well, that producing music is an esthetic experience. Professionalism doesn't show in the amount of knowledge you managed to memorize. Making music is not the same as making cookies. Professionalism consists out of the ability to produce music that others will enjoy.

The technical know-how comes as a natural fact, when you are developing yourself in the good way. You start to see the need for a compressor, for example, because you constantly think about ways of making a fatter bass. Technical books filled with formula's that only trigger your school-trauma's become interesting, because you know what you want to reach. And all these things come naturally in an environment such as created by the developers of Reason.

The requirements are remarkably low for the high quality; the price is remarkably low for a complete studio with sequencer. The sounds are professional and because of the very large online community of Reason users, your collection is only bound to grow. Reason even reads open standards such as WAV and SF2, opening the door to other communities too.

Releasing your music is easy, too. Reason will write your final product as a wave file, enabling you to use other software for further processing of the mix. Reason does have an internal mastering section, so the other software could in principal be limited to an MP3 encoder or CD burner.

There are only a few reasons not to get the software.

The first one may be, that you already own a big studio with musicians and digital devices. The second one may be, that you're not interested in creating DUB. The third one can only be, that you already own it.

Full 27 page review on http://reviews.dubroom.org/various0002full.htm

(including soundclips)

With Reason 4 out, reason 3 is obsolete. But it's a good program, and very easy to learn, even in the newest incarnation.

The synths are very versatile and easy to learn to program. The sequencer doesn't get any easier and the mixing console is very direct as is the patching if you want to fiddle with that. Thing is reason automatically patches things for you taking much of the drudger out of the mix.

It doesn't handle live audio though, and that has been corrected with a new companion product, Record. I'm not sure if record works with Reason 3, but it works with Reason 4 out of the box.

I coud go on but check out Reason 4 instead as I might write a review for that someday.