Secret DAW?

[Sorped]

Hello!
I'm wondering what DAW it is some people have tried, you know the ones that say Reason miss a feature and therefore is absolutely useless.
Can anyone enlighten me, what is that DAW is called? You know, the ONE DAW THAT HAS IT ALL!

[Oquasec]

None. But the closest thing to that technically is Cubase.

[Ahornberg]

it's name is "LobaseLivonetools"

[Loque]

Several years ago i tried Ablton Live. At first sight i thought what a ugly bs, on second i noticed, how cool it was to have everything on direct access and how quick i could work in this DAW. Working with samples was so incredibly easy and quick. No hassle and fiddle around. Working with VSTs and automation was great and fast. Than i discovered the Live feature, where you just can jam around or create a clip based performance...AND: You could record it! Very inspiring and cool feature.

Exactly that i miss in Reason. A "jam" function with clips and better sample and automation workflow. And its a shame, that i cannot ghost a track in background to write my notes according to other tracks.

I did not tried many other DAWs, except a few free ones and they were just pure horror in workflow and stability. Sometimes the developers seem to think, lets make it complicated to show how complicated and "pro" our DAW is...

What i never really missed, was VST support...i just had too many bad memories. Now since i have it, i like to have a few RE holes to be filled, but still would prefer it filled with RE.

Now after i work a few years with Reason, i surely miss some other daily stuff, that could improve the workflow...but guess this was enuf said in other threads also by other users...

[Oquasec]

Closest thing reason has is octorex.

[aeox]

My secret DAW is Mario Paint Composer

https://danielx.net/composer/

[Ahornberg]

My secret weapon is LSDJ:

[Creativemind]

Think Logic, Cubase or FL Studio have pretty much every feature I can think of. A very extensive amount. Not sure about Logic or Cubase but with FL Studio, I can only name about 30 things missing. I can name about 100 for Reason, some very basic. The 30 I can name for FL Studio are:-

1) Doesn't have a full colour pallet but a very elaborate one.
2) Spectroman should be Vectorial.
3) Can't see what a parameter value is without moving it (although copy and pasting the value works but is long winded).
4) No Stock Exciter.
5) No Stock Multiband Compressor.
6) No Stock Clip Distortion Device.
6) Can't unroute a mixer channel (I don't think).
7) No trackfreeze (but this might have been addressed in the recently released 12.5 version).
8) Could have more fonts and stuff in the Fruity Notebook.
9) Can't lengthen / shorten notes from the start in the piano roll.
10) Can't stack time markers.
11) No Group Editing in the Piano Roll but Ghost Notes are a neat alternative.
12) No Selection Based Processing. This is in Logic and is a very cool idea.
13) No Paulstretch built in. (Only just learnt what this is).
14) Can't Save as Earlier Version.
15) No Test Oscillator.
16) No Vectorscope / Ganometer.
17) No Audio Activated Tap Tempo (A feature I thought of, do the tap tempo through your mic).
18) No Pattern Copying (Another feature I thought of, search on here, you might find a post I did on it).
19) Can't Import / Export Audio in Mono.
20) Doesn't Undo more things, bit limited sometimes.
21) A Secondary Tool Option.
22) Comping for Audio.
23) Comping for Midi.
24) Zoom to Cursor.
25) Can't go before the timeline like you can on Logic and maybe others.
26) No Manual Parameter Inputs.

There's probably about another 4 stock devices / and could be vectorial devices missing as well.

It has such an extensive list...Audiowarp, tempo detect of audio, fit to tempo, Pitch-Correction (In Polyphonic), Audio to Midi (In Polyphonic), Curved automation and pasting automation shapes (square, sawtooth, triangle), video sync, ganged faders, Ghost Notes in the Piano Roll, Ghost Copying in the Playlist, A Notepad, Time-Markers, an Undo Events List, Step Editing, Vectorial Devices, A lot of Quantize Options, Multiple Piano Graphics in the Piano Roll, Multiple Clip Graphic Types, VST 3 support and in the 64 bit version - 32 bit VST's automatically bridged, Scan for Recently Installed VST's whilst the software is still open and easily visible as it shows up in red in the list, FL Studio works as a Rewire Host and Client and also can be used in other DAW's as a VST, 999 Undo's in it's events list, Dump to Piano Roll (Which is like Capture Last Recording on Logic), Export as MP3, WAV, OGG, MID....also loads more!

Not to mention how advanced / powerful and quick the midi editing is, amazing and the whole software itself is just so damn intuitive.

[Ahornberg]

Think Logic, Cubase or FL Studio have pretty much every feature I can think of. A very extensive amount. Not sure about Logic or Cubase but with FL Studio, I can only name about 30 things missing. I can name about 100 for Reason, some very basic. The 30 I can name for FL Studio are:-

1) Doesn't have a full colour pallet but a very elaborate one.
2) Spectroman should be Vectorial.
3) Can't see what a parameter value is without moving it (although copy and pasting the value works but is long winded).
4) No Stock Exciter.
5) No Stock Multiband Compressor.
6) No Stock Clip Distortion Device.
6) Can't unroute a mixer channel (I don't think).
7) No trackfreeze (but this might have been addressed in the recently released 12.5 version).
8) Could have more fonts and stuff in the Fruity Notebook.
9) Can't lengthen / shorten notes from the start in the piano roll.
10) Can't stack time markers.
11) No Group Editing in the Piano Roll but Ghost Notes are a neat alternative.
12) No Selection Based Processing. This is in Logic and is a very cool idea.
13) No Paulstretch built in. (Only just learnt what this is).
14) Can't Save as Earlier Version.
15) No Test Oscillator.
16) No Vectorscope / Ganometer.
17) No Audio Activated Tap Tempo (A feature I thought of, do the tap tempo through your mic).
18) No Pattern Copying (Another feature I thought of, search on here, you might find a post I did on it).
19) Can't Import / Export Audio in Mono.
20) Doesn't Undo more things, bit limited sometimes.
21) A Secondary Tool Option.
22) Comping for Audio.
23) Comping for Midi.
24) Zoom to Cursor.
25) Can't go before the timeline like you can on Logic and maybe others.

There's probably about another 5 stock devices / and could be vectorial missing.

It has such an extensive list...Audiowarp, tempo detect of audio, fit to tempo, Pitch-Correction (In Polyphonic), Audio to Midi (In Polyphonic), Curved automation and pasting automation shapes (square, sawtooth, triangle), video sync, ganged faders, Ghost Notes in the Piano Roll, Ghost Copying in the Playlist, A Notepad, Time-Markers, an Undo Events List, Step Editing, Vectorial Devices, A lot of Quantize Options, Multiple Piano Graphics in the Piano Roll, Multiple Clip Graphic Types, VST 3 support and in the 64 bit version - 32 bit VST's automatically bridged, Scan for Recently Installed VST's whilst the software is still open and easily visible as it shows up in red in the list, FL Studio works as a Rewire Host and Client and also can be used in other DAW's as a VST, 999 Undo's in it's events list, Dump to Piano Roll (Which is like Capture Last Recording on Logic), Export as MP3, WAV, OGG, MID....also loads more!

Not to mention how advanced / powerful and quick the midi editing is, amazing and the whole software itself is just so damn intuitive.

Just a question: Why do you mess around with Reason?

[millionVALVE]

With the Props' addition of audio and VST support, Reason gives me very little...reason...to exit it for another DAW, now. I often play guitar and bass and have people sing for me, so the self-contained audio support is big for me. VST now? Hel-lo.

Before all this new goodness: I started using the 1st version of Reason in 2001, along with Cubase 5.1 for VST and audio. (I was actually using Reason--way back then--for guitar, bass and vox audio by ReCycling .wavs and putting them into Dr. Rex. With no ReWire hassle. For the $150 ReCycle outlay, I had tempo-scalable audio in Reason for years--since the very beginning.)

I kept up with Cubase past the SX series, but started getting annoyed by the bloat and a growing unease with its workflow, feel, and expense. I switched to Ableton Live around 2005 since I (personally) much preferred it to Cubase. So, I ReWired Live with Reason when I needed to.

----------

This is a tangential comment, but it's worth mentioning: what DAW app do I use on my iPad (Pro) since I can't use Reason on it?

WaveMachine Labs' Auria Pro

It's not particularly "like Reason" (aamof: though it does have it now, WM Labs spent years taking heaps of $hite for not having MIDI!). But it's superb on its own *and* as a complement to, in this case, Reason.

A Biggie: besides the normal App Store instruments/effects you can get, the dedicated plugs you can buy inside Auria are also unreal: PSP, Drumagog, and the full FabFilter line, as examples. The FabFilters are 98% like their VST versions, but a third of the price, like $40-$50. Hells yeah. So if I want to use audio with those in a Reason project, I'll do some simple export/import with the recordings between desktop and iPad. Totally worth it.

I recorded and mixed a full song using Auria--in completely random geographical locations ("Jane" on my soundcloud link). So when I'm recording "whatever" remotely now, I can just bring the tracks into Reason. Bam.

cheers,
Nick

[Creativemind]

Think Logic, Cubase or FL Studio have pretty much every feature I can think of. A very extensive amount. Not sure about Logic or Cubase but with FL Studio, I can only name about 30 things missing. I can name about 100 for Reason, some very basic. The 30 I can name for FL Studio are:-

1) Doesn't have a full colour pallet but a very elaborate one.
2) Spectroman should be Vectorial.
3) Can't see what a parameter value is without moving it (although copy and pasting the value works but is long winded).
4) No Stock Exciter.
5) No Stock Multiband Compressor.
6) No Stock Clip Distortion Device.
6) Can't unroute a mixer channel (I don't think).
7) No trackfreeze (but this might have been addressed in the recently released 12.5 version).
8) Could have more fonts and stuff in the Fruity Notebook.
9) Can't lengthen / shorten notes from the start in the piano roll.
10) Can't stack time markers.
11) No Group Editing in the Piano Roll but Ghost Notes are a neat alternative.
12) No Selection Based Processing. This is in Logic and is a very cool idea.
13) No Paulstretch built in. (Only just learnt what this is).
14) Can't Save as Earlier Version.
15) No Test Oscillator.
16) No Vectorscope / Ganometer.
17) No Audio Activated Tap Tempo (A feature I thought of, do the tap tempo through your mic).
18) No Pattern Copying (Another feature I thought of, search on here, you might find a post I did on it).
19) Can't Import / Export Audio in Mono.
20) Doesn't Undo more things, bit limited sometimes.
21) A Secondary Tool Option.
22) Comping for Audio.
23) Comping for Midi.
24) Zoom to Cursor.
25) Can't go before the timeline like you can on Logic and maybe others.

There's probably about another 5 stock devices / and could be vectorial missing.

It has such an extensive list...Audiowarp, tempo detect of audio, fit to tempo, Pitch-Correction (In Polyphonic), Audio to Midi (In Polyphonic), Curved automation and pasting automation shapes (square, sawtooth, triangle), video sync, ganged faders, Ghost Notes in the Piano Roll, Ghost Copying in the Playlist, A Notepad, Time-Markers, an Undo Events List, Step Editing, Vectorial Devices, A lot of Quantize Options, Multiple Piano Graphics in the Piano Roll, Multiple Clip Graphic Types, VST 3 support and in the 64 bit version - 32 bit VST's automatically bridged, Scan for Recently Installed VST's whilst the software is still open and easily visible as it shows up in red in the list, FL Studio works as a Rewire Host and Client and also can be used in other DAW's as a VST, 999 Undo's in it's events list, Dump to Piano Roll (Which is like Capture Last Recording on Logic), Export as MP3, WAV, OGG, MID....also loads more!

Not to mention how advanced / powerful and quick the midi editing is, amazing and the whole software itself is just so damn intuitive.

Just a question: Why do you mess around with Reason?

I use Reason 'cause it's a very nice creative daw to use. I like the look and feel of it. Plus it was the first daw I got into in 2012 and loving how it's progressing. I'm very much looking forward to what's coming in version 10.

[aeox]

Think Logic, Cubase or FL Studio have pretty much every feature I can think of. A very extensive amount. Not sure about Logic or Cubase but with FL Studio, I can only name about 30 things missing. I can name about 100 for Reason, some very basic. The 30 I can name for FL Studio are:-

1) Doesn't have a full colour pallet but a very elaborate one.
2) Spectroman should be Vectorial.
3) Can't see what a parameter value is without moving it (although copy and pasting the value works but is long winded).
4) No Stock Exciter.
5) No Stock Multiband Compressor.
6) No Stock Clip Distortion Device.
6) Can't unroute a mixer channel (I don't think).
7) No trackfreeze (but this might have been addressed in the recently released 12.5 version).
8) Could have more fonts and stuff in the Fruity Notebook.
9) Can't lengthen / shorten notes from the start in the piano roll.
10) Can't stack time markers.
11) No Group Editing in the Piano Roll but Ghost Notes are a neat alternative.
12) No Selection Based Processing. This is in Logic and is a very cool idea.
13) No Paulstretch built in. (Only just learnt what this is).
14) Can't Save as Earlier Version.
15) No Test Oscillator.
16) No Vectorscope / Ganometer.
17) No Audio Activated Tap Tempo (A feature I thought of, do the tap tempo through your mic).
18) No Pattern Copying (Another feature I thought of, search on here, you might find a post I did on it).
19) Can't Import / Export Audio in Mono.
20) Doesn't Undo more things, bit limited sometimes.
21) A Secondary Tool Option.
22) Comping for Audio.
23) Comping for Midi.
24) Zoom to Cursor.
25) Can't go before the timeline like you can on Logic and maybe others.
26) No Manual Parameter Inputs.

There's probably about another 4 stock devices / and could be vectorial devices missing as well.

It has such an extensive list...Audiowarp, tempo detect of audio, fit to tempo, Pitch-Correction (In Polyphonic), Audio to Midi (In Polyphonic), Curved automation and pasting automation shapes (square, sawtooth, triangle), video sync, ganged faders, Ghost Notes in the Piano Roll, Ghost Copying in the Playlist, A Notepad, Time-Markers, an Undo Events List, Step Editing, Vectorial Devices, A lot of Quantize Options, Multiple Piano Graphics in the Piano Roll, Multiple Clip Graphic Types, VST 3 support and in the 64 bit version - 32 bit VST's automatically bridged, Scan for Recently Installed VST's whilst the software is still open and easily visible as it shows up in red in the list, FL Studio works as a Rewire Host and Client and also can be used in other DAW's as a VST, 999 Undo's in it's events list, Dump to Piano Roll (Which is like Capture Last Recording on Logic), Export as MP3, WAV, OGG, MID....also loads more!

Not to mention how advanced / powerful and quick the midi editing is, amazing and the whole software itself is just so damn intuitive.

To me, all that stuff is really nit picky.

I never even gave any of that stuff a second thought, Reason has all the tools I need to make whatever music I want. Sure, there may be some long winded work around every now and then, but it doesn't warrant closing down and opening up another DAW just to accomplish a task.

Why are you even using Reason if it's lacking so many features that you absolutely need?

[Ahornberg]

Just a question: Why do you mess around with Reason?

I use Reason 'cause it's a very nice creative daw to use. I like the look and feel of it. Plus it was the first daw I got into in 2012 and loving how it's progressing. I'm very much looking forward to what's coming in version 10.

Imagine, Reason had all that 100 features you actually miss: What would this change for you?
Would you make better music? Would you make more music?
Or would there be another 100 features missing?

[Gorgon]

Hello!
I'm wondering what DAW it is some people have tried, you know the ones that say Reason miss a feature and therefore is absolutely useless.
Can anyone enlighten me, what is that DAW is called? You know, the ONE DAW THAT HAS IT ALL!

Has cut and paste in the sample editor and steptime edit. Reason doesn't.

See?

[Loque]

I liked most the Quadra Composer. It had a FFT Sample Editor (!!!), where you could edit your sample in 3D. This was around 25 years back and it worked fluent on a 7Mhz single core CPU.

[madmacman]

I remember there was an interview in one of the early issues of German KEYS magazine with so-called "summit meeting" of the most important developer at that time (must have been around 1989-1991). Gerhard Lengeling (C-Lab, Emagic, now working for Apple) from the Creator/Notator/Logic side and Karl "Charly" Steinberg (Pro 24, later Cubit/Cubase) were participants amongst others I can't remember.

But I remember a statement where all of them agreed: Convenience features in software are for the "hobbyists" who put much passion into their music production. The professionals, however, use the software more as a digital "tape recorder" and rely solely on the basic functionality.

But of course - this was more than 25 years ago, and times have changed.

[Loque]

I remember there was an interview in one of the early issues of German KEYS magazine with so-called "summit meeting" of the most important developer at that time (must have been around 1989-1991). Gerhard Lengeling (C-Lab, Emagic, now working for Apple) from the Creator/Notator/Logic side and Karl "Charly" Steinberg (Pro 24, later Cubit/Cubase) were participants amongst others I can't remember.

But I remember a statement where all of them agreed: Convenience features in software are for the "hobbyists" who put much passion into their music production. The professionals, however, use the software more as a digital "tape recorder" and rely solely on the basic functionality.

But of course - this was more than 25 years ago, and times have changed.

Would be interesting to see who buys more licenses? The hobbyist or the pro?

[madmacman]

Would be interesting to see who buys more licenses? The hobbyist or the pro?

Uhh, could be a completely different discussion. Starting from "who used a computer for making music then?", followed by the pricing models (which have drastically changed): I remember you could spend ~1000 DM for Logic Platinum? And so on...

I understand your argument. I read it every day in Apple-related news: the "Pro" people claim they made Apple big, but today Apple makes its money with the mass market and consumers and puts its development focus more on this group of potential buyers.

[Ahornberg]

Would be interesting to see who buys more licenses? The hobbyist or the pro?

Uhh, could be a completely different discussion. Starting from "who used a computer for making music then?", followed by the pricing models (which have drastically changed): I remember you could spend ~1000 DM for Logic Platinum? And so on...

I understand your argument. I read it every day in Apple-related news: the "Pro" people claim they made Apple big, but today Apple makes its money with the mass market and consumers and puts its development focus more on this group of potential buyers.

Would say there are more hobbyists that professionals

[Sorped]

Hello!
I'm wondering what DAW it is some people have tried, you know the ones that say Reason miss a feature and therefore is absolutely useless.
Can anyone enlighten me, what is that DAW is called? You know, the ONE DAW THAT HAS IT ALL!

Has cut and paste in the sample editor and steptime edit. Reason doesn't.

See?

POW! Struck by Memory Lane. I remember when I bought my first soundcard (ca '92) it included a tracker which I had no idea how to use

I want to say, after reading your replies, I hope every DAW user realise that although some DAWs offer great features, they might lack in other areas. Reason has it's forces, and as some of you think, many flaws too. I'm sure going from Reason to another DAW I could find many things too that I find missing or are outright idiotic, others will find that particular DAW the dog's bollocks.

[Ahornberg]

I think the most creative I was using a tracker in the 1990s ...

[Sorped]

I think the most creative I was using a tracker in the 1990s ...

I guess when you know how to use it, the UI doesn't offer any distractions of any sort

[motuscott]

When I was a budding young muso (as opposed to the burnt out husk of a husk that you see before you now) I used to fantasize about living off the grid w/ a band in a fully equipped recording studio. Also included was a small dumptruck of herb and a boutique distillery.
Well frankly that has happened, more or less.
I've got a fricking state of the art studio in my 10 yr old computer, a few thousand in instruments, mics, mic preamps, stands and cableing. Not exactly off the grid but the anonymity afforded by living in a major metropolitan area is pretty darn close.
There was a point I was trying to make, give me a minute...
Yes, here it is:
It's all good.

[Gorgon]

I think the most creative I was using a tracker in the 1990s ...

Same here.

[Gorgon]

I think the most creative I was using a tracker in the 1990s ...

I guess when you know how to use it, the UI doesn't offer any distractions of any sort

Exactly. I knew it inside out. Also, there was no internet.