*Updated* POLL: What's the Main Thing Keeping You From Working in Reason 100%

[pjeudy]

Better work flow in the other DAW that I use. More choice of devices/newer technology in the VST format. BUT that's not the main reason I use another DAW. Work flow options is what got me to try another DAW.

[lowpryo]

Workflow for me.

Reason is still my go-to creative playground but the workflow while making full, complex songs is lacking IMO. I recently got Ableton and I like how you can group and hide tracks, hide automation lanes, and draw curves on automation and fade clips. Navigating and organizing a full song in Reason is a nightmare, but in Ableton it's a breeze.

[gak]

Hi everyone, fruitcake gak here with some important information that will be completely ignored.

1) For the longest time (well, a year + is an eternity for me ) I DID use reason as my only host. Life was good, but as you get used to it you start to miss things. Then of course you and others mention all the things you think would be relatively easy to code that will help the mentioned "workflow" and a the .x updates came, so did they. YAY.

But...

2) Reason 9 comes out and virtually every single thing PEOPLE REALLY WANTED were nose-thumbed up as if we are stupid whiners who just moan and don't make music. I'm not saying reason 9 is a joke, but it IS a joke that it was so arrogant. Those dudes can code and I think I'm in rather large company that sick of so many little things that would just help being ignored.

3) 9.1 comes out, with the "now we can make the same fucking beatz we always could but with other people easier" and STILL NO FUCKING OBVIOUS WORKFLOW UPDATES. 9.1? I mean, they have their x.x updates all buggered of late.

So, though I still love reason and I'm thankful I own it, I've dipped in other waters just to have something different for a change. You can call me an idiot for feeling that way but I think that after over a year of introducing virtually nothing that excites me, I'm entitled to feel entitled.

Now, on to the next post which will either ignore me or tell me than I'm an entitled person who is not always going to get my way

[Dante]

I voted 'Other' because it depends what is meant by 'Working in Reason 100%'. I am spending 99.9% of my time in Reason, whilst running DSP for Mastering. I only need to touch the DSP Mastering plugins once to adjust the final gain. But the DSP Mastering plugins are not running inside another DAW (as in sequencer).

So if the question was to read 'Do you use Reason as your only main DAW Sequencer' then my answer would be Yes.

Now, the reason I don't master inside Reason itself - that's simple - I prefer the sound of DSP mastering plugins, plus using DSP saves processing power on the Host CPU.

[Creativemind]

I've tried to think before how many features it would take for Reason to my one and only DAW. Can't get it down to less than 65. There's 80 I would like to see in total.

I have 20 for audio and midi editing, 13 for devices, 10 for the sequencer and inspector, 8 that don't fit into any categories, 4 for the rack, 3 for the mixer, 3 for the transport, 3 for the preferences and a Step Sequencer / Editor Player.

So what do you use Reason for and what do you use other DAWs for?

I use Reason cause I like it and I use other daws cause they have things like Audiowarp to timestretch a sample without it going chipmunky and Barry Whitey. I also use vst's in other daws and if I need a granular synth etc etc

[Ostermilk]

Nothing keeps me from using Reason 100%, I do exactly that much of the time.

I do however prefer doing certain tasks outside of Reason, multi-track editing (midi and audio) I often do elsewhere and I'll render some stuff externally too if I'm not getting a sound I want from what's available in the Rack. Even if I'm doing stuff in another DAW though I'll usually have Reason rewired to it to keep everything synced up.

I've yet to find the DAW that is the master of everything and I'd probably find it boring and less creative if I did, simply 'cause I love playing around with different stuff.

I guess then that would make me an Option 7 kind of guy.

[Reasonistas]

I've used Reason 100% since version 2, of course except for vocals until Record was introduced. Before Record, I would record vocals in Digital Performer and then import them to Recycle to import them into Reason. Everything I've released has been straight out of Reason and with every version I've learned to make it sound better.

[dustmoses]

Mixing vocals. Isotope nectar 2 and a couple fabfilters (pro-c and pro-l mostly) is fast, easy and sounds great.

[Faastwalker]

I voted 'I already work in Reason 100%', which is basically true except for iOS stuff & hardware. I don't use any other DAW's on my PC. I've never used VST's much so dropping the ones I was using at the time of going 100% Reason (GForce's ImpOSCar mainly & a few other freebies) wasn't much of a big deal. I would like to see vastly improved audio editing in Reason. Reason 9 went some way to addressing some of the things I wanted. But I'd still like to see more comprehensive audio editing. A really good sample you could record & edit in directly would be great.

[MannequinRaces]

Thanks everybody for participating! I'll respond to some more of your responses shortly (long night at work tonight). As of now looks like about 43% of you pollsters are using Reason 100% for everything with a few users only stepping out of Reason for a few things. The remainder mostly want VST support or they work in another DAW because their favorite plug-ins are not ported over to RE format.

As stated earlier this poll is not to demonize those who use multiple DAWs. Reason is simply a tool as are all the other DAWs out there. Personally I have heard that many users want to stay in Reason to do all their work because they like the workflow and it's easy to jot down ideas and get the creative juices flowing. I was simply curious to see how many people are working completely in the box. Also mentioned this poll is not intended to be a laundry list of all the minutiae that is on your personal wish list you want to see implemented. For those of you that listed 'other' it has been interesting to read what you wrote and I think you for doing so.

[Skullture]

I'm really missing the point of video support

But yeah other than that there probably is no real point.

I'd like for Propellerhead to focus on audio, someone else can build a secondary DAW that has some videotrack support. I wouldn't use it, neither would 90% of their user basis. It's a niche thingy. Can be done in other applications for all I care.

[michal22]

OTHER:
Unfortunately, I have to give two features.
- Automatic delay compensation on parallel channels
- Freezing and defrosting (saves CPU)

[OverneathTheSkyBridg]

Thought I'd share my reason for using other DAWs. I use Renoise as well cause when I started making computer based music I was using Scream Tracker and then Impulse Tracker before getting into Reason. Those of you that have worked with trackers can probably appreciate the speed that kind of workflow offers. Couple that with its ability to host VSTs and it's kickass sample editor makes it a great compliment to Reason's modular layout which is equally appealing.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

[aallvor]

Voted "other". Need the audio editing and restoration capabilities of Wavelab for cleaning up field recordings, etc.

[RandomSkratch]

Thought I'd share my reason for using other DAWs. I use Renoise as well cause when I started making computer based music I was using Scream Tracker and then Impulse Tracker before getting into Reason. Those of you that have worked with trackers can probably appreciate the speed that kind of workflow offers. Couple that with its ability to host VSTs and it's kickass sample editor makes it a great compliment to Reason's modular layout which is equally appealing.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

FastTracker 2 here . Renoise to me is super awesome and appealing but the depth at which it can go is mind bogglingly confusing! I wish I had all the time in the world to learn each and every piece of software that is interesting to me.

[CaptainBlack]

Sometimes I think "I wonder what this would sound like in Omnisphere". So I have to export the midi file into Cubase so I can play it with a VST. This is why Reason will never be top DAWg, much as i love mixing in it.

[gak]

I never took it as demonizing using other hosts, I simply wanted to moan.

[JCBendock]

I'm really missing the point of video support

But yeah other than that there probably is no real point.

I'd like for Propellerhead to focus on audio, someone else can build a secondary DAW that has some videotrack support. I wouldn't use it, neither would 90% of their user basis. It's a niche thingy. Can be done in other applications for all I care.

I think not only are you still missing the point I think you have zero idea at what goes into a professional video.

Adding video support isn't so you can work on video, it is so you can work on the AUDIO that accompanies the video. The video playback is only so you can time items in the audio to the video and to make sure that dialog doesn't go out of sync. It also helps dictate the timiming and mood/velocity for music production. All of the work you would be doing would be on audio.

Video editors are not audio engineers and most the time they dont want to be. They tell stories and that's it, once they have picture lock they hand it off to an audio guy who is tasked with not only making the audio masters, but also a full mix down of all audio elements, creating/replacing/retiming music, adding sound effects, atmospheres, enviromemts...ect Its not uncommon to have 20+ tracks of audio that need to be worked on and that's not including the music creation that could easily add another 20 tracks. VIdeo editing software is not equipped to deal with this in the way a DAW is. That is why nearly every DAW except Reason incorporates a video production workflow. It is one of the primary functions of a DAW and its the bread and butter for companies like AVID, who originally purchased digidesign so that they could offer an complete system to their VIDEO clients. Its also the reason Adobe bought cool edit pro.

As for those 90% im pretty sure most of them would love the oppurrtunity to do Reason as a career. The point in my last post was that there is more need for qualified DAW users in the video production world then there is any other field that requires audio including the music industry. Wouldn't you like to get paid for all that knowledge you have stored in your head regarding eq, compression and music composition ect. Imagine getting $125+/hr every time you sit down to work on Reason. I bet most Reason users would be happy for $20/hr just so they could afford the $129 upgrade without crying. It sure beats checking your bandcamp account every day to see if someone gave you 5 bucks?

[Creativemind]

Also, regarding the poll option:
"Reason Won't Write Your Next Masterpiece Adored by Millions of Fans for YOU"

Whut's wrong with software doing it all for you? Man built the machine and coded the software, no more work need necessarily be done by man, except a button press to initiate song creation. It's still a statement of sorts.

Yeah, I disagree with 'Push a button, create a song' but yeah. I don't get people who don't want Reason to grow and get more features. I mean, which would you prefer, turn your tele over by to getting off the couch and turning it over by hand taking 20 seconds or would you rather use a remote control, click, done? The vast majority of people would say, a remote control, that's why if you tried to sell a tv now that didn't operate with a remote control, you wouldn't sell one, or hardly any anyway. And the tele / remote control analogy doesn't even involve creativity. So taking ages to do something when you're in your creative flow is annoying.

Like 2 years ago, I had a ditty in my head (a lead riff for a dance track) and I struggled to work it out properly for ages. I wanted crack on with the rest of the track and get it down. At the time I was cursing saying, I want audio to midi about now. Scroll forward 2 years and we now have it in Reason 9 and since they've had it I haven't needed it yet lol! I have needed it several times in the past though.

[zakalwe]

audio editing and automation are primitive. no PDC. i've got a bunch of nice RE for it already so i can live without VST just fine. i don't really want to deal with a DAW that lacks basic features in 2016 however.

[Makis]

Delay Compensation

[8cros]

Delay Compensation

Take MIDI clip (group) requiring delay compensation and move manually.

[househoppin09]

Delay Compensation

Take MIDI clip (group) requiring delay compensation and move manually.

This isn't possible in many cases. For example, when applying two or more branches of parallel processing to the audio output of a single instrument, each of which introduces different amounts of latency. The only solution in that case is to use a VMG-01 or similar to calculate and generate sample-accurate delay on the branches that have less latency to even things out. It's a huge pain in the ass to have to do that manually every time and I don't know of any faster way. (If anyone else does, I'd love to hear it...)

[zakalwe]

the only easy solution is to have custom combinator effect chains you can load into the insert for processing purposes and then bounce out the audio and trim it manually. And then I guess you can do the same with your stems for mixing and have inserts with VMG-o1s to offset the delay on the racks you have sends to.

it's kind of a PITA.

[Lov2sing]

Although some will disagree IMO for those that create classical and jazz compositions they need to write down notation therefore it would be great if reason had this feature along with auto scoring.

I just saw on Sonic Sound a new scoring software that allows to replace notes and do transposing of others compositions and it play it via midi. I believe Cu-base is the main platform for this software but it in the production faze and is something more what I would think reason would come up with. Who knows it may spark PH to add it it the player section.

I hate to think of notation as a problem for reason but others complain that is one of the reasons they stay with other DAW's because reason has not grownup to that yet.