What is Reason?

[joeyluck]

But I'm also thinking about regular usability things, e.g. if I have say 5-column rack I'll go out of my way to drag cable from one end to the other because it scrolls soooooo sloooooowwwwww... Or how all 3 areas are on top of each other on a laptop screen, which means that with just few tracks you massively waste spece, whereas you could see much more stacking rack & mixer next to each other (with sequencer below, full-width like it is now). Or all the wasted space for the dividers, decorative elements, etc. Or how you still can't double-click on sequencer's header and be sent to relevant mixer channel. Simple things, really.

I take it you use a mouse? On my MacBook when dragging cables, it is incredibly handy when using the trackpad. I just click to make a cable connection and then while holding the click, swipe with two fingers which is as quick as I want it to be with velocity and inertia. I can have a cable from one rack to ten rack spaces away in an instant.

It would be nice to have something like Moog has in their interface for Model 15 on iOS where you can double-click the first connection and then click the destination

You can of course still drag to connect cables in Model 15. But what is also nice is that the connections you can make get highlighted. That too would be great and very helpful in Reason.

But in the meantime, I would suggest using a trackpad if you have access to one. It's a much better experience in many ways IMO.

I also think it would be helpful to be able to arrange the windows like this, as I'd like a taller mixer while viewing everything on one screen, or the mixer on the bottom, as that feels more natural:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7492856
But might be nice as you mention, to also have the option to have mixer and rack side-by-side with the Sequencer taking up the width of the display.

Something else I enjoy doing on macOS is having each window (Rack, Mixer, Sequencer) set to full screen and then using three finger to swipe between them or using the function keys or Exposé to call up any of them.

[antic604]

I take it you use a mouse?

Nope, I'm on a Surface Pro 4 with a touchpad but it never occured to me to try swiping at the same time! Unfortunatelly it doesn't work

[Reasonable man]

Interesting theres nothing about 'modular' or 'cv/gate' in the video.
I think this is the most daunting aspect for younger people getting in to music though ...the fact that they might have to understand how all that works to 'get' the programme.
i think Propellerhead are getting the point across that this isn't necessary to use Reason which from a sales point of view is of course the right way to go.
I imagine if Peff had of scripted the video ...it might have gone very differently

[guitfnky]

Perhaps you're both right and it's just a matter of getting people smoothly through that initial "shock"

that was exactly my point. it’s not difficult. I can see how it could *look* intimidating, but if you’re comfortable looking at a mixer with all those crazy knobs and sliders, there’s nothing about the rack that should give anyone anxiety.

[PhillipOrdonez]

Oh, I see they've also revamped the website - very nice now!

https://www.propellerheads.com/en/reason

Niceness! Though they should make sure the site language is consistent (checked the Spanish version, and is pretty English-y there! )

[joeyluck]

I could understand years ago some folks saying Reason was intimidating, even though it's always been the most intuitive IMO.

But in the age where it seems like everyone is trying to offer their take on modular synth software, software with virtual cabling is popular now, Eurorack is booming, everyday musicians know how to follow basic audio cabling flow having handled some actual hardware, and with software that hooks up everything you need automatically without having to fiddle with anything, maybe trying to talk about it is what would scare some people away?

I do think things to make the back of the rack quicker to work with, as mentioned above with the Moog Model 15 example, would make it more appealing for everybody. Make it more inviting to explore with a few simple enhancements like highlighting connections to show people what connections they can make. Stuff like that.

[esselfortium]

To make Reason more accessible I think they really just need to have a honking flashing neon sign in the window that says "HOLDING SHIFT WHILE MOVING A DEVICE AUTOROUTES IT, YOU DONT USUALLY HAVE TO MOVE THE CABLES BY HAND" because it's one of the most useful workflow tips in Reason, and a lot of people who have been using Reason for years don't know it exists.

[antic604]

Perhaps you're both right and it's just a matter of getting people smoothly through that initial "shock"

that was exactly my point. it’s not difficult. I can see how it could *look* intimidating, but if you’re comfortable looking at a mixer with all those crazy knobs and sliders, there’s nothing about the rack that should give anyone anxiety.

Incidentally, when I purchased Reason 1.5 years ago I was looking forward to the cables, but was intimidated by the mixer

[antic604]

Interesting theres nothing about 'modular' or 'cv/gate' in the video.

There is at 2:05

[rgdaniel]

Oh, I see they've also revamped the website - very nice now!

https://www.propellerheads.com/en/reason

For me, that page needs to scroll sideways, but there appears to be no way to do that. (Firefox or Chrome, Win7)
It starts out fine, but when you get down to the instruments or effects sections, I only get over to about the first half of Dr OctoRex and then it runs out of screen real estate. I can swipe-select some text under Kong (e.g.), and drag across to scroll sideways, but that's an awkward hack that most people won't think to do...

[antic604]

Oh, I see they've also revamped the website - very nice now!

https://www.propellerheads.com/en/reason

For me, that page needs to scroll sideways, but there appears to be no way to do that. (Firefox or Chrome, Win7)
It starts out fine, but when you get down to the instruments or effects sections, I only get over to about the first half of Dr OctoRex and then it runs out of screen real estate. I can swipe-select some text under Kong (e.g.), and drag across to scroll sideways, but that's an awkward hack that most people won't think to do...

Works here (SP4) when I'm at the level of devices I can swipe sideways to scroll through them.

Works with touch too.

[rgdaniel]

Works here (SP4) when I'm at the level of devices I can swipe sideways to scroll through them.

Similar to swiping the text... it feels like old school mouse users are being left behind by the trend towards mobile devices. Ironic for this particular software, which mostly targets full-size desktop users. Unfortunately that targeting does not extend to the website, in this case.

It's a trend everywhere, feels like... not just here.

[antic604]

Works here (SP4) when I'm at the level of devices I can swipe sideways to scroll through them.

Similar to swiping the text... it feels like old school mouse users are being left behind by the trend towards mobile devices. Ironic for this particular software, which mostly targets full-size desktop users. Unfortunately that targeting does not extend to the website, in this case.

It's a trend everywhere, feels like... not just here.

Doeasn't shift or ctrl + mouse wheel scroll sideways? I've not used mouse for years, but it should be exactly like it works in Reason itself.

[rgdaniel]

Doeasn't shift or ctrl + mouse wheel scroll sideways? I've not used mouse for years, but it should be exactly like it works in Reason itself.

No, but turns out, on my mouse at least, I can just put a sideways lean on the scroll wheel, and it scrolls sideways. Awesome, good tip/reminder...

Clearly you need a scroll wheel, though, for that to work. I may be retired, but sideways scrolling, with no obvious way (via the visible interface) to do that, was always considered bad practice. Even WITH a proper scroll bar on screen, sideways scrolling was, at one time, as unfavoured as the blink tag.

[hurricane]

I prefer the old voiceover guy. I want him back.

[QVprod]

but I'm not 20-something.

Hey, I'm still 20 something for about another year or so. No rack issues here! I also didn't have much hardware experience outside of an MPC 2000 before using Reason. I did have a basic understanding of how a mixer worked though. Like everyone else said, with this modular fad being in again I don't see people being intmidated by cables too much.

I prefer the old voiceover guy. I want him back.

Yeah Props had an ask me anything on Instagram today. I was tempted to ask "What happened to Frank"?

[joeyluck]

I prefer the old voiceover guy. I want him back.

Nice to change it up and have some variety
But I think Frank mostly does just the new Reason version announcement videos now.

I think Ryan should get Tiger and Frank both to do the Reason 11 video whenever that happens. Either a collaboration into one video or two separate videos... Kind of like how there's two series of Harry Potter audiobooks, one read by Jim Dale (US version) and the other read by Stephen Fry (UK version). I prefer Jim Dale's because of his voices and not necessarily because of the US phrasing.

But yeah, have Tiger do the US version and Frank do the Swedish version for Reason 11 (either using Swedish slang or just in Swedish)

[bpmorton]

I miss Frank.

[joeyluck]

I miss Frank.

[EnochLight]

I take it you use a mouse?

Nope, I'm on a Surface Pro 4 with a touchpad but it never occured to me to try swiping at the same time! Unfortunatelly it doesn't work

I'm curious: does your Surface Pro 4 have a dual core M3 processor and 4GB of RAM? How well does Reason 10.2 perform on it? Have you tried using it via the touch-screen (like, is it even usable)?

I'm hard pressed to walk away from my iPad, but the Surface Pro 4 has tempted me in the past.

[Loque]

I miss Frank.

I miss Jimi

[EnochLight]

I dunno - Props have been using Frank's voice in their marketing for well over a decade (I think one of his first gigs was the Reason Pianos refill launch in 2008), so I'm totally fine with them switching things up. I think Tiger Darrow does a great job; her soothing female voice works perfect, IMHO. Anyways, a lot of the younger users may think Frank comes off as an older man, which makes the product less attractive to them. Switching to a soothing young woman is disarming.

[antic604]

I'm curious: does your Surface Pro 4 have a dual core M3 processor and 4GB of RAM? How well does Reason 10.2 perform on it? Have you tried using it via the touch-screen (like, is it even usable)?

I'm hard pressed to walk away from my iPad, but the Surface Pro 4 has tempted me in the past.

No, my unit is i7 with 8GB and Reason runs fine, but that's perhaps I'm conscious of my CPU power limitations and don't go crazy with stuff. The current model (SP6) with equivalent i7 is 70% faster, so hopefully I'll upgrade next year when it's 100% faster?

I tried touch, but Reason isn't just meant for it - lots of stuff is way too small, there's no touch buttons / handles for a lot o stuff, it doesn't support multi-touch, etc.

The biggest problem for me is - you can guess that - screen resolution (when running Reason): it's either sharp & beutiful but way to big, or appropriately sized but blurry. In the end I'm forcing the SP4 into lower resolution (1620x1080 instead of 2736x1824) which is the best compromise, but not ideal.

[EnochLight]

I'm curious: does your Surface Pro 4 have a dual core M3 processor and 4GB of RAM? How well does Reason 10.2 perform on it? Have you tried using it via the touch-screen (like, is it even usable)?

I'm hard pressed to walk away from my iPad, but the Surface Pro 4 has tempted me in the past.

No, my unit is i7 with 8GB and Reason runs fine, but that's perhaps I'm conscious of my CPU power limitations and don't go crazy with stuff. The current model (SP6) with equivalent i7 is 70% faster, so hopefully I'll upgrade next year when it's 100% faster?

I tried touch, but Reason isn't just meant for it - lots of stuff is way too small, there's no touch buttons / handles for a lot o stuff, it doesn't support multi-touch, etc.

The biggest problem for me is - you can guess that - screen resolution (when running Reason): it's either sharp & beutiful but way to big, or appropriately sized but blurry. In the end I'm forcing the SP4 into lower resolution (1620x1080 instead of 2736x1824) which is the best compromise, but not ideal.

OK thanks. I'll probably hold off, then.

Cheers