Reason Sequencer vs Other DAWs

[wendylou]

I continue to notice how Reason is often not included in DAW reference lists or 3rd party product DAW target lists. It seems a shame but, apparently, it doesn't have the same popularity as other DAWs. I was recently made aware of this fact again after I purchased an Elgato Stream Deck XL controller and bought the Universal MIDI Profile from https://www.sideshowfx.net that included Profiles for 7 of the most popular DAWs–even Reaper–but no Reason.

What are your theories as to why Reason has failed to be considered like this? And regarding using the Reason VST plugin in other DAWs, what is missing for you in the Reason sequencer or in general that causes you to prefer using other DAWs with Reason? Just curious, as I have but I never use Logic, and I have always recorded in Reason since v2.

[jlgrimes]

There are a few reasons I think:

1. Originally Reason wasn't a DAW. It couldn't record audio and didn't host VSTs.
2. Slower paced updates. I think the pacing on the updates in Reason have been fairly slow compared to other DAWs.
3. It took awhile to improve the piano roll.
4. Certain features are still missing such as track management and freezing of audio that are relatively common among other DAWs.


That said people do use Reason and make great music with it and probably even use other DAWs but prefer the workflow of Reason. I remember when I first got Reason in 2.5 people compared its sequencer to a stripped down version of Cubase. I actually liked Reason's sequencer for songwriting as it was an efficient, self contained system, and pretty fast and no nonsense for quickly getting ideas down. Sonar had more features but sometimes those features added complexity to things which can be hard to wrap your brain around (and at that time Sonar could be pretty unstable.)

[dvdrtldg]

I think there are a bunch of reasons why Reason doesn't have a higher profile:

* For a long time it wasn't really a DAW at all, but was often compared unfavourably with "real" DAWs and found lacking in terms of features. It developed a reputation as being a toy rather than a serious music production platform, and that reputation has stuck to some extent (exacerbated by Reason's slow and idiosyncratic approach to adding features - VST support, audio recording etc, all came along relatively late in the piece and this gave support to the idea that Reason wasn't a serious piece of kit)

* Hard to pirate, which means there are fewer people using the common DAW entry point of starting out with a cracked copy, getting comfortable with that and then buying the real thing. Hence, smaller user base

* Reason Studios don't seem interested in developing relationships with hardware/software companies, the kind of thing where if you buy a controller or some other piece of gear they'll throw in a copy of Reason Lite or whatever. I've lost count of the number of free copies of entry-level Live or Steinberg products I've been offered when purchasing other stuff, Reason pretty well never

* Learning curve is steep, or at least that's what I keep hearing. I actually find it quite intuitive, but over & over I encounter people saying they just can't get comfortable with it, the whole back of the rack thing is too weird etc

* The Reason sequencer is primitive compared to almost every other DAW, particularly when it comes to editing. I have no idea why they've slept on this for so long

[DaveyG]

Because Reason users are all old and you are more likely to meet someone who used to use it than someone who uses it now.

[Jackjackdaw]

Reason has a terrible relationship with Midi. You can’t route it , you can’t record more than one track at once, you can’t receive it from VSTs. That’s my main bugbear.

The lack of integration with other products is probably just down to marketing overall. Ableton pushed really hard to become ubiquitous and is easily pirated (probably strategically so). Reaper has a honesty box policy, FL has free updates for life. Reason is expensive to buy and hard to pirate and is niche and a bit gimmicky compared to workhorse stuff like Cubase and Logic.

[arnigretar]

Because Reason users are all old

Hey! We are right here

[crimsonwarlock]

Because Reason users are all old

Hey! We are right here

I'm not old…. I'm vintage

[arnigretar]

Hehe good call. I'm all for that!

[SebAudio]

I continue to notice how Reason is often not included in DAW reference lists or 3rd party product DAW target lists. It seems a shame but, apparently, it doesn't have the same popularity as other DAWs. I was recently made aware of this fact again after I purchased an Elgato Stream Deck XL controller and bought the Universal MIDI Profile from https://www.sideshowfx.net that included Profiles for 7 of the most popular DAWs–even Reaper–but no Reason.

What are your theories as to why Reason has failed to be considered like this? And regarding using the Reason VST plugin in other DAWs, what is missing for you in the Reason sequencer or in general that causes you to prefer using other DAWs with Reason? Just curious, as I have but I never use Logic, and I have always recorded in Reason since v2.

Reason has been a niche from the start and Remote a niche in a niche (even with hardcore Reason users). So no HW provider is going to make a great Remote codec and map ! They prefer to make them for Live which doesn’t even document nor support its midi scripting scheme !
Law of market ?

And yes, I’m old too