Which DAW should I get to replace Reason? (Windows only)

[jlgrimes]

R12 has come along and it has some decent features but if the browser is not fixed I am forced to move to another DAW or keep using R11 forever.
For those of you who have already moved or are investigating the options, which competing DAW did you move to or recommend?
Look at it from a perspective of having a long history of Reason projects that you want to move over and keep working on, probably using the Reason Rack Plugin (R11).
Logic is not an option here since it's Mac only (Yes, I still carry a grudge against Apple for this).

This is really a personal decision. Really any DAW will be capable, alot depends on your mindset and workflow. To me ones with the most similar workflow to Reason would be:

1. Studio One (Studio One sort of feels like Reason if they decided to upgrade their sequencer. Many of the basic sequencer key commands are similar to Reason. Studio One while it lacks a SSL mixer does have analog mixer emulation and IMO is one of the better programs for mixing. It also has a version of Melodyne built in, so it will have Reason's Pitch edit functionality. Studio One also has a version of Blocks and Drum Sequencer (a more powerful version of the latter)). Studio One lacks the biggest in included instruments. So the Reason Rack would be a good benefit to Studio One's basic Instruments.

2. Cubase (I only listed this because Studio One is based off of Cubase. I also heard Reason's sequencer was based off of Cubase so that might be why I see some simularity. I hear Cubase has one of the best Piano Rolls. Other than that I'm not that experienced.)

3. Reaper (Basically the price is low, so I would definitely try this for $60). For Audio production Reaper is a fully functional DAW that has many great features but the program can get pretty deep and its midi workflow I find a bit "weird" (although it has gotten more powerful over the years, but the midi workflow leaves me scratching my head). Reaper's midi is more powerful than Reason, but if you enjoy Reason's fast workflow style midi sequencing, I'd guess you might not enjoy this one (as the default Reaper settings while they work pretty good for Audio tasks, are pretty strange for midi). That said plenty of people do and I think if you are a tinkerer and love creating custom templates, toolbars, piano Roll tools, keybindings, macros, Graphic GUIs, then Reaper might be the perfect program. Reaper also severely lacks instruments so the Reason Rack would fit nicely here.

4. Cakewalk (Free program. I used to use this. An all around good DAW. Good at a bit of everything. I'd guess it is somewhat similar to Cubase although it might be geared a bit for more audio centric stuff than midi (although it features a fully matured midi editor). This program gets compared against Reaper although I'd wager Sonar's midi is alot more user friendly (but probably alot less customizable but still nontheless customizable). Its a no-brainer though for a Windows user to at least try.

5. Live (One of my favorite programs. Similar to Reason as they both have sort of non-traditional workflows, but Ableton took a whole different direction than Reason). Ableton Suite actually comes with nice instruments, powerful synths, probably even more powerful samplers. Great built-in effects, Max4Live integration which is kind of a mix between Reason Rack Extensions and NI Reaktor. Like Reaktor M4L programming isn't for the faint hearted but there is plenty of great free stuff available, You can have Synths, Audio Effects, Midi Effects, and Utilty devices that can add extra commands to Ableton like being able to chop midi notes a la FL Studio. Also the Push Integration is great. This adds a hardware approach to sequencing to Ableton with a Step Sequencer similar to FL Studio's but on hardware. Ableton was a program with a decent foundation with Session View sequencing but overtime Ableton slowly added to their feature set. About 10 years ago It didn't seem as powerful as other DAWs in terms of Audio (and even Midi) but most of their glaring omissions they have taken huge strides to fixing. Ableton definitely isn't the same DAW it was 10 years ago and it is mostly for the better. Ableton's biggest issue IMO is the price, Suite is very steep, combined with Push and you have the most expensive DAW on the market. And Ableton also lacks ARA functionality. Reason lacks this as well but sort of makes up for it with integrated Pitch editing. That said Ableton is pretty non-traditional and its biggest competitor is Bitwig which is getting alot of steam these days although I haven't really tried it as Ableton alone has about everything. That said without knowing your workflow it would be hard to recommend Ableton as although I love it, I'll admit it's workflow isn't for everyone as many people are turned off on Session View sequencing, Track controls on the right side, no Track Inspector, and it's bland colors (although this can somewhat be changed).


6. FL Studio (Was this even on your list? Honestly I don't get along well with this DAW, but it does actually have pretty good instruments, good effects, and a powerful midi editor, as well as a powerful Audio editor. Similar to Reason and Ableton with non-traditional workflows. FL feels sort of more like a drum machine but a very powerful one. FL is probably responsible for more Trap style songs than anything but many EDM artist also swear by it. FL's piano Roll seems to be more geared for folks who write solely in the piano Roll (where other DAWs, the piano Roll seems to be more geared for editing played in parts). It has a learning curve though as it has plenty of features but stuff seems buried or located in very weird places. I can't vibe with it for some reason.

[jlgrimes]

Very simple, they violated Kellogg's trademark. Generally when a company creates a name/name for their products they trademark variations of it as well. When it's violated a cease and desist notice goes out of some sort and Imageline obliged.

They didn't "violate" it.

Kellogs overstepped their trademark.

The Froot Loops trademark only covered foods and drinks. They didn't have a legitimate case. It's just that Image-Line at the time didn't (and probably couldn't afford to) fight against it.

IL said that they also felt the "Loops" might have given people the wrong impression and associated it with the loop players of the day such as Dance Ejay.

Yes. I remember like 20 years ago, people would literally laugh when the name Fruity Loops came up. Alot of people didn't take the program seriously (I was one of them).

I remember going to a Professional Studio back in 2002 in a full blown Pro Tools setup and the engineer told us something like, "I get alot of people who use Fruityloops and I kid you not they are making some amazing stuff on that". I think he was thinking someday it would end up surpassing Pro Tools. This was when we were still using hardware machines and plenty haven't fully embraced software yet, so we were skeptical that something like Fruity Loops would be able to produce professional hits.

[jlgrimes]

I looked AL but the layout was bland unless you have big monitor screens the text was small to my eyes I didn't get on with it
it was only a brief so i don't want to put it down, then I checked out Studio One i love you can do colour codes for track lanes mixer channels etc , i agree nothing I seen is like Reason so any DAW you going to go for is going to be different, but its not a bad thing trying to get your teeth into something new,

One of Ableton's biggest criticism is it's bland look. As far as the small text, Ableton has a zoom feature similar to Reason 12's Rack zoom which allows you to enlarge the whole program. It is fully scalable from 100 to 200%. Ableton also have various color themes (although the built-in ones are usually a different flavor of gray, but there are some decent downloadable ones, but usually I just change the color hue to make it like Purple or Green or something).

[Arrant]

Figured I'd necro this thread to give an update on how this panned out.
It took a lot for me to consider leaving Reason as my main DAW but the R12 debacle and the fact that I'm disappointed with almost every new implementation in Reason lately (zoom, then VST3) pushed me over the edge.
I finally bit the bullet and purchased Studio One Professional with a crossgrade from Reason. Still pretty expensive at around $350 (with tax).
After trying the S1 demo it was a pretty easy decision. It is, as expected, more modern and has more features. It also gives me better performance, meaning I can run more plugins on the same system. This was also semi-expected, but pleasant nonetheless. S1 is not better than Reason in every way though, for example its VST GUI scaling is nowhere near as good, and I sure miss the easily-accessible SSL EQ on every track.

What I didn't expect in a million years, and I know people with attack me for this, is that is sounds better. This statement sounds insane, but it's undeniably true nonetheless.
I don't know why, but suddenly I can hear what my mixing plugins are doing much more clearly than in Reason. Switching tape fomulas on my UAD Ampex did nothing for me in Reason, but now it suddenly shines. I can nail down EQ in a way I never could before. Studio one just has better audio fidelity. Maybe it's because I've bumped the resolution setting up to max (64 bit float), I don't know. Reason doesn't have any option for this.

The next step will be to get a Faderport of some kind to get the kind of hardware controller integration Reason never could (yes I have the Panorama P4 and I don't like it one bit except as a keyboard). I'lI be absolutely golden at that point, I just wish I hadn't wasted so many music-making years with Reason as a DAW (or perhaps more accurately, for mixing). Harsh maybe, but there it is.
I will still use the Reason rack plugin. Reason still shines when it comes to idea generation with its players and excellent drum machines.

[Goriila Texas]

I would consider getting a Keylab 88 mk2 the integration is solid transport, faders, knobs and button work as intended with S1. I can pull up the console with a button, undo, save , record, solo, mute tracks.

The 64 bit floating point mix engine is what Reason uses also if I'm not mistaking.

Welcome to S1 gang I would've signed up to Sphere if I were you it's worth it imo.

Figured I'd necro this thread to give an update on how this panned out.
It took a lot for me to consider leaving Reason as my main DAW but the R12 debacle and the fact that I'm disappointed with almost every new implementation in Reason lately (zoom, then VST3) pushed me over the edge.
I finally bit the bullet and purchased Studio One Professional with a crossgrade from Reason. Still pretty expensive at around $350 (with tax).
After trying the S1 demo it was a pretty easy decision. It is, as expected, more modern and has more features. It also gives me better performance, meaning I can run more plugins on the same system. This was also semi-expected, but pleasant nonetheless. S1 is not better than Reason in every way though, for example its VST GUI scaling is nowhere near as good, and I sure miss the easily-accessible SSL EQ on every track.

What I didn't expect in a million years, and I know people with attack me for this, is that is sounds better. This statement sounds insane, but it's undeniably true nonetheless.
I don't know why, but suddenly I can hear what my mixing plugins are doing much more clearly than in Reason. Switching tape fomulas on my UAD Ampex did nothing for me in Reason, but now it suddenly shines. I can nail down EQ in a way I never could before. Studio one just has better audio fidelity. Maybe it's because I've bumped the resolution setting up to max (64 bit float), I don't know. Reason doesn't have any option for this.

The next step will be to get a Faderport of some kind to get the kind of hardware controller integration Reason never could (yes I have the Panorama P4 and I don't like it one bit except as a keyboard). I'lI be absolutely golden at that point, I just wish I hadn't wasted so many music-making years with Reason as a DAW (or perhaps more accurately, for mixing). Harsh maybe, but there it is.
I will still use the Reason rack plugin. Reason still shines when it comes to idea generation with its players and excellent drum machines.

[Ahornberg]

For the skeuomorphists:

1. If you like to have a dedicated mixer built in, so use Mixbus.
2. If you like to mess up with cables, so use VCV Rack.

[Jac459]

Actually, I feel a bit the same. I don't know well studio one but I heard a lot of good about it.

Last day, I was trying to do some wiring on the reason rack and I used to like tinkering with the back panel and polar. But after becoming fluent in bitwig, their workflow to tinker with synths is so so much more efficient, you can add lfo, randoms, curves, whatever uou want in 3 clicks and command any parameters. With reason you can do it but it is so so much longer...

Still love the rrp though... But i will never go back to reason as a DAW.

[GEran21]

I assume that the Cubase is best seqencer to make music fast. I`v been using the Cubase 5 many years. It`s great)

Access Virus Ti/Ti2 Plucks with Lexicon MX400XL (in this video I work with cubase 5)
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