this is a flagship.

maybe my english is not enough to explain this daw. i'm the type of musician who likes the music making process more than the music making and reason and max are the daw's that i have the most fun playing. my favorite feature is that it makes your possibilities limitless with its modular rack design. speed, quality, friendly and interesting interface, special designs such as reason rack vst.. this is the daw that i'm most comfortable with along with ableton (I haven't tried pro tools, logic and garageband yet.).

Propellerhead's flagship production software comes full circle

The Swedish company revolutionized the digital recording world many years ago with the first version of its Reason software. The virtual modular rack system and its ease of use drew in musicians and producers who for the first time could create entire productions in the box. The software would see many improvements and revisions over the years with each addition bringing more power and functionality to the system. With the additions of Rack Extensions and a recent focus on audio recording and mixing, Reason has formed into quite a capable DAW, while still maintaining its unique way of working.

Version 9 adds some exciting new functionality and improvements for both audio and midi enthusiasts. The headline feature thats seemingly getting a lot of early attention is the addition of of three devices called "Players". There is a Scales and Chords player that will no doubt speed up workflow for artists needing to create melodies and song structures quickly. Note Echo is a really cool echo device that adds functionality to its current delay and rhythmic devices. Dual Arpeggio is exactly as its name applies, an Arpeggiator device that allows for more complex patterns and will no doubt encourage more experimentation.

One feature that is garnering a lot of high praise is the built in pitch editor. Its simple enough to use and vocalists will be pleased to hear it sounds great. Propellerhead has built a reputation on delivering features at a slower pace than some of its rivals, but many would agree that when they do implement something new, its done right and doesn't sacrifice quality. Pitch editor is a prime example of this and Reason users will be pleased to hear the quality in its results. Version 9 also includes over a 1,000 new patches and sounds that will no doubt inspire producers needing something quick to build off of or tweak. One cant help but think a lot of work went into designing these sounds as they are highly customizable and sound great. Other features like in-place bounce to audio and the ability to bounce audio to midi are welcomed and will get a lot of use by many. There are two new themes introduced (dark and blue) that should satisfy those looking for maybe a different screen to stare at while recording long sessions. The dark theme in particular is easy on the eyes and gives Reason a fresh feel. There are other features not listed here, but overall Reason 9 feels like its come into its own and no doubt will satisfy those who were underwhelmed by version 8's release. Upgrading from earlier versions should be a no brainer for most but if your new to this DAW in general, now would be a great time to go take a look.

DAW for musicians

Love it from version 2.0 up to this days. Work parallel with many DAWs, but stop on it after Reason 6.5 with RE format. Love - for stability, easy process of change .reason projects. You can go anywhere with you song file, and open where you want and have internet. Setup on machine without Reason, download Reason, SYNC ALL RE-plugins. Done. In next time you just need one reason song files and installed Reason, open - work. Love Reason Rack. Love manipulations with CVs. Semi-Modular DAW with big history. Today it support VST. I use few VSTs, because all I need - I have under RE format. Its modern and powerful DAW with STABILITY

And main for me - its DAW for musicians, all work in Reason - absolutely comfort. Just try piano-roll, not find better in any other DAW. Love it!

Re-Wire Ready

A few months previous, I found myself stumbling into the Propellerhead software website Where I thought why not try this for 30 days and just steamroll as much music with it as possible. I did and realized since I incorporate hardware into my setup that in addition to being a beast of a DAW for the creative process, It works just as well as a visual aid in understanding hardware patching from and to multiple instruments on a software platform

I am by no means a mathmagician but I do know that the double 10 combo of Ableton(master) Reason(rewire)=INFINITE FIRE!

Incredible peace of software

Really puts creativity and serendipity at the center of the music making experience

WOWWWWWWWW

I am a long time reason power User of 10+ years and counting and i must say from reason 2.0 to now 10 is crazy how much this software has grown and so have i its my school for music creation in so may practical ways there are so may things you can do with this software its all you need to do anything only your mind is the limit this is not for the babies this is for the big kids only.

OK, but needs VST support!

This was my very first DAW (apart from GarageBand of course). Some of my older tracks "LOST LOVE", "CHECKPOINT" and "A MOMENT FOR MYSELF" are produced in this DAW. I actually love the instruments and effects that are already there, but I needed more! It was lacking VST support. I didn't want to spend money on stupid "Rack Extensions" that are only available in Reason and cost hundreds of dollars for something that I could pay way less for in a VST plugin. Right after, I mean, right after I switched to Ableton, Reason got a huge update and added support for VST. Like it or not, but I'm not paying $130 for every update!

What's the reason not to have Reason?

Reason - Complete music making and recording studioReason is an integrated software music recording and production studio with audio recording, million-dollar mixing and EQs, and all the instruments, sounds and effects you could ever dream of for writing, recording, remixing and producing great-sounding tracks.About ReasonAt the heart of Reason is the virtual rack that builds itself as you create your song. Create instruments and effects and route them any way you want to. Add, delete, replace and tweak. Your rack is what you want it to be. Need more gear? No problem. Choose a synth, a drum machine, a loop player or any device from the Create menu and it will instantly appear in your rack, logically patched into the signal chain. And because Reason is designed to go easy on your computer, you can repeat the process until you're more than happy.A single key press will turn the Reason rack around, and there you are, in patch cord heaven. Most audio connections are made automatically. When a new device is created, it appears immediately below the currently selected device, and Reason patches it into the system in the most logical way. Repatch by dragging the patch cord plug to the desired connector to build your own sounds - or tweak the included presets.Each virtual rack unit is edited from its own on-screen front panel. All the sliders, knobs, buttons and functions are right in front of you, ready to be tweaked, turned and twisted in absolute real-time. And all your front panel actions - filter adjustments, pitch bending, gain riding or panning - can be recorded and automated in the Reason sequencer.The fully equipped mixing desk adds a big studio signal chain to all your sound sources. The Reason mixing console's sound and signal processing was faithfully modeled after the legendary SSL 9000k analog mixing desk.

The only DAW I use

Ever since audio tracks and the SSL clone mixer have been incorporated into Reason with version 6, I don't use any other music software. Coming from a band environment, I really appreciate the rack format and all the cables, which can be a learning curve for strictly digital musicians without a hardware background. Also, the incorporation of third party RackExtension plugins has greatly improved the sound palette of the software with instruments and effects, along with the many little workflow and feature improvements introduce with the point versions. All this at a cost, Reason is no longer the CPU friendly software you could run on your old laptop, you now need a pretty up to date computer if you want to get the most out of it with low latency settings.

A digital Staple

Getting on in years now with much newer revisions but the capability of this is unreal. All instruments are well thought it and the realistic reversible rack is such an intuitive user interface.