Propellerhead Reason - THE SOUND QUALITY

[KileKanvas]

I definitely don't know when I hear Reason - I mean sure, if someone just uses the presets or, say, the really obvious graintables from Malström for example...then yeah, you can tell. But I don't think Reason has a sound - other than that directly associated to some of its devices.

Same! I think its easier to tell FL then reason unless you really know what your doing like Lex Luger and Hit Boy.

[bandcoach]

It is hard for anyone to claim that Reason has it's own sound quality. It has it's own DSP algorithms and floating point math which is probably different to any other DAW, although I'd say there would be some similarities with Cubase/Nuendo/et al from the Steinberg stable given that Rewire was first created to allow Cubase and Reason to integrate.

Purely from a perceptual point of view, the sound you hear has been altered by your sound card and speakers/headphones by the time it gets to your ears.

So, no Reason does not have a sound of it's own, any perceived differences are down to personal biases that are unfounded in fact.

Sounds like a great PhD research topic - "The Perceptual Inference of Quality for High-End Digital Audio Workstations". Would need to standardise audio interface and speakers and headphones for this to be a viable experimental series.

Oh, and as for sounding shit on your car stereo, ever thought that it may not be capable of what you thought it was???.

[KelevraOne]

ain't no thang. I know when I hear an 808. I know when I hear a DX-7. I know when I hear Reason.

Prove it. Tell me which beats on my soundcloud were made on Reason and which ones were made on something else

[B Side Producer]

Tbh, there's no possible way you can tell the difference.
Take Reason pianos for instance.
They took a Steinway grand among others. Well, they took the top 3 pianos that are out there. Each of around, about and above of a 100 thousand bucks. They sampled those pianos with the best mics you can get at this point in time and the best pre amps that exist.
Now, if you play a piece on one of those sampled pianos, choose any mic setup you want, and turn that into a song. Now you say you can hear the difference?
Now let's take a top producer, say Quincy Jones, now let's put him and a group of technicians behind Pro Tools, and let him record the same piece of music on the same piano with the same microphones and pre amps. Which , wouldn't be that weird, as they went all out on the Reason piano refill and got , THE most expensive/best sounding pianos, THE best sounding mics and used all of them and THE best pre amps. The only thing here that differs are the engineers. Now you can argue the human factor in this equation but to be honest, you think Propellerhead hired the biggest idiots they could, to sample those pianos? No, they took pros and that difference in this equation can be neglected.
You're not gonna hear this difference.
Now theres a whole lot more to Reason than only that 100 bucks expensive refill. I can assure you though, that everyone or every occasion anyone has encountered the "Reason sound" is a situation where somebody handled the mixing and mastering who didn't have the proper knowledge of Reason and/or mixing and mastering.
Give Reason to someone who knows it and has proper knowledge of music production in all it's technicalities and you're gonna get quality music. The same with PT, Cubase, whatever.
Seriously, you guys can't stop bickering about Reason and what it all misses. Isn't it obvious that there are enouhg ppl still picking Reason as their main DAW?
Ah, **** this endless discussion on FP!
You know what, keep bitching about it, truth and fact is that everything you say tells more about you than about Reason, now ponder about that!

[BBanks]

I would agree that both reason 2.5 & 3.0 had a lower, flatter level of sound quality but that has been long gone. There's no possible way you can listen to a track & tell what it was made on w/o specific presets being used to tip you off. BTW reason is as much for engineers as it is for arrangers & musicians so you have to have some knowledge of how to engineer & shape sounds in order to use it to its full potential. This is where the complaint about sound quality comes in. People want all ready made samples (which you can buy like Piano's mentioned in the above post). The flat sounds in the program are for those who can or want to engineer & tweak the sounds in their tracks.

[stillfunkin]

You know what, keep bitching about it, truth and fact is that everything you say tells more about you than about Reason, now ponder about that!

here is some "truth" and "facts"...

the opposite of a "HATER" is a "FANBOI"...

there is nothing magical about Reason... it is just another app... just like Garageband, FL Studio, etc...

bottom line is... if you know what you are doing... you know what you are doing... i.e. compression is compression, reverb is reverb, an arp is an arp, etc... it makes no difference what you use!!!

to end the debate... i think the best way to go is... an individual saying...

"i use Reason... it fits my workflow... you may not like the workflow but i do... i tried other products... but they just did not click with me... NO!!! Reason is not a GODSEND but a nice app for me to get my ideas down"... PERIOD!!!

for me...

"i use Ableton Live... it fits my workflow... you may not like the workflow but i do... i tried other products... but they just did not click with... NO!!! Ableton Live is not a GODSEND but a nice app for me to get my ideas down"... PERIOD!!!!

this thing about the knowledge needed to use Reason is BULLSHIT!!! the concepts are the same across the board with all music making apps...

please just keep in mind...

THE OPPOSITE OF A "HATER" IS A "FANBOI"...

one is just as bad as the other... just different point of views!!!

[CPhoenix]

If you hear a crappy beat made on Reason.... that producer sucked at mixing and arrangement.

If you made a crappy beat w/ Reason... you suck at mixing and arrangement.

If you can "hear when Reason is being used"... that's because the producer used a preset you're familiar with and didn't alter it or tweak it. They just used it rawdog lol. For instance, I'd been a minute since I've used Reason... but I know certain string patches by heart... (I think they're called Orchstrings and BigStrings if I remember correctly). But how do I know those patches? Because I used them to death at a time when I couldn't mix, and my arrangements sucked lol.

When I was using Reason... my music ultimately was what you would call "low quality". The songs had no real life. Why? Because I sucked at mixing.. and my arrangements were garbage.

If I decided to go back to Reason today, i'd make the same high quality music that I do now in Studio One. It's been said 100 times already but.. Knowledge is the difference.. not the tool

[stillfunkin]

If you hear a crappy beat made on Reason.... that producer sucked at mixing and arrangement.

If you made a crappy beat w/ Reason... you suck at mixing and arrangement.

If you can "hear when Reason is being used"... that's because the producer used a preset you're familiar with and didn't alter it or tweak it. They just used it rawdog lol. For instance, I'd been a minute since I've used Reason... but I know certain string patches by heart... (I think they're called Orchstrings and BigStrings if I remember correctly). But how do I know those patches? Because I used them to death at a time when I couldn't mix, and my arrangements sucked lol.

When I was using Reason... my music ultimately was what you would call "low quality". The songs had no real life. Why? Because I sucked at mixing.. and my arrangements were garbage.

If I decided to go back to Reason today, i'd make the same high quality music that I do now in Studio One. It's been said 100 times already but.. Knowledge is the difference.. not the tool

it took the last paragraph... but i knew the "Studio One" reference was coming!!!

it is "cool" that you rep your tools... but it is "not" at the "fanboi" status!!! you just appreciate the "Studio One" workflow!!! and that is the bottom line... appreciating the "workflow" of your tools!!!

[GoldEmpireEnt]

i totally agree with what you saying! I been using reason since about 08 and i couldn't understand why everybodys beats sound better than mines... sound quality wise. Once i start getting into mixing and understanding the job of the combinators and racks etc etc. Music is crisp,drums hit the way i want them to and i fell back in love with reasons lol For a minute I was trying to get into fruity loops but really wasnt up to learning a whole new daw. I have fl but i never use it. As far as vst's I must say they do take sounds to a whole new level but thats why reason now has rack extensions! sooo we wont be left out ha ha

[Isaac Rife]

Prove it. Tell me which beats on my soundcloud were made on Reason and which ones were made on something else

that comment kind of made me chuckle a little bit I just enjoyed the 808 and dx7 claim... (two extremely distinct synths) Let me make a quick recording of my prophet 08 with TAL chorus on it and we will see if he can tell if its a juno 106 or not!