Is reason essentials worth it?

[Miss controlleriism]

i had to sell my reason 8 license cos i was need of money but i really miss reason in my production

so i was looking if in the next future i will able to purchase at least reason 8 essential for 49
but im founding if there is some rack extension synth that can reaplace Malstrom... but there arent!!!!

Malstrom its a unique monster ..... the particular sound i can achieve easily with malstrom

so my quesiton is

Why proplellerhead dont PUT MALSTROM AND THOR in thee market as well for 100 $ price?

shit i cant buy reason 8 fill now

i was in need of reason but reason 8 essentials without malstorm for me is realy ppooor in potential

i know i can buy parsec px 7 antidote...oberon etc etc... but all of those synth arent paritcular sounding like mastorm for me , in sound design skills malstorm was the best

[Kenni]

Well, it seems you already answered your own question yourself really.

To me, Essentials is a no-go. As much as I love Subtractor, I cant live with it being the only synth (excluding RE's).

I'd wait and save up some money, and go with a full version instead.

[decibel]

i would say keep a close on eye out for anybody selling a full R8 license, there has been a few good deals going over the last 12 months, seems a few people atleast have been selling their copys of reason and moving onto other daws etc, keep saving your money and be ready to pounce when a good price comes up yeah

[boobytrap]

not like some other DAW's like Ableton Intro (99$), SO3 Artist(99$) FL Fruty(99$) or even Cubase element (+100$), Reason ES is a Completely Valuable
DAW for 49$. important things are Unlimited tracks and fully RE support. Melstrom is just A synth, not THE synth. think about the promos in future. you can upgrade it later below 349$. i'm pretty sure about that.

[joeyluck]

Well, it seems you already answered your own question yourself really.

To me, Essentials is a no-go. As much as I love Subtractor, I cant live with it being the only synth (excluding RE's).

I'd wait and save up some money, and go with a full version instead.

But wait...

The $49 for Essentials goes towards a full license (considering the upgrade of $349 later).
Actually, you save a dollar that way $399 vs. $398 total.

So, no money lost, unless you are looking for a used copy of the full version...
If you are ok with spending the total cost for the full version someday in the future, but can't afford it now, I say go with Essentials today!
You still get lots of valuable tools including the new RV7000 MkII

[Yonatan]

I would also expect to see more good "offers" ahead for ppl jumping onboard. One way of looking at it is to see Reason Essential as a rent for some time just so you have something for the fun of being able to lay some grunds and use whatever it has. But then when a great deal with REs or other things show up, you could abandon Reason Essential and buy the new full license (if there´s no equal deal on the upgrade for Essential users). Then you still can use the songfiles (and the bought REs also I guess?). But I agree that it would be good for Reason Essential users if they could buy the missing devices as REs. Many then can go with the basics and then try out Kong, Malström, Thor, Pulverizer, and Aligator as REs and buy them one at a time as they grow deeper into the software. It would give more options and could bring more potential customers into the platform, which is good for us all. I am glad to have all those instruments and effects but if I was new I could as well take them one by one according to my need and budget. More young ppl could start very cheap with Reason and gradually expand it according to their use and interest. A rock muscician or singer songwriter (which there are tons of out there) which might like the way Discover and Drop to Prop works, they might not feel tempt to pay all at once just to get a lot of stuff more towards Elektronik music. Later on they may naturally want to expand with some synths anyway, but only what they feel they need. Why buy things you dont need? I think customization is the way to go more and more now when there are so many different REs in the shop. Let ppl design their own studio, and pay for what they truly want. That is a way to expand the use of Reason and make the RE shop blossom more.

[joeyluck]

I would also expect to see more good "offers" ahead for ppl jumping onboard. One way of looking at it is to see Reason Essential as a rent for some time just so you have something for the fun of being able to lay some grunds and use whatever it has. But then when a great deal with REs or other things show up, you could abandon Reason Essential and buy the new full license (if there´s no equal deal on the upgrade for Essential users). Then you still can use the songfiles (and the bought REs also I guess?). But I agree that it would be good for Reason Essential users if they could buy the missing devices as REs. Many then can go with the basics and then for try out Kong, Malström, Thor, Pulverizer, and Aligator as REs and buy them one at a time as they grow deeper into the software. It would give more options and could bring more potential customers into the platform, which is good for us all.

I'm sure Propellerhead has toyed with this idea...

And my guess is that one of the obstacles they see is if from someone has purchased most/all of the native devices as REs over time.
What happens when that person wants to upgrade to the next version of Reason? They still technically only have Essentials, even if in parts what they have is equal to a full version.

I do agree it would be cool to have the individual native devices in the shop as REs for those who only want one or a few—if the restrictions could be accepted by users... That would also apply to trying to sell your license (which may be of the same worth as a full license, but those REs would not be attached). So, I'm sure Propellerhead sees it best to simply encourage users to instead upgrade their version of Reason for the native devices to avoid any customer service headaches.

And that's all of course after they tackle the obstacle of being able to make things like the native devices into REs (such as Thor and Kong).
But I would think Malström would be a great, first candidate for what is capable now.