Reason 9.5 for beginners

[andandm]

Hello,
I am beginner to reason. So far I used R.5 about 4-5 months - self taught- experimenting and ofcourse youtube tutorials and help from forums.
I have to say that Reason is very different from other daws and I totally like it and have decided to stay and continue with it.

But.. what bothered me was that, as for Reason5, I couldnt find fresh sounds and refills. Many refills that I was interested in, required version 6 and up. I had to go through thousand of patches from hundreds of refills in order to choose some sounds that I really like and not sound cheap. Yes I am a beginner but when it comes to sounds I am very strict. Yes, I know i can create my own sounds, but at least i need some good ones to start with. So, here are the question(s):

1.I am thinking a lot to buy Reason 9.5. Do you think that it will be more difficult for a begginer to use it? Is it more user friendly that older versions (e.g.5) or will I have a hard time to use it? (I mean old versions were simpler? i think). So will this be more frustrating because of the thousands options that it offers? I know it might sounds funny to some of you, but a programm having thousands of options (which is good) might also scare a begginer.

2.The hundreds of tutorials that are on youtube for older versions of reason (5,6,7,8) will apply and work on some racks on 9.5? Or 9.5 is totally different? I am asking this because, I dont think that there are many help-videos for the new version as for the old versions. So can I still count on the help of these old tutorials too?

3.The 9.5 contains all the old soundbanks that Reason provided plus new sounds and patches or a totally new soundbank excluding the previous sounds (that reason 5 had) ? Whats the size of the soundbank and does it sound refreshing? Did you find it interesting and up to date? ( I listened to the samples of the soundbanks on the Propellerhead site and found some very nice and quality sounds, but it doesnot demonstrate all of them)

4.Now that 9.5 supports plugins from other companies, is it easy to work Kontakt soundbanks plugins in Reason? Or is it complicated to make it work? Also I read somewhere that when you use Kontakt and Reason there a possibility for latency..

5.Will 9.5 work fine on my laptop? (i7-5500U,16gb Ram, Win10)

So what do you think, should I make the big step?


thank you

[Gorgon]

Download demo, install, try it. Easy as that. No need for huge blobs of text.

[decibel]

just do it you will zero regrets mate

[andandm]

Download demo, install, try it. Easy as that. No need for huge blobs of text.

I have already installed R5 in my laptop. Will both (9.5 Demo and R.5) work in the same laptop?

I will give it a try, but the opinion of an experienced user would help a lot too.

[tiker01]

Download demo, install, try it. Easy as that. No need for huge blobs of text.

I have already installed R5 in my laptop. Will both (9.5 Demo and R.5) work in the same laptop?

I will give it a try, but the opinion of an experienced user would help a lot too.

Yes different versions can coexist on the same machine. However, if an old file is saved in 9 you cannot open it in any older version so use duplicate projects.

[Loque]

To 1:
More features are often more complicate to use, but you will learn it. I think the SSL Mixer will be a first cradle, but you gonna like it sooner or later. In the core, its easy as v5.

To 2:
A few things changed, you will come over it. And most old stuff can still work in the same way.

To 3:
Both. The old sounds are available, also new and a few new sounds were added in 9 to a spearated sound bank. Some pretty cool sounds in there. Dunno the size, never cared much about it.

To 4:
VSTs are always a PITA IMO, but it works for most VSTs quite good. I dont have Kontakt, so no idea

To 5:
It will work quite fine.

I wouldnt hesitate for an upgrade. You get tons of new cool stuff (if you want), the SSL Mixer, audio channels, RE, VST, pitch-editing of audio, audio->midi bouncing, bouncing in place, parallel channel, delay compensation and another sh!tload of possibilities. And if you want to spend some money on good sounds or synths as RE, you should consider eXpanse, which produces always great sounds, regardless what you do. Also checkout ReSpire which may be still a bit buggy. Tons of high quality RE synths available. If you want to go for VST synths, the world is now open...

[Reasonable man]

I'm only using Reason 8 for nearly two years. I was introduced to it by a music course i did which mainly focused on Logic 9. I was also new to computers so Logic was by far the easier DAW to learn and it has an excellent and extremly logical mixer. Reason forces you to learn sound design in a way other DAWs dont for eg in Reason if you want an authentic sounding tape delay you have to watch a tutorial and build one yourself with an echo, scream, spider audio merger etc put it all in a combinator and save it as a patch . Most other Daws (as you prob know yourself) you just click on the preset effect that says 'tape dealy' and magically its there for you. Not goona lie to you i found this intorable at first but then i decided i needed to start learning sound design as its important (not only that but the unique way that propellerhead implents sound design) and other daws skip most of this through ready made pre-sets.

Never used reason 5 but i know that Reason 8 had a major facelift as reagards workflow, audio, Thor and the three tier screen etc so i imagine that Reason 9 for you will be a bit like starting over again and there are alot of new features to get your head around. I decided recently to watch Hydelid's tutorials on reason experts from start to finish to fully understand how this daw works again , but practically all of these tutoruals are with reason's ( up to version 8) stock intruments and sound banks and with all the new VST's available i wonder sometimes how relevent these tutorials are now in that Reason is now more than ever like any other DAW in that you can just buy an expensive quality sounding vst's and can now work exclusivley with them rather than using a combination of the stock instruments in Reason ( this is a topic i am interested in discussing with the experienced Reason users here) . The more i get into Reason the more i am concious of the 'artifacts' for eg in Reason's Subtractor, Thor and Malstrom's sound spectrum and this has forced me to rethink how and when i can use alot of the stock synth sounds. Personally the reality for me is i can't afford Reason 9 at the moment nor any of the quality vst's that are readily available with it so its a moot point. However, i can never get past the infinite sound sculpting opportunites there are in Reason nor the cv, gate function that no other DAW has and the importance of sounding a little different than the norm ( which Reason gives you more that any other Daw imo). Im just gonna continue learning Reason inside out until i can afford to upgarde but yea I recocomend an upgrade as i think its finally possible to do everything (including mastering) inside Reason now . It is arguable the most vestitle daw out there . Im sorry i cant answer your other questions (i use a mac) but all these things come down to two elements for me - workflow and money ! workflow is about putting in the time to set up and create your own usable templates and patches ( which i find tedius enough in Reason if i'm honest ) but totally worth it in the end. As regard money, Reason will cost you as much as any other-refills, rack ext's and Vst's but then for me music production is all about money and how much you have to spend and christ its a never ending spending spree!

[andandm]

thank you so much for your opinions. I think I will make the big step to R9.5 soon.

this is I think one of the forums with the most kind and nice users, so far. thank you

[jlgrimes]

Hello,
I am beginner to reason. So far I used R.5 about 4-5 months - self taught- experimenting and ofcourse youtube tutorials and help from forums.
I have to say that Reason is very different from other daws and I totally like it and have decided to stay and continue with it.

But.. what bothered me was that, as for Reason5, I couldnt find fresh sounds and refills. Many refills that I was interested in, required version 6 and up. I had to go through thousand of patches from hundreds of refills in order to choose some sounds that I really like and not sound cheap. Yes I am a beginner but when it comes to sounds I am very strict. Yes, I know i can create my own sounds, but at least i need some good ones to start with. So, here are the question(s):

1.I am thinking a lot to buy Reason 9.5. Do you think that it will be more difficult for a begginer to use it? Is it more user friendly that older versions (e.g.5) or will I have a hard time to use it? (I mean old versions were simpler? i think). So will this be more frustrating because of the thousands options that it offers? I know it might sounds funny to some of you, but a programm having thousands of options (which is good) might also scare a begginer.

2.The hundreds of tutorials that are on youtube for older versions of reason (5,6,7,8) will apply and work on some racks on 9.5? Or 9.5 is totally different? I am asking this because, I dont think that there are many help-videos for the new version as for the old versions. So can I still count on the help of these old tutorials too?

3.The 9.5 contains all the old soundbanks that Reason provided plus new sounds and patches or a totally new soundbank excluding the previous sounds (that reason 5 had) ? Whats the size of the soundbank and does it sound refreshing? Did you find it interesting and up to date? ( I listened to the samples of the soundbanks on the Propellerhead site and found some very nice and quality sounds, but it doesnot demonstrate all of them)

4.Now that 9.5 supports plugins from other companies, is it easy to work Kontakt soundbanks plugins in Reason? Or is it complicated to make it work? Also I read somewhere that when you use Kontakt and Reason there a possibility for latency..

5.Will 9.5 work fine on my laptop? (i7-5500U,16gb Ram, Win10)

So what do you think, should I make the big step?


thank you

IMO going from Reason 5 to 9.5 is a nobrainer.

I think Reason has kept all of the sounds from older versions. You should definitely be able to load old files as long as you self contain the samples and have the same Refills.

Naturally Reason 9.5 will have a higher learning curve as it does a lot more but that said workflow isn't hugely different from Reason 5 maybe only better in most cases or at least a lot more ways to do certain tasks where Reason 5 was more limited. The only potential gripes:

1. Copy Protection. Thankfully though Reason gives you a few options. I prefer registering your PC to your Props account. This is the most non-intrusive method IMO. They also give you a dongle which you don't necessarily need if you do the former method but that said, dongle method can be good if you are a traveling producer. Don't lose your dongle even if you don't use it.

2. Sound browser. From what I can tell we lost the ability to live preview patches. But drag and drop almost makes up for it.

3. They did remove the Line 6 Amps but I don't the Reason 5 had these anyways so you might not even notice that.

4. VSTs works very similar to Reason devices. They are pretty easy to use. There are a few limitations which Props mentions on their website.