How many REs would you buy again?

[JNeffLind]

There's a thread on the front page about how many REs owned, (http://www.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7491480) and I realized I have way more than I actually use. It got me to thinking...

If you were to somehow lose your Reason license because you sold it or aliens took it or blah blah blah and were gifted a new copy of reason, how many REs would you buy again? Let's pretend the rig bundles don't exist and sales aren't a thing. This is just about REs that have stood the test of use.

I can only think of four obvious choices for myself. Selig leveler. Synchronous. Predator. A-List Acoustic.

Everything else I get limited to no use out of now that the novelty has worn off.

Thoughts?

(and maybe try to exclude things you've purchased recently since you may still be influenced by that "new car smell")

[gak]

All of them except the GEQ7. I hate to be "that guy" but I HATE those kinds of eq's. No seriously, I'm always craving it when I don't have it and then when I do it's like "man, I can never get it right" ... at least not using the methods that are tried and true. Picky ears

Everything else I've paid for is nearly critical. I'll list them when I get back (not that anyone really cares hehe)

[Rice]

It's a shame, I own 75 RE's...but only use maybe 40% of them on a regular basis. Even those I used extensively during my trial period, I find myself going back to a lot of my old ReFills and bread and butter RE's (SMH). But definitely my McDSP stuff (own 'em all), Predator and Sub-Boom, Poly-6, Kuassa amps, maybe a few other RE's, but definitely what I've just listed.

Lol...don't judge me!

[decibel]

i like most of what ive purchased, theres a few that ive never got my head around properly that are kind of going to waste due to time constraints and general life getting in the way of the hobby lol, but even those purchases im not that upset about, the way i see it is that ive helped foster somebody elses ambiton and in my own small way contributed to expanding the reason eco system

[challism]

The REs I don't use very often were included in one of the rig bundles I purchased. But the rig bundle was a ridiculous deal, so I don't regret it. If I had to do it over again, I would wait for the $149 sale (I bought at $199 when it first came out). Other than that, I really don't have many regrets. I own 96 REs thus far. I buy them on sale almost exclusively. I try to use them all, but find myself favoring some way more than others.

My favorites that I would definitely buy again:
Ammo100
A-list power chords
A-list acoustic
PX7
Radical keys
Ivoks
Revival
Predator
Audiomatic
Synchronous
DC-9
Resampler
Etch Red
Vermilion
All McDSP stuff
All Selig stuff
Mr Overdrive
Front 8
Probability CV trigger
CV mutant
ChordSet
AutoTheory
Euclid
Step Recorder
Select CV Switch

Honorable mentions (placed here because they are still very new to my rack, but I would probably buy them again:
Zero
Viking
Oberon
Snakebite
PMS-20

Bad ass REs I own, but rarely use (and really should be using more):
Tres
Steerpike
Chenille
Polar
Rotor
TSAR-1R
Dynamite
DR-1 Deep Reverb
Tritone
DIstort Chain
T2 Phaser
Glitch

[joeyluck]

I'd buy them all again! I bought them because I need them!

[dvdrtldg]

I love having a large palette of devices to choose from. One or two of them might be redundant in that I have another RE that does more or less the same thing, but as I've said before, I view them as learning tools as much as anything else. Quicker for me to mention what I wouldn't buy again:

AutoTheory - snapped it up for $20 just to see if I could make it do something interesting. I've had a bit of fun with it, but overall it doesn't seem worth the effort

DC-1 Distortion - can't get a sound out of it that I like

Faturator - as above, I don't really like the quality of the distortion. I used it as a widener for a while, but now prefer Mr Overdrive for that function

Uhbik T - very complicated and fiddly to program, with pretty ordinary results thus far. Haven't spent a lot of time with it though, and maybe one day I'll see the light. Anybody in love with this one?

Directre - after an early rush of enthusiasm, I find I never use it

Quadelectra CV Suite Line Mixer - Bought this one back when there weren't a lot of options for freaky-deeky CV processing. Since then, a lot of much more versatile devices have appeared that do this and a million other jobs

[electrochoc (PRX-A)]

I have 73 REs, and don't really have any regret. But it's true that many of them are more "specialized" tools that I don't use on a daily basis. There's some I use often, but for subtle sound improvement which I could live without if I was forced to. There's some of my needs that are covered by many REs, but I'm not sure which one of them would really be my favorite (notably virtual analog synths and distortion units: I have many options, but not real favorite among them). But there's a few REs I'd buy again pretty fast if my license was "stolen by aliens" or something like that, because they became real essential to me!

So I've made the exercice as to determine which ones are those "real essentials" to me, and here's my "top 10" (in no specific order) as of today (may change in the future).

Instruments:

- PX7 (Propellerhead): lately, I've rediscovered the power of stock synths (Thor is a beast!)... I love most of the RE synths I've got over time and use them a lot, but, of all of them, It's PX7 I'd be the most upset to lose as of now... FM synthesis is unique, and PX7 became my main source for metallic sounds (including percussions) and bass.

Studio effects:

- DR-1 Deep Reverb (Synapse): since most other reverbs bother me in the way they treat high frequencies, DR-1 became my go-to reverb and I'd be very upset to go back to anything else! Sure, it works better for electronic music, but that represents 95% of what I do, so...

- DC-2 Dual Chorus (Synapse): before I got DC-2, I never really used choruses... Since I got it as part of the Synapse bundle, DC-2 almost always sit somewhere in my projects!

- G8 Gate (Unfiltered Audio): there's just no stock gate in Reason that comes close to G8 Gate! It's not something I use everyday, but whenever I want to make a beat more aggressive or "broken", I can always count on it! Works great as an expander too, thanks to its versatility!

Creative effects:

- Polar (Propellerhead): of all my rather "specialized" creative effects, Polar is the one that ends up the most being the solution to the problem I'm trying to solve. Unique, versatile and capable of both crazy and subtle stuff, it's a very hard to replace swiss army knife among creative effects.

- Slice Arranger (Sugar Bytes): it's the tool I use the most, by far, to introduce beat variations (or radical beat messing-up!) in my projects. While I use other REs of the same vein, I tend more to use Slice Arranger over them, and in increasingly complicated ways. Essential instant-inspiration tool!

Utilities:

- Distributor (Blamsoft): I often hook synths, filters, envelops together to make super-synths out of more basic units. The components of my super-synths often change, but Distributor is always there to glue things together when going polyphonic (so: most of the time!). Essential modular tool!

- AutoTheory (Pitchblende): OK, I admit it: I'm not a great musician, I don't know my chords and often have a hard time finding notes that goes well together. AutoTheory does that thinking for me, and I'm very happy to let it do so!

- Charlotte (Jiggery Pokery): I would need to write a specific article to explain why my use of Charlotte skyrocketted lately... Long story short, I've discovered it as the missing link to hook Kong pads (handy when I use my MPD18 controller) to synths like Subtractor or Malstrom used as velocity-controlled but stable percussion sources. Not to mention how great it is as an envelop source in modular environment! Charlotte is so well thought and versatile that I tend to see it as the "screw" without which some of my settings would fall apart... Don't take it from me!

- ReVolt (Black and Orange): that discontinued RE is still to me the basic tool to have for CV manipulation... Sure, some other REs are capable of most of its functions, but ReVolt really covers all the basics in one convenient device in a way no other device even came close...

[JiggeryPokery]

Chenille Chorus. I'd pay to have it developed it again!

[eusti]

Chenille Chorus. I'd pay to have it developed it again!

A true vote of confidence!

D.

[Bonkhead]

About 75%

[GRIFTY]

i've moved in the last two months to SF and started uni so i haven't touched reason in a long while. off the top of my head.... cakewalks re2a. autotheory was a ton of fun (would buy again but i bought on a sale only $20. TOTALLY worth that imo). the mcdsp fairchild wannabe is a fun one. viking, and resampler for sure. (resampler is maybe the most important RE to own IMO). got the LFO from props.... whats it called again??? for free so yeah i'd buy another for the price of 0.00. also that other free customisable props LFO to show off RE 1.5 i would take for free again LOL. i love faturator. and saturation knob i bought for $30 but i feel it was worth it. Free its a no brainer. finally FET was worth it too, even at full price. that's all i can think of right now, even though i know i have more than that

[gak]

Chenille Chorus. I'd pay to have it developed it again!

[MannequinRaces]

Echobode and Buffre!

[SteveDiverse]

i wouldn't buy any again...

My RE's are tied to my account.

If I lost my Reason license and then got a new license, I would simply register the new license to my account, and I would instantly have access to all of the RE's I already own.

[JNeffLind]

i wouldn't buy any again...

My RE's are tied to my account.

If I lost my Reason license and then got a new license, I would simply register the new license to my account, and I would instantly have access to all of the RE's I already own.

The aliens stole your account info. Duh. Don't you know anything about aliens?

[mcatalao]

I bought the synth rig and almost haven't used it... It was 110 eur, seemed a good deal, but I almost didn't use it.

Also securing the use dynamite had I wouldn't also buy it because I got it mainly for the de-Esser, and now I'm using seligs...

Completely re-buys:
All mcdsp (Ihave the compressors and futzbox)
All selig stuff
Softube tsar 1
Uhbik A and D
Revival
Perdator
Px7
All Alists
Vecto
Quad

[Arrant]

There are quite a few of my REs that seem redundant now but weren't when they first came out.
If I were just starting out, the must-haves in my inventory are:

Instruments
Predator
Punch BD
Antidote

Dynamics
4Dyne
Ozone Maximizer
Softtube FET
Selig Leveler

EQ
EVE AT-EQs (all of them)
REQ 131

Studio FX
Chenille Chorus
Saturation Knob
Softtube TSAR-1 reverb

Creative FX
Beat Crush
Echobode
Audiomatic
Synchronous

These are the ones that usually make it into almost every track. The others are used sometimes for spice or to create an idea, and some not at all unfortunately.
Looking at the list I seem to miss a really great delay unit. The Echo will have to do for now.

[Jmax]

I'd buy 90% of them again in a heart beat. There's a few I'd pass on though.

Beat Crush.. I just don't like the overall sound of it. It's in incredible device but never fits my ears. I own pretty much everything else from Nucleus Soundlab and LOVE all the refills. A lot of the presets just sound way to crushed. Kind of like a cheap video game. But of course that's exactly what this device does.

RR Bass Enhancer.. Again, the sound just sounds distorted and not clean as a bass enhancer. Not even sure what it really does. I also don't like the GUI.

ABL3.. again it just doesn't sound good and it's hard to get the notes to track. Maybe not for some but for the average user. To bad cause the GUI is very nice.

Last the Selig Leveler.. don't kill me hear. I just don't understand how to use it properly. I know everyone says it's absolutely fantastic and I truly believe that. I just don't get how it works exactly. I find it's hard to the find the sound I want from it but that's because I don't know how to use it properly. I will keep practicing believe me.

[dvdrtldg]

EVE AT-EQs (all of them)

Interested to know why "all of them"? E.g. in what specific instances will you go for, say, AT1 over AT4? Or the MP5 (if you're including that one too)?

[Arrant]

EVE AT-EQs (all of them)

Interested to know why "all of them"? E.g. in what specific instances will you go for, say, AT1 over AT4? Or the MP5 (if you're including that one too)?

Definitely meant to include the MP5! If I had to choose only one it would be that one, I like it a lot for the master channel with the famous Pultec low-end trick and so on.
I rarely use it on individual channels though (except really important ones like vocals sometimes), it's big and probably uses a fair bit of DSP compared to the others.
The 3-band one is good for general sculpting of the sound while the 4-band one is more precise and has Q controls. Also note that the frequency bands are fixed at different intervals between the two.
Since they are all in a neat bundle, that's probably what I would get if all my REs suddenly disappeared, you could of course skip one of the ATs but that would only save you 11 bucks or so.

[txh003]

I have purchased about 95 REs and would probably only re-buy about 50% of them.

Some REs were superseded by another and some never got used as much as intended. With that said, I do not regret any of the purchases.

[Ostermilk]

Little LFO I wouldn't buy again, simply because it's free now and I wouldn't have to...

Other than that REQ 131 I'd probably not bother getting again as I still can't work out what on earth I wanted a graphic EQ for and Red Queen simply because it is so convoluted to set up that I mostly give up with it. It has some great features though so it gets some specialized usage from time to time but not enough to make me want to buy it again.

Most of my other 60 or so RE's (including all the free ones known to man) I'd miss if they weren't there now.