5 Reasons... to use Reason.

I am often asked why I use Reason over more popular programs such as Cubase or Logic. Many famous producers, especially those that want to seem like they know more than they do about the technology, have gone on record saying things like "Reason is a toy", or "Reason sounds worse than the rest". This is bull. Any program is just a tool, Reason can sound as good or as bad as you want it to.

I like Reason because:

• It feels like hardware. Playing with hardware is FUN! For those of us who can't afford to spend thousands of dollars on the latest synths, Reason provides the next best thing. We can play with the knobs on the front and flip it round the back to mess with the wires. Routing with pretend wires is much easier and more fun than playing with some "routing matrix" or whatever.
• The workflow is awesome. When I write my tracks, I like to get the basics of my sounds down first, before I really start thinking about fleshing my melodies and suchlike out. In Reason, I can lay down a very basic beat and be playing with sythesiser settings in a couple of minutes, yet the sequencer is right there down the bottom when I need it.
• The Interface is clean. With other sequencers I always seem to get bogged down under a mountain of piano rolls, instruments, property pages... etc. In Reason, everything stays in a nice place, it dosen't get cluttered, and I can concentrate on making music.
• It's cheap. Oh, so you don't think $500 is cheap? Try using another sequencer and paying for VST's. Let's not forget Reason's low CPU usage compared to the major applications, you might end up needing to buy a new PC for some of them...
  
• It's all-inclusive. This ties in with the above point. Reason has everything you need to make tracks. Literally. If you buy Reason, you have a studio in a box, that can do pretty much anything you could ever want it to do. If you ever do need a VST, it can always be rewired to another sequencer - it can grow with you.

All of these things make Reason an excellent sequencer for beginners and professionals alike. The last point especially in my mind is what makes it so good for people just starting out - everything you need is already there, and it's always better to learn one or two synths well, than be swamped in ten that you'll never really get the full power out of.

By the way... I'm not paid to advertise Reason, I'm just a devoted fan!