What is Reason?

Music software that emulates a rack of hardware synthesizers, samplers, signal processors, sequencers and mixers, all of which can be freely interconnected in an arbitrary manner.

What is Reason used for?

Reason can be used either as a complete virtual music studio, or as a collection of virtual instruments to be played live or used with other sequencing software. Although it supports MIDI recording, it doesn’t support audio recording –other than virtual– so it can’t be considered a full digital audio workstation. Other popular uses are for drum programming, sequencing and sampling.

The Interface

User chooses which virtual devices to add to their rack. Basic devices consists of a mixer and a hardware interface that supports up to sixty-four separate outputs. Additional devices such as rhythm sequencers, reverb, delay and synthesizers can be added as shown below.

Reason Tutorial

Cost:

10-Pack Education discount $1,649.00 (Reason 4)

Pros

• All of Reason’s devices have the look and feel of the “real” physical device.
• Great MIDI support and control.

Cons

• Doesn’t support audio recording –ie–can’t record live/real drums, vocals, guitars, etc.
• Software is very expensive

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reason_(software)