Reason vs. Live

stereomike · Post by **stereomike** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:37 am

Hey I'm quite new to creating music with software, so please excuse my ingnorance, but I was wondering how Live stacks up against Reason, or maybe that's an irrelevent question. I've just purchased Live and I'm loving it. I'm just wondering if I can accomplish the same tasks and get the same outcome in Live that I could in Reason, or if I should invest in Reason and use them in tandem? What do some of you who own both Reason and Live think about the programs and how do you work with both? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanx

montrealbreaks · Post by **montrealbreaks** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:15 am

stereomike wrote:Hey I'm quite new to creating music with software, so please excuse my ingnorance, but I was wondering how Live stacks up against Reason, or maybe that's an irrelevent question. I've just purchased Live and I'm loving it. I'm just wondering if I can accomplish the same tasks and get the same outcome in Live that I could in Reason, or if I should invest in Reason and use them in tandem? What do some of you who own both Reason and Live think about the programs and how do you work with both? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanx

Reason and Live are an excellent combination.

You can use Live by itself to make studio quality music, but with Reason alone it's a lot more difficult to get "that sound". Their audio engine seems to resist putting out a clean sound, at least to me. By rewiring it into Live, you get "that sound" since it's Live doing the rendering of the audio mix.

Also, it's a little difficult to get a good mix when the mixer in Reason has set bands on the EQ, and they only offer a two band parametric... BUT, if you don't mind inserting two dozen EQs in Reason, and have the processing power to do it, it's good to go.

Now, I own Reason 2.5, I don't know if Reason 3 has improved. But, if you pick up Reason, it will be every instrument you ever need....

inis · Post by **inis** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:23 am

They are two totally different programs. If you want to start creating music, and you are just thinking about reason or live, you need to buy reason.

I wouldnt worry about getting alot of software right away. You sound pretty new to everything, so reason should do you just fine for quite a while.

forge · Post by **forge** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:33 am

i sold reason and use live 5 almost exclusively, I would say you'd be etter off with live 5 + operator.

You can also get so many good free vsts and vstis out there to use in live, you will get FAR better results out of live.

Having said that reason is a good way of learning the basics, but why bother live's heaps better.

atomic · Post by **atomic** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:49 am

reason and live work very well together but this being said I almost never use reason for anything at all. In fact the only thing that I have been using it for is NN-XT sampler. I could get alot more out of it as it is a good program but I always lean towards using more up to date synths as the ones in reason are gettng pretty dated if you ask me. The quality that you will find in programs like Reaktor-imposcar-minimonsta-oddity is just way higher.

I would go with live as you get a great and easy sequencer that is very flexable and you have all the world of vst's at your hands. It is a more open investment. If you want to go pro or to the stage you are already using the tools that you need with live.

Peace

sqook · Post by **sqook** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:14 am

I wish that propellerheads would just spilt up all the instruments in Reason and distribute them all as individual VST's. Most reason users are at the point now where they only like 1-2 machines but hate everything else about that programe. They'd probably make a bunch more money that way, too.

stereomike · Post by **stereomike** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 12:37 pm

Very helpful. I do own Operator and I am very pleased with it's sounds. Reason sounds like it would be good, but maybe not an imediate purchase. Excuse the spelling errors I'm to lazy to spell check

DJ RAY · Post by **DJ RAY** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 1:25 pm

Reason and Live do make for an excellent combination. Live remedies Reason's clumsy sequencer and arrangement tools, and offers a hands-on way to get down and dirty (oo-er) with the excellent Malstrom and other instruments/effects. Think of Reason as a suite of plug-in instruments together with basic sequencer for Live. When it comes to arranging, remixing, performing, Live has no comparison.

inis · Post by **inis** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:23 pm

Ya, ill agree with all that. I still love reason, and I just think of it as almost a massive plug-in. But its sequencer does suck ass. Thats where live picks up the slack. But no matter what, I still couldnt do everything I want to without having reason. Unless I suppose I spend a couple months getting very comfortable for logic. lol, maybe even a couple years.

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:42 pm

Live all the way baby. What Reason does offer that no other VSTi I know of offers (except Reaktor

is the crazy routing abilities between it's components. It is open ended and experimental in that way, and therein lies its power and uniqueness.
I haven't used Reason since I started using Live 3 years ago, but after all this time I'm starting to think of opening it again to rewire it into Live, just so I can experiment with routing. Not having to use Reason's sequencer and mixer would solve 80% of my problems with Reason.
Really, if you have the time to learn it, Live + Reaktor is probably more than you could ever ask for. Reaktor costs just a little more than Reason but damn! That program will blow your mind!

lstark · Post by **lstark** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 2:53 pm

I too use reason with Live, and basically treat reason as a suite of VSTi's. They work well together and fill most of my needs.

DubGusset · Post by **DubGusset** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:15 pm

Reason And Live are an incredible marriage. Both are outstanding products in their own right and are much greater than the sum of their parts. For anyone to say that either is superior to the other cleary hasn't enough experience/knowledge with said program.

C

kabuki · Post by **kabuki** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:17 pm

The two programs really compliment (and, IMO, complete each other).

Reason has a TON of routing possibilites (infinite?), really easy drum machine (ReDrum), Synth (Maelstrom), and loop rearranging instruments (Dr Rex). The FX are GREAT (Vocoder and Scream distortion). The downside is it doesn't treat audio ELASTICALLY like Live does (as in, you cant drop in an acapella and run it through the Scream or Vocoder unless the tempo of the 'pella and the song tempo match).

Live has a fantastic sound (rendering/mixing), intuitive arrangement and routing, and is easy on the wallet and the CPU. It uses audio really well (elastic audio) and has a TON of great FX (Except disto, whereas Live's Saturator is passable but not GREAT, like Scream, IMO).

Do not forget that Rewire in very stable a responsive. It allows Reason to be controlled like a VST (MIDI and Audio routing).

If you want both, get both. Its a sure thing. But if you have to only get one, definitly get Live, since the doors are WIDE open...

claas · Post by **claas** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:42 pm

I use Live and Reason as a tandem. No crashes and a rack full of synth's, sampler's and fx's. Rewire is a better solution as VST or AU (plug-Ins could make Live crashing). I never had so much time for creativity before I used this tandem. But before you buy a programm get the demo and try them.

greetings, claas

Former Pharaoh · Post by **Former Pharaoh** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 4:08 pm

sqook wrote:I wish that propellerheads would just spilt up all the instruments in Reason and distribute them all as individual VST's. Most reason users are at the point now where they only like 1-2 machines but hate everything else about that programe. They'd probably make a bunch more money that way, too.

I agree with this 100%. It is true that Reason and Live compliment each other nicely, but i just can't stand switching between 2 apps.
What I do is create drum loops in Reason, render them as 24bit wav files and piece em together, mangle them, basically have fun with them in Live.
For synths, i like to create loops in Energy XT or within Live depending on my mood. I only use Reason synths as percussive blips and bleeps that accent a drum groove.

Reason vs. Live

Reason vs. Live

Re: Reason vs. Live