Why is Reason's sequencer terrible?

chris ott · Post by **chris ott** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 5:13 am

Ok so I need to get some frustration out......

So I've been a pure ableton freq for years and I finally decided to incorporate reason into my sets. I had used 3.0 to toy around but I sat down with 4.0 to get serious. Maybe there's something I'm missing but......

1. Why is the program layed out vertically?
It's my biggest problem, it's so irriatating to have to constantly scroll up and down while holding down the mouse just to plug a damn synth in.

2. Why is the sequencer 1/10 of Abletons. Their sequencer behaves like a piece of freeware I wouldn't touch if my mom coded it. It is the most unmusical unintuitive piece of junk. It takes me 20 minutes to write a 4 bar drum part.

3. Why does it drop to the task bar when I'm using Rewire?
For instance I am jamming out with "Maelstrom" and I have my percussion going in Ableton, I want to press record on a clip and record the loop into the Ableton channel............ guess what?...... Reason drops to the task bar so my filter sweep can only be recorded two bars into the loop at the earliest.

Reason does have some lush effects and great quantize options that Ableton should adopt ... hint...hint( 8 and 16 bar swing aren't cutting it) but on the whole I would expect reason to be a free software that came with Computer Music Magazine.

Perhaps they could ask for $45 a copy.

Maybe I got it all wrong, maybe there is a pro user out there that knows a shortcut that will make it full-screen and cut all the unnecessary graphics and wire routing out but if not...... just like their crappy website, this is like the McDonald's of music software.....

Very popular and not that good.

aleme · Post by **aleme** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:08 am

man, youre ridiculous. why are u whining and crying? stop using it if you aren´t happy with it.

if you have some issues with reason then report to propellerheads directly.

i assume you´re a kid, born at the end of the 80s or at the beginning of the 90s... i can´t imagine how stupid todays kids are. they have so many options to choose from ...

i would be glad if i had such toys in the 80s or at the beginning of the 90s ...

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:41 am

aleme wrote:man, youre ridiculous. why are u whining and crying?

takes one to know one? You're whining about HIM!

Chris, I'm with you, the gui on Reason is a proper load of bollox

- but then, you must have already known that when you got the software...

aleme · Post by **aleme** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:55 am

just to clarify: he started to run reasons gui down! imho you have the option to try the software out before you buy it. and it´s not cool to diss the product in another vendors forum

nevertheless, i don´t work with reason ... if you think that reason is overpriced: ignore it.

btw the guys at propellerheads make the sw for living. how do you get your money for your rent and food?

learn C/C++ and make an open source sequencing tool if you say their work isn´t worth a penny.

Cyberstar · Post by **Cyberstar** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:56 am

These may help, also you can detach and make the SEQ full screen and also hide the wires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1vAwNMe9U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAHV8PgL ... re=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-koUvvJ ... re=related

Michael Hatsis · Post by **Michael Hatsis** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 am

Chris, ive said it before , but Live 7's external instrument is my favorite new reason feature to come along in a while. makes sequencing reason super easy...I know a few people who swear by reason's seq...I think their nuts...

andydes · Post by **andydes** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:11 am

I didn't much like reason's sequencer either. But then you don't need to use it. Why not use the Live sequencer rewired into reason instruments?
Then you also have all the benefits of working in session view, and when it comes to record parts, you don't even need look at Reason, just do it all from Live's interface.

Works even better with live 7's external instrument device.

ash1 · Post by **ash1** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:36 am

reason is a fantastic sequencer once vst support is added then it will be the best music app on the market i have both ableton and reason and they are both outstanding a lot of people dont bother with the manual and think they know it all how

Geebag · Post by **Geebag** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:22 am

I also think reason is great.

There is method in the madness. It becomes the fastest sequencer there is when you get used to the key shortcuts etc.

rozling · Post by **rozling** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 11:38 am

The current issue of Sound on Sound has a feature on Reason 4's sequencer & mentions that a lot of users are finding it frustrating.

Not freely accessible online for another four months but might be worth picking up the mag.

gnapier · Post by **gnapier** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:10 pm

rozling wrote:The current issue of Sound on Sound has a feature on Reason 4's sequencer & mentions that a lot of users are finding it frustrating.

Not freely accessible online for another four months but might be worth picking up the mag.

Hmmm...I just took a look at it and I have to say I do not agree with it. I think the sequencer redesign in Reason was long over do and has been done really well. My productivity with the app just took off after the new version came out. For me, it has been a great change.

Someone earlier mentioned bypassing Reason's sequencer and just using the sound modules rewired into Live sequencer tracks. Sounds like a good plan to me. Also alot easier to manage your sequencer data in one app in the long term I think.

Something that helped me just plain grok Reason better:

1) There's plenty of free video tutorials available. Also some commercial product:

http://www.askvideo.com
http://www.macprovideo.com
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Reason4MPDVD

The last one isn't a tutorial as much as someone taking you through their production techniques for producing one of the more ambitious demo songs in Reason 4. Not crazy about the song, but interesting to watch and pick up a few ways of thinking about Reason a bit differently.

2) There are a couple of outstanding refills available from Nucleus Soundlab - Viral Outbreak and Recombination. Taking these apart and exploring how they put together these combinators is an entire education in itself.

Peace.

GN

telepathy51 · Post by **telepathy51** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:54 pm

Reasons sequencer works fine for me.. Ableton + Propellerhead is an awesome choice. Put down the pipe and play with it some more, it will make sense. I used Reason 4 out of the box as my very 1st computer music program and had it pretty much figured out overnight.

Mr Lager · Post by **Mr Lager** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:58 pm

[quote="chris ott"]
shortcut that will make it full-screen [quote]

you can detach the seq to make it full screen
as for the rack - pretty sure you have to lower the resolution to 800x600

seq in reason is substandard - hence rewire
and it baffels me why it still doesnt support audio.
synths are nice tho

robotsound · Post by **robotsound** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 2:53 pm

reason sucks because you suck.

i do awesome work in reason sequencer all the time.

Jekblad · Post by **Jekblad** » Fri Jun 27, 2008 3:06 pm

robotsound wrote:reason sucks because you suck.

Awesome.

one thing that might help plugging stuff in in reason: right click on the connection you want to make and it'll open a context menu for you to choose where to plug that in.

i actually sort of enjoyed the new additions to Reason 4's sequencer. Since then i moved to sequencing in Live and never looked back. If you are going to use Reason, external instrument is the way to go. Then i remove the master keyboard from Reason so there isn't any input/record enable confusion.

Why is Reason's sequencer terrible?

Why is Reason's sequencer terrible?

Re: Why is Reason's sequencer terrible?