REASON STUDIOS REASON

> The history of Reason is not dissimilar to that of FL Studio. Reason’s roots lie in a software product that was as much about fun sequencing as deep music-making, in Reason’s case, ReBirth – a 1997 cult classic softsynth combining emulations of TB-303s, a TR-808 and a TR-909.

Reason itself significantly expanded things while keeping the faux-hardware vibe, which remains key to Reason’s personality to this day. The somewhat iconic Reason Rack presents the usual crop of instruments, effects and utilities as rack-mounted hardware units, complete with patchable rear panels.

Reason has expanded and developed considerably over the years. In 2009, then-developers Propellerhead (now Reason Studios) launched a companion product, Record, that added audio functionality. Record was eventually amalgamated into Reason itself.

For a long time, Reason was resistant to incorporating third-party plugins. This made sense in the early days, making Reason feel like a self-contained – and stable – studioin-a-box. By the early 2010s it was starting to leave Reason lagging behind other DAWs though.

VST plugins can now be used in Reason. In fact, as of Reason 10, things have flipped on their head considerably as, not only can Reason host plugins, but it also runs as a plugin itself in a host DAW.

WHY IT’S WORTH A TRY:

For our money, the latest version – Reason 12 – is the ultimate second DAW. As a standalone system it’s solid, but we love having the Reason Rack as a plugin in other host DAWs. We’re suckers for the virtual analogue style, and even the more dated of Reason’s instruments and effects tend to be inspiring.

DOWNSIDES:

You could argue that Reason’s faux-hardware design is more style over substance, and perhaps isn’t as flexible as the routing capabilities of Logic, Live or Bitwig. Plus, it’s still fairly limited in what plugins can be used – Reason only hosts VST 2, and only when in standalone mode.