reasonablelogic-blog1

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Reason’s CPU Performance is HORRIBLE - STAY AWAY

Solo piano, with these effects, make Reason stutter and break up, and as a result I can’t play this patch.

That’s 6 plugins. Nothing else. UNPLAYABLE. F*ck you, Reason.

But over here in Logic, I’ve loaded even more plugins:

And there are 2 more on the master. CPU is barely even moving. No pops, no crackles, no hiccups, no artifacts. Smooth all the way. 

DO NOT switch to Reason until they fix this. Could be a while though. They are legendarily slow when it comes to releasing updates. STICK WITH LOGIC.

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Logic’s Customizable Plugin List

In Logic, you don’t have to scroll through your endless list of plugins. You can create folders and put any plugins you want in them. You can group them by type (reverb, eq, etc) or by manufacturer or...anything. If you have a ton of Waves plugins like I do, I suggest you group them into different buckets for quicker access, kind of like this:

When I want to reach for my J37 tape, I simply open the plugin menu and go to Waves Tape. In order to get to the J37 the old way, you’d first have to go to Audio Units, then find ‘Waves’ in your plugin list, then scroll through all the Waves plugins till you get to the J37. 

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

A Cleaner Looking Reason

This is how the sequencer looks by default. Note the ugly distracting vertical white grid lines and the absolutely useless light grey super thick track-dividing lanes. Who designed this??? 

You can clean this up somewhat, by using a bright grey colored block:

Ahhh....feels so much better. Those horrendous unnecessarily thick track dividers are still there, but at least now they’re somewhat less pronounced. And the grid lines are much more subtle. 

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Reason EXPLODE

So you have a multi-note midi clip, like say, a Redrum pattern, and you want to separate each part onto individual tracks. How do you do it the FAST way? You explode it:

Hit ‘Move’ and taa-daa:

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Logic’s Color Palette Is Magical

Reason’s on the other hand, is.....so....windows 95. Ugh!

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Rex File One-Shots

Keep in mind that you can expand a Rex file in the browser and choose sounds from the individual slices that make up that Rex file, giving you access to countless new one-shots. 

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Hardware Instrument Templates

If you use many hardware instruments inside Reason, it’s worth the time wrapping them up in a custom combinator, mapping and skinning them for ease of accessibility. When I want to use my Virus, all I have to do is drag and drop my Virus combi and DONE. Like this:

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

The Death of the Rack Extension Format

VSTs have completely taken over Reason’s soul, and thus I will proclaim that sadly, RACK EXTENSIONS ARE DEAD.  Prove me wrong, developers.

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

THE BEST SYNTH EVER (And you Reason users will never be able to play it)

Because it’s only available in the best DAW on the planet: LOGIC PRO X. Luckily for you it is also probably one of the cheapest DAWS on the planet, and it comes LOADED with top-notch content, like Alchemy. Too bad you use Reason. : )

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Turn Reason 9.5 into Reason 1.0

So you wanna get retro and use Reason like how it used to be when it first came out?? Well you can’t use the SSL, so you’d have you use the reMIX and patch it directly to the hardware interface:

Then patch all your devices into it:

And then you can only use the R1 devices below. The Dr Rex has been updated, but this is essentially Reason 1.0.

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

I Haven’t Opened Logic Since Reason 9.5 Was Released...

...And I am the biggest Logic fanboy. 

I don’t even miss using Alchemy 2 because Alchemy 1 works amazingly well inside Reason. VSTs in Reason should have happened A LONG TIME AGO!

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

It’s easier to right-click than to drag-n-drop

In my continued effort to save some screen real estate inside Reason, and also minimize switching between rack and sequencer and mixer, I’ve been using the right-click function to create instruments and effects. I’ve gotten used to this so much now that it is second nature, and I rarely use the browser to select my instruments or effects. Plus you’ll notice there’s a handy ‘recently used devices’ list up near the top. Try it:

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

I’ve Deleted 85% of My Rack Extensions.

Seriously, I wasn’t even using them. And now I would much rather use VSTs because of their optimized CPU performance and better sound quality. The browser list is much cleaner now. Can’t wait till we can sell our rack extensions - I’M GOING TO GET RID OF ALL OF THEM.

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Save Some Browser Space

So, the normal browser has two columns:

Did you know you can slide the first column until only the icons show? Like this:

Much cleaner - and if you customized the icons, you’ll be able to tell what’s in your folders by the picture. 

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Playing Hardware through VSTs

It’s pretty fantastic being able to run my hardware synths through VST effects within Reason. In this pic I have all of my HW synths skinned and combi’d for quicker access, all running through a Waves IR-1 and NI Replika. Playing live through VST effects WITHIN Reason is going to be soooo sweeeeeet. 

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

ArtsAcoustic Reverb Preset Optimization

Anyone who has this legendary reverb knows how shitty the preset organization is (at least that’s what I think). So I un-nestled some folders, re-lableled some things, and now my preset library is so slick. My favorite reverb is now optimized for quick browsing. Check it out:

[reasonablelogic-blog1]

Reason 9.5 Performance Improvement When Using Zero Rack Extensions

A 9.5 track using Reason devices and several rack extensions:

The same track but replacing every synth and effect with a VST, removing any and all Reason devices and rack extensions and using ONLY VSTs.