OK, so let's talk about DAWs...

[CrimsonWarlock]

For quite a while now I was thinking about writing a post about why I'm using Reason as my main and only DAW. And then Reason Studios was acquired by LandR and we were waiting to see where this would go. The Reason DAW does seem to get some development, but with the announcement of Reason 14, I'm not that confident that things are moving in the right direction for me (I'll get to that in a minute). So I started looking around for another DAW, trialed Cubase Pro 15 and bought it as soon as the intro sale landed. So, by now, I can put a few things side by side.

Reason DAW

I moved to Reason about six years ago, from Reaper that I used for a decade until then. I was surprised by the ease of use in Reason, while most features were well designed and covering all the things needed to produce professional sounding tracks. Especially mixing on a fully emulated SSL desk was pretty much incredible. Also, no amount of plugin management trickery in other DAWs can match the deep integration that Rack Extensions have inside Reason. The obvious reason for that is of course the rack. Well, I said I would come to it in a minute; Reason 14 shows an obvious patch away from the big rack where everything can be linked to everything else, and now has a single rack per track option. This basically is the exact workflow that you get when using the Reason rack plugin in another DAW.

While there are some new sequencer features in 14, and there already were some in 13, the Reason sequencer is years (decades?) behind other DAWs. If I am getting a workflow similar to using the Rack Plugin in another DAW, then why not use another DAW with all its advantages. So I got....

Cubase 15 Pro

The workflow features in Cubase are amazing, the user interface is elegant and things are pretty easy to find. That's quite a feat taking into account how deep this DAW is. Integrating the Reason rack plugin is a bit of work, but the fact that you can make presets in Cubase for just about anything makes the result very nice. At the same time it's very clear where the power of Reason DAW is. Complex routing in Reason is pretty simple as there is one routing paradigm; the cables at the back of the rack. In Cubase, like most other DAWs, you have to use several different menus and windows to link stuff, so complex routing is... complex. At the same time, because of the "preset anything" functionality, you can setup and forget it. So far, I really like my Cubase experiences.

What about Reaper...

Well, while looking around for another DAW I initially tried Reaper again. Even with a decade of experience (albeit a while ago) I was completely lost in the program. The way functionality is presented in Reaper is a serious mess, especially in comparison to Cubase. After trying for a few hours I gave up, remembering why I left Reaper in the first place.


So these are my latest DAW moves. Maybe we can have a nice discussion about these kinds of experiences (hopefully without starting some holy wars).

 

[Nekujak]

I started with Reason back in 2002, and 20+ years later, it continues to be my primary DAW.

For a few years in the mid-2000s, I rewired Reason with Cubase so I could record vocals and acoustic instruments, but as soon as Reason introduced audio recording, I dropped Cubase. I didn't hate Cubase, I just loved Reason so much more. I also tried using Reaper for a while, but as you point out, it's a convoluted mess, plus I have serious issues with some core UI choices.

Unlike many folks, Reason's routing capabilities don't really interest me. I just like Reason because it's always been the quickest and most efficient tool for me to get from musical idea to finished track.

Yes, the sequencer is very bare bones and frustratingly, lacks many QOL features that other DAWs have had for years, but still, that hasn't prevented me from scoring films with Reason, landing hundreds of placements on TV, commercials, and trailers, and recording and mixing projects for others.

Reason 14 looks like it will finally add some useful enhancements to the sequencer, but I'm always skeptical about any update. They ruined the brower/favorites system in Reason 13, and I fully expect more missteps in Reason 14. Over the years, I've skipped several upgrade versions simply because they had nothing useful for me.

But regardless of which DAW we prefer, I think the most significant development we're about to see is AI integration, and that has the potential to level the playing the field, making it irrelevant which DAW we use. Because depending on the implementation, an integrated AI assistant would let you accomplish routing, recording, plugin chain setup, audio cleanup, mixing, mastering, stem separation, etc. simply by telling it what you want to do, and then it doesn't really matter what DAW is running in the background.

For now, Reason still keeps me very happy and productive. But I'm very curious to see how DAWs and AI will integrate in terms of workflow.

 

[Nekujak]

Oh, and speaking of DAWs... is anyone using Luna from UAD?

LUNA Digital Audio Workstation

Download LUNA — a free DAW for Mac and Windows that’s built for the future of music creation. Unlock your creativity with the incredible sound of an analog studio and AI-powered tools that make recording easier.

www.uaudio.com

 

[BDT]

I also have Cubase Pro and Reaper, but I only use Cubase because its approach to how things should be done aligns very well with how my brain is wired.
With Reaper, it's exactly the opposite, which is why I bought the Reaper license just to support the developer.

What I like best about Cubase (the Pro version) is that it comes with some really great stock plugins.
If you can't get a good basic mix with that, no Pluginboutique will help you.
Of course, I have a few third-party plugins, but not many.
It's different with VST instruments, I have plenty of those

But ultimately, DAWs are just tools, the one you like best is the best one.