The eternal question about soft-synths

Okay, I know that this question is asked about once a week, and I've been a member for a little while so I figured it's my turn to ask it. I'm desiring a good all-in-one soft-synth, sampler, sequencer, looper, coffee-making program...Reason looks pretty good, and I've been told the resulting works have been great, but I couldn't open downloaded mp3's from the website...damn Windows Media Player. Anyway, as PTLE users, can anyone enlighten me as to the most versatile program of the type described above that is most compatible with my LE usage? I would be forever greatful...

Reason is right on the money. The only thing else you would need to ensure great results is a good ASIO soundcard such as the M-Audio Audiophile 24/96. A lot of us on the DUC use this card with Reason with excellent results. Reason allows you to easily export audio files that you can then import into your PT session. Only a couple programs combine drum machines, software synths, sampler and sequencers all in one. They haven't been as succesful at doing it as Reason. (Aturia Storm, Fruity Loops) Reaktor has similiar capabilities but I don't recommend it for "beginer" programmers. Although Reaktor is very complex, it however one of the greatest software synthesizers out there and there are a lot. Here is a few... Retro AS-1 Pro52 FM7 B4 VAZ Virsynth Generator (now Reaktor) Rebirth Storm Fruity Loops Mellosoftron Reality TOO MANY VST'S TO NAME

electrobank, Could you or someone else make some comments about how good Reason is for someone who doesn't even want to be a programmer? If I was to mess around with one of these guys, I just want to plug and play. I want a bank of great synth sounds and no worries. I'd most like it to act like a 1000 voice sound module, ala a Roland 8080 or something like that, where I'd likely find something to use without ever looking under the hood to see how it's done. What sort of user groups exist for Reason? Are there a lot of folks out there giving away free sounds? Thanks, Mark <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by electrobank: Reason is right on the money. <SNIP> Reaktor has similiar capabilities but I don't recommend it for "beginer" programmers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

To answer your questions Mark, All the presets contained in the Reason modules are all very good. The Drum Computer has some great sounding kits, the Subtractor Synth has some great analog sounds, the NN9 sampler has some good usable samples. Reason doesn't come with as many stock sounds as say a Roland JV model would, but there are "refill" kits available to expand your sound library. The stock Reason soundbank is over 500Mb, but the majority of it is comprised of loops for the Rex player. The user interface is very userfriendly. There isn't much "under the hood" programming involved. The Subtractor module is a basic 2 Osc analog synth with you basic envelope and filter controls. Same goes for the sampler. If you don't wish to program, you will still be able to find creativity using the presets. Too me, this is the greatest program since Protools. Another great thing about it is that you can sequence externally, or you can use Reasons built in sequecer which is very basic and straight forward. I am not a subscriber to any Reason forums, so I cant answer that one. I hope I told you what you needed to know.

electrobank, This is indeed helpful. Thanks. I need to find someplace with this set up so I can just sit and listen to it. To me, these days, I don't care how simple the synth is, I just want good sounds and no custom work to get them. I simply don't have the time. I'm in JV-1080 mode. My technical thought right now is that my GigaSampler machine never cracks about 20% CPU usage even when I've loaded 5-6 instruments and am doing 80-100 voices. (Steinway Piano, Celinder bass, custom drums sets, Arp Solina, Mellotron, Hammond B3 & Exotic Percussion Vol. 1) Possibly I can put Reason on that machine and make some use of the left over CPU. I was able to do this with Reaktor, (share with GigaSampler) but never got a sound out of Reaktor that I wanted to use, so it just sits in my drawer now and isn't even loaded. Probably I should go spend time looking for good presets for Reaktor first, before spending more money. Again, thanks very much for your insights. They are always helpful. With best regards, Mark

I'd just like to throw my .02 in and say how great Reason is. I use it for everything now. I got so sick of messing with drummers, that now I just program most of my drums in reason than export to PT. Also, the new version 2.0 is coming out later this month and it looks AWESOME!!! If you haven't seen the new stuff, check out and prepare to drool!

Hi, I just wanted to say thanks to those that have offered up lots of good info today. Thanks, Mark