Arturia Storm

[Tomer=Trance]

lol great review juho

[Hollowcell]

The all in one, inside the box, software solutions aren't cutting it at all at the moment. Some great ideas coming through, but the quality isn't matching the idea level at all. Usabilty vs Quality.

On the topic of soft vs hard....hehe

I listened to Prodigy's Fat of the Land and the newest album on monitors the other day. What a fucken huge contrast!!!! What the hell was he thinking. Don't get me wrong there a few tracks I like off the new album, but the sounds, production and general quality has been lost.

FOTL has tight bass, great high-end, unbelievable sub-bass, kicks to die for, snappy snares and the frequency seperation is very nice (specially considering the complexity level).

The new one has messy bass, splashy high-end, and very little clear seperation with the drums on many tracks. The whole sound of the album is uniform, over-limited/compressed and harsh on the ears. It's just not as tight.

Is this due to poor programming in Reason? I don't know. I have heard some nice tracks to come out of reason, but 98% seem to have this horrible quality. Mmmm.

Give me the 32bit float of Cubase and some hardware anyday.

[jasedee]

Originally Posted by Hollowcell

Is this due to poor programming in Reason? I don't know. I have heard some nice tracks to come out of reason, but 98% seem to have this horrible quality. Mmmm.

.....Reason Nazi!

I think I read an interview somewhere, saying that Liam Howlett hated FOTL.....or was it the stuff after that? Baby's got a temper.....he hated it! And with this latest release, he is getting back to his roots.....

For me, the prodigy ended with Jilted Generation, and Experience was by far the best thing Liam Howlett has done....Simply awesome!

I think your view is tarnished cos of your hate for Reason......

Reason has it's uses.......actually, probably the only thing I use reason for is creating my own beats. I upload my own samples, use Reasons drum machine to program patterns, then bring them into SX for processing...it does a fine job. Oh, and the sampler is cool too, has some nice orchestral/piano/rhodes/wurli's etc.....but I'd use my Motif/Virus before any of the Reason Synths.

Also, there's no denying Liam Howlett is extremely talented.....an amazing drum programmer....I dont think he would be using a program that didnt live up to his high standards of quality and usability. He simply would not stand for inferior sounding instruments...

[Juho L]

I think he would be using a program that don't live up to his high standards of quality and usability. He simply would stand for inferior sounding instruments because Propellerheads pay for him.

Only usable thing in Reason are the drum machine and Dr.REX. The Reson just sounds bad. For example listen to SubTractors simple saw. It sounds like bloody wounded fly or something. YYYIIIYYYIIYYYYIIYIYYYIIIYYY. Annoying at its best. This icredible quality of the synths combined to the mixing algortihm that's even worse than ones on trackers we get a tasty soup that guarantees that to get something decent out you'll have to work hours and hours just to get rid of the crappy muddy sound.

I see no reason for using Reason (no pun intented). Reason costs 400 euros. For that price you could get Cubase SE, Native Instruments Battery and Kompakt + loads of free VST plugins that beat Reason equivalents.

[jasedee]

Originally Posted by Juho L

I think he would be using a program that don't live up to his high standards of quality and usability. He simply would stand for inferior sounding instruments because Propellerheads pay for him.

How much do you reckon he would have to get paid to sacrifice his credibility??? I think it would have to be alot...unless he really doesnt care anymore, as the average punter will not know the difference between Reason Subtractor and a Moog!

I reckon a Propellorheads endorsement is worth alot from Liam Howlett....probably alot of sales. But Im not sure he would risk his reputation for a bit more cash and some free software. He has alot of money....I cant imagine Propellorheads could entice him unless it was a HUGE amount.....and I mean H*U*G*E

[Juho L]

Originally Posted by jasedee

I reckon a Propellorheads endorsement is worth alot from Liam Howlett....probably alot of sales. But Im not sure he would risk his reputation for a bit more cash and some free software. He has alot of money....I cant imagine Propellorheads could entice him unless it was a HUGE amount.....and I mean H*U*G*E

Maybe. But Reason is just crap and it seems a weird misdeed of Liam. Well, I think he learned his lesson now. I'd really like to see The Prodigy to return its roots. Nowadays it seems that the whole new The Prodigy album is actually Liam Howlett album. Keith and Maxim are not presented like they were on Fat of the Land and the previous The Prodigy albums.

[Hollowcell]

Oops, what have I triggered off here!?

I'm not only talking about Reason though. Also Abelton live is another candidate for usability vs quality. When I first read about the specs and watched the demo vids I was impressed with Live4, but after hearing more of what was coming out I felt there was a lack in quality. Exporting audio still has strange quality to it - I find that happens with Reason too.

I read an interview with Liam in which he had said that he liked using reason because it took his mind away from how to set-up and do things in studio, and put his mind in pure creative mode. I can fully understand what he means by this, but the sacrifice in quality is more than just a little obvious. I couldn't do it, and I'm sorry he could.

Like I said though, I have heard some nice stuff come from Reason, but you wouldn't see a FOTL come from it I wouldn't think. The stuff that I've heard that seems to sit alright is straight electronica.

I think the tools in this type of "all in one" software that allow for endless routing configs and real time pitch/tempo shifting of audio on sperate channels, plus many other studio short-cuts just can't measure up, mainly due to the fact they are writing the software to match todays computer/soundcard power. In a few years it will be a different story though.

I'm not a Reason hater though. The ideas behind it are really great and I think this type of stuff will be the future in years to come. I just don't think computer power can handle it at the moment. Or more specifically it's written for the current level of computer power - Live4 is a huge example of this.

[jasedee]

Originally Posted by Hollowcell

Oops, what have I triggered off here!?

There's no love lost..... each is entitled to his/her own views and opinions, and what would the world be like if nobody had different point of view? It would suck!

Good/valid points there HC!

[Hollowcell]

Oh, your online there Jase!

You caught me in the middle of an edit. I added on the last paragraph after re-reading your post.

[Juho L]

Yup. HC has a point there. The main problem with all-in-one packages is that they don't do anything well. They are medicore at best in everything. Although those all-in-one programs are good for making quick drafts of tracks, but they really are not suitable for anything final. They just don't have the quality. Some people might be very satisfied with Reason, but I have a disease called perfectionism and it just won't allow me to do anything in lower quality I could be able to do.