Review: Mixing a Song with Only Reason Studios’ Reason+ Plugins?
In this video, I review the Reason Studios’ Reason+ (Reason Plus) subscription to see if it is a complete solution for mixing a track. I evaluate what’s good and what is missing from this plugin bundle. The usefulness, as an audio mixing tool for these plugins is evaluated to find the strengths and weaknesses of this plugin bundle and whether or not it is a good value for the consumer, especially when faced with competition from several professional audio plugin companies. This plugin subscription bundle was made by Propellerhead.
The devices evaluated include: Softube Bass Amp, RV7000 MkII Advanced Reverb, MClass Compressor, Quartet Chorus Ensemble, Master Bus Compressor, Channel Dynamics, Channel EQ, The Echo, Pulverizer Demolition Unit, and the Neptune Pitch Adjuster & Voice Synth
The focus of the main tools, the EQ and the Compressor are based around the a model of the SSL (Solid State Logic) E Series Console and G Series Console. This is for better or worse.
My criteria for evaluating each subscription bundle are as follows:
What are the strengths of these bundled plugins?
What are the weaknesses, what’s missing or needs to be supplemented to be a complete solution?
Who is the target audience for this subscription?
Can an entire song be mixed using only this Bundle?
Do I think that it’s a good value?
So Who do I think is the Target Audience for this Subscription?
This is a subscription bundle that tries to be everything. It has software instruments, audio effects, and even a sound library subscription. It seems to give you fair amount of everything, and it’s all pretty good, but rarely amazing. Because Reason+ relies so heavily on its software instruments as well as the subscription sample library, it’s best suited for mostly electronic musicians. The audio effects are there, but with a minimal amount of diversity. I think this would best be suited for beginning audio engineers who need some of everything but don’t want to be overwhelmed by decisions.
Can an Entire Song Be Mixed with this Bundle?
Yes. Although, in a perfect world, I’d want better pitch correction and more compression options, the ingredients are all there, even though it seems like you got some of your ingredients from the dollar store rather than Whole Foods.
Do I think this Subscription Bundle is a good value?
At 20 dollars a month, I think it is, if you’re going to use the software instruments a lot. If not, there are better options for audio plugins at around the same price point. These audio effects seem to be designed to supplement the software instruments.
Hopefully you’ve found this information helpful. Stay tuned for more audio subscription bundle reviews. I’ll try to post a new one every week, so if you know of one you want me to get to, leave a comment below, or just let me know what your thoughts are.
This video was written, edited, and produced by Lorne Bregitzer, an Associate Professor for the University of Colorado.