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Reason is fantastic. It's actually a fantastically intuitive interface for its target market, and what's more, it's psychologically effective. The skeumorphism

by adw 16y ago

Reason is fantastic. It's actually a fantastically intuitive interface for its target market, and what's more, it's psychologically effective. The skeumorphism in Reason is so over-the-top – there's a physics engine in there! - that it gets you in the right mindset: it's playful, it doesn't take itself seriously, and that's exactly what you need to get making music. It's exactly the opposite of WriteRoom because it's serving a very different mindset.

TomOfTTB 16y ago
The problem I had with the article is he didn't prove that these interfaces impede functionality. I don't know the market well enough but you seem to be a user of Reason and the interface obviously appeals to you. Same with iBooks. I know people who love the faux-3d book pages and who swear it enhances the experience for them. Perhaps the author has a point about them not being proportional but that would be a suggestion to make the effect more useful. Not a reason not to use it. Skeumorphic design elements are, by definition, decorative elements that CAN enhance functionality. So even if they don't enhance functionality they're still acceptable as long as they don't impede it.
- adw 16y ago
  I've made a couple of records entirely in Reason, so I've got a fair amount of experience with it. There's a point where minimalism is as much a fetish as draping everything in ornate gewgaws, I think.
icarus_drowning 16y ago
I use Reason every day, and while I assure that its design was somewhat appealing at first, the sheer insanity of having to deal with virtual instruments and sequencers as if they were the "real thing" grows tiring extremely quickly. Even during my education, wherein I dealt with more than a few individuals in Reason's "target market" (see: aging film composers who have spent their fair share of time plugging real cables into real sequencers) found it appalling and difficult to use. The only reason I still use the program at all is because it has a few excellent patches built into it. The fact that I have to wade through the swamp of illogic that is its user interface remains one of most frustrating parts of my job as a media composer.
- moe 16y ago
  Also, one of the ironies in reason is that you quickly arrive at the point where you want to wire the relevant knobs and dials to one central virtual control surface, because scrolling up and down over 3 screens full of devices gets old rather fast. But there is no such thing that I know of (in Reason4), so without a physical MIDI control surface you're effectively lost. Disclaimer: I'm only a casual Reason user, perhaps I'm missing something. I also hear Reason5 has some improvements but haven't upgraded yet.

by adw 16y ago

TomOfTTB 16y ago

The problem I had with the article is he didn't prove that these interfaces impede functionality. I don't know the market well enough but you seem to be a user of Reason and the interface obviously appeals to you. Same with iBooks. I know people who love the faux-3d book pages and who swear it enhances the experience for them. Perhaps the author has a point about them not being proportional but that would be a suggestion to make the effect more useful. Not a reason not to use it. Skeumorphic design elements are, by definition, decorative elements that CAN enhance functionality. So even if they don't enhance functionality they're still acceptable as long as they don't impede it.

adw 16y ago
I've made a couple of records entirely in Reason, so I've got a fair amount of experience with it. There's a point where minimalism is as much a fetish as draping everything in ornate gewgaws, I think.

icarus_drowning 16y ago

I use Reason every day, and while I assure that its design was somewhat appealing at first, the sheer insanity of having to deal with virtual instruments and sequencers as if they were the "real thing" grows tiring extremely quickly. Even during my education, wherein I dealt with more than a few individuals in Reason's "target market" (see: aging film composers who have spent their fair share of time plugging real cables into real sequencers) found it appalling and difficult to use. The only reason I still use the program at all is because it has a few excellent patches built into it. The fact that I have to wade through the swamp of illogic that is its user interface remains one of most frustrating parts of my job as a media composer.

moe 16y ago
Also, one of the ironies in reason is that you quickly arrive at the point where you want to wire the relevant knobs and dials to one central virtual control surface, because scrolling up and down over 3 screens full of devices gets old rather fast. But there is no such thing that I know of (in Reason4), so without a physical MIDI control surface you're effectively lost. Disclaimer: I'm only a casual Reason user, perhaps I'm missing something. I also hear Reason5 has some improvements but haven't upgraded yet.