You can open a Reason 1 project (20 years ago) in Reason 11. Not many DAWs can be credited with that accolade. I’m with Reason since Propellerhead Rebirth in 1998.
How I would love a Behringer hardware replica clone of this classic synth (20 years old) I’ve got the Deepmind 12 and is similar. Great if they could patch Deepmind effects in a Subtractor green module and synth option. 🪄👍✊
I still use reason subtractor today, I love its simplicity. It's like the Juno of the digital world and an absolute classic. However, don't be fooled by its simple appearance, the real monstrous power of this synth comes out when you start experimenting mapping and daisy chaining multiple subtractors together.
Almost forgot how incredibly useful reason was. I used the subtractor and NN-XT almost on every track I made back in the early 2000's. They also barely seemed to use any system resources at a time when processing power and memory was still a limiting factor.
Been a user since v1!!! At 15 I had NO idea just how powerful and capable the subtractor was - partially because I was looking at it as a self contained instrument - discounting the fact that it could be stacked to form a more complex sound. Partially because for the longest time I didn't have a music keyboard, so I was poking around with the mouse. If I knew now what I do about synthesizers back then I'd have had a chance at making some amazing sounds. I've moved on to more expensive software and hardware since, but I always revisit the subtractor here and there. For the longest time I was considering moving back to Reason exclusively, bringing a few VSTs along. But then they did the opposite and made the rack available in any DAW - and now I'm enjoying the best of both worlds. The takeaway if you made it this far is the Subtractor is a powerful synth when used properly! You'd take hardware of this era seriously - take this bit of software seriously too!
Thanks Woody. I've been a Reason user since 6.5 when their Rack Extensions started. I love the paradigm of rack/mixer/sequencer. May be it's my age because it mimics a real studio. Routing the virtual cables is half the fun. I agree about the size of devices. In the Reason community we have been nagging them for years to make it resizeable. My old eyes have a bit of trouble these days. Please create more vids.
Love Subtractor synth. Stick it in a combinator and throw in some FX. Easiest way to design your own sounds. Great idea delving into the Reason universe of underrated synths 👍🎹🎹🎹
@@annother3350 No, on the front of Subtractor, where the screw graphic is, you could click and hold your mouse pointer on the screw and move the mouse to unscrew it, and vice versa. Haven't used Reason since release 4, not sure if its still a feature?
Subtractor has always been the best sounding softsynth to my ears. From day one, I got amazingly warm sounds from it. Reason's effects were/are top notch as well (Subtractor + flanger is an amazing sounding combination). My only gripe with Subtractor was that it skipped too many increments when changing parameters.
The synth that taught me what was going on in the background of my ROMplers. I learned so much from this thing. Reason is great. I'd still be using it if it ran in Linux. Thanks Woody!
It's funny that we've come to the point where we can call a software synth "classic" now :). This one does sound fantastic though, seems very versatile to use.
xav, it's weird isn't it. reason and its predecessor rebirth were true pioneers of software instruments, the vsti spec only came out in 1999, whilst not a vst it was still groundbreaking at the time.
@@WoodyPianoShack What was great with Reason 1.0 when it came out in (late) 2000 was that it was really CPU-friendly. Cubase with it's vst-i standard couldn't handle anything near the number of instances of instruments and plug-ins as Reason was. It simply wasn't feasible to produce a selfcontained track of Synths and effects in Cubase only using software plug-ins. It was too demanding for the CPUs at the time. I mean, the demo songs that came with Reason were just full of instruments and effects in the racks and still only used a fraction of CPU resources on a bog standard Pentium 3 at the time. So Reason was several times easier on the CPU compared to Cubase. Reason was the first one to pull it off and that was due to great optimisation from the programmers making the "all in the box" possible for the first time. Sweden overall was one of the true pioneers when it came to Soft Synths/DAWS. We also had Clavia and which made the Nord Lead too, which also was kind of a "first" for virtual analogues.
I recently got the Reason VST-PlugIn and I was really suprised of the Subtractor! I love this raw, aggressive sound. Really useful even 20 years later!
I remember not knowing what Reason was around 2007 and my friend showed me. I didn't really like the UI of the daw bc I was too used to my own but I remember being really into the synth sounds from Subtractor and Thor, I think it was called? Lots of personality and versatile
Actually the Reason team is working on it currently, they put some hints of this in a goodie pack they shared on their website for the 20th anniversary of Reason a few days ago :)
20 year old hardware synths sound amazing today so its really just a testament to an expert conceived synth. I give 'reason studios' a lot of crap for their lack of growth for long time users, but they really know how to make soft synths. Thor. Europa. Malstrom. Subtractor. Grain. The Combinator makes the possibilities even more endless.
I rediscovered Reason, which was dusty lost on HD, and I am using it in Rewire mode with Reaper again. This is a great total integration rack and good as every VST!
Fully agree. Still use it plenty, and it's usually easier with Subtractor to just whip up whatever basic synthy sound I need at the moment over trying to dig through a massive list of my own patches or even presets. Extremely low CPU impact, even in a combinator with multiple instances. I just commented in my last video/song production that it was amazing Subtractor was 20 years old and still getting used so much (by me at least).
I love Reason as my DAW! While I love using flashy, new VSTs and hardware in it, it's always nice to go back to the "classics". Ableton and FL Studio just aren't as fun to me.
Reason was the first DAW I had. Trying to remember why I gave up on it... it was before I went Linux so it can't have been OS. I had no idea the synth was so good- I may've stayed with Reason longer if I'd known.
Years ago I came to the conclusion that the sound quality wasnt as good as other synths and VSTs I had but this Subtractor demonstration makes it sound perfectly useable, warm and fat
Fun video. I get a very Waldorf Orange vibe from Subtractor. Somewhat thin and digital. I bought Reason at its release and was blown away by how fun and immediate it was to play with, esp compared to 'turn of the century' Logic
It's nice to see you using Reason and giving an in-depth walkthrough. I recently installed the Ableton Live 10 90 day free trial and I must say I am impressed. Yes I know they can both do the same thing, help you to produce music but the tuition on RU-vid available for Ableton far outweighs what I can find for Reason?? In particular EDM Tips has 'taught' me loads about Ableton, I wish there was this the case for Reason tutorials unless you know of any?? Keep making these lovely synth videos!!!
@@WoodyPianoShack If you find some really good ones please let me know. Like I said above Will Darling's Ableton Tutorials are so helpful to a noob or returning user. That's what i need for Reason.
That's a cool track you created in the end of that video. Plugin sounds great. The interface looks quite nice, which is the most surprising thing for me (20 years old software tends to look really dated).
The smart thing they did was pretty much copy the Nord Rack design which is very timeless. All they had to do was upload higher res versions but aside from that it really doesn't date.
hi floyd, i'm sure it's received a few updates over the decades, but in desparate need of a new UI now that people have high-res retina screens etc. i read in the forums that it's in the pipeline...
Checked out this software after a 20 year gap after buying the original rebirth in 1999? and cant believe how tiny the synth interfaces are they are absolutely miniscule even on my decade old 1080p monitor. You would think 20 years was enough time for them to build a scalable interface. I'll check them out again in 2040 hopefully they will have sorted the problem by then.
There is some magic to the vintage (soft) synths, they don´t sound quite the same anymore, it is making me really sad, and willing to pay 10x the price for reason 11
Synthetic_Future I own a Nord 2x and I love it. I also know the value of software. If it can generate a tone, it's a beautiful thing in the right hands, regardless of the tech :)
“The first Nord Lead was released in 1995 to positive reviews. It was created with the help of Peter Jubel, who also co-founded Propellerhead Software.” Jubel is also developed the Subtractor and many more FX and synths in Reason.
I had a cracked copy of Reason in the early 2000s, then I went pro, went Mac, bought Logic Pro 9 and forgot about Reason. I recently bought a legal copy of Reason, and the Subtractor is THE BEST SOUNDING SYNTH ON IT. It can definitely hold its own against my beloved Serum and Ana 2. I love the semi modular architecture of Thor and some of the Europa sounds but I gotta add an exciter in the signal chain for them no to sound dull compared to my other synths. Subtractor just runs over them like an 18-wheeler.
I'm digging this video, as a nice li'l celebration of a pretty awesome synth. I got a little confused as to why you turned on ALL of your send effects though, including 3 different reverbs - do you typically stack reverbs like that, or were you just turning them on for controlling amount of send via your keyboard rotary knobs?
Hey bro .. I love this video ...... I just subscribed and will watch more of your videos for sure ..... I have a question .... My goal is to study of all of the acoustic sounds in the orkester sound bank thru nn xt to get familiar with all of the instruments........ what is the best way you would suggest i can make them all sound electric(synth) ... can i link up the nn xt to the subtractor or another module from the back cv wires? Thanks
@@WoodyPianoShack Oh .. pardon me .. maybe i am stating it wrong then ... when i listen to you play the keys in the subtractor that synth sound sounds amazing opposed to when i play something like the sounds you hear from the nnxt from the Orkester sound pack ...... what would you actual call those two different sounds? So i was basically trying to figure out how to transform those nnxt sounds into that subtractor sound? Thanks for any advice
@@livechartadvisor3033 seems to me that those nnxt sounds are intended to be a representation of orchester, so why transform, use subtractor for synth sounds and nnxt for realistic sounds? although i'm sure that nnxt has the capabilities to tweak the sound to your liking, check the official channel for video tutorials
@@WoodyPianoShack ok thanks... i will check the website ... since i already have been chopping up old records to create beats that all sound real already and got pretty good at it i wanted to also make acoustic sounds into synth as an experiment to try to add my own synth sounds as well
Hi Woody. Im using Reason 10. How did you get the Subtractor to look so realistic at the beginning of your video? Reason is great but the feel would be so much better if all the components looked like the beginning of your video.
Dear Woody, I am very curious to know the model of the midi keyboard you are using in this video. Could you please tell me? It looks really nice and simple without too many frills. And it has enough octaves to actually play something.
Woody you need a box of BandAids. When you EQ and add things, it does not help the sound of it, is makes it polluted. You injured the sound of it. Hey Woody why don't you compare it to an AJ2 :-)
Hey Woody - I love your videos. I myself am in the middle of a whole series of recreating the entire 808 with this synth - you should check it out! "Cap10NRG Music" on RU-vid.
