Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Reason VS Ardour

Compare Reason VS Ardour and see what are their differences

Reason logo Reason

Reason is a program that you can use to create music.

Ardour logo Ardour

Record, edit, and mix on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.
  • Reason Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-13
  • Ardour Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-13

Reason features and specs

  • Comprehensive DAW
    Reason offers a complete Digital Audio Workstation environment with a wide range of built-in instruments, effects, and utilities.
  • User-friendly Interface
    The interface is intuitive and visually appealing, often described as having a 'rack of gear' and mimics real-world hardware setups.
  • Rack Extensions
    Allows the expansion of user capabilities through modular plugins, enabling users to customize their setup extensively.
  • Built-in Sound Library
    Comes with a vast library of sounds and presets, making it easier for users to get started right away and find inspiration quickly.
  • ReWire Support
    Reason can be used in conjunction with other DAWs through ReWire, enhancing flexibility and integration with other music production software.
  • Stability
    Reason is known for its reliability and stability, reducing the frustration of crashes and data loss during music production.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility
    Available for both Windows and MacOS, Reason provides flexibility in terms of which operating system users prefer to work on.

Possible disadvantages of Reason

  • Learning Curve
    Although it's user-friendly, the extensive features and unique workflow can present a steep learning curve for beginners.
  • Resource Intensive
    Reason can be demanding on system resources, which might require more powerful hardware to operate smoothly, especially for large projects.
  • Limited Third-Party Plugin Support
    While the introduction of VST support has alleviated this, Reason is still somewhat less flexible with third-party plugins compared to other DAWs.
  • Cost
    Reason is a premium software with a relatively high price tag, which might be a barrier for budget-conscious individuals or hobbyists.
  • Closed Ecosystem
    The ecosystem can feel restrictive as it ultimately leans towards promoting its own Rack Extensions over other kinds of plugins and additions.
  • Limited Audio Editing Features
    While offering a wide range of instruments and effects, Reason's audio editing capabilities are considered less advanced compared to other DAWs.
  • MIDI Editing
    MIDI editing tools are somewhat limited and may not have all the advanced features that users of other DAWs might expect.

Ardour features and specs

  • Open Source
    Ardour is an open-source digital audio workstation, which means it's free to use and its source code is publicly available for modification and enhancement.
  • Cross-Platform
    It is compatible with Linux, macOS, and Windows, making it accessible for users on different operating systems.
  • Extensive Plugin Support
    Ardour supports a wide range of plugins including LADSPA, LV2, VST, and AU, providing versatility in sound processing and effects.
  • Professional Audio and MIDI Features
    Offers comprehensive tools for recording, editing, and mixing audio and MIDI, suitable for professional audio production environments.
  • Flexible Audio Routing
    Provides advanced and flexible routing options, including the ability to route any track to any other track, bus, or output.

Possible disadvantages of Ardour

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The interface and extensive feature set can be overwhelming for beginners, making it difficult to learn and navigate initially.
  • Performance Issues on Some Systems
    Some users have reported performance issues and bugs, particularly on certain Linux distributions or lower-end hardware.
  • Less Comprehensive Support
    While the community support is strong, official customer support resources are limited compared to commercial DAWs.
  • Subscription Model for Some Features
    Certain advanced features and updates may require a subscription or donation, which might be a drawback for some users looking for a completely free solution.
  • Limited Built-In Instruments
    Compared to other DAWs, Ardour has fewer built-in virtual instruments, potentially necessitating additional plugins for a full production setup.

Analysis of Reason

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Reason is considered a good choice for both beginners and experienced music producers. Its intuitive design, comprehensive toolset, and flexibility make it a standout digital audio workstation (DAW) that can support a wide range of music production needs.

Why this product is good

  • Reason, developed by Propellerhead Software (now Reason Studios), is highly regarded in the music production community due to its unique interface, flexibility, and robust feature set. It offers a virtual rack of instruments and effects that users can manipulate freely, emulating real-world hardware setups. This allows for a highly customizable and creative workflow. Reason also includes a wide variety of synths, samplers, drum machines, and effects, making it suitable for diverse music production styles. Its powerful sequencer and compatibility with other music production software as a plugin or a standalone application further enhance its utility and appeal.

Recommended for

  • Music producers who appreciate a modular approach to music production.
  • Those looking for a wide range of virtual instruments and effects.
  • Producers interested in a DAW with a unique interface and workflow.
  • Musicians seeking a standalone music production platform that can also integrate with other DAWs.

Analysis of Ardour

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Ardour is generally considered a good and reliable DAW. It provides robust features that rival those of some paid DAWs, making it an excellent choice for users who are looking for a cost-effective solution without sacrificing professional-grade tools.

Why this product is good

  • Ardour is a popular open-source digital audio workstation (DAW) that offers a wide range of features for recording, editing, and mixing audio. It is praised for its flexibility and powerful capabilities, which cater to both beginners and experienced audio professionals. Ardour supports a variety of plugins, offers high-quality audio processing, and is available on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Recommended for

    Ardour is particularly recommended for musicians, audio engineers, producers, and podcasters who need a comprehensive and adaptable audio production platform. It is also a great choice for Linux users looking for a professional DAW, and for anyone interested in using open-source software for their audio projects.

Reason videos

Reason 11 DAW Review

More videos:

  • Review - Reason - THERE YOU HAVE IT ALBUM Review
  • Review - Reason - There You Have It Album Review | DEHH

Ardour videos

What is Ardour?

More videos:

  • Review - Ardour Review ENDED
  • Tutorial - Ardour Tutorial - Digital Audio Workstation for Linux

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Reason and Ardour)
Audio & Music
28 28%
72% 72
Audio
27 27%
73% 73
Audio Recording
21 21%
79% 79
Music
32 32%
68% 68

User comments

Share your experience with using Reason and Ardour. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Reason and Ardour

Reason Reviews

We have no reviews of Reason yet.
Be the first one to post

Ardour Reviews

  1. Guto Santana
    · Director at LAS Cons Art EIRELI ·
    Great for the poor man. Still needs A LOT of improvements, specially on midi editing.

    Copy Yes, you can start a project from scratch and end up with a great sounding track using Ardour. Specially if you use mostly audio. For those like me who use both audio and midi editing, it may easily drive you to a real nightmare. The DAW doesn't behave as you would expect. The "share regions" will get you good as you edit one region and it "magically" ruins the original one. Oh, just use copy instead of share, like they say right? Nope. It still bugs you to the bone. So you have to go manually "unlinking" every single region. Some regions may be a single note, for example, and you can miss that. Oh, so I will consolidate all regions before unlinking! Nope, there is not such thing here. Another example: You want to keep only a certain midi note on your midi track, the C3 that is you Drum Kick. You cannot do it, unless if you go deleting every single other note, one by one! Terrible isn't it? No, you cannot copy a single note through the entire track. Sometimes I managed to select a note through the track and delete it. So I took note how I did it and... Next time it's a negative! With so many different selections of tools, smart, playhead, etc, it appears the DAW confuses itself and do not respond appropriately. So... my advice to you is not to fall for what I did, which is believing Ardour can do everything it says it does, cause it doesn't. Keep simple with audio recording and editing. Do your midi stuff elsewhere and run from the nightmare I got myself into. Nevertheless, it is great cost/benefit DAW. Worthy a try. Yes, you can start a project from scratch and end up with a great sounding track using Ardour. Specially if you use mostly audio. For those like me who use both audio and MIDI editing, it may easily drive you into a real nightmare. The DAW doesn't behave as you would expect. The "share regions" will get you good as you edit one region and it "magically" ruins the original one. Oh, just use copy instead of share, like they say right? Nope. It still bugs you to the bone. So you have to go manually "unlinking" every single region. Some regions may be a single note, for example, and you can miss that. Oh, so I will consolidate all regions before unlinking! Nope, there is not such thing here. Another example: You want to keep only a certain midi note on your midi track, the C3 that is you Drum Kick. You cannot do it, unless if you go deleting every single other note, one by one! Terrible isn't it? No, you cannot copy a single note through the entire track. Sometimes I managed to select a note through the track and delete it. So I took note how I did it and... Next time it's a negative! With so many different selections of tools, smart, playhead, etc, it appears the DAW confuses itself and do not respond appropriately. So... my advice to you is not to fall for what I did, which is believing Ardour can do everything it says it does, cause it doesn't. Keep simple with audio recording and editing. Do your midi stuff elsewhere and run from the nightmare I got myself into. Nevertheless, it is great cost/benefit DAW. Worthy a try.


Top 18 Free Music Making Software for Beginners [2023]
Ardour is an open-source DAW designed to help music-makers make pro-level music by offering robust tools for recording, editing, and mixing songs on Windows, macOS, or Linux PCs.
5 PRO TOOLS ALTERNATIVES FOR RECORDING AND MIXING AUDIO
Ardour is a free and open-source DAW with capabilities similar to Pro Tools. It was designed for audio professionals, but it can be used by any musician or producer who wants to create professional-quality recordings. Ardour has a traditional track recorder layout with timecode and multi-track editing. It also includes a powerful mixer, effects processors, and recording tools.
10 Best Audacity Alternatives for Audio Recording and Editing
It offers a feature to see your recording wave while letting you adjust and monitor the input gains for clear and clean recordings. Ardour presents a huge editing platform with editing tools like trim, cut, swing and transpose, etc. so that you can easily mix your tracks with the tools like a fader, mute and automate, etc.
Top 10 LMMS Alternatives and Similar Software
Ardour is a very capable alternative for LMMS. Ardour is a bit complicated to use. That’s why it’s recommended only for those who have prior professional experience of editing and mixing music. If you’re an audio engineer, you’ll love Ardour for recording a piece of music and then editing and mixing it. It comes with some recently added features-
Best LMMS Alternatives 2017
This LMMS alternative is a hard disk recorder as well as digital audio workplace application. It turns on GNU/Linux and Mac OS X. Ardour’s purpose is to provide digital audio workplace software suitable for proficient use. Ardour source code is freely accessible but pre-built binaries are profitable free-libre software.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Ardour seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 110 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Reason mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Reason yet. Tracking of Reason recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Ardour mentions (110)

  • Ask HN: Is There a Blender for Music?
    Effects you can hear. [0] https://ardour.org/ [1[ https://cybershow.uk/. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • What Is the Future of the DAW?
    I'm the lead author of Ardour [0], and I'd very much like to hear more about your frustrations, since over the next 1-2 years, paying attention to non-European musical culture is one of the things I hope to focus on during development. You can reach me via the email address in my profile, or maybe use our forums at discourse.ardour.org. Thanks. [0] https://ardour.org/ <= a cross-platform open source DAW that has... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Red Blob Games: Interactive visual explanations of math and algorithms
    One extra detail, something I've learned from 20 years of working on dragging all kinds of objects around the GUI of Ardour [0]: handle ALL button press and release events as drag events where there is no movement. [0] https://ardour.org/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Absolute beginner seeking advice
    I am aware of the 'Real Tone Cable' however I am curious if this is what I should be buying if I also intend on recording my playing in a software such as 'Ardour'. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to map multiple samples with linux-sampler?
    I just loaded an instance of samplv https://samplv1.sourceforge.io/ into the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), Ardour https://ardour.org/ . Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Reason and Ardour, you can also consider the following products

GarageBand - GarageBand is a fully equipped music creation studio for Mac

LMMS - Make music with a free, cross-platform tool

FL Studio - Image-Line's FL Studio, now on it's 12th version, is a well-known music production suite and the most popular beat processor on the market, due no doubt to its longevity. Read more about FL Studio.

Audacity - Audacity is a free and open-source audio production software suite that includes a surprising array of editing tools and recording systems.

Cubase - Cubase is one of the world’s most powerful music creation software packages. From first idea to finished recording, Cubase helps you to make outstanding music.

Reaper - Reaper is a focused digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Cockos. In the creation of the software, the digital audio technology company intended to make audio editing accessible to the masses.