User-friendly but limited – Reason Compact - Make Music Review

This is hands-down the most user-friendly, easiest, and fastest multi-synth/drum app I’ve found for sketching out simple ideas, and I’ve made a ton of beats on it. The controls are laid out simply and logically, and it’s fast and fun to make music on—though what you can do is limited. Even with the pro features unlocked, it’s still just a collection of three instruments with decent controls and easy-to-use but not very flexible sequencers (you can’t set any number of steps you want; you’re limited to 1, 2, 4, or 8 bars). The synth presets and drum samples sound good, and are fairly versatile, but in order to get anything realIy sonically unique, I always end up augmenting the decent but limited effects and sound-shaping tools by running the beats through external effects. There’s no way to add further instruments or samples as far as I can tell; no odd time signatures; no live stutter if that matters to you; and most inconveniently for me, the mixer screen (or whatever one calls the screen showing all 3 instruments) seems poorly-designed and barely qualifies as a mixer—as far as I can tell you can’t mute an instrument instantly; you have to turn down its volume knob, and when unmuting, the volume snaps back to 73% automatically, with no option to have it snap to a user-determined volume. Maybe I’m missing something; I hope I am, because otherwise this lack of proper muting implementation seems like a glaring design flaw. Despite these limitations, though, the ease, speed and convenience of making music on this app will continue to ensure that it’s useful, even though it isn’t anywhere near a full-fledged DAW app. The ease of use and simplicity make it a perfect starting point for beginners at music, newcomers to sequencing, or even people who may not think they’re musicians! I’ve seen people who couldn’t play any instruments pick up this app quickly and start turning out excellent beats on it, so clearly it’s worth something despite some decisions to make aspects of the design oddly limited. Hoping for an upgrade in the future.
Review by CosmicSandbox on Reason Compact - Make Music.