Avid Pro Tools vs. Propellerhead Reason

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Pro Tools
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
Avid offers Pro Tools, the company's flagship music and audio editing and recording suite.
$29.99
Per User / Per Month
Reason
Score 9.2 out of 10
N/A
Propellerhead Software headquartered in Stockholm offers Reason, the company's flagship digital audio workstation and audio editing application.N/A
Pricing
Avid Pro ToolsPropellerhead Reason
Editions & Modules
Pro Tools
$29.99
Per User / Per Month
Pro Tools - Ultimate
$79.99
Per User / Per Month
Pro Tools - First
Free
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Pro ToolsReason
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Avid Pro ToolsPropellerhead Reason
Considered Both Products
Pro Tools
Chose Pro Tools
I’ve used reaper, fl studio, sonar, cubase, reason and Sony’s DAW. Pro Tools is better than all of them. And easier to use. Plus it’s easier to share sessions with other people when you use Pro Tools. Pro Tools is just more intuitive for even beginners to use. It’s just better
Chose Pro Tools
I like Apple Logic Pro. For certain things. The user interface is relatively simple and it can be quick and easy to get a project going. There are also certain features in Logic that don't yet exist in Avid's Pro Tools. But for most things I find it more cumbersome and less …
Chose Pro Tools
Originally a PC user, my first music program was "Personal Composer" in 1988. I moved to Cakewalk in the late 90s, which became SONAR. SONAR was a very good DAW and I was happy with its performance and functionality. It was, essentially, as close to Pro Tools for PC as you …
Chose Pro Tools
As discussed above, these other products are likely better suited for home audio production, especially based on their integration of software instruments and their surface-level interface and tools. Pro Tools excels as a tool for professionals, who need to move audio along …
Chose Pro Tools
Pro Tools has the most prestige and branding of any Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that I know of. It is the industry standard for professional recording studios, and you'd be hard pressed to find an audio engineer who hasn't used it at one point or another. Most audio …
Chose Pro Tools
Pro Tools, while great for audio recording, has always been behind the curve when it comes to MIDI production. Cubase is much better at it, and being able to jump into it quickly and efficiently is vital to my time-management, because I'm often on tight deadlines. Also, Cubase …
Chose Pro Tools
I used this at another company, and I found it difficult to use in comparison to Pro Tools. Granted, I wasn't using it for audio-only the way I do Pro Tools. The learning curve was too high for my basic needs. The visual element was confusing, and I had a hard time …
Chose Pro Tools
In my opinion, ProTools is the best audio editing tool currently on the market. It's very user-friendly, incredibly intuitive and has so many different functionalities that would take weeks to learn how to use them all and well if you needed them. It is far better suited than …
Reason
Chose Reason
One thing that sets Reason apart from other DAWs is its ability to be both a DAW and a sampler. Most other DAWs, Ableton included, need a third part sampler in order to actually write music, something akin to Kontakt, for example. Reason is all-in-one - you can do everything …
Best Alternatives
Avid Pro ToolsPropellerhead Reason
Small Businesses
Descript
Descript
Score 8.4 out of 10
Descript
Descript
Score 8.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
Enterprises
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
Adobe Audition
Adobe Audition
Score 8.3 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Avid Pro ToolsPropellerhead Reason
Likelihood to Recommend
9.5
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Avid Pro ToolsPropellerhead Reason
Likelihood to Recommend
Pro Tools is great for recording multiple different tracks of audio at the same time with live inserts that you can later remove/edit if they do not suit the track. It always makes a backup of any file you copy in which is essential when working with original copies of files for clients, and you can rest easy knowing that any changes made can be reverted without having to start over or having any work be lost. You can compile many different tracks for larger-scale projects and group or bus them together with ease. The software is very user-friendly for beginners and is a great tool overall for anyone looking to edit audio. The only instance it is less suited it would be if you're only making small audio edits with any adobe video software. Also if your business is not heavy on audio editing or recording it may be a costly investment.
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Thanks to this software we have been able to achieve that all the management of quality control and product life cycle, is carried in a more organized way, in a simple to use system, which does not have such a high learning curve and that everyone in the department knows how to handle it. One of the best software in its category.
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Pros
  • Integration with UAD - I have used Pro Tools with a number of UAD devices over the years and it always integrates perfectly, and saves CPU resources by offloading effects processing to dedicated Digital Signal Processing (DSP) chips on external hardware. Plus, UAD effects sound great!
  • Multitrack Recording and Arrangement of Music - This is really the big one for Pro Tools. It's for recording and arranging, and that's really its focus.
  • Import and Export - Pro Tools is great for its ability to import and export multitrack files in a way that mimics traditional analog multitrack recording.
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  • Huge variety of sounds
  • Easy to jump in
  • Works on it's own, so you don't need another DAW
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Cons
  • It does not like to cooperate with third-party interfaces.
  • Plug-ins can get quite expensive.
  • They are proprietary about their product, so it does not lend itself well to open-source features that you can use with other programs.
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  • The software is very complete, but it can become saturated with the many tools it has. If you have experience with Salesforce, it will be much easier for you to learn the program.
  • I would find it very useful if the system allowed to integrate other software, apart from Salesforce, so that we could have all the information from the same platform.
  • If the platform would allow local hosting or offline access to its control panel, it would make our work much easier, because sometimes the connection fails, and entering the system is impossible.
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Usability
It’s very easy to use it on a basic level. There is a learning curve for advanced stuff, but if you have a need to learn the advanced features and shortcuts then it’s not too hard. Plus, you’re probably using it to make money then anyway, so it all works out
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
The times I've had problems with Avid, they've responded within about 48 hours, and most of the time with a reasonable solution. More often than not, however, I've had to resort to forums to get answers, because when I'm having a problem with the software, I can't afford to wait 48 hours for a solution
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I've had to reach out to them very few times over the years, but Propellerhead is prompt and professional when they provide support. The manual and videos for using the product are top notch, and that goes a long way in helping you learn how to use it to its full capacity
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Alternatives Considered
I like Apple Logic Pro. For certain things. The user interface is relatively simple and it can be quick and easy to get a project going. There are also certain features in Logic that don't yet exist in Avid's Pro Tools. But for most things I find it more cumbersome and less intuitive than Avid Pro Tools. This might be because I worked my way through the industry using Avid Pro Tools vs. Logic. But Knowing both of them, I still think Avid Pro Tools is the better of the two options.
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One thing that sets Reason apart from other DAWs is its ability to be both a DAW and a sampler. Most other DAWs, Ableton included, need a third part sampler in order to actually write music, something akin to Kontakt, for example. Reason is all-in-one - you can do everything with one product and a single purchase.
Read full review
Return on Investment
  • POSITIVE: Even with the 2022 Price Increase ($299/yr) - One billable hour more than covers my software expense. I could drop Slate and Waves and still have all the tools I need to continue producing.
  • POSITIVE: "PRO TOOLS POWERED" carries more industry weight than "Reaper Powered" or "We Use Logic."
  • NEGATIVE: I am continually tempted to upgrade my hardware to take full advantage of Pro Tools including Atmos, etc.
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  • This software has allowed us to be much more efficient in the quality control and production department, as we were able to create quality products for our customers, with easy-to-use tools and automating tasks, so that the entire process is executed more quickly and efficiently.
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ScreenShots