An excellent compendium of advanced tips, marred by unclear writing and poor editing

This book contains a wealth of great tips and examples for using Reason's devices in new and unexpected ways. The book attempts to be a quick reference work, and is organized around the various parts of the Reason program (e.g., "Sequencer", "Lesser Effects Tricks", etc.). As a quick reference, however, it doesn't quite fit the bill, as it's much too specialized. A reader is better off skimming through the entire book, and then returning to it when a particular track suggests the use of one of the author's ideas.

The real problem here, however, is the writing and editing. While the tips in a work like this should be advanced, there's no reason for the language to be difficult as well. The author occasionally fails to connect the dots, and you'll find yourself reading and rereading a few sentences to try to figure out what he's talking about. Fortunately, usually one can tease out what he means from context, but it's still frustrating. At least equal blame must be laid upon the editor, however, who seems to have limited him- or herself to correcting spelling and punctuation. Reason 3 Power! (the "intermediate" level book in this series) was much better written and edited, and consequently much easier to follow. It's unfortunate that the same care wasn't taken here because the ideas presented certainly deserve it.

Other Reviews

• An excellent compendium of advanced tips, marred by unclear writing and poor editing
• Reasons 3.0 (the next frontier)