Orchestral instruments/arrangements question

[UnofficialSoundtrack]

I have Reason 3 and I'm toying with the idea of upgrading to Reason 4, but I want to make sure my sequencer could handle some orchestral-type stuff... Is Reason 4 capable of doing this passably (with free ReFills?)

[Moseph]

Reason's Orkester soundbank is better than anything you're likely to find for free (at least as far as complete orchestral libraries go -- you might be able to piece something together out of individual free instruments). As far as I know, the version of Orkester included with Reason 4 is the same one that you've already got with Reason 3. If you're looking specifically to do orchestral stuff, you might be better off getting an orchestral sample library like EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Silver or Gold -- in which case you would also need a sequencer that supported VSTs.

That's not to say that Orkester is terrible -- I've actually gotten it to sound pretty good, but it's unbelievably labor-intensive with a lot of manual tweaking needed. Basically, Reason's orchestral capabilities aren't going to change if you upgrade, so you already have what you need in order to decide if you're satisfied with it.

[Fishy]

Well there is one feature that is a lot more helpful for orchestral music in Reason 4. You can automate tempo finally, and creating a rubato feel is important in some orchestral music. You could fake it with the speed % transposing in 3, its just a whole lot less complicated in 4.