I have zero hogs running plugins... In logic or FL (MBP 2.2/4Gb). I mean, come on, it (reason) appeals to anyone having a xeleron processor and doesnt feel like spending money which is fine but as long as i have been playing this game you hardly get THAT value for quality (luckily that market is huge).
Im not going to say beatcreators, we're all producers but producing is either fun or when seriously taken, very expensive. I dont make a difference wether it concerns hiphop or electronica but all of the electronica producers (yes, that implies to hiphop producers too) should know a good deal on engineering as THAT is what makes a really good producer...period. If its for the fun (which is of course for all of us) then you can understand the nature for some of us that do not feel like putting in that effort...not even going to say its necessary because technically a lot of hiphop productions out there are overrated. But in this definition of a producer you'll also define the tools of the trade, so if you're a songwriter or dont feel like that engineering is a part of what it takes than Record will suite you, just pay an engineer to do it. If you want to know...Cubase, PT or Logic is the way to go as they will not provide you with any limitations except you lack of knowledge.
I do applaud the new mixer, not in regards to the sound or that it's a mimic of an ssl console but that fact that you have more bands to tweak and patching options you'd find on any mixer...just common functionality, something that stopped me from using reason. Aside from the typical reason sound (algorhythm), i found that the mixer interface was very unfriendly. The whole fx setup nailed it, Record is indeed an addition for singer/songwriters or just anyone playing guitar considering that the only 3rd party fx supported is Line6.
It means either that those appealed to Record are either noob (no offense) or indeed Reason users. What i dont understand is why you would want Record if you're using rewire already aside from that it's an ITB solution, most cats will still end up using rewire to a DAW for post/pre production. There's no point on having both as Record includes pretty much everything that Reason has, you can just open you're Reason projects in Record (and still use rewire).
Perhaps there is a logical explanation from a revenue point of view as they want to appeal into a different end user, which might not have been as interesting to that target group if it was called Reason 5. From all the criteria i've read so far on Record, they have still let down loads of reason users as they had been hoping for a reason 5 with audio and vst support. These people would certainly not buy Record.