@konrad I used to play with Reason eons ago but I really am not a good enough musician to make it worth my while. As for plug-ins, I wonder to what extent they differ more on their skeumorphic presentation, rather than on the guts within. I don't use most of the non-free ones enough to justify paying, and the ones I get free (from Apple and Reaper) do enough for my needs 99.9% of the time.