Manchester-born, Berlin-based A Guy Called Gerald has been creating iconic tunes since the house classic Voodoo Ray in 1988. Nine artist albums later, he shows no sign of stopping. We asked him why he chooses Reason...

What I love about Reason is the ease of use. It's very reminiscent of the physical studio where I spent the first years of my professional career, so it's nice to be able to take my professional environment with me wherever I go.

In Reason 5 my favourite element so far - is the resampling and editing function. I work 100% in Reason, and I love the file formats. It's a good way of building my own libraries, which is very important for the way I work. I start with the mixer, delay and reverb, and then move onto Dr. Rex, ReDrum and Subtractor.

Many DAWs today seem like they've been dumbed down for non-specialists or DJs - the guys that used to turn up to the studio with a box of records and expect the engineer to do all the work back in the 80s. These days those same types of people are expecting the software to do all the work. It reminds me of those kids who'd come into synth shops in Manchester, bang around on the keys of a Moog, and if they didn't hear something pleasing would move onto the next synth, not realising it was up to them to make the equipment produce the sounds they wanted.

Reason allows me to delve deep into my sounds and shape things with precision, the way I want to hear them.

[Author: Unknown]