you get out what you put in.

I don't think using Reason in comparison to the other dedicated host sequencers is a "step back".

I personally use it mainly to generate some ideas on the fly with the matrix pattern sequencer but everything always gets printed down and imported to audio. You can say that i treat Reason as another VST instrument of Cubase SX3.

I have seen some people make MASSIVE tracks with just Reason alone. My friend Mike can make a dirty techno track within 10 minutes with Reason; something he cannot do if he were to open up millions of VST's in Cubase.

It's all about workflow. If you are more comfortable with it, then stick with reason.

I personally started out using Reason 1.0 and thought it was amazing for what it was worth, but I always had a problem with the sequencer. That is why i decided to switch platforms to Cubase.

Sometimes less is more. After thousands of dollars in spending for VST plugins, I can honestly say that I am much LESS productive in Cubase than when I was using Reason. Reason forces you to be as creative as possible with as little tools as possible. Sometimes this works out to be better.

Just my thoughts.