my problem with my old hardware studio was that i kept making the same kind of track. and i always found it hard to go back and arrange. but maybe that was the particular setup...also, on the other hand, i would arrange on the fly, which, when it worked, gave tracks an excitement i feel i have trouble getting on my computer tracks.

also, one reason i like reason is because it emulates hardware i am familiar with and love. so it's more the fact that it's cheap and small that attracts me to it.

final thought...maybe both viewpoints are right. maybe hardware and software are BOTH limiting in their own way, and it's just a question of how you want to be limited. music can be more easily complex now, but maybe what it loses is that exuberance, that energy, that the old tracks had.