Oops, what have I triggered off here!?
I'm not only talking about Reason though. Also Abelton live is another candidate for usability vs quality. When I first read about the specs and watched the demo vids I was impressed with Live4, but after hearing more of what was coming out I felt there was a lack in quality. Exporting audio still has strange quality to it - I find that happens with Reason too.
I read an interview with Liam in which he had said that he liked using reason because it took his mind away from how to set-up and do things in studio, and put his mind in pure creative mode. I can fully understand what he means by this, but the sacrifice in quality is more than just a little obvious. I couldn't do it, and I'm sorry he could.
Like I said though, I have heard some nice stuff come from Reason, but you wouldn't see a FOTL come from it I wouldn't think. The stuff that I've heard that seems to sit alright is straight electronica.
I think the tools in this type of "all in one" software that allow for endless routing configs and real time pitch/tempo shifting of audio on sperate channels, plus many other studio short-cuts just can't measure up, mainly due to the fact they are writing the software to match todays computer/soundcard power. In a few years it will be a different story though.
I'm not a Reason hater though.
The ideas behind it are really great and I think this type of stuff will be the future in years to come. I just don't think computer power can handle it at the moment. Or more specifically it's written for the current level of computer power - Live4 is a huge example of this.