Paddy,

I'm a Reason semi-fanatic, but I don't think it's the best, or at least the only, choice for what you want to do. In the first place, Reason does not directly support audio. IMO, Reason has a pretty steep learning curve as a whole. The Dr. Rex loop module is easy, but not much comes supplied with the program. You must find or buy loops in the .REX OR .RX2 format. You can create your own REX files with an adjunct Phead program called ReCycle.

You can load MP3 clips into one or more of the modules, but timing might be an issue. However, Reason can be linked to many major DAWs via Rewire, in particular Steinberg Cubase. (Pheads and Steinberg codeveloped the Rewire protocol.)

A better choice for a single solution might be Sony Acid. I haven't done much more than poke a stick at it, but the loop function is easy. Acidized loops can also be pitch shifted and time stretched without difficulty. There is a free version which supports one track of audio, 10 total; you can download it (and find a terrific community of collaborators) at acidplanet. The full version supports all the tracks you would need in any combination of loops and audio.

Cakewalk also provides some inexpensive programs that support loops and audio, but I am less familiar with them. With any of them you get their TTS-1 synth plugin, which works in a 64-bit environment. This can be useful for BIAB/RealBand users. Perhaps someone else will chime in on their offerings.

Finally, have you fully explored the range of BIAB styles, or considered rolling your own? I have been using BIAB as I would use a hardware sequencer a la Jean Michel Jarre or Tangerine Dream. Do a search on Techno in the Stylepicker; you may be surprised what you come up with. You can hear samples of my work at indabamusic. "Try This" was created solely in Acid. The next two were created in BIAB and ported into Reason. The last is BIAB only. I have more that need work before I consider them ready for posting, but BIAB may do more than you expect in the genre you want to explore.

HTH,

R.

"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."