[pk_hat]

Another vote for sample quality first, not the tool to trigger them, as that comes down to familiarity and personal preference. I also use Reason for hip-hop and trip-hop/smoky beats and somehow this works for me, though I do use the best samples I can going in. As for quantizing, just use your ears and try not to emulate what everyone else is doing. If what you're doing sounds good to you, then it is. Should you need to quantize, use groove templates, put some swing on your beat, etc, there's a lot of options for that.