Sort of OT: Reason opened my eyes.

[Yoozer]

After a long, long, long time I finally downloaded the Reason demo and played around with it. I recently bought a separate controller (E-mu Xboard 49) ; not that my AN1x wasn't doing well, but that thing's a really nice compact board, and it only needs USB. I also have my brother borrow it; I'm trying to nudge him a bit in the music direction.

 

I can almost kick myself for being so stupid and stubborn for not trying it out earlier. It's immensely fun to play around with; it works very intuitive. The only drawback is that the 19" rack doesn't scale over my dual monitor system, but hey. Subtractor isn't "cool out of the box" like my Virus, but still very nice and usable - spectral waveforms, even. I find it to have a rather glassy character, a bit "early VA" - but it was released a while ago anyway. Let's hope Reason 4 comes with a more vintage-ey mono-synth with more balls in the bass department.

 

Anyway, what the main gist of this post is: eventually I arrived at NN-19. It's a simple sampler. It accepts .wav files without a problem. Open something, loop it, and you can play it instantly.

 

Amazing. This is something that my hardware samplers (A4000, ESI4000) never gave me before; that ease of use. Chaining a few effects after it was just as easy, so ending up with a relatively simple but sweet single-cycle synthesizer voice (or the Fairlight Arr vocals).

 

Again, amazing.

 

So I finally ventured into the realm of software samplers. I got the Kontakt 2.0 demo. It does the same as NN-19, only much better.

 

Again, I can almost kick myself for being so stupid by thinking hardware would do the job better or that I could do without it. It is made of god and win. It can solve so many of the earlier hurdles; it's incredible.

 

I'm a convert . Now, the only obstacle is selling the old samplers or saving up.

[mildbill]

i tried out the reason demo ages ago. ya, it's cool, fun to play with, has an excellent interface, and some of its stuff can sound halfway decent, but it just didn't click with me.

maybe i didn't give it a fair chance.

but ya, for sampling - soft is definitely the way to go.

[electrobaby]

yeah I agree in a way...I started with Reason 2 and loved it from the beginning....Ive only ever used NN19...never the more complex one as Im not really a sampler guy...

 

the synths are fun and I have used them before but have much more fun with my hardware...

 

The sequencer is fun and intuitive...

 

some of the effects are great (reverb, scream)

 

I was very hot and heavy:D for reason for a while and still love it but only use it for drums these days...I like DrRex and Redrum and those, along with the scream module, are my primary drum source that gets piped into Ableton.

 

I think that people that have a history dealing with music hardware prior to the software boom of the 90s find it a comfortable software to deal with due to the way it works - with the patching and flipping the rack around and all...Its really very cool and comfortable...

 

...but one of the best things that reason has going for it(and ableton live as far as thats concerned) is the fun factor and speed/ease of use...you can get some great stuff going in reason very quickly and change things very quickly and easily and have a blast doing it!!

[swardle]

I had Reason 3 and Korg Kontrol 49. I also miss the ease of use and imagining all of the things you could potentially do with it.

 

But after a while I got bored with it because I wasn't getting anywhere with writing good music. Reason's UI kind of guides you towards experimentation and making noise.

 

But if that is your thing or you aren't too set in old skool ways, it's a great alternative to hardware and it won't kill your computer.

[Sinner6]

The only module I ever use in Reason is NN-XT.

 

I'm not %100 sold on softsynths (secretly hoping Reaktor changes this) but SOFTSAMPLING is great, especially for "serious" sampling and mapping.

 

Stil, there is a place in the world for the fun, tactile and reasonably (no pun) powerful boxes out there. So yeah, the best of both worlds is still....both worlds.

[The Pro]

Last fall I went on vacation with my laptop, Reason 3 and an X-Station 49. My wife and I rented a roomy cabin in the Smokey Mountains and pretty much stayed secluded for over a week, no cell phones, internet, tv. It was great... I just fooled around with creating lots of snigglets - pieces of song ideas to elaborate on later. I came up with dozens of new and unique ideas and had fun doing it. For this trip, Reason put the "play" back into playing music.

[Paolo Di Nicolantonio]

Welcome to the Reason club

[tucktronix]

Bought Reason 3.0 almost a year ago and since haven't looked back. It has everything I need, and the excellent UI makes it easy and fun to use. I don't use Subtractor very often, but found Maelstrom to be a blast to program. I haven't made any searing leads out of it yet(My EX7 covers that area very well). And I totally disagree with Swardle's comments about the UI being more suited for experimental noise. My most recent ol' skool jazz/funk originals were done entirely using Reason. An excellent music creation tool, worth every penny:thu:

 

Looks like you've installed the old demo of Reason. Don't know if you've tried Reason Adapted yet, but you should. It's based on Reason 3.0 and it's way better. NN-XT kicks major ass, IMO.

[CardioGram]

Reason is great in most ways except that darn subtractor...

 

if they had have made the subtractor sound as beefy as something like impOscar, i probably wouldn't have drifted away from Reason.

 

i like to make minimal ish techno when i can so its important to have basic analog-y sounds that are rich and fat without a whole lot of extra processing

 

i keep meaning to boot up reason more often now that ive got a bunch of my own analog samples to start from.

[packrat]

 

Originally posted by CardioGram Reason is great in most ways except that darn subtractor... if they had have made the subtractor sound as beefy as something like impOscar, i probably wouldn't have drifted away from Reason.

 

Unless I'm missing something, can't you just use imposcar with Reason as host?

 

B>

[Awake77]

You cant use any softsynths inside of Reason, only the stuff that comes with it. That one thing that makes it so tightly integreated and, and is also a primary detractor.

 

I LOVE Reason3.0. I wrote a bunch of cool stuff in it, but ive drifted away from it in favor of seqencing my hardware/software synths in Sonar, using Battery 2 for drums.

 

The limited synthesis options are what made me take a break from this great program. Everything in it is fantastic, but my hardware synths sound better, and so do many of my VST synths and effects.

 

Reason sounds top-notch for sure, but after a while all my tracks started to have the same 'sound' and I needed something different. I will always go back to it though - its awesome.

[packrat]

 

Originally posted by Awake77 You cant use any softsynths inside of Reason, only the stuff that comes with it. That one thing that makes it so tightly integreated and, and is also a primary detractor.

 

So it does. I'd only been vaguely interested in Reason for a while and hadn't realised this. I typically use Live for working, but might toy with Logic for its better ability for track-based work.

 

Reason sounds top-notch for sure, but after a while all my tracks started to have the same 'sound'

 

I've heard this complaint a few times.

 

B>

[Khazul]

Oddly enough - reason was what got me going again after a 15 year break. Unlike most software its something that instantly clicked with me because of an electroncs and old-school studio background (ie 20 years ago - patching CVs was the norm with a bit of midi of yo lucky).

 

In the end I grew frustrated with it, got tired of the same sound character (not that there is anything really wrong with it). Reason 3 was a stay of execution for it. What I really allowed me to do was to explore where I wanted to go and so not make expensive mistakes with hardware, as to some degree anything I couldnt do with whatever hardware I had I could do some semblance of with reason - and doing so often highlighted where I wanted to go that reason couldnt touch.

 

I think the last things I was using it for was the redrum with with you can do the MAchineDrum type thing very easily - interesting - it was the drum machines in rebirth that got me into propellersheads products in the first place years ago as I have a TR606 and TB303 back when they first came out.

 

It was getting a MachineDrum that finally replaced the last bit of Reason I was using. Now I just use it as a sketch pad sometimes.

 

If Propellerheads would open the damn thing up - make the modules hostable as VSTs via combinator patches for eg (or go the other way and integrate audio and midi synths - ie turn it into a simple DAW), I have no doubt I would still be using it - but I dont like using it via rewire - the workflow sux. The trouble is it is *too* self contained. It semblence to hardware fails miserably when you want to use a v-synth as a processor for a sound it makes, then feed the result back into the reason rack - you just cant - so I got rather frustrated with it and found more on more I was forced outside it.

 

A real shame because it is an excellent tool to work with - just not open enough.

[Yoozer]

It's not so much that I suddenly am going to dump Cubase; it's more that its sampler showed me that sampling and playing samples can actually be enjoyable instead of an exercise in programming. Suddenly several gigabytes of my harddrive are turned into assets instead of bonepiles, so to say.

 

The possibility to finally construct decent drumkits (Cubase's built-in LM-4 isn't that expansive) and to have a reliable "trigger" that doesn't need a ton of VST effects are the killer deals for me. It avoids the need to process every drum before throwing it into the sampler application, which gives me more possibilities.

 

It all came as quite a (benificial) shock, to be honest .

[Paolo Di Nicolantonio]

I'm looking forward to version 3.5

 

Anybody knows when??

[Khazul]

Originally posted by Paolo Di Nicolantonio I'm looking forward to version 3.5 Anybody knows when??

 

Im looking forward to any version (if ever) thats stops being its own little world and learn to grow up and play ball with the big boys.

 

Once you have a studio rather than just a computer, Reason very rapidly looses its appeal - Propellerheads seem to have a marketting strategy around replacing hardware and full studios rather than harmoniously co-existing with it - to my mind the one most turn-off marketting idea they could possibly have conceived:

 

See http://www.propellerheads.se/workstation/ in particular thew logo top-right

 

This doesnt suggest to me that they are likely to open up and become more studio friendly... They seem to have a very strong anti not-invented-here mentality as well.

 

 

Have you ever been on their forums? You mention that you actually use hardware synths and you're a heretic

 

So I just post there often enough now with suggestions of using workstations, high end synths and v-drum kits etc as controller and basically winding them up on what the anti-hardware fanboys are missing out on - lol

 

Actually its more than just that though - how many users would also love to use it alongside their favourite VSTi as well without having to run two aplications side by side and tolerate the resulting horrible user esxperience.

 

Real shame - so much potential in a great peace of software being crippled by arrogance.

 

[Sinner6]

Yoozer-

 

Don't you have an MPC 1000? Have you fallen out of love with it?

[mildbill]

ha ha - Yoozer's going soft?

[Veneficum]

AMEN! Yes... I have used reason live for the past three years or so but just recently converted everything to software (sold the Triton Studio and xp-30!). I have just sampled everything into the NN-19/NN-XT that came from hardware or other sources. It's just easier for me to keep it all in one interface instead of running kontakt alongside reason. I actually miss the XP-30 though... would probably still have it if I did not break a key.

 

Anyways... awesome you are discovering the power of software.

[orangefunk]

Agree that the weakness in Reason are the sequencer and the Subtractor... though everything else is great. Subtrctor is great at certain kinds of sounds... (I always edit the Bass Guitar preset as a starter for basses as its excellent) but sounds a bit thin and brittle at times.... I really wish it had a bit more balls..

 

The Malstrom is a cool addition since V2.0 esp when you add the unison module to the output... I love the choir sounds in that thing...

 

The big thing for me was the combinator though in V3.0... Reason came of age in that version.

 

Saying that... I don't really use it too often... I think the usability could be a lot better... I think it would seriously rock with audio recording support, VSTi and a better sequencer. Maybe I need to get Cubase as I dislike recording linear audio into Ableton Live...

[Yoozer]

Originally posted by Sinner6 Yoozer- Don't you have an MPC 1000? Have you fallen out of love with it?

No, I still want to keep it. I can put it on my lap or somewhere in another room. Also, the MPC's a phrase sampler; it can't do the studio stuff Kontakt can do.

 

Originally posted by mildbill ha ha - Yoozer's going soft?

Shocking! Whaddayaknow, next thing I start preaching about the dangers of having too many synthesizers .

 

Kontakt's ordered and I hope to get the box next week.

[mildbill]

Originally posted by Yoozer ...................... Shocking! Whaddayaknow, next thing I start preaching about the dangers of having too many synthesizers . Kontakt's ordered and I hope to get the box next week.

 

 

 

 

 

now you'll have to watch out for the dangers of having too many softsynths.

[Rasmus-DK]

Originally posted by Khazul If Propellerheads would open the damn thing up - make the modules hostable as VSTs via combinator patches for eg (or go the other way and integrate audio and midi synths - ie turn it into a simple DAW), I have no doubt I would still be using it - but I dont like using it via rewire - the workflow sux. The trouble is it is *too* self contained. It semblence to hardware fails miserably when you want to use a v-synth as a processor for a sound it makes, then feed the result back into the reason rack - you just cant - so I got rather frustrated with it and found more on more I was forced outside it. A real shame because it is an excellent tool to work with - just not open enough.

 

This is why I use this little programme:

www.synapse-audio.com

 

very easy to use, quite coherent - open and non-arrogant:)

[dafduc]

Its stability is due in large part to its non-openness.

 

I got in at 1.0, got out at 2.5 - just doesn't work with my so-called brain. I used it to design some beats, capture some solos, etc. But never as a start to finish composing tool.

 

I've heard it works pretty well in ReWire mode with Acid - I may give it one more try, but I'm just thinking we're not a good mix.

 

Daffy

[Analog Kid]

I like Maelstrom, and the drum sequencers are cool, but Reason has always bothered me with the Rewire implementation, lack of midi out, and no strength in the analog emulation.

But ya, NN-XT is pretty cool, especially since they came out the the akai converter.

Still, compare Logic Pro to Reason... obviously the first thing you see is the price difference, but then you notice Logic works with the outside world very well.

But, I havent tried Reason since 2.5, so ... i could just be talking out my ass.