Reason?

[eXode]

Regarding Antidote, I can't comment on the technology side of things, but I can say that I was a driving force behind the conceptual design of it (which is why I was credited for the concept, last page of the Antidote manual). I had a synth design that I approached Richard with and he built Antidote taking inspiration from that design. I think that Antidote was born due to a combination of me having the right approach at the right time, combined with Richard having the technology available and courage to put it to use in a RE specific device.

Nice to hear this. Then I was on the wrong path.
Antidote is a great synth (a pleasure to use and listen to) and you should seriously consider to become a full time RE developer.

Thanks, but to be extra clear with what I meant with Antidote is that I don't know if the technology was something that was based on DUNE etc. I was speaking strictly from the design/conception of the device.

[EnGee]

It is almost a week now since I have Reason 7.1 and my enthusiasm about learning it is increasing

I spent most of the time browsing the presets especially the drums (still didn't finish Kong kits!). I created a favourite list and called it Drums Fav, but after time I noticed I'm dragging and dropping to it 99% of Kong kits!! So, I deleted it! what's the point? I like most of them

Subtractor, I'm spending a good time with it. I understand now most of the functionality and I must say that I love it It is so easy to come with great sounds with it. I tried mostly making some bass/lead from scratch. I made a nice lead yesterday and when I added Uni effect and some light reverb, Wow!

Next will be Malstrom which I think I will fall in love with it also because when I played with it, I felt it so capable.

Ok, I know I'm 10 years behind because till now I didn't begin learning Thor and the other effects. Still waiting for Kurt's (Peff's) book to dig in patching as well

Are the 'Blocks' in the sequencer similar to Cubase's arranger? I haven't read about it yet, just a very fast playing around.

I like the shortcuts in general. They are making me work faster. I'm using also the buttons/controls in my Oxygen 49, which integrates very good with Reason although with Live it is even better!

Oh did I say the manual is excellent? It is the best manual I have ever read! I really love this software, a masterpiece.

There are some minor negatives, but they are very small like I need to choose the instrument in the sequencer to be able to switch to it (not from the rack). I have a shortcut in the midi keyboard (Track < and >) which can do it anyway. Also, there is no way to preview midi files (like drum patterns) in the browser. Very minor things I know and they never stop me from enjoying this everlasting journey (I hope!).

[ghettosynth]

Are the 'Blocks' in the sequencer similar to Cubase's arranger? I haven't read about it yet, just a very fast playing around.

Conceptually yes, practically no. Blocks are great, especially if you do EDM. Build up your loops in Blocks. Paint the Blocks onto the main sequencer. Now mute out parts to frame out your build. Record solo parts, or variations over the top of the Blocks.

If you do EDM, make sure that you understand Blocks before you spend a lot of time in Reason, because, they will save you a lot of time.

[EnGee]

ok great. thanks

Yes, I imagined the workflow like this with it.

[JonSolo]

I was not saying that there is no junk in VST-land. There is tons. What I get tired of with the RE's is 100+ CV splitters for example.

All I was saying is that if you are going to make a RE, exploit it to the fullest withing Reason. REs can integrate with Reason in a way that VSTi's never will with a DAW. But if I am doing it for the soundsets alone, then I am better off with a VST instead of a RE because it is more compatible across the table (as I use Cubase, FL Studio, and now Bitwig).

With a good "made for Reason" RE it would also force me, should I be developing in any Rewire host, to hook Reason up as the slave to benefit from the RE.

Consider my point of view also to be from a marketing perspective.

[DaveElson]

I picked up Reason during the charity auction here a few months ago. Have hardly had time to look into it, other than print out the huge manual (not sure if that was wise).
I am quite impressed, but steep learning curves.
So... I have some Guitar Center gift cards burning a hole in my pocket and I'm wondering if the Hal Leonard dvd guides (beginner to advanced) are worth looking in to.

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... bsiteid=67&

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... bsiteid=43&

Both by Andrew Eisele.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on these and any others.
And is the forum still down at Propellerhead?

[ghettosynth]

I picked up Reason during the charity auction here a few months ago. Have hardly had time to look into it, other than print out the huge manual (not sure if that was wise).
I am quite impressed, but steep learning curves.
So... I have some Guitar Center gift cards burning a hole in my pocket and I'm wondering if the Hal Leonard dvd guides (beginner to advanced) are worth looking in to.

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... bsiteid=67&

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... bsiteid=43&

Both by Andrew Eisele.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on these and any others.
And is the forum still down at Propellerhead?

While I think that Reason is fairly straightforward for people who have used hardware studios, the new mixer and the corresponding changes to the rack certainly made it more complicated. You might find those courses helpful, but, depending on your background, you might find that just getting your bearings in the rack makes all of the difference.

One thing that really helps, IMO, is having a separate monitor for the mixer. Before I switched to a 4k monitor, I used a standard 1080p monitor turned vertical and it made a world of difference.

[spikey]

the Rack Extension format will eventually make Reason just as powerful if not more than other DAWs once it matures.

Uh, no.

It's not like the other DAWs and VST developers will take a nice, long break to give Rack Extensions time to "mature"; they will be moving forward, too.

It's not like vst devs are the only people making re in fact they are in the minority. Reason users tend to be patient and many re devs are reason users

I don't think you understood me.

You said that Reason will become just as powerful if not more powerful than other DAWs once Rack Extensions mature.

That maturation process will obviously take time, and in that time, Ableton will be working to improve Live, Presonus will be working to improve Studio One, Native Instruments will be working on new things, new VSTs will be released, new Kontakt libraries will be released, etc.

There's obviously a lot more going on outside the world of Reason than inside it, and that will never change.

In short; Reason will never catch up. It's just simple math.

Well...
Reason will catch up and even pass all the others if it EVER allows a single ability... The option to use AU and VST plugins inside its already awesome setup. Best of both worlds then, and notice I said "OPTION" to use whichever plug you want, or don't use them at all... Nothing would catch Reason then, host wise...

[tonkatodd]

Propellerheads do take time to make sure new features they implement are rock solid. The problem with VST is that it depends on Steinberg when there are enhancements and developments with the protocol and in the last few years it has faulted quite significantly with VST3. Avid came out with AAX64 last year and the take up rate far surpasses that of VST3 but a lot of that has to do with Pro Tools in the professional field . On the Apple side of things the AU protocol is changing very significantly soon and will be even more difficult for developers to translate there instruments and effects identically across protocols. I think with the problems with VST3 it may be better for Steinberg to scrap VST3 and create a more developer friendly VST4. I don't think we will see all our favorite VST's in Reason but we will see very similar instruments and effects implemented in the future.

[Jace-BeOS]

On the Apple side of things the AU protocol is changing very significantly soon and will be even more difficult for developers to translate there instruments and effects identically across protocols.

Citation?

i know developers are freaking out about sandboxing, but i'm unaware of any "significant" change to the AU "protocol".

[ghettosynth]

the Rack Extension format will eventually make Reason just as powerful if not more than other DAWs once it matures.

Uh, no.

It's not like the other DAWs and VST developers will take a nice, long break to give Rack Extensions time to "mature"; they will be moving forward, too.

It's not like vst devs are the only people making re in fact they are in the minority. Reason users tend to be patient and many re devs are reason users

I don't think you understood me.

You said that Reason will become just as powerful if not more powerful than other DAWs once Rack Extensions mature.

That maturation process will obviously take time, and in that time, Ableton will be working to improve Live, Presonus will be working to improve Studio One, Native Instruments will be working on new things, new VSTs will be released, new Kontakt libraries will be released, etc.

There's obviously a lot more going on outside the world of Reason than inside it, and that will never change.

In short; Reason will never catch up. It's just simple math.

Well...
Reason will catch up and even pass all the others if it EVER allows a single ability... The option to use AU and VST plugins inside its already awesome setup. Best of both worlds then, and notice I said "OPTION" to use whichever plug you want, or don't use them at all... Nothing would catch Reason then, host wise...

FYI, although it's not the same as having a plugin, if you have the right configuration, it's really trivial with the external instrument to use standalone plugins in Reason now. I use Reaktor as if it were just another external synth. Of course, you don't get to save your parameters with your project, it's as if we're back in the old hardware studio days.

[tonkatodd]

Citation?

i know developers are freaking out about sandboxing, but i'm unaware of any "significant" change to the AU "protocol".

Yeah I was directly meaning the sandboxing and the host specific features that there are claims it will be introducing like inter channel communication. At the moment Logic and Au can't communicate with other instruments within Logic since they removed VST in number 6 if I remember correctly. There is the option in AU to send midi to a midi device as the Sugar bytes instruments do. This introduces latency and stability problems when using multiple devices in a project. Logic cannot however recognize midi from Instrument 1 from Instrument 2 unless it is directly accessing device drivers compared to Cubase, Reaper, Pro Tools etc that communicate from with it's own system. Pro Tools is very good at this.

Developers are worried that they will have to write and create instruments for 2 or 3 completely different code bases which will ad to development time and costs and also feature restrictions and throw AAX64 into the mix and it becomes a big headache. At the moment RE is young but you never know where it might lead. Reason 7.1 introduced features for sample instrument creators but I don't know much about what it can achieve and if it supports scripting code like the 3rd party Kontakt instruments utilize or complex group and keyswitching features of Kontakt and UVI instruments. Bloody cool if it does. Graphical features in the update starts to open doors for instruments like Absynth as you will be able to create the envelopes it has but with something like Kontakt it will need a tabbed page or collapsible interface to have editors for mappping and modulation and sample editing as well as sample import.

Considering VST and AU and AAX are becoming more independent of each other as the major players are trying to retain there user base you never know what may happen and since Propellerheads created rewire that other hosts utilize I wonder if in the future when RE matures it will be able to be adopted by other hosts? RE in Reaper or Ableton anyone?

[zeebot]

Not sure if this has been posted but here is a quite amusing ad for the new Dynarage tube compressor RE for those that may have missed it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv-oAFP9in0

[AstralExistence]

I picked up Reason during the charity auction here a few months ago. Have hardly had time to look into it, other than print out the huge manual (not sure if that was wise).
I am quite impressed, but steep learning curves.
So... I have some Guitar Center gift cards burning a hole in my pocket and I'm wondering if the Hal Leonard dvd guides (beginner to advanced) are worth looking in to.

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... bsiteid=67&

http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewp ... bsiteid=43&

Both by Andrew Eisele.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on these and any others.
And is the forum still down at Propellerhead?

i don't know one person who ever had any success with a hal leonard book. imo there books suck in the same way the dummies books suck. do you really think your gonna learn music theory, with a book and or learn calculus in a dummies book. books are becoming passe in the same way that brick and mortar music stores have become.

with the advent of youtube, anybody can learn anything about any topic. these days knowledge isn't only available to those that can afford to go to college. but, to answer your original question, every reason book down to reason power is just a regurgitated pdf manual wrote to sound like its not.

one book is different though, power tools for reason. though the stuff taught in powertools is easily overshadowed by whats to be learned on youtube. unless your learning a book with hand on experience, or your learning a very complex subject that is better taught with books/time investment then videos, forget about attaining knowledge from books. unless, you are a rare breed and learn best by book. most people are not textual learners.

[spaceman]

The best way to learn is to create music and when you're stuck go on the bloody internet and google for a solution. I can't think of anything that you can't find a solution for on the web, for FREE, combined with reading the f**king manual.

Books and videos are a waste of money.