A band playing live in sync with Reason. How to?

[zeoy]

Hi all,
first post here.

I am a guitarist and I am playing in a band (me, a bass-keyboard player, a drummer and a singer).
We are more or less using PCs to make music as a hobby.
We 'd like to expand our possibilities using Reason live. The problem is how to stay in sync with Reason. We don't want to use a click track or to use loops with a clear downbeat for the entire song. Is there a way to use a light or some kind of a flashing image on the laptop's screen to achieve the sync. I think that Reason has no midi output and this complicates things a little more but any thoughts will be appreciated.

Best!

[declassified]

I recommend a Relais which is controlled by the Midi-Out of your PC. It will establish the electrical contact between an average power socket and two small wires which are plugged into your brain.
Except for the fuse there shouldn't be any clicks.
You may tend to using smaller voltages, though...

[EDIT]just noticed that Reason has no MIDI out...but you could also use a light sensitive resistor on the screen, e.g. on the first step of a step sequencer which will light up everytime...

[neverwhere2012]

there's only one way to make your setup work. a click track via in-ear monitors running to the band... or if everyone wants headphones. generate it from the pc, or from a separate source like a drum machine and slave the pc to it. if you are using reason, and want things sequenced in reason to play back in time with the rest of the band, let alone have everyone else playing fairly in sync with each other, this is the best and most sensible way. since reason is absolutely tempo based, you're kinda stuck to that. it's no different from having pre-recorded backing tracks on a harddisk recorder or dat or something. they have to be locked to a tempo and there must be a click track, otherwise you'll end up looking very very sloppy. it's the pitfall of using digital instrumentation and sequencing. and light-based "click" like a strobe light won't work nearly as well. the eye processes much slower than the ear.

[donkey tugger]

Err, only the drummer needs to hear the click...if you trust the bastard that is. I'd really suggest you get a dedicated keyboard player/sample trigger person though, as every time I've attempted this kind of thing in bands, something always goes horribly wrong.

[RustedMonkey]

http://www.me.berkeley.edu/ME235.S2002/ ... onome.html

[soulata]

Err, only the drummer needs to hear the click...if you trust the bastard that is. I'd really suggest you get a dedicated keyboard player/sample trigger person though, as every time I've attempted this kind of thing in bands, something always goes horribly wrong.

sort of.

in my band, the keyboardist took care of a groove machine, with the following result:

a) keyboardist complained he has too much to do besides playing the keys

b) when I couldn't hear the machine (it was muted at times, and only drummer heard it) the form was lost, because only the drummer knew what the keys man was doing on that thing.

we sold it.

k

[Rabid]

Yep. Click track to the drummer.

In the mid-80’s my band was using a DOS computer to sequence bass, drum and synth parts. I’ll never forget the time the singer messed up and started to repeat a chorus. Then he realized something was wrong and tried to jump back to a verse. But instead of jumping to the right point in mid-verse, he started the verse at the beginning and was a few measures behind the computer. Some band members followed the singer and some stayed with the computer.

I finally had to hit the stop button as everything came crashing down. It was a major embarrassment for the entire band as we were playing a fund raiser for a national politician.

When playing with a sequence, just realize that there is not compensation if a band member messes up.

Robert

[zeoy]

Thanks for the replies. I 'll check the link RustedMonkey. The click track only for the drummer is the way to go I think. And yes DT! He's a bastard. He's practicing with a metronome for 2 hrs/day the last 15 years!
However there is one small problem with this solution. We need at least three mono outputs from the laptop. One stereo for the mix and one mono for the click. I 'll see what I can do with the onboard soundcard of the laptop. I think it's one of those 5.1 (crapy) soundcards but it's a starting point!

Do you think that better results could be achieved using Ableton's Live. I 've heard good things about it but I 've never tested it.


Thanks again!