Reason Compact 2.0

[PeterP]

I tried it for a couple of hours yesterday.

1) Is there a manual somewhere?

2) How can I rename the song ideas?

3) Is there a way to make the cursor follow the song if the clip is more than 1 bar?

4) Can I easily clear out one row in the drum machine clip editor? Let's say I want to delete the "toms" and "percussion" but keep the rest.

Some bugs I found:

1) It freezes every time I move back from a running song to the song list. Have to restart the app. Luckily the song is not lost.

2) The names in the drum machine clip editor don't match the sound. The Kick sound is at the bottom but it's written over the top row.

Overall I like the built in devices and sounds but the "sequencer" part isn't that easy to work with compared to GarageBand.

Hi!

1. There is no manual for the app but on each of the instruments panel there is explainer-texts about the panel so you can learn more about the synths and the drum machine. Just click the question-mark to the upper left.

2. Slide the project to the left and you can rename, duplicate or remove your project.

3. Not sure what you mean. Do you mean that it should automatically move the sequencer when the timeline passes the first bar?

4. Unfortunately, you cannot easily remove a row

Regarding bugs:
1. We haven't seen this during testing. Is it easy to reproduce? Do you get it every time?

2. Bug fix on it's way. The bug is on iPad but is fine in iPhone.

Best regards, Hanna (Mobile Product Manager, PH)

Thank you for the reply!

1. Ok, I see. Maybe add some explainer-text for the midi editor and project page?

3. Yes, that's what I meant. Or maybe some way to scale down the view to see 2 or 4 bars on the screen.

About the freeze bug; when I got it, it happened three times in a row, it wasn't sporadic, everytime I went back from a running song to the Project page. Today when I tried to reproduce it again I can't. Not sure what happened, it might have been my iPad that was exhausted from too many background apps running or something. I'll keep an eye out for anything in the future.

Best regards
Peter

[Faastwalker]

Do the guys that make those $1 sound packs get money from sales or just Propellerhead?

How many patches in each of those? I might have to buy the IAP's & get my patch on!!

[riemac]

Yesterday I’ve bought all three apps for Reason Compact and created my first song idea on my tablet in the garden and then exported it to Reason 10 for further arrangement and processing. So far I like Reason Compact as a starting point for song ideas and chord progressions. This are my improvements suggestions for the next version of Reason Compact:

- Mute and solo buttons in the rack view for all three instruments. At the moment you can only turn down the volume.
- Make it possible to use the instruments (Monotone and Europa) more than only one time.
- Add a sample based instrument for example ID8.
- Integration of the Thor app in Reason compact.
- Possibility to share Reason compact songs on an open platform in the app under “projects”.
- Add a simple way to sidechain an instrument to the kick of Rytmik.
- Add a simple sequencer to arrange the patterns of the individual instruments as well as automations.
- In the note grid the first note always overwrites the letter of the key, so that you cannot see it anymore, please fix this.
- Add the possibility to import your own samples in Rytmik.
- The start and end markers for the envelope in Rytmik are too small and difficult to drag.
- The picture of the square wave of Monotones Oscillator 2 is wrong, it should be a half pulse wave (only oscillator 1 has a square wave)
- Implementation of shuffle or make it possible to drag a note of the grid.

[EnochLight]

- Integration of the Thor app in Reason compact.

This seems like such a no-brainer. They've already got the code on iOS, and it runs soooooo light - it would be a great workhorse synth to add to the bunch. They wouldn't even have to scale it down feature-wise (like they did with Europa). Add a couple of Players, and OMFG... that would be awesome.

Guess they just need Thor to be ported to Rack Extension to make this happen...

[andreasolsson]

I've just checked this out and it seems really good. I've used Figure a lot in the past and this seems like a souped up version of that and some.
There are a couple of things I don't get:
Is there a global swing setting and if not how do you nudge notes to create swing manually? It must be possible since some of the pre set patterns are swung (rytmik-edm for example).
Is it possible to turn off quantisation?
Cheers

[EnochLight]

I've just checked this out and it seems really good. I've used Figure a lot in the past and this seems like a souped up version of that and some.
There are a couple of things I don't get:
Is there a global swing setting and if not how do you nudge notes to create swing manually? It must be possible since some of the pre set patterns are swung (rytmik-edm for example).
Is it possible to turn off quantisation?
Cheers

Unfortunately no (on both). Alas, Reason Compact seems to have been pushed to the side while Reason Studios lays focus on Reason Rack Plugin. I was really hoping they’d port more devices to Reason Compact and improve the sequencer features, but last I heard the product manager was shifted to a new position.

Hopefully they’ll come back to it.

[andreasolsson]

Ok, thanks. But if that's the case how does one achieve something like this in the photo?

[Faastwalker]

I was really hoping they’d port more devices to Reason Compact and improve the sequencer features, but last I heard the product manager was shifted to a new position. Hopefully they’ll come back to it.

Would have been nice to see it actually evolve into ‘Reason Compact’. But it was always going to be an uphill struggle with the way it launched. It should never have been called Reason Compact when it was actually Europa Compact. Straight away we were all like, ‘hang on a second!’. And saying it was free when it was severely disabled without IAP’s. You can’t do that!

If it had a sampler and a few more features to make it a really useful mobile App it could have been fantastic. But will it happen now? How longs it been around? A couple of years?! The momentum has gone. Again, you can’t do that with mobile Apps. It has to be dynamite from the get go. It’s not like there’s a drought of incredible mobile Apps that are mostly very affordable to buy. Apps get lost very quickly if they don’t deliver out of the box.

[Aosta]

I was really hoping it was the start of actual Reason on IOS which would have been incredible but with Korg Gadget pretty much filling that void already and the project being sidelined yet again it is another one dead in the water.
I'm still waiting for that Figure update that was promised

[demt]

tis not andy enough 4 me

[EnochLight]

Ok, thanks. But if that's the case how does one achieve something like this in the photo?

There is no way, other than to increase your division as high as it will go (which is a paltry 1/32) and try to enter the note data slightly ahead of the rest. Like I said, Reason Studios really dropped the ball on Compact's sequencer.

If it had a sampler and a few more features to make it a really useful mobile App it could have been fantastic. But will it happen now?

Oh totally - I thought for sure we'd see Grain Compact added, which would have been freaking bad ass. If they would have allowed sampling on the fly using the iPhone's built-in mic, one could have an awesome time doing field recordings for grainular stuff. And the sequencer is so painfully basic, it's almost embarrassing. It's a travesty they sort of just forgot about Reason Compact. #not_bitter_at_all

How longs it been around? A couple of years?! The momentum has gone. Again, you can’t do that with mobile Apps. It has to be dynamite from the get go. It’s not like there’s a drought of incredible mobile Apps that are mostly very affordable to buy. Apps get lost very quickly if they don’t deliver out of the box.

Indeed, thought the last update that adding something was released 8 months ago according to the version history (new bass sounds for Monotone synth). About 4 months ago they re-branded it under Reason Studios and did some bug fixes. So, I guess it's not abandon-ware or anything - but the fact that no new RE's have been added since Monotone and Rhythmik 9 months ago and the sequencer sucks balls still, well... that's disappointing. Although, if you want to try and take a positive spin on things, it's been exactly 9 months since a new synth and drum rompler were added - all the while Reason 11 has been released with two major point updates following, so - maybe all is not lost yet? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[andreasolsson]

Sorry to keep going on about swing but I still don't understand this. There is a swung preset but one can't add swing oneself? So these presets have been programmed on something else and them somehow ported to Reason Compact? Of course sampling capability would've been nice but ditching the grid and adding feel would easily make this the best music app out there.

[EnochLight]

Sorry to keep going on about swing but I still don't understand this. There is a swung preset but one can't add swing oneself? So these presets have been programmed on something else and them somehow ported to Reason Compact? Of course sampling capability would've been nice but ditching the grid and adding feel would easily make this the best music app out there.

Correct. The presets you see in Rhythmic's sequencer at the bottom left are clip templates that you can't edit, unfortunately. I mean, aside from adding/deleting notes and adjusting velocity. Please send your feature requests in so we can get Reason Studios to revive Compact development - they can be reached here:

https://www.reasonstudios.com/contact/feedback

In the meantime, your best bet is to export your idea to Reason and get your swing in Reason's sequencer proper.

[BigEZ512]

Ok, thanks. But if that's the case how does one achieve something like this in the photo?

Once you have a note in the sequencer, press and hold and a menu will appear that lets you control the volume for that individual note. Not sure if that’s the thing you’re looking to do but that is what’s on display in this pic.

[Dave Beep]

Google showed the new Android audio/midi features, so it looks like Android finally will become as good as iOS for music apps

Have they rebuilt Android to fix the latency problem?

[Seckin]

Google showed the new Android audio/midi features, so it looks like Android finally will become as good as iOS for music apps

Have they rebuilt Android to fix the latency problem?

Yes, but it's eventually going to take a while for consumers to transition to newer devices.

[DaveyG]

Have they rebuilt Android to fix the latency problem?

Yes, but it's eventually going to take a while for consumers to transition to newer devices.

Based on how many budget Android devices are still being sold with really old Android versions it will take approximately forever! If, as a developer, you target only the latest, biggest devices you seriously cut down your potential market. Tough one.

[EnochLight]

Yes, but it's eventually going to take a while for consumers to transition to newer devices.

Based on how many budget Android devices are still being sold with really old Android versions it will take approximately forever! If, as a developer, you target only the latest, biggest devices you seriously cut down your potential market. Tough one.

True, but even a slice of a mobile OS market that occupies over half of all smartphones is still a massive user base. What’s troubling is that Reason Studios were hiring mobile devs for Android prior to Propellerhead changing their company name. Makes one wonder if the VC’s changed course and abandoned mobile development after Reason Compact allegedly bombed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[DaveyG]

The point is that today you can buy many brand new Android phones and tablets that do not support the latest Android and thus are not low latency for audio apps. That's not the case with the iOS world.

after Reason Compact allegedly bombed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

They just got the pricing badly wrong on the in-app purchases.

Charging a tenner for adding a whole extra instrument to the app is reasonable. Charging a tenner to unlock the advanced controls of an instrument you are already using is not reasonable. They need to offer more of the smaller, cheaper add-ons like the preset packs for 99p, A Distortion add-on for £1.99 etc. They would have made more money that way. And if the main objective is to lead people to Reason PC/Mac rather than make money then putting more stuff in the app for free would have worked better and they needed to make it feel more like Reason. Why does it not look like the rack? Where are the cables? etc. It's a very confused offering.