Reason for live shows help

[eox]

Hey guys, here in a few months I have an event I'm playing keys in. I love Reason and I use it for everything. Now last year, I played at a similar event but I had my sounds sorted out for each song we played in a way that I didn't feel was very effecient.. My question is, what kind of recommendations do you guys have for a live setup? All I'm playing is pads and there's a good 15 different songs we will be playing and obviously the same pad isn't exactly ideal here..

Essentially I'm trying to figure out a good way to setup my controller (I have a korg TR workstation 77 key for my main midi controller) but recently bought the arturia minilab (24 keys I think?) but the mini lab has sliders and more knobs that I want to utilize to switch sounds on the fly. I was hoping there was a way I could set it up to bypass the pads that aren't being used because the little MacBook Pro 11 isn't very powerful. Anyone have a setup or has read some solid ideas on achieving an efficient live setup? As of right now there isn't any sequencing that I'll be running (could change) but simply utilizing Reason for it's sounds and I love to have my own custom sounds for these songs! Thanks for taking the time to read my friends!

[tibah]

Maybe I'm too simplistic here, but why don't you load up all sounds used into one project file and change the MIDI controller focus with the arrow keys down to jump to a new sound?

[eox]

That's what I was doing last year, the only problem I found was the previous instruments were still running and kinda sucking up some CPU. I'm trying to think of an idea how to set up bypassing the other instruments on the fly quickly. Maybe midi learn with a button. I just wasn't sure how people usually go about this

[Melody303]

If you're using patches, I suppose you could create a directory with only the patches you want to use for the gig, memorize their order, and map a couple of buttons on your MIDI keyboard to go back and forth between the patches.
If you're playing only 1 pad at a time you could limit yourself to only two instruments open in the rack at any given time, that ought to be very easy on the CPU. (Don't forget to map a couple of buttons to switch between sequencer lanes, too)

If you trust your synthesis skills, go ahead and map the controls to all the most critical parameters and have a blast. That's my preferred option.

I use the Waldorf Blofeld live for pads, and don't use presets. Creating and changing everything on the spot.

[eox]

Awesome! I've heard great things about Waldorf..I haven't looked into it though!

Yeah, I do a little live modulating for a little spice here and there!

Sounds like what I was thinking I needed to do..I wish there was a RE that you could wire your combi's or any instrument that had a switch to bypass selected switches..kinda like how Shelob is set up! Then you could map a button to switch which channels is selected and another switch to engage or turn on the synth and have the rest in a native bypassed mode. That would be cool!

[tibah]

Well, from what I can tell, you never actually will "run" those instruments, but play them live. First, you should have the sounds for each song, before thinking about how to optimize things, when there is no need for optimization. Instrument on idle usually don't take that much, and in the same time, you can get "computer too slow" with one instrument, using e.g. long release times on a higher polyphony, already. 

Of course you can assign the "bypass, on, off" switch to whatever you like with leaning the assignment to any key, button or fader your desire.

If you want to go the "always save" route, I would suggest to make a project like mentioned, including all sounds, and then just delete the instruments / combinator as you move along.

[eox]

Well, from what I can tell, you never actually will "run" those instruments, but play them live. First, you should have the sounds for each song, before thinking about how to optimize things, when there is no need for optimization. Instrument on idle usually don't take that much, and in the same time, you can get "computer too slow" with one instrument, using e.g. long release times on a higher polyphony, already. 

Of course you can assign the "bypass, on, off" switch to whatever you like with leaning the assignment to any key, button or fader your desire.

If you want to go the "always save" route, I would suggest to make a project like mentioned, including all sounds, and then just delete the instruments / combinator as you move along.

You know that's smart..I never thought about that before! See what may be obvious to most tends to fail me that's why I turn to the bright people here!

I think I may be a little paranoid of it given out and cracking pretty bad..want to save myself from embarrassment. I'm running a presonus firestudio mobile as my interface which does a decent job. (Though I'm looking for a more powerful card for my workhorse PC). Anyways, I appreciate the ideas and wisdom!

[QVprod]

Article on using Reason as A keyboard rig

Patch Switching
There's one complete Combinator patch done for a song. Once you have Combinatorpatches for all your songs, the next step is to decide how you will recall or switch patches during the gig. There are two different approaches, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. The first option is to have multiple Combinators in the rack, with all the patches you need for the gig loaded up in them, in advance. The second is to use one Combinator and load up patches as you need them. Both of these methods can be done remotely from your MIDI controller. Let's take a look at them one at a time.
The screenshot above shows the multiple Combi approach. With this method, all your patches are open and ready; all you have to do is select which Combi your controller keyboard is focused on. When using this method, it's handy to have the sequencer window visible, as it shows you which Combinator is currently the target. Buttons or keys on your keyboard can be used to switch between Combinators. To set this up, open the Additional Remote Overrides window from the Options menu (above). Double-click the Target Previous Track command in the list and choose a device and control to map to it. Repeat for the Target Next Track command. You can use keys instead of buttons. I've assigned the top two keys on my keyboard to switch patches. If you have a controller with endless rotary encoders, you can use the Target Track (Delta) option and scroll up and down the list of Combis with a knob.
With this method patch switching is instant; you can even start playing a new instrument over the dying notes of the previous one, but if your set calls for a long list of complex Combinators, you may fall foul of CPU limitations, or have trouble keeping track of where you are. A simpler method without these problems is to use a singleCombinator. However, although this approach is tidier and more CPU friendly, you will get a pause between patch changes as Reason loads your next saved preset.
If you choose to use a single Combinator, you need to save all your patches for the gig into a single folder, and in the order that you're likely to need them. They will then all be accessible from the Combinator's patch browser, and Next/Previous Patch buttons (above,right). Again, patch browsing can be done from your controller keyboard, this time by mapping buttons, keys, or a rotary encoder to the Select Next/Previous Patch for the Target Device commands in the Additional Remote Overrides window. 

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov06/a ... h_1106.htm

If your Macbook can't handle having 15 sounds loaded then the single combinator method might work best for you. Also I think Arturia keyboards have preset maps for Reason, or at least the analog lab series did.

[tibah]

If you do some kind of rehearsal, you will notice any hiccups. If you never come close to them, leave Reason be, it will run solid as a rock. If you notice dropouts, that's when you can think about a method to optimize performance, deleting things, bypassing things, or how many patches to load at the same time and a way to change them quickly on the fly.

[eox]

If you do some kind of rehearsal, you will notice any hiccups. If you never come close to them, leave Reason be, it will run solid as a rock. If you notice dropouts, that's when you can think about a method to optimize performance, deleting things, bypassing things, or how many patches to load at the same time.

Good advice! I'll get set up the combi's and whatever else I use and see how the mac stands and go from there. Thank you all for your input!

[ionly]

Using Reason live:

Part 1: Replacing A Live Keyboard Rig...
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov06/a ... h_1106.htm

Part 2: Live Electronic Performance...
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/dec06/a ... h_1206.htm

Part 3: Live Looping With Dr:Rex
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb07/a ... h_0207.htm