R10 for live performance

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changnoi
Posts: 60
Joined: 31 Dec 2018

23 Jan 2019

Hi Guys
Having got to the stage of mastering etc and seen how you can group mix channels under one group mix channel. I havent found a way to then hide these channels that have been placed under a single group.

My thought were that having set up a rack with number of insts/drums/effects etc to render a particular song(s). I need a simple way to turn this into a one button selection and have a couple of dozen of these presets instantly available for live work
Someone will say go buy a Tyros - yuck)

Maybe there is a simple way to achieve this function, or an RE

Or am I straying too far away from a DAW's function and this is not a profitable avenue to pursue?

I daresay most users here have at one time tasted the awful schmaltz produced by these arranger kbs - thats the last thing I want and techno is not my target genre :lol:

PS
to give due credit to a prior poster
viewtopic.php?t=7501964

PPS
old saying "if it looks to good to be true.........."
http://tiborsaas.github.io/reason-liveact/
any experience here?


That was 2017

It looks like this is Reason's philosophers stone - any updates on this area? Rewire to Abelton?

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mcatalao
Competition Winner
Posts: 1826
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

29 Jan 2019

First, what you ask is not possible at the moment. Reason does not hide grouped tracks.

Second for a live performance, i usually relied more on combis with mixers inside.

Combi's are perfect not only to create patches, but from a performance perspective, they are really good tools to create performance patches. So taking the workstation example like a tyros that has performances and ensembles you can create these with reason combinator devices:

Ensembles:
1- Create a combinator
2- Add a 14:2 mixer
3- Create up to 14 instrument devices for the ensemble.
4- Add send effects to the mixer, inserts go between the device and the mixer (imagine if you want a compressor between a bass and the mixer channel).
5- Route the 4 rotators to the mixer faders to control the ensemble. The rest you have to get into the mixer. You could route your device's faders (if it has) and control them but it might be fiddly to get more than 4 faders.

Performances:
1- Create a combinator
2- Add a 14:2 mixer
3- Create up to 14 instrument devices for the performance (that can be a multi ensemble).
4- Add send effects to the mixer, inserts go between the device and the mixer (imagine if you want a compressor between a bass and the mixer channel).
5- Route the 4 rotators to the mixer faders to control the ensemble. The rest you have to get into the mixer. You could route your device's faders (if it has) and control them but it might be fiddly.
6 - On the Combinator programmer, define the way the performance controls the instruments. For example i'd usually have an harmonic instrument on my left hand up to B1, and start a lead instrument on Middle C. You can define as much keyboard sections as you wish because the combi works as a matrix.

Multi controller support:
For multi controller support (i often had one keyboard always connected to a piano or to another performance, and the second keyboard to another combi, and i even had a 3rd controller, a EWI, connected as the master controller) you can create midi and route the midi channels and hubs to reason tracks in the advanced hardware device. You have to define your keyboards as midi hubs on the properties, midi sync section.

Finally, these settings are stored on reason song projects, just like any other setting (apart for the the midi hub definitions and your midi controller and surfaces). If you're using devices that are not very CPU demanding, you can have a BIG song with all your combis set up. Then just use keyboard as a master keyboard and position yourself on the selected combi device as needed with a remote override to change sequencer tracks.

If the device is too demanding, you can have multiple songs, but you can't have them loaded altogether (actually i think having too many songs open is prone to human error when toggling songs, and reason songs load quite fast so it's not that difficult to close and open another song).

Just think that you have to find a good balance between song/device load and usability. The type of devices you use, and specially if you use devices from VST's and demanding Rack extensions, will impact on processing and stability.

changnoi
Posts: 60
Joined: 31 Dec 2018

29 Jan 2019

thanx for the tips

ill give them a try and see how it works

as you will agree you cant get too convoluted, cos if it goes wrong, you are faced with re-jigging under live conditions - nightmare

I just thought that hiding mix tracks under a gruop would be a logical way, so youc ould have say 20 groups all pre set with ensembles and you just tab along the Mix console for the next song in repertoir

some head honcho needs to influence PH about this IMHO

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mcatalao
Competition Winner
Posts: 1826
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

31 Jan 2019

Well, if you want ensembles you have to have a way to send midi data to all the devices in the ensemble.
To me in reason the most logical way is to have the sounds inside a combi and control it with a 14:4.

You can have the instruments in the combi directed to the main mixer, but its a tone of work imho.
You also can define 1 single input to several instruments through midi bus BUT its even a worse situation.

In my case either for Ensembles or Performances, the best way to do it was with the combi, and i only used the midi bus when using more than one midi controler.

But this was the best usage for my scenario. I always played in the context of a band and rarely had to have reason sequencer playing.
Your scenario might be different. I'm just trying to show you the tools you already have available.

Good Luck!

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