Using Reason on stage/live advice

[braille]

Need some advice on playing live with reason. This isn't a DJ set. It's a full on band. We will be triggering samples, and playing to backing tracks/loops. I understand routing audio for click tracks and music to the mains, but......

Reason doesn't have a clip/scene feature like Ableton.

I want to You perform live. Are you loading all instruments for multiple songs into a combinator then selecting them as your progress through your set list? Are you just hitting play and playing to backing tracks laid out in the sequencer window? Or are you exporting all your stems, loading your prerecorded files (synth parts, samples beats) into a NNXT, NN19, Kong?

Best tips for cutting down on DSP?

[Jackjackdaw]

Depends what you are trying to do. Reason sequencer is obviously linear so it has its limitations. As a synth voice you can set up combinator patches. Player devices can store multiple sequences.

I would recommend trying out ableton though, it has performance designed in to it. Get R11 and use all the tasty Reason synths with it.

[Oquasec]

Easy way (Rewire or VST)
I guess the complicated fun way
[CV combinators together to the buttons and literally toggle the patterns on/off in realtime]
You'll need something that turns off the signals with knobs or buttons like thor or something.

[xboix]

From the description of your requirements I'd have to say that Reason is the wrong tool for the job.
Something like Live would be much better suited to the task if you want to run on a laptop. If possible pre-render everything to audio so you are not trying to run multiple soft synths on stage.

Even better than that would be something like an MPC Live. Hardware/software that's made for exactly what you want to do.

[Oquasec]

He is right.
You need ableton
You need bitwig.
You need FL Studio.
For live gigs.

[EnochLight]

Need some advice on playing live with reason. This isn't a DJ set. It's a full on band. We will be triggering samples, and playing to backing tracks/loops. I understand routing audio for click tracks and music to the mains, but......

Reason doesn't have a clip/scene feature like Ableton.

I want to You perform live. Are you loading all instruments for multiple songs into a combinator then selecting them as your progress through your set list? Are you just hitting play and playing to backing tracks laid out in the sequencer window? Or are you exporting all your stems, loading your prerecorded files (synth parts, samples beats) into a NNXT, NN19, Kong?

Best tips for cutting down on DSP?

Depending on how you want to perform, Reason is absolutely the right choice for live performance. Or wong choice. It depends on what you want to accomplish.

EditEd4TV - a longtime Reasoner - uses Reason live in his setups all of the time, and has been doing so for well over a decade. I've used it quite a few times myself in a live setting, but how you do it depends on your performance and how you want to do it.

I can't speak for Ed (and I don't think he participates in this forum), but for me - I use Reason's sequencer as my backing track to playback a songfile, and I'll usually choose a few Combis that I can switch between during live performance - whether it's keys, triggering samples, or percussion. The bass player in the band and the vocalist just plays along to each Reason songfile.

I usually bounce all tracks to audio and only leave the handful of Combi open that I'm going to play - just to minimize any chance of hiccups and keep things light on the laptop I use (currently a loaner from a friend). All of stuff is written on a desktop workstation that's a bit long in the tooth, so I always perform with a laptop that's newer/faster, but that's just me.

That said, I've been moving my setup to incorporate a lot more hardware these days (recently built a standing Roland Aria workstation), so we'll see how that pans out.

[QVprod]

Using Reason live works ok if you’re only triggering samples or playing instruments. For backing tracks, I strongly suggest using programs that are specialized for live performance as you can set up backing tracks at different Bpms and trigger at will. Some examples; Live, Cantibile, Gig Performer, Camelot. Especially with Reason 11 now having a plugin rack version it’s the better way to go. Once the AU version is out you can add Mainstage to the list.