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Does people find blocks helpful in their workflow? Or how do U usually arrange your loops into song?

Me - before this day I didn’t really needed blocks (I did use the colors though to highlight verse etc in the playlist mode).

But now after playing around FL Studio for a while, I tend to experiment more with the blocks also... Still some things to learn though

Never.

Loque wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

Never.

May I ask why?

Used it once, but mostly I forget to start with blocks.......LOL

Sometimes I use (empty) Blocks for simulating markers or for coloring and naming/take notes of parts in the sequencer.
I use it sometimes to sketch out ideas, too. After that I mostly copy the Blocks into the sequencer and develop the sketch.

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Ulpu wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

Loque wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

Never.

May I ask why?

Repeating blocks are not my style... I often change too much on a repeating clip...

And i don't think they are intuitive...

All the time, but as markers only.

I use them heavily. And my biggest wish is that they be able to overlap, ie that multiple blocks play at the same time.

I use blocks in 2 ways.

1 - To develop song structure, and build the song from the blocks. My template has a base song structure defined on the blocks with the colors i want.
2 - As markers and coloring song places. Even if i'm working on a pur audio song, i'll define the block structure for project navigation.
3 - With the help of an automation tool called autohotkey i have macros that navigate the project fast to different sections, as markers and their macros (with hotkeys defined to go to the places). This even enhances project navigation even more, i can quickly navigate to the first chorus by hitting win+3 or the bridge with win+5 for example.

If you want to see my macros working with the blocks you can check it here in this video:



As for how to use blocks cratively, i like to refer this Adam Fielding feature video for RS. At minute 3 he explains how he uses blocks in the development of his song:

Nope. I've tried it but found it somewhat lacking and I hate that it shows everything in washed-out colours so you can't see the tracks so well. I much prefer the arranger track idea in Cubase and Studio One - it suits my way of working much better. I've also been getting some pleasing results from the session view in Live. I might spend a bit more time with that.

But for me blocks is only good for use in place of a proper marker track. Reason's DAW functionality continues to suck when compared to other DAWs

mcatalao wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

As for how to use blocks cratively, i like to refer this Adam Fielding feature video for RS. At minute 3 he explains how he uses blocks in the development of his song:

I was just about to say "I use them all the time", but I see my younger self has beaten me to it!

In all seriousness though, if I need to get something down quickly then I'll tend to use Blocks. It reminds me of using patterns in a tracker, but with the option of additional variation on top. Personally, I find it really useful in getting arrangements down quickly, and you can always vary things up after the fact by making manual edits. That said, I tend to rely on them less for my own solo output simply because I prefer to take my time and give myself a bit more control over what's going on.

Right now I'm very much in a "Blocks-y" frame of mind - my general workflow is to get a really decent block going, get a rough arrangement down, take a short break, come back and finish the arrangement, then tweak & vary things up with additional blocks/manual edits/whatever. Then I'll have another short break, tweak the mix, bounce, and move onto something else.

I love Blocks. the system could use an overhaul, but even now, they're a great way to try out new song structures quickly. that said, I want to stop relying on them so heavily. between the ability to put lots of very different sounding parts together with Blocks, and my own incredibly small attention span, I'm finding that my songs don't always flow as well as I'd like. I'm good at making transitions between different parts, to keep things natural sounding in the moment, but it's not quite the same as having a good structural flow on the macro scale of the song.

I use the ReGroove mixer more than I use Blocks. And I almost never use the ReGroove mixer.

orthodox wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

I use them heavily. And my biggest wish is that they be able to overlap, ie that multiple blocks play at the same time.

Couldn't agree more. Overlapping Blocks would be a very welcome addition.

I use Blocks for preparing sets for my band. I have one very large Reason file with all the synths and samplers I play live contained in the rack and then Blocks for each song we've ever played live.
The Blocks mostly contain audio for backing tracks with the tempo changes for each song, markers and a click track for the the band members' headphones.
The sequencer is blank so depending on the gig length I arrange the set list by drawing the Blocks sequentially.
It works really well and although it was a lot of work setting it up, now it's done, Blocks make it really easy to prepare a set.

Never. I think I tried it once and didn't like it for whatever reason. But the way I work is I usually write about 3 parts that pretty much finished and fully produced. Once I've got the parts together I'll go deeper into the arrangement/song structure, making variations on different parts if needed.
Using blocks seems to makes sense if you do it the other way around, working with the arrangement/song structure early on in the project. In my case I just copy and paste instead.

I would use them a lot more if they were updated to make them more flexible. It should be easier to retrospectively add parts of a project to blocks, hide unused tracks in a block, edit and maybe play multiple blocks at once etc. Another Reason feature left to gather dust.

I use blocks all the time. And love them.

I especially like that you can move the start point of a block and also reduce the end point down to any short length you want... thus make loads of little clips and do loads of interesting arrangements... If you get what I mean. It's so creative.

Plus... I extensively mute block lanes and so you can build up arrangements using same block.

It's become totally second nature to use it.

Give it the effort and attention it deserves.

never just not the way I like to work and if I accidentally press B instead of space it freaks me out

gullum wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

never just not the way I like to work and if I accidentally press B instead of space it freaks me out

Menu -> Options -> uncheck "Enable Blocks"

Do this in your standard templates and save it in order to stop your suffering.

yes somewhat... seemed ok once I got used to them

Yes.

I've never really gotten into Blocks. Should give it another go really.

retreed wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

gullum wrote: ↑

26 Mar 2020

never just not the way I like to work and if I accidentally press B instead of space it freaks me out

Menu -> Options -> uncheck "Enable Blocks"

Do this in your standard templates and save it in order to stop your suffering.

Freaking a no more anger management needed

This is a huge question IMHO because when I finally learned blocks I had an "AH-HA! moment". And that said why don't I use them still? Blocks are a missed opportunity in Reason's UI featured in a way that is not friendly or intuitive. But Blocks are so powerful, so what's the rub?

The way I see it Blocks should be a default type of functionality in Reason. When the software opens the user should be in Block 1. The first beat you make should already be a Block, and maybe even be a Clip with Ableton-level playback features. Perhaps everything you do in Reason should be forced to be a Block of some kind. And maybe, if you lay audio over all all your Blocks, that should be a Block too.

The confusing thing is that when you open Reason you are not in a Block. It's something that must be turned on, and then things can become confusing to new users. I think there's some great potential here.