New to Reason, Some Obvious features for players and sequencer

Have any feature requests? No promise they'll get to Reason Studios, but you can still discuss them here.
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jay_t
Posts: 4
Joined: 15 Jun 2018

15 Jun 2018

Hello,
I recently switched from hardware + Ableton to only Reason and I'm overall really enjoying the transition, I feel very productive overall with Reason but these gripes are getting in the way of my workflow and they seem to be kind of arbitrary. They feel like design choices and at the very least an option to change them would be great.

1) You should be able to quickly add players that are already synced with the other ones, namely scales and chords should be applicable globally. It's extremely tedious to use right now when you wanna use multiple instruments.

2) You can't copy and paste while the sequencer is running? Why?

3) Channels should be automapped to regroove channel A so you can quickly drop in a global shuffle

4) Drum Sequencer needs to be able to either be 4 bars or able to chain the patterns and then be 16 patterns. Right now it's so close to being great and its hampered by a super weird limitation. Just add 4 pages to each pattern of 16 steps. It seems like such an oversight.

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tiker01
Moderator
Posts: 1423
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

15 Jun 2018

jay_t wrote:
15 Jun 2018
Hello,
I recently switched from hardware + Ableton to only Reason and I'm overall really enjoying the transition, I feel very productive overall with Reason but these gripes are getting in the way of my workflow and they seem to be kind of arbitrary. They feel like design choices and at the very least an option to change them would be great.

1) You should be able to quickly add players that are already synced with the other ones, namely scales and chords should be applicable globally. It's extremely tedious to use right now when you wanna use multiple instruments.

2) You can't copy and paste while the sequencer is running? Why?

3) Channels should be automapped to regroove channel A so you can quickly drop in a global shuffle

4) Drum Sequencer needs to be able to either be 4 bars or able to chain the patterns and then be 16 patterns. Right now it's so close to being great and its hampered by a super weird limitation. Just add 4 pages to each pattern of 16 steps. It seems like such an oversight.
Welcome on board!


Connecting Scales and chords would be great! I wish that at least we could have CV in and Outputs to achieve this.

You can copy and paste while the sequencer is running using Ctrl/Cmd+D.

There is certainly room for improvement regard ReGroove. It is a hidden gem. I wish we could apply groove to audio as well.
You could create a project with a dummy instrument and the settings you wish and duplicate that instrument then replace it so you have instant groove.

I think the Drum Sequencer is what it is. PH wanted to keep it simple on the GUI side. You could chain them but you would definitely need some Sequencer or Combinator tricks to make it happen, which might just kill the fun.

BTW why have you left Ableton (if you have) and decided to pick up Reason?
    
Budapest, Hungary
Reason 11 Suite
Lenovo ThinkPad e520 Win10x64 8GB RAM Intel i5-2520M 2,5-3,2 GHz and AMD 6630M with 1GB of memory.
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jay_t
Posts: 4
Joined: 15 Jun 2018

10 Jul 2018

Hey thanks for the reply,

I switched over from Ableton to Reason for a few reasons (lol). The biggest is that I didn't have any software instruments at all, and when I decided to go to software only my choice was to upgrade to Ableton Suite 10 or get Komplete to stay in Ableton. I've looked at Reason for a long time but I didn't like version 5 which is the last one that I tried, something about it just didn't gel with me. But I took a second look and found it on paper to be a great value plus vst support means I don't lose my Waves stuff that I EQ with (although I'm using it less and less because the Reason mixer is dope)

TL;DR Love Reason, have opened Ableton like 2 times in this whole time and just to edit audio to go back into Reason

I don't have a particular thing that attracted me to Reason- but it's way of treating software instruments like they were hardware was comfortable to me and I understood it very quickly from the demo. Besides that I found it to be quite the deal at $400 for everything you get. Truth be told, since then I have bought the Layers Pack with both synths (standards and WAVE) and also shelled out for the Umph because it seemed to mimic one of the gear that I sold (Elektron Digitakt) - so now I'm up to like 400+120+100= 620. Still though for what I got from what I paid it's an extremely good deal, I have types of effects now that I didn't even know existed as software (I like the Alligator filter bank a lot).

So far, I am very happy with Reason and would recommend that anyone take a look at it. I have Ableton 9 and for specific audio editing tasks I find it better. I'm not sure if that's because I don't own Recycle or if it's just that Ableton is better with manipulating audio. I'm trying really hard to learn Reason in and out and even printed the entire manual ($130 but I got a discount to $90 because my friend works at the shop) and have been reading the parts that I get stuck on as I go.
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In regards to my feature requests:

I figured out the duplicate while sequencer is running but I would like to be able to copy and paste in the traditional way while it's running. From what I see it's because if you click anywhere on the sequencer it moves the playhead but in Ableton for example the playhead was seperate from where you were clicking. To be honest since I made that post I'm already used to it.

But seriously global scales and chords- come on. At the very least when I drop a new one it shouldn't just default to C Major if I have 3 others already in Gb Minor- it gets in the way of my workflow.

AS far as the drum sequencer goes I guess it isn't my cup of tea, I've also learned a lot of tricks of using the sequencer so I don't feel like I even need the drum sequencer anymore. But it would have been nice as a self contained drum production environment. I don't write any drum parts that are only 16 steps, maybe like the kick on a 4 on the floor beat but thats about it. I also don't like "randomness" so yea.

jimmyklane
Posts: 740
Joined: 16 Apr 2018

10 Jul 2018

jay_t wrote:
15 Jun 2018
Hello,
I recently switched from hardware + Ableton to only Reason
What made you ditch the hardware? I think that Reason is a truly IDEAL partner for hardware, as the cable-based routing allows for a lot of creative choices. While there are serious limitations (no NRPN, no SysEx, no PolyAT, one CC per EMI (I use 10-15/instrument, sometimes per channel on multi-timbral instruments!)....but it’s so wildly flexible.

Just curious if you still have the hardware?
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

User avatar
miscend
Posts: 1955
Joined: 09 Feb 2015

10 Jul 2018

jay_t wrote:
15 Jun 2018
Hello,
I recently switched from hardware + Ableton to only Reason and I'm overall really enjoying the transition, I feel very productive overall with Reason but these gripes are getting in the way of my workflow and they seem to be kind of arbitrary. They feel like design choices and at the very least an option to change them would be great.

1) You should be able to quickly add players that are already synced with the other ones, namely scales and chords should be applicable globally. It's extremely tedious to use right now when you wanna use multiple instruments.

2) You can't copy and paste while the sequencer is running? Why?

3) Channels should be automapped to regroove channel A so you can quickly drop in a global shuffle

4) Drum Sequencer needs to be able to either be 4 bars or able to chain the patterns and then be 16 patterns. Right now it's so close to being great and its hampered by a super weird limitation. Just add 4 pages to each pattern of 16 steps. It seems like such an oversight.
1. That's because there isn't a global song key setting in Reason like there is in Logic or other DAWs. In Logic you set a global scale whenever you start a new project. Some people are not trained in theory and don't what key their song will be in before they start composing. And personally I use players operating in different scales within the same project.

2. If you can do that in Ableton Live I think that's because Live was designed firstly for DJing/live performance and improvisation. It would be a cool feature to have in Reason though.

3. I maybe wrong but I thought the Global Shuffle amount knob affects all tracks?

4. Yeah that's weird. But if you look at all Props devices they all have arbitrary limitations. I think it's by design to imitate hardware workflows.There's something about the limitations of hardware that inspires creativity.

tibah
Posts: 903
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

10 Jul 2018

miscend wrote:
10 Jul 2018
3. I maybe wrong but I thought the Global Shuffle amount knob affects all tracks?
Yes and no. It works for devices with a "shuffle" knob e.g. Matrix, RPG-8 and Redrum.

jay_t
Posts: 4
Joined: 15 Jun 2018

10 Jul 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
10 Jul 2018
jay_t wrote:
15 Jun 2018
Hello,
I recently switched from hardware + Ableton to only Reason
What made you ditch the hardware? I think that Reason is a truly IDEAL partner for hardware, as the cable-based routing allows for a lot of creative choices. While there are serious limitations (no NRPN, no SysEx, no PolyAT, one CC per EMI (I use 10-15/instrument, sometimes per channel on multi-timbral instruments!)....but it’s so wildly flexible.

Just curious if you still have the hardware?
I sorta do, my set up was pretty simplistic though I relied heavily on dubbing.

Elektron Analog Keys
Elektron Digitakt
Bastl Microgranny


I sold the Digitakt and Microgranny, and the AK is just a midi keyboard to me now.

A lot of the reason why I switched is because I wanted to be more productive with my music in general. I've been doing this for about 8-9 yeras now? (started summer of 11th grade and I'm 25 now so more or less) and my music is finally at a point where I feel good about releasing it. Hardware was just getting in the way of composition and I already know enough synthesis from using the Analog Keys (and others that I've had over the years, the Arturia Microbrute taught me a lot) that I can use software synths with confidence.

I'm not just shitting on hardware flows, I have friends that it works for them but for me, hardware usually left me in a "loop" mindset and I have done more finished tracks with Reason in two months than in a year with hardware.

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selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

10 Jul 2018

jay_t wrote:
10 Jul 2018
But seriously global scales and chords- come on. At the very least when I drop a new one it shouldn't just default to C Major if I have 3 others already in Gb Minor- it gets in the way of my workflow.
I find it far quicker to simply option/drag existing players (that have the settings I want) into new instruments. You don't have to open the browser and click on "Players" - just grab and go and everything is in the same key - make sense?
:)
Selig Audio, LLC

jay_t
Posts: 4
Joined: 15 Jun 2018

10 Jul 2018

selig wrote:
10 Jul 2018
jay_t wrote:
10 Jul 2018
But seriously global scales and chords- come on. At the very least when I drop a new one it shouldn't just default to C Major if I have 3 others already in Gb Minor- it gets in the way of my workflow.
I find it far quicker to simply option/drag existing players (that have the settings I want) into new instruments. You don't have to open the browser and click on "Players" - just grab and go and everything is in the same key - make sense?
:)

Hmm.... I tried this and nothing happens? I don't usually "bounce" the notes back to the sequencer, I just leave the player on all the time and if I remove the player then the "wrong" notes would be played.


However your advice led me to see that theres a copy patch in the right click menu so close enough I guess. Thank you!

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esselfortium
Posts: 1456
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Contact:

10 Jul 2018

jimmyklane wrote:
10 Jul 2018
one CC per EMI (I use 10-15/instrument, sometimes per channel on multi-timbral instruments!)
There's only one physical CC knob on the EMI's faceplate, but I believe you can control as many CCs as you like from one EMI device, via sequencer automation:

Image
Sarah Mancuso
My music: Future Human

User avatar
selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

10 Jul 2018

jay_t wrote:
10 Jul 2018
selig wrote:
10 Jul 2018


I find it far quicker to simply option/drag existing players (that have the settings I want) into new instruments. You don't have to open the browser and click on "Players" - just grab and go and everything is in the same key - make sense?
:)

Hmm.... I tried this and nothing happens? I don't usually "bounce" the notes back to the sequencer, I just leave the player on all the time and if I remove the player then the "wrong" notes would be played.


However your advice led me to see that theres a copy patch in the right click menu so close enough I guess. Thank you!
Option-drag (mac OS) makes a copy and leaves the original - copies the device AND the settings, so works like a charm and much faster than even copy/paste patches.
Selig Audio, LLC

jimmyklane
Posts: 740
Joined: 16 Apr 2018

10 Jul 2018

esselfortium wrote:
10 Jul 2018
jimmyklane wrote:
10 Jul 2018
one CC per EMI (I use 10-15/instrument, sometimes per channel on multi-timbral instruments!)
There's only one physical CC knob on the EMI's faceplate, but I believe you can control as many CCs as you like from one EMI device, via sequencer automation:

Image
Do you mean recording one CC, changing to a new one and recording that, etc? I’ve explored that for linear modulation, but what about when you want to control it via CV? That’s a usage case I often work with. Therefore (for example) my Emu E5000 Ultra might have 80 EMIs all routed to the same interface on different channels to control MIDI A-J controllers on the hardware. Another neat use for that technique is to fake PolyAT, where each channel plays one note and receives channel AT, allowing you to have all sorts of fun with modulating notes differently via AT!
DAW: Reason 12

SAMPLERS: Akai MPC 2000, E-mu SP1200, E-Mu e5000Ultra, Ensoniq EPS 16+, Akai S950, Maschine

SYNTHS: Mostly classic Polysynths and more modern Monosynths. All are mostly food for my samplers!

www.soundcloud.com/jimmyklane

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