ReasonTalk.com

I feel like for every feature I've seen suggested for Reason, there's someone saying, "This should've been included already in a free update!"

So what could Reason add that would not be in that category?

It feels like feature requests by us Reason users are mostly inspired from other DAWs. And many of those features or workflows didn't exist until those DAWs created them.

Is there room for innovation?

Sometimes I sit and try to think of feature suggestions like trying to come up with a brand new sound or genre of music. It's hard not to be influenced by existing features. It's hard to think outside of the box.

Any ideas?

what about the ability to connect devices in the browser to the rack to audition more complex ideas (e.g. hook an LFO in the browser to a filter in the Rack to see what it does)—then if you like what you’ve got, you click a button and it drops the device(s) in place in the Rack.

probably stupid/impractical for reasons, but just a thought that came to me reading through your post.

Maybe not new but how about a modular mixing board with an automation button per channel.. l find that that most want Reason to be there one and only which is the reason they want what the other DAW’s have. That’s not a bad thing just impractical. I believe it is the reason RS brought back the Reason as a plug-in. Yet with every change makes things become unstable. Personally I would work on the recording aspects of its eco-system. Better sounding recordings are more what is needed than glitz and toys. Make a second board like in some studios and let the current gear remain as classic gear. We still don’t have a punch-in features in the sequencer or maybe the edit tool to follow the notes playing. Remember there is nothing new just ones take on any innovation.

one that I’d LOVE to see—a DAW with really good humanization algorithms for MIDI performances. Jamstix does a great job of this for drums, but it’s not something that exists in any DAW sequencer that I’m aware of. imagine how powerful Reason would be if you could program a basic melody, chord, or rhythm pattern, and have Reason perform it like a real person might (including appropriate ad libs, if you want).

I'd love to see EHX or Boss make rack extensions.

RS should collaborate with more people.

It's sad the Line 6 deal didn't work out.

The guitar FX market is YUGE!!!

pre device track bouncing. say you have an effect you’re almost certain you want printed to the track, and other stuff after it that you know you’re going to want to edit—but you still want the ability to go back to tweak that first effect just in case.

maybe that would be a button on devices to bounce audio results coming out of the device, then passing that bounced audio on to the next device in line. probably also need an indicator in the sequencer.

Licensed Minimoog RE.

guitfnky wrote: ↑

14 Sep 2021

what about the ability to connect devices in the browser to the rack to audition more complex ideas (e.g. hook an LFO in the browser to a filter in the Rack to see what it does)—then if you like what you’ve got, you click a button and it drops the device(s) in place in the Rack.

probably stupid/impractical for reasons, but just a thought that came to me reading through your post.

Interesting! I could maybe see this being a thing in the "device cake" that is shown in the RRP. Like a "Create chain..." option. Then it would display instruments and effects, each in a scroller that you could arrow/swipe through (or click and random button) and then try it out.

Or maybe even going off of this idea—something for web browsers. While many of us still dream of a day of a real Reason mobile app, maybe they could use the tech they have showcased already inside web browsers, to create a combinator on-the-go. So you could try out different combinations of REs from your web browser, and save combinator patches. Maybe even access all REs, whether you own them or are trialing them inside Reason. Then you could load that combi in your Reason project (and be prompted to buy REs you don't own).

I’d like to see a smart synth that can analyze a sample the user drops in and patch itself into a complex approximation of the original sound. If you drop a guitar pluck sample, it detects the balance between harmonic and stochastic elements and allots a number of oscillators and envelopes to replicate the sound. From there, a user could dial down the level-of-detail until the sound is somewhere in between. Add in oscillator modulators, filters, and unison and create sounds that are unique and strange but still organic.

joeyluck wrote: ↑

14 Sep 2021

guitfnky wrote: ↑

14 Sep 2021

what about the ability to connect devices in the browser to the rack to audition more complex ideas (e.g. hook an LFO in the browser to a filter in the Rack to see what it does)—then if you like what you’ve got, you click a button and it drops the device(s) in place in the Rack.

probably stupid/impractical for reasons, but just a thought that came to me reading through your post.

Interesting! I could maybe see this being a thing in the "device cake" that is shown in the RRP. Like a "Create chain..." option. Then it would display instruments and effects, each in a scroller that you could arrow/swipe through (or click and random button) and then try it out.

Or maybe even going off of this idea—something for web browsers. While many of us still dream of a day of a real Reason mobile app, maybe they could use the tech they have showcased already inside web browsers, to create a combinator on-the-go. So you could try out different combinations of REs from your web browser, and save combinator patches. Maybe even access all REs, whether you own them or are trialing them inside Reason. Then you could load that combi in your Reason project (and be prompted to buy REs you don't own).

yeah, some interesting ideas in there—the “build a combi in an app” thing would be kinda cool. feels like there’s all sorts of weird stuff you could do with something like this

It'd be really cool to expand on the rack with a simplified "overview" mode that just shows labeled blocks or icons connected to each other via lines, to quickly get a zoomed-out overview of how everything's connected, or to find something in the rack more easily, etc.

I think, at the current state of AI and machine learning we're about to have a satisfactory singer bot.

I mean something you throw lyrics and a melody at it, set the correspondances betwen notes and wowels and then the thing will sing the lyrics in a believable way. I know that to develop this stuff from scratch is technically and financially daunting, but I bet there are at least ten projects about it going on atm. RS could audition the most promising among them and team up with them to craft a RE (or even something-more-integratet-with-the-DAW) that performs this task. Integrations could as well be that, if the Reason user can sing (badly, out of tune, with pronouciation accents) to the device, it can translate intonation, timing, wovel stressing (even rapping or scatting) into a midi controlled thing that can be sung by the device. All this with the RS magic touch. Vocaloid on steroids!

This would be awesome and give Reason a unique feature and attract a huge new userbase.

After all AI and machine learning is all about shortening the distance between human and machine interface (that is, untill AI takes over, ofc)

Quarmat wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

I think, at the current state of AI and machine learning we're about to have a satisfactory singer bot.

I mean something you throw lyrics and a melody at it, set the correspondances betwen notes and wowels and then the thing will sing the lyrics in a believable way. I know that to develop this stuff from scratch is technically and financially daunting, but I bet there are at least ten projects about it going on atm. RS could audition the most promising among them and team up with them to craft a RE (or even something-more-integratet-with-the-DAW) that performs this task. Integrations could as well be that, if the Reason user can sing (badly, out of tune, with pronouciation accents) to the device, it can translate intonation, timing, wovel stressing (even rapping or scatting) into a midi controlled thing that can be sung by the device. All this with the RS magic touch. Vocaloid on steroids!

This would be awesome and give Reason a unique feature and attract a huge new userbase.

After all AI and machine learning is all about shortening the distance between human and machine interface (that is, untill AI takes over, ofc)

This is not particularly new, East West Word builder already does this, but in a crude manner compared to your "specification". I'd say the human voice is so versatile and so different from one to another that a vocal synth capable of singing words and change voice types is very difficult to create, imho! But to the full extent of your idea if done, it woul be amazing.

I've had this idea of a player that could control multiple instruments to create an arranger device, like roland e96 and the Ketron arrangers.
It needed chord recognition, the possibility to create chord variations for the different types of chords, different types of patterns (intro, verse 1, verse 2, bridge, variation, chorus ending and 3 or 4 fills), with a drum machine too.

I'd say at this point, it would need to be a player with a bunch of cv outputs for up to 10 instruments because players only control one instrument at a time.

This would not only be a great live gig tool as also a nice feature for arranging, imho.

I'd love to see their take on virtual vocalists (with tight sequencer integration for writing down the lyrics).

For me, players are the most interesting aspect of Reason so some developments in that area would be well received by me. Perhaps a way for players to interact with each other so you make a change on one and it is reflected across them all.

But I also like the vocalist idea too. I've spent lots of time messing with stuff like Vocaloids and Synth V and it really does feel like technology should be able to make it work better. Rather than try to synthesise a vocal from scratch I've sometimes wondered whether it would be possible to take some bad but expressive real singing, like mine, and replace it with an in-tune and better singing voice but keep the expressiveness. It probably needs a big budget throwing at it so maybe one for Google or Microsoft rather than RS!

And while we are being ambitious, how about finding a better way to deconstruct ("unmix") full mixes into their component parts. Don't you find it strange that even average guitarists/bassists/drummers can work out their respective parts by just listening to another band's song and yet software is so bad at it? We've got software that can recognise speech regardless of your accent, that can drive a car and that can even replace people's head in porn movies (probably in other movies too but there is no call for that!) but it can't pick out a bass line in a song.

Years ago (pre-VST support, post RE-support so I'd guess somewhere around 2016?) I thought it'd be a neat idea to see Reason focussing a bit more on its semi-modular nature by introducing fully modular components to the rack. The RE store was already there, modular gear was exploding in popularity, so I thought it'd be cool to leverage the rack metaphor a bit more by doubling down on that aspect with individual modules rather than self-contained instruments and effects as REs. A more granular expansion of the rack metaphor, I guess.

Of course, we've since seen similar ideas popping up as Reaktor Blocks, VCV Rack, Softube Modular and the like, so I sort of feel like that wave has already washed over us a bit - but I still maintain that Reason's rack would make a perfect environment for that sort of setup. Combine that with some template racks so users can get started quickly (for example - something like Thor but with a wider array of components, or Complex-1 with user swappable modules) and you've got something that's both accessible for people who just want to write, and as deep as possible for people who want to tinker away in a sonic playground.

adfielding wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

Years ago (pre-VST support, post RE-support so I'd guess somewhere around 2016?) I thought it'd be a neat idea to see Reason focussing a bit more on its semi-modular nature by introducing fully modular components to the rack. The RE store was already there, modular gear was exploding in popularity, so I thought it'd be cool to leverage the rack metaphor a bit more by doubling down on that aspect with individual modules rather than self-contained instruments and effects as REs. A more granular expansion of the rack metaphor, I guess.

+1 - With the addition of Combinator 2 and the need to have a flow of new devices via Reason+ it would make perfect sense to trickle out some stripped-down modular components. That would be a total win.

adfielding wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

Years ago (pre-VST support, post RE-support so I'd guess somewhere around 2016?) I thought it'd be a neat idea to see Reason focussing a bit more on its semi-modular nature by introducing fully modular components to the rack. The RE store was already there, modular gear was exploding in popularity, so I thought it'd be cool to leverage the rack metaphor a bit more by doubling down on that aspect with individual modules rather than self-contained instruments and effects as REs. A more granular expansion of the rack metaphor, I guess.

Of course, we've since seen similar ideas popping up as Reaktor Blocks, VCV Rack, Softube Modular and the like, so I sort of feel like that wave has already washed over us a bit - but I still maintain that Reason's rack would make a perfect environment for that sort of setup. Combine that with some template racks so users can get started quickly (for example - something like Thor but with a wider array of components, or Complex-1 with user swappable modules) and you've got something that's both accessible for people who just want to write, and as deep as possible for people who want to tinker away in a sonic playground.

Given that Reason already supports CV and half-rack devices I don't think it would be that hard to do. They could implement an empty 3U and/or 6U high "Eurorack" style enclosure that can be added to the rack and then offer a selection of modules to populate it. Duplicate the connections on front and rear and you're good to go. It's not something I'd use but there are plenty of people who would love something like that.

DaveyG wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

Given that Reason already supports CV and half-rack devices I don't think it would be that hard to do. They could implement an empty 3U and/or 6U high "Eurorack" style enclosure that can be added to the rack and then offer a selection of modules to populate it.

That's exactly what I was thinking. It'd also be a great way to give REs a unique twist in a post-VST-support-in-Reason and Reason-as-a-plugin environment, plus the shop infrastructure and rack environment are already right there. As you can probably tell, this is something that's been at the back of my mind for quite a while

adfielding wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

DaveyG wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

Given that Reason already supports CV and half-rack devices I don't think it would be that hard to do. They could implement an empty 3U and/or 6U high "Eurorack" style enclosure that can be added to the rack and then offer a selection of modules to populate it.

As you can probably tell, this is something that's been at the back of my mind for quite a while

Likewise, I figure it's only a matter of time before it's implemented

I've been hoping for this as well. We have some options currently (A-Series, Blamsoft Polymodular) but I would much rather have small, simple, single-function modules. That would be really sick. I mean I wonder what the added load is on memory if you're using a bunch of synths *just* for their oscillators and envelopes in a Combi?

What was the last true market first innvovation? Rebirth, Recycle, Reason, Combinator, Rewire and to a much lesser extend and alot later Rack Extensions. Then it stopped. And in the whole market there was Live Sesion view, elastic audio (melodyne), Launchpads, VST, MPE maybe Elektron devices with overbridge and then it gets thinner and thinner in terms of true innovation as opposed to make existing stuff better.

esselfortium wrote: ↑

14 Sep 2021

It'd be really cool to expand on the rack with a simplified "overview" mode that just shows labeled blocks or icons connected to each other via lines, to quickly get a zoomed-out overview of how everything's connected, or to find something in the rack more easily, etc.

Shades of the old “zoomable interface” concept, quite innovative! Would work well for the Rack, also for the sequencer.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/co ... -interface

adfielding wrote: ↑

15 Sep 2021

Years ago (pre-VST support, post RE-support so I'd guess somewhere around 2016?) I thought it'd be a neat idea to see Reason focussing a bit more on its semi-modular nature by introducing fully modular components to the rack. The RE store was already there, modular gear was exploding in popularity, so I thought it'd be cool to leverage the rack metaphor a bit more by doubling down on that aspect with individual modules rather than self-contained instruments and effects as REs. A more granular expansion of the rack metaphor, I guess.

Of course, we've since seen similar ideas popping up as Reaktor Blocks, VCV Rack, Softube Modular and the like, so I sort of feel like that wave has already washed over us a bit - but I still maintain that Reason's rack would make a perfect environment for that sort of setup. Combine that with some template racks so users can get started quickly (for example - something like Thor but with a wider array of components, or Complex-1 with user swappable modules) and you've got something that's both accessible for people who just want to write, and as deep as possible for people who want to tinker away in a sonic playground.

I thought we talked about this much earlier? Seems like only yesterday, but this was 10 years ago and before REs etc. Probably some of my early mockup work, certainly not ready for "high res"…