External Mixer with Reason

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fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

06 Aug 2017

Hi Everyone - new to the board and new to sound production.

Anyway excuse me for diving straight in, but I have a question for you experts :)

I am reasonably new to Reason 9.5 and production in general. Really loving Reason, especially compared to the other DAWs I have tried so far.

I have been doing everything up to now "in the box" apart from having an external keyboard hooked up to reason via USB.

Anyway I have come into possession of an external 24 channel mixer, and would love to use that instead of using the onboard mixer as great as it is, to basically control the levels manually - out of the box so to say.

I have checked the list of supported control surfaces, and mine isn't on there. It is an Alto live 2404 24 channel, - has USB connection. so I know you can add a control surface with multiple channels, in Audio preferences. But this isn't a "control surface" as such just a mixer?

Is this all there is too it? - or is it more complicated than this?. I would really love to use an external mixer for manual control over constantly having to switch screens to the onboard mixer. I know there are DAW designed control surfaces such as the Behringer X-touch for example, which are made for that purpose only.

Any advice setting this up would be great! - cheers and glad to be aboard

Any help would be great guys and gals :)

Iain

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QVprod
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06 Aug 2017

The mixer you mention is an analog mixer with a 2in 2out usb audio interface. There is no way of mixing individual tracks from Reason with it without the use of a separate audio interface.These kind of mixers aren't made with music production in mind but are more for recording the mix of a live show. You can use the built in usb interface to record a stereo feed to Reason and playback the main stereo outs of Reason, but not much else.

To mix analog (out the box) you would need to buy an audio interface (or even multiple chained) with enough outputs to suit your needs. As you can imagine that can get pretty expensive and pretty much make the inputs of your mixer redundant. Cheapest way to get just 16 physical outputs to connect to your mixer would be to buy 2 Behringer FCA1616s ($250 USD each) if you want to stay cheap but the considerably better options especially the ones that are normally used with external mixers cost quite a bit more.

Since you're new to production, I'll also mention that the caveats to mixing OTB (out the box) is that there is no recall if you want to start a mix and finish it later. You will have to manually write down settings to be able to recall a mix. You will also have to record the mix to an audio track instead of the usual bouncing. Lastly, you're limited to the channel count of your mixer.

If your main need is to just have manual control over levels without switching screens I'd recommend buying a Presonus Faderport 8 or a Behringer Xtouch.

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

07 Aug 2017

Thanks so much for your reply - very helpful. I def don't want to take the route of buying more equipment just to get that Alto mixer working,

I have noticed that the Presonus Faderport 8 isn't on the supported list of control surfaces for Reason, but as it is a dedicated DAW control surface I can just manually add right? - that really looks the perfect solution for what im trying to do. So I will go that route for sure.

Has anyone got one of these they are already using and what are your thoughts if so?

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

07 Aug 2017

I was just reading that the Faderport * doesn't work with Reason on another post, even though of Presonus website it staes it does ... even more confused now!

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abeonis
Posts: 84
Joined: 06 Nov 2015
Location: Spain-France

07 Aug 2017

I use a Nektar P1. Works great with Reason at a very low price.
Windows 10 64-bit | Reason 9.5 | Live 10 Suite + Push2 | Intel i7 8700K | 16 GB RAM | Scarlett 6x6 | Arturia MiniLab MK II | 2x Novation LaunchControl XL

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

07 Aug 2017

Thanks for eply - yes I have been looking at that - great value for the price it seems and everywhere where I have seen comments it is saying it works very well - one thing I did notice though was under the "control surfaces" menu in Reason, there is no where on the choices when adding a control surface to add a Nektar, even though in the documentation it says it does support. Are you doing this through "auto detect" ?

cheers
Iain

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

07 Aug 2017

abeonis wrote:
07 Aug 2017
I use a Nektar P1. Works great with Reason at a very low price.
Thanks very much - you have been the swinging vote - I have just purchased one :)

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

07 Aug 2017

abeonis wrote:
07 Aug 2017
I use a Nektar P1. Works great with Reason at a very low price.
Can I ask - you obviously use this in conjunction with a keyboard as another control surface added? so dual?

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friday
Posts: 336
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

07 Aug 2017

You can lock a controller to a reason device, that works also for the mixer. Just right klick and chose it from the list. (that works with multiple controller)

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QVprod
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07 Aug 2017

I see you've already chosen the Nektar P1, Not a bad choice I have the P6. Only Reason I didn't mention it was that the other two options have motorized faders that change to the values of the tracks you're controlling vs faders you'll have to adjust multiple times. Some don't mind working this way though.

To answer your question though (for the sake of knowledge), The Faderport 8 (as well as the X touch) has a Mackie control mode. Mackie Control is a supported controller in Reason.

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

08 Aug 2017

QVprod wrote:
07 Aug 2017
I see you've already chosen the Nektar P1, Not a bad choice I have the P6. Only Reason I didn't mention it was that the other two options have motorized faders that change to the values of the tracks you're controlling vs faders you'll have to adjust multiple times. Some don't mind working this way though.

To answer your question though (for the sake of knowledge), The Faderport 8 (as well as the X touch) has a Mackie control mode. Mackie Control is a supported controller in Reason.
Thanks for your reply - really appreciate it - yeah the thing that really drew me to the P1, for now anyway was the cost, seemed a cheap way to get the basic function of control levels out of the box. I really do like the look of the faderport though, really like it but I had read a few stories when I googled it of it not working correctly with that interface and it being a bit of a nightmare, it scared me off a bit as I am still basic user and didn't want to get into the whole realm of having to map things manually if it came to it etc, I just want plug and play if that's the right way of looking at it and the Nektar reviews were glowing.

Really might look at the Faderport in the future though, looks really great

fabio101
Posts: 9
Joined: 06 Aug 2017

08 Aug 2017

friday wrote:
07 Aug 2017
You can lock a controller to a reason device, that works also for the mixer. Just right klick and chose it from the list. (that works with multiple controller)

that's brilliant as for now and as a basic user that's all I want to use it for.

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abeonis
Posts: 84
Joined: 06 Nov 2015
Location: Spain-France

09 Aug 2017

fabio101 wrote:
07 Aug 2017
abeonis wrote:
07 Aug 2017
I use a Nektar P1. Works great with Reason at a very low price.
Can I ask - you obviously use this in conjunction with a keyboard as another control surface added? so dual?
Sorry for the delay. I use a Panorama P1 as a mixer (among other functions) and an Impact LX25+ as the keyboard/pads controller. Both are from Nektar. Both are great. I prefered this solution to a Panorama 4.
Windows 10 64-bit | Reason 9.5 | Live 10 Suite + Push2 | Intel i7 8700K | 16 GB RAM | Scarlett 6x6 | Arturia MiniLab MK II | 2x Novation LaunchControl XL

User avatar
abeonis
Posts: 84
Joined: 06 Nov 2015
Location: Spain-France

09 Aug 2017

fabio101 wrote:
07 Aug 2017
Thanks for eply - yes I have been looking at that - great value for the price it seems and everywhere where I have seen comments it is saying it works very well - one thing I did notice though was under the "control surfaces" menu in Reason, there is no where on the choices when adding a control surface to add a Nektar, even though in the documentation it says it does support. Are you doing this through "auto detect" ?

cheers
Iain
You must instal first the SW provided by Nektar to add it to the control surface menu. Installation is really, really easy.
Windows 10 64-bit | Reason 9.5 | Live 10 Suite + Push2 | Intel i7 8700K | 16 GB RAM | Scarlett 6x6 | Arturia MiniLab MK II | 2x Novation LaunchControl XL

User avatar
abeonis
Posts: 84
Joined: 06 Nov 2015
Location: Spain-France

09 Aug 2017

fabio101 wrote:
08 Aug 2017
friday wrote:
07 Aug 2017
You can lock a controller to a reason device, that works also for the mixer. Just right klick and chose it from the list. (that works with multiple controller)

that's brilliant as for now and as a basic user that's all I want to use it for.
The path to becoming an expert user includes you RTFM. You will be amazed of what you can do with this box. :puf_smile:
Windows 10 64-bit | Reason 9.5 | Live 10 Suite + Push2 | Intel i7 8700K | 16 GB RAM | Scarlett 6x6 | Arturia MiniLab MK II | 2x Novation LaunchControl XL

dbdecker
Posts: 2
Joined: 27 Jun 2020

27 Jun 2020

Good Thread.

I also have a P1, (mainly because i already had a range of keyboards and didn't need another, ie p1 vs p4 etc)

my personal situation changed a little last week and I now actually need a mixer to accompany my interface, i was thinking about the Allen & Heath OU-16. Any thoughts or experiences here?

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