Your custom starting template

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WillyOD
Posts: 281
Joined: 20 Jan 2015
Location: Left of stardust
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08 Jan 2021

Hey yo. I got Reason 11 Suite. Thanks to JRR it was pretty cheap. Haven't had time to play around with it since my speakers busted many moons ago :(

Anyhoo, I decided to give a go at upping my Template game while my audio is muted.

I was searching these forums for a thread but couldn't find much so I was hoping someone would be interested in posting (screenshots or just plain text list/explanation) of your starting template. Especially if you have anything R11 specific going on just cool REs or.... anything... looking for inspiration. I will eventually post my template.
I used to make music but now I just cry on these forums. @diippii.com

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

08 Jan 2021

Actually my template is empty, no devices at all just a set of pre label blocks.
The only screenshot I have available is this one, but it's got track data in it,
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It's more an arrangement template tbh.

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antic604
Posts: 1134
Joined: 02 Apr 2020

08 Jan 2021

Mine is pretty simple:
  • 8 empty Mix Channels routed as Sends / Returns for easier control & mixing (yes, I'm aware of potential delay / phase issues)
  • MClass Stereo Imager in Master Section with macro controlling the crossover frequency and buttons allowing to mono lows / all and solo lows / high

Image
Music tech enthusiast.
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder.
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

08 Jan 2021

I also have a basic beatmap template, but again it's more for quick arrangement
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I think some refer to them as energy maps?

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deigm
Posts: 242
Joined: 10 Oct 2018
Location: Australia

08 Jan 2021

antic604 wrote:
08 Jan 2021
Mine is pretty simple:
  • 8 empty Mix Channels routed as Sends / Returns for easier control & mixing (yes, I'm aware of potential delay / phase issues)
  • MClass Stereo Imager in Master Section with macro controlling the crossover frequency and buttons allowing to mono lows / all and solo lows / high

Image
I also have mix channels set up as sends in my default template, however I'm not aware of the potential delay / phase issues you mention. Can someone point me to some reading on this topic?

I also use a couple spider audio splitters right before it hits the hardware audio outs to send a mono version of the outgoing audio to Skope for monitoring the waveform. I tend to mix crazy peaky drums and this helps me keep an eye on it.

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

08 Jan 2021

Not sure what you're using for mono but you might want to try selig gain as it has a nice mono button

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... elig-gain/
IMG_2375.JPG
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Not sure how useful this is but it's about delay comp issues in stock devices




Check out this device for measurements

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... ple-delay/

Recent discussion:- viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7519330&p=518526&hi ... ue#p518526

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antic604
Posts: 1134
Joined: 02 Apr 2020

09 Jan 2021

deigm wrote:
08 Jan 2021
I also have mix channels set up as sends in my default template, however I'm not aware of the potential delay / phase issues you mention. Can someone point me to some reading on this topic?
https://help.reasonstudios.com/hc/en-us ... what-s-up-
Music tech enthusiast.
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder.
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

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mcatalao
Competition Winner
Posts: 1824
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

09 Jan 2021

I have 4 or 5 templates, the first is an empty one with just stuff for automation, song planning (I have the song structure hidden blocks) some remote settings that get stored with the project. Stuff that might not be worth for others but are really really important in my workflow.

Then I have some templates by genre that I don't use so much. A pop template with about 20 instrument tracks 20 audio tracks with grouping and sends set up built in the blank template to have its features. 2 orchestral templates (a bbc so with static articulations but a different remote setting for bbc so and an EW SO with keyswitching). Then I have an audio mixing template with channels for a full band and vocals (pretty simmilar to the pop one without instruments).

Then I have a mastering template wich is inspired on the one in reason but with the re's and mastering effects on the tracks and limiter on the master bus.

From these I use most the pop and sso one. But most times I start with a blank page so the empty default template is the one I use the most (I could have a piano there as it's my preferred instrument to write songs and it's useful to check other stuff in receded material, like checking a song key and harmony).

In my case I take a lot of time making templates that I don't use so the most important template Is the blank one. :)

Tiny Montgomery
Posts: 439
Joined: 22 Apr 2020

09 Jan 2021

Completely blank template with nothing in master and no master FX sends.

I think having a template is something that should suggest itself to you as a necessity or good practice based on what you're already doing e.g. not having to set up channels for outboard gear, or professional work where there's a reason to have certain instruments, effects or a song template ready to go.

I've come to see those self appointed DAW teachers who all have these huge templates ready to go (which you can have for £££) as being on a bit of grift, I see it more in the Ableton world tbh. It's a way of making money without actually creating anything new and they imply its a 'best practice' when its not in every situation.

Tiny Montgomery
Posts: 439
Joined: 22 Apr 2020

09 Jan 2021

Tiny Montgomery wrote:
09 Jan 2021
Completely blank template with nothing in master and no master FX sends.

I think having a template is something that should suggest itself to you as a necessity or good practice based on what you're already doing e.g. not having to set up channels for outboard gear, or professional work where there's a reason to have certain instruments, effects or a song template ready to go.

I've come to see those self appointed DAW teachers who all have these huge templates ready to go (which you can have for £££) as being on a bit of grift, I see it more in the Ableton world tbh. It's a way of making money without actually creating anything new and they imply its a 'best practice' when its not in every situation.
Actually this isn't quite true as I have Selig gain in between master and Audi out to keep mix in -6db range.

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

09 Jan 2021

I now have two templates, one empty with Ozone Elements and Selig Gain in my mastering Combinator, and a bigger one with 16 audio channels assigned to my mic pre amp inputs to save time when tracking drums etc, which was only added recently when moving into my new bigger space.
On both I also have reduced the click level, set my prefs to my desired settings, and my windows as desired.
Selig Audio, LLC

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mcatalao
Competition Winner
Posts: 1824
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

09 Jan 2021

selig wrote:
09 Jan 2021
On both I also have reduced the click level, set my prefs to my desired settings, and my windows as desired.
Forgot that. Window position is also saved with projects, so that I also have in the default template.

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esselfortium
Posts: 1456
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
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09 Jan 2021

My default template has:
Mastering chain with Selig Gain, RE-2A, Ozone 8 Advanced, and Tonal Balance Control.
Eight combinators for send effects, set up by default with three reverbs, a 3/16+4/16 pingpong delay, a basic 3/16 delay, and some empty ones.
Embertone Walker 1955 Steinway Lite piano, great for sketching out ideas on and frequently makes its way into my finished tracks.
Thor with a nearly default patch, just with a bit of subtle LFO detuning added.
Kong pre-routed with separate kick and snare mix channels and a spider to get sidechaining outputs from the kick.
This one takes only a few seconds to load.

Then I have a much larger template with all of the above plus:
Una Corda piano.
Spitfire Chamber Strings legato patches and core articulations patches, routed to legato and core buses.
8Dio Adagio and Agitato strings patches, pre-positioned using Panagement and routed to a bus.
Joshua Bell Violin and Tina Guo Legato Cello, routed to a solo strings bus.
Century Strings multi-articulation patches, routed to a bus.
Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions evo grids and waves, routed to chamber and bass buses.
British Drama Toolkit ensembles patch.
Orchestral Swarm strings high patch.
Albion V Tundra multi-articulation patches, routed to a bus.
Shreddage and Orange Tree guitars and basses and Embertone mountain dulcimer.
Embertone Sensual Sax, 8Dio Studio Tenor Sax, and 8Dio Fire Sax. Fire Sax has one track per patch (track folders and midi channels please!!) with the Kontakt instances in a combinator with a line mixer.
8Dio Claire Woodwinds legatos and arcs, with each instrument in a custom combinator to control the microphone blend on both patches at once.
Spitfire Symphonic bass flute and Albion One woodwind ensembles.
Spitfire Cimbalom and Harp for plucked orchestral instruments.
8Dio Propanium, Spitfire Celesta, Glockenspiel, Marimba, Crotales, Xylophone, and 8Dio Polyphon for tuned percussion-like instruments.
8Dio Fire Trumpet, set up in a combinator matching the one for Fire Sax.
A few multi-articulation tracks from Century Brass, routed to high brass and low brass buses.
A Europa init patch along with the Thor from the smaller template.
Percussion from Albion One, Tundra, Saga, and Rhapsody.
GetGood Drums Modern and Massive, pre-routed to mixer channels.
Neutron Advanced pre-routed on buses or individual instruments where each makes sense.

This one takes around a minute and a half to load, but saves me a lot of time that would be spent doing redundant setup work adding instruments, setting up buses, and balancing/EQing tracks.
I generally delete a significant amount of the template as I start working and figure out what I'm using or not.
I also have every Kontakt instrument pre-saved as an .fxb patch that can be loaded from Reason's browser. As a result, I can quickly swap any of these out for different patches from the same library or duplicate the tracks to add additional instruments from it. I also have project-specific favorites lists in the browser, comprised of libraries and specific patches that I'm likely to reach for on a given project.

Image
Image
Image

(In case anyone from RS is reading: Track folders and midi channels pretty please. And the ability to save and recall pre-routed setups with multiple mixer channels and sequencer tracks.)
Sarah Mancuso
My music: Future Human

PhillipOrdonez
Posts: 3732
Joined: 20 Oct 2017
Location: Norway
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09 Jan 2021

Empty with just an mclass maximiser on the master with the 4ms lookahead engaged. Only to protect my speakers/headphones/ears.

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antic604
Posts: 1134
Joined: 02 Apr 2020

09 Jan 2021

mcatalao wrote:
09 Jan 2021
selig wrote:
09 Jan 2021
On both I also have reduced the click level, set my prefs to my desired settings, and my windows as desired.
Forgot that. Window position is also saved with projects, so that I also have in the default template.
You're on Windows? Because windows position isn't saved for me, which is a bummer and one of my hopes for v12 to solve that by giving us more freedom in arranging the sequencer / mixer / rack.
Music tech enthusiast.
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder.
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

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mcatalao
Competition Winner
Posts: 1824
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

09 Jan 2021

antic604 wrote:
09 Jan 2021
mcatalao wrote:
09 Jan 2021


Forgot that. Window position is also saved with projects, so that I also have in the default template.
You're on Windows? Because windows position isn't saved for me, which is a bummer and one of my hopes for v12 to solve that by giving us more freedom in arranging the sequencer / mixer / rack.
Yes. It loads my templates always in 3 monitors as I want it. But floating windows in one monitor is not quite as good. For example if you pull one mixer to a side an another to other, it doesn't work so well. But with multiple monitors it pulls the sequencer to Screen 1, Mixer to 2 and Rack to 3.

And the saved projects too. Windows 10, R11. It also saves mixer context, browser size, zoom factor and the size of each section (sequencer vs mixer vs rack in the same window).

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Rising Night Wave
Posts: 1217
Joined: 03 Sep 2019
Location: Vransko, Slovenia
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09 Jan 2021

i have no custom starting template file. i always use reasons default template. and change if necessary master effects.
Rising Night Wave & Extus at SoundCloud
HW: Asus ROG Strix G513QM | Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen | M-Audio M3-8 | M-Audio Uber Mic | Shure SRH1840 | Shure SE215 | LG 49UK6400
SW: Windows 11 Pro | Reason 10 | Reason+

User avatar
deigm
Posts: 242
Joined: 10 Oct 2018
Location: Australia

10 Jan 2021

antic604 wrote:
09 Jan 2021
deigm wrote:
08 Jan 2021
I also have mix channels set up as sends in my default template, however I'm not aware of the potential delay / phase issues you mention. Can someone point me to some reading on this topic?
https://help.reasonstudios.com/hc/en-us ... what-s-up-
Thanks! :D

User avatar
mcatalao
Competition Winner
Posts: 1824
Joined: 17 Jan 2015

10 Jan 2021

esselfortium wrote:
09 Jan 2021
My default template has:
Mastering chain with Selig Gain, RE-2A, Ozone 8 Advanced, and Tonal Balance Control.
Eight combinators for send effects, set up by default with three reverbs, a 3/16+4/16 pingpong delay, a basic 3/16 delay, and some empty ones.
Embertone Walker 1955 Steinway Lite piano, great for sketching out ideas on and frequently makes its way into my finished tracks.
Thor with a nearly default patch, just with a bit of subtle LFO detuning added.
Kong pre-routed with separate kick and snare mix channels and a spider to get sidechaining outputs from the kick.
This one takes only a few seconds to load.

Then I have a much larger template with all of the above plus:
Una Corda piano.
Spitfire Chamber Strings legato patches and core articulations patches, routed to legato and core buses.
8Dio Adagio and Agitato strings patches, pre-positioned using Panagement and routed to a bus.
Joshua Bell Violin and Tina Guo Legato Cello, routed to a solo strings bus.
Century Strings multi-articulation patches, routed to a bus.
Olafur Arnalds Chamber Evolutions evo grids and waves, routed to chamber and bass buses.
British Drama Toolkit ensembles patch.
Orchestral Swarm strings high patch.
Albion V Tundra multi-articulation patches, routed to a bus.
Shreddage and Orange Tree guitars and basses and Embertone mountain dulcimer.
Embertone Sensual Sax, 8Dio Studio Tenor Sax, and 8Dio Fire Sax. Fire Sax has one track per patch (track folders and midi channels please!!) with the Kontakt instances in a combinator with a line mixer.
8Dio Claire Woodwinds legatos and arcs, with each instrument in a custom combinator to control the microphone blend on both patches at once.
Spitfire Symphonic bass flute and Albion One woodwind ensembles.
Spitfire Cimbalom and Harp for plucked orchestral instruments.
8Dio Propanium, Spitfire Celesta, Glockenspiel, Marimba, Crotales, Xylophone, and 8Dio Polyphon for tuned percussion-like instruments.
8Dio Fire Trumpet, set up in a combinator matching the one for Fire Sax.
A few multi-articulation tracks from Century Brass, routed to high brass and low brass buses.
A Europa init patch along with the Thor from the smaller template.
Percussion from Albion One, Tundra, Saga, and Rhapsody.
GetGood Drums Modern and Massive, pre-routed to mixer channels.
Neutron Advanced pre-routed on buses or individual instruments where each makes sense.

This one takes around a minute and a half to load, but saves me a lot of time that would be spent doing redundant setup work adding instruments, setting up buses, and balancing/EQing tracks.
I generally delete a significant amount of the template as I start working and figure out what I'm using or not.
I also have every Kontakt instrument pre-saved as an .fxb patch that can be loaded from Reason's browser. As a result, I can quickly swap any of these out for different patches from the same library or duplicate the tracks to add additional instruments from it. I also have project-specific favorites lists in the browser, comprised of libraries and specific patches that I'm likely to reach for on a given project.

Image
Image
Image

(In case anyone from RS is reading: Track folders and midi channels pretty please. And the ability to save and recall pre-routed setups with multiple mixer channels and sequencer tracks.)
Chiet!!!!!!!!!!

BTW i never have my mastering chain loaded in the template. I have a combi that i load when i want to master. That or a mastering template.

But you must have a beast of a computer to run all that!!! WOW!

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Carly(Poohbear)
Competition Winner
Posts: 2871
Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

10 Jan 2021

I just have a monitoring chain as I don't know what I will be doing with Reason however without doubt there is always something everyday :D

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WillyOD
Posts: 281
Joined: 20 Jan 2015
Location: Left of stardust
Contact:

16 Jan 2021

Hey, great stuff so far. I'm digging into this tomorrow and hope to build my own template too. :thumbs_up:

What I've been using for the past few years: some Reason template (with Default Mastering FX presets that I've sometimes dabbled with) and pretty much for every project I've just added Plate (RV7000) and some random reverb (usually TSAR-1R) on Send/Ret FX 5 and 6.
I used to make music but now I just cry on these forums. @diippii.com

DougalDarkly
Posts: 193
Joined: 31 Jul 2019

16 Jan 2021

My templates are based around devices - usually combinators with lots of out-of-combinator connections, like separate mix-channels etc, that aren't saved with a patch.

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EV_the_Kid
Posts: 1
Joined: 03 May 2018

18 Jan 2021

My Template is one that took a while to come to, but I'm really happy with how it came out.

To start, the most important thing in my template is a Kong unit that I've custom wired to get the most out of. I always loved Kong's versatility for sample manipulation and the MPC style beat making it can be used for, but I always really wanted additional processing for each of my drums. I route each drum to separate outs, and pan them hard left or right to basically double the number of outs the device has. So my kicks are sent to output 3-4, but they're panned L and that out is wired into it's own mix channel. Then same for the snares, but they're panned R. I also worked to integrate the aux sends of Kong, since that always seemed really convenient. The Aux sends are routed to two mixer channels that are then sent fully to my first two sends. I also did some routing on Kong's Bus and FX section to basically turn that into a send on send channel 3. This meant that now all my instruments could use the delay and reverb in Kong just like my drums.

I also don't know why it isn't mentioned, but I also customized the Groove mixer channels with MPC rhythms that I really loved. I made several variant groove channels with different slide values because I love to delay my hats by a dozen or so ticks.

Then the rest is sort of basic: a sample, a grain, and a Thor that's been cleared out and reset to a default that's useful for patch building.
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