(SOLVED) Quickly rearrange song sections in sequencer? (No Blocks?)

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afrodude
Posts: 26
Joined: 30 Jun 2015

23 Jun 2022

Hi all,


Was wondering if there is a function, or how you guys get around when wanting to rearange whole sections of a song.
Other daws let you do this mostly with arrangment markers/zones etc.
Once a song get pretty big and/or has many different sections it becomes a bit of a pain to select and drag stuff around
The blocks workflow doesnt really work for me either just to let you guys know.
Is this possible in reason or is there a workaround?


To see what i mean have a look at this youtube vid



(time at 03.45 if autoplay doesnt behave)
Last edited by afrodude on 24 Jun 2022, edited 1 time in total.

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motuscott
Posts: 3420
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Contest Weiner

23 Jun 2022

This is why Jeebus made Blocks
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

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motuscott
Posts: 3420
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Contest Weiner

23 Jun 2022

Dog so loved his chillen that He made Blocks, Feel free to ignore...
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

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DaveyG
Posts: 2499
Joined: 03 May 2020

23 Jun 2022

The quickest way is to click on that little cross in the top right corner of the main window then use a proper DAW for the job. :twisted:
Arrangement tracks are not unique to Logic - Cubase, Studio One and others all have that stuff.

Some people like the blocks thing in Reason but I find it a bit half-assed.

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huggermugger
Posts: 1293
Joined: 16 Jul 2021

23 Jun 2022

DaveyG wrote:
23 Jun 2022
The quickest way is to click on that little cross in the top right corner of the main window then use a proper DAW for the job. :twisted:
ouch! lol

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motuscott
Posts: 3420
Joined: 16 Jan 2015
Location: Contest Weiner

23 Jun 2022

I've been using Blocks since Props introduced them,
and I haven't finished a song yet
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

afrodude
Posts: 26
Joined: 30 Jun 2015

24 Jun 2022

For anyone in the future, the current getaround is as follows:

1. Produce your song as you usually would.
2. Chop Midi and Audio into the Sections you would like to have.
3. Turn on Blocks and define your Sections
4. Select everything in that region then copy
5. Paste into Block (make sure Block length matches what has been pasted)
6. Now that your regions have been defined go back to the song view and select all and mute/push it out the way/(so you can see the blocks underneath)

Drawbacks:
1. Pasting all the info into blocks after the fact takes a minute
2. Blocks do not "switch positions" automatically
3. Audio (e.g. SFX) that might overlap into and from different Sections will also be chopped.
Workaround for that is to keep those clip in the song view and move them accordingly with the Section that you want them to be with.

robussc
Posts: 463
Joined: 03 May 2022

24 Jun 2022

afrodude wrote:
24 Jun 2022
For anyone in the future, the current getaround is as follows:

1. Produce your song as you usually would.
2. Chop Midi and Audio into the Sections you would like to have.
3. Turn on Blocks and define your Sections
4. Select everything in that region then copy
5. Paste into Block (make sure Block length matches what has been pasted)
6. Now that your regions have been defined go back to the song view and select all and mute/push it out the way/(so you can see the blocks underneath)

Drawbacks:
1. Pasting all the info into blocks after the fact takes a minute
2. Blocks do not "switch positions" automatically
3. Audio (e.g. SFX) that might overlap into and from different Sections will also be chopped.
Workaround for that is to keep those clip in the song view and move them accordingly with the Section that you want them to be with.
Not wanting to be rude, but isn’t that same as “just use blocks”?
Software: Reason 12 + Objekt, Vintage Vault 4, V-Collection 9 + Pigments, Vintage Verb + Supermassive
Hardware: M1 Mac mini + dual monitors, Launchkey 61, Scarlett 18i20, Rokit 6 monitors, AT4040 mic, DT-990 Pro phones

afrodude
Posts: 26
Joined: 30 Jun 2015

28 Jun 2022

robussc wrote:
24 Jun 2022
Not wanting to be rude, but isn’t that same as “just use blocks”?
no, since creating a song using blocks from the beginning is a very different workflow.
for some people there might not be a big difference, which means the way the produce music is already using the blocks ''mentality''

Grimlucky
Posts: 37
Joined: 31 Jul 2020

28 Jun 2022

huggermugger wrote:
23 Jun 2022
DaveyG wrote:
23 Jun 2022
The quickest way is to click on that little cross in the top right corner of the main window then use a proper DAW for the job. :twisted:
This workflow is very different on Mac, you have to click in the top left corner. 😁

jonnyretina
Posts: 113
Joined: 18 Jun 2022

28 Jun 2022

afrodude wrote:
24 Jun 2022
For anyone in the future, the current getaround is as follows:

1. Produce your song as you usually would.
2. Chop Midi and Audio into the Sections you would like to have.
3. Turn on Blocks and define your Sections
4. Select everything in that region then copy
5. Paste into Block (make sure Block length matches what has been pasted)
6. Now that your regions have been defined go back to the song view and select all and mute/push it out the way/(so you can see the blocks underneath)

Drawbacks:
1. Pasting all the info into blocks after the fact takes a minute
2. Blocks do not "switch positions" automatically
3. Audio (e.g. SFX) that might overlap into and from different Sections will also be chopped.
Workaround for that is to keep those clip in the song view and move them accordingly with the Section that you want them to be with.
Another method is to use a separate song file with a single track of a bounced master bus to do the experimenting:

1. Produce your song as you usually would
2. Export the master output of the track
3. import the exported file into a new empty song (setting the BPM to the same as the original song first)
4. Slice the imported file into sections and then move the clips around until you find the new arrangement you want
5. Once you're happy, load your original song back up and then replicate your new found arrangement by slicing, dragging and dropping

This means you don't need Blocks if you don't want it. It's a bit of a workaround and not a proper solution like what Logic and Cubase have. However, it is a nice easy way to play about with different ideas if you find your track's existing arrangement isn't working well enough and you didn't start work in Blocks to begin with.

afrodude
Posts: 26
Joined: 30 Jun 2015

03 Jul 2022

Yes, the beauty of the way it works in a couple of other daws is that you can easily redrag whole sections and since you're still always in the sequencer view you can also easily rearrange/mute individual clips without the hassle of having to jump into blocks all the time, which lets you try out different things much easier

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