Remixes done only/mostly with Reason?

[Knives]

I've tried looking at a number of different member profiles and remix descriptions and a bunch of stuff like that, but I simply cannot find any indication of Reason being used in the production or remixing of any OC remix. I was wondering if anyone knew of any remix on this site that solely, or mostly, used Reason for the production the whole song (besides remixes by ParagonX9). I wanna take a look at these simply to see the program's capabilities, since I noticed that OCR's quality standards are quite high, I figured I'd hear some cool stuff :D

[avaris]

Sephfire, Tweek, SGX, Protricity (from his FFV mix and on), Malcos, Red Tailed Fox, Quinn Fox, Aluminum, GaMeBoX, Siamey (DKC2 mix), FFMusic DJ, blind (some of his earlier stuff, don't know which songs exactly), Daniel Baranowsky (some of his mixes were done in reason don't know how many exactly)

There are def more that I don't know of.

EDIT: ambient, Sir_Nuts, Another Soundscape, Destructo, Fatty Acid, Freemind, Graylighting (don't know how many of his mixes were done in Reason though)

[anosou]

Remixes with reason?

Every remix I've done so far is exclusively reason. keep a look on the FF7 project that will be released shortly and also keep your eyes peeled on the front page, I have an accepted remix that is going to be posted soon enough.

otherwise, what avaris said :)

[Malcos]

http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01169/

Source file here. (http://www.malcos.co.uk/Sonic_Final_Boss.rps)

[Knives]

Alright then! I've listened to at least a few remixes by every artist you guys have given me, and... I don't know. At first it seemed to me that remixes done by other programs simply had a certain level of refinement and clarity that Reason couldn't reach. They sounded more edgy, more cool. Some of the synth sounds and orchestral samples from Reason remixes seemed kinda flat, or dull to me. Like they didn't have that "wow" factor, or perhaps weren't processed enough through mastering tools. I'm not suuuure, but what I have in mind of an ideal mix would be something along the lines of zircon's chrono trigger remixes or even the "Back 2 Skala" remix, the collaborative effort by Ambient and Skrypnyk, or you could say the fusion of Reason and FL. I don't know whether the final "Back 2 Skala" got mixed and mastered in FL or Reason, but it's just so shiny clean that it's spotless. The opening strings are very whole and "fulfilling," none of the instruments interfered with each other, the drums are crisp and upfront, everything just has a distinct presence in the mix which is why it sounds so freakin nice. Now that's the kind of sound quality I want! So I was just wondering if Reason is capable of delivering this kind of quality. But like I said, I don't know, maybe I'm just being picky or have bad ears or something...

[V___]

*spaced out surfie voice*

Whoa dude....

first up... you speak like, way too fast....

second, chill up man! Like, musics meant to be fun right? Yehh...

and lastly man.... its spiritual... its music. i mean, am I right or what? You can get whatever you want from whatever you have, you just have to know how to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Yeh? You know who told me that??... the waves, man... the waves...



***IN THE REAL WORLD***

Reason can make your music sound good, you just have to know what your doing. It doesnt have VST support, meaning that you cant incorporate every synth/effect with a gimic into your setup, you have to actually understand what your doing and how your doing it.

If you want full rich strings, you'l need: good samples + EQ + reverb + panning + chorus/phasing on a send + a song that has sounds that compliment the strings + good mastering. You can do that in most DAWs, however in Reason you dont have a free downloadable VST called 'Shiney Strings 101v3' that'l apply that chain with a bunch of presets.

In short: yes you can make crisp clear things in Reason (you obviously havnt heard enough of Malcos's stuff - www.malcos.co.uk - check out his albums)

[avaris]

:dstrbd: dude!

Completely agree with V___ about the surfing...and other stuff. It really comes down to mastering and picking sounds that work together. That all comes with time.

Check out SGX's mix 'Peripatetic' here: http://www.sgxmusic.com/music.htm

It was done entirely in Reason. 'Me Semper Maneas' was too. 'Contradistinction' was done with only stuff from Reason 2.0.

If you love Reason but want some better sampled sounds check out Sonic Reality. Miroslav Orchestra has some pretty good sounding stuff.

All of the instrumentation for 'Back 2 Skala' was done in Reason. The percussion and mastering were done in FL. Oh yeah ambient uses Reason too.

[Knives]

So I guess that means I'm picky AND I have bad ears, huh? Haha, well anyway, I was aware Reason doesn't provide VST support, I've got a shortcut to it on my desktop right here. As for more of the links, thanks, SGX's stuff did sound pretty nice. I never really liked the orkester sample bank too much, but Garritan finally released their GPO refill for Reason (wooo!) so that makes up for it in a way. I suppose I had nitpicked on some things about the program... but yeh, it's just nitpicking. All in all it seems just to come down to "you'll sound good if you know what you're doing." Too bad I don't know anything, so I better get down to learning 'cause I'd like to submit a pokemon remix to OCR sometime in the future. Can you guess what program I'll be using? I'll give you a hint, it's the only one I have, haha. But I don't want to come off as if I loathe Reason or anything, I really do like a lot of things about the program as well.

[zircon]

For the record, I use FL for all my stuff. My earlier mixes used mostly free synths, samples, and soundfonts... now I mostly use VSTs and sample CDs. Just thought I'd throw that out there since you mentioned me.

[Knives]

Hey, zircon! It's great that you saw this since I was meaning to ask you were you got the orchestral samples that you used for your chrono trigger remixes. Everything from the strings to piano to maracas, what was that?

[anosou]

For the record, I use FL for all my stuff. My earlier mixes used mostly free synths, samples, and soundfonts... now I mostly use VSTs and sample CDs. Just thought I'd throw that out there since you mentioned me.

Comin' here and bashing Reason eh? promoting FL and VSTs eh?
GET LOST LOOSER!

PS: I love you and I love plugins too :)

[Knives]

I just noticed how terribly inactive this forum is, and that's too bad. Aside from that, I've checked out some tutorials on SGX's site and looked at the reason "competition" rns files. I gotta say wow, you guys sure know how to use some stuff in interesting ways. Modulating strings with a break beat? Automating the rv7000 with the piano roll in the sequencer? Reason may not have VST support, but you can still do some pretty nifty stuff with it if you're creative and use your head. So I've been reading Reason tutorials here and there, and I'd ask for book recommendations but since R4 is just around the corner I'll wait for a good book for it to come out.

Anyways, REVIVE THE REASON COMPETITION THREAD! That thing's been dead for more than a month now but it looked like lots of fun, the songs turned out great and it was a good learning aid for me, as well as others I believe. It seems you guys unintentionally sabotaged that thing by submitting overly complicated source files for round 2. No need to try to like, crazily impress anyone here, just submit something more simple, or that's more easy to work with, it's for fun, remember?

[anosou]

it is fun indeed. but we all have other things to do.
If more people show interest to malcos it'll probably be up again though. spread the word and maybe

[Knives]

"it is fun indeed. but we all have other things to do."

No kidding, looking around it seems like everyone is working on some official site project or another, and Malcos is busy judging stuff as well. I think it'd work if someone just decided to post up an rns and called it round three, the contest rules have been well established enough not to need Malcos to supervise it or anything. From there if anyone's interested in extending or remixing the rns then they'd do so, and BAM! There you have the successful completion of round three... but from the looks of things, the only person that would submit a source file at this rate would be me... and the only remixer that would participate in that round would be... me again, haha. I think I'd rather go off and do other music related stuffs instead of having a contest with myself, but I'll an eye on it if anything happens.

[anosou]

No kidding, looking around it seems like everyone is working on some official site project or another, and Malcos is busy judging stuff as well. I think it'd work if someone just decided to post up an rns and called it round three, the contest rules have been well established enough not to need Malcos to supervise it or anything. From there if anyone's interested in extending or remixing the rns then they'd do so, and BAM! There you have the successful completion of round three... but from the looks of things, the only person that would submit a source file at this rate would be me... and the only remixer that would participate in that round would be... me again, haha. I think I'd rather go off and do other music related stuffs instead of having a contest with myself, but I'll an eye on it if anything happens.

yeah you could probably start remixing ? :D

[Sadorf]

EDIT: ambient, Sir_Nuts, Sadorf, Destructo, Freemind, Graylighting (don't know how many of his mixes were done in Reason though)

I most certainly do NOT use reason!

I use FL..cuz like.....i do

[anosou]

I most certainly do NOT use reason!

I use FL..cuz like.....i do

feel ashamed. very ashamed. ;)

[Sir_NutS]

I do use Reason for all my songs, reason plus samples cds and refills. Used FL for years, but I find reason to be better for me.

The quality of your music doesn't relies much on the program you may use but on your skills, talent and knowledge.

[avaris]

Haha whoops sorry dude. :)

[anosou]

I do use Reason for all my songs, reason plus samples cds and refills. Used FL for years, but I find reason to be better for me.

The quality of your music doesn't relies much on the program you may use but on your skills, talent and knowledge.

Hey Michael, Any news on a new Sir_NutS refill? I've been using your patches in all of my remixes atm (except the first for the ff7 project, I had just gotten reason then), that's 1 on the ff7 project, one to be posted, and one soon submitted ;)

[Knives]

yeah you could probably start remixing ? :D
I've been working on a remix of Trainer Battle Theme from Pokemon Red... but it's not sounding too good right now... and I've got a great new idea for it that'll require me starting all over anyway. Get this, do it BRUCE FAULCONER STYLE! I'm specifically referring to the music he composed and produced in the English dub of the animes Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT. I greatly admire his music.

The quality of your music doesn't relies much on the program you may use but on your skills, talent and knowledge.
Which is why I still have a long way to go ;_;

Oh and, I'm really looking forward to hearing your remixes AS, once they're posted on the site that is :D

[anosou]

Soon enough knives, soon enough ;)

post your wip in the wip forums and PM me some day

[Knives]

Oh, even the WIP may take a little while, I'm still heavily involved in the planning stages, but once I get something worth reviewing, you can count on getting that PM.

[anosou]

Oh, even the WIP may take a little while, I'm still heavily involved in the planning stages, but once I get something worth reviewing, you can count on getting that PM.

Right on :)
Maybe we'll have reason 4 then too :)

[tweex]

Right on :)
Maybe we'll have reason 4 then too :)

My gosh, I hope so!!! Beta testing was horrible in the sense that it got me all excited about using the new devices, and now they're gone again!!!

[zircon]

Hey, zircon! It's great that you saw this since I was meaning to ask you were you got the orchestral samples that you used for your chrono trigger remixes. Everything from the strings to piano to maracas, what was that?

Calamitous Judgment and When All Hope Has Faded simply use free soundfonts available all around the internet. Percussion came from free soundfonts and SampleFusion, a website that you get access to if you buy FL (there are both free and commercial samples there; I used free ones).

Subterranean Opus used Kontakt 2's VSL Orchestra (comes with K2), QLSO Gold, and to a lesser extent Garritan Personal Orchestra.

[anosou]

My gosh, I hope so!!! Beta testing was horrible in the sense that it got me all excited about using the new devices, and now they're gone again!!!

14 DAYS AND 10 HOURS just now :D

See u in the R4 world tweek ;)

[Knives]

Calamitous Judgment and When All Hope Has Faded simply use free soundfonts available all around the internet.

Subterranean Opus used Kontakt 2's VSL Orchestra (comes with K2), QLSO Gold, and to a lesser extent Garritan Personal Orchestra.

Well you sure now how to make free soundfonts sound good, that's for sure. I've never heard of Kontakt's VSL Orchestra, and from what I heard about East West products was that they were great (but expensive =/). Garritan seems to be fairly good as well... but I guess that's all irreverent to me since they're VSTs and I'm using Reason. Garritan DID recently release a GPO refill for Reason, but it's only USD80, while the GPO VST is like USD200 and I can't seem to find any reason why... which is making me think the GPO refill is just a dumbed down, light version of the GPO VST... I guess I'll have to do more of my own research, and thanks for replying.

lol, the hype is contagious, you guys are getting me excited about getting R4 (but I still want the multi-core support! *glares at Reason's project manager and developers*)

[Sir_NutS]

Hey Michael, Any news on a new Sir_NutS refill? I've been using your patches in all of my remixes atm (except the first for the ff7 project, I had just gotten reason then), that's 1 on the ff7 project, one to be posted, and one soon submitted ;)

Soon, I've been doing new patches (which some I've shared with friends like Nicole Adams) but I want to have a solid amount of new stuff to make a new refill. I've learned new stuff from Peff's book and I've been doing more varied type of patches, so there won't be a trancefest in the next one heh.

Glad you've enjoyed the first ones though.

[anosou]

Soon, I've been doing new patches (which some I've shared with friends like Nicole Adams) but I want to have a solid amount of new stuff to make a new refill. I've learned new stuff from Peff's book and I've been doing more varied type of patches, so there won't be a trancefest in the next one heh.

Glad you've enjoyed the first ones though.

Glad to hear you have new material :)
and yeah some of the cookicutter trance synths (EuroSynth!!!) is really fitting great into the mix with my personal sounds, it's a blessing

[Superhim]

Every single piece of music I've created was made in Reason. However, I have yet to post any to OCR.

It's mostly avant-garde compositions with heavy rearrangement and loose interpretation, so it most likely won't be well recieved, whether or not it is a good representative of the genre. It's really not represented here as a legitimate form of music.

[Knives]

I don't know what you're talking about, Back 2 Skala (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01602/) was posted up just recently and it uses experimental style drums. Unless you're one of those over-the-top experimental artists then yea, it may be difficult to get on OCR when your music is arguably just "noise."

I really like experimental/glitch/stutter stuff as long as it's used tastfully, and I'm currently learning how to do it myself, maybe if you're good then you can show me a thing or two about it in Reason since we both use it :D

[HoboKa]

Calamitous Judgment and When All Hope Has Faded simply use free soundfonts available all around the internet. Percussion came from free soundfonts and SampleFusion, a website that you get access to if you buy FL (there are both free and commercial samples there; I used free ones).

Subterranean Opus used Kontakt 2's VSL Orchestra (comes with K2), QLSO Gold, and to a lesser extent Garritan Personal Orchestra.

Free samples/soundfonts ftw :D
BTW Zircon, are those CD's from sampefusion that you have to buy, worth getting?

[Tensei]

Free samples/soundfonts ftw :D
BTW Zircon, are those CD's from sampefusion that you have to buy, worth getting?


No offense dude, but before you start dishing out cash for sample CD's, I'd first make sure your production skills are up to a satisfying level, otherwise the samples you've paid hard cash for will still sound like shit, just saying. =P

[HoboKa]

yeah yeah, I'll get there don't worry little jimmy. I'm not bad for some1 who's just started making music 5 months ago :P, but I guess I'll postpone the sample buy-ige until later.

[Robotaki]

what's all this talk about Reason and FL studio for? the only thing you need is Guitar Hero. everything that it plays sounds nice (hey professional too!) AND I don't even need to do anything!! WOW!

but really, reason 4, beta-testers I envy you.

[anosou]

what's all this talk about Reason and FL studio for? the only thing you need is Guitar Hero. everything that it plays sounds nice (hey professional too!) AND I don't even need to do anything!! WOW!

but really, reason 4, beta-testers I envy you.

beta-testers? go get the demo instdead, it's out damnit :D

[anosou]

yeah yeah, I'll get there don't worry little jimmy. I'm not bad for some1 who's just started making music 5 months ago :P, but I guess I'll postpone the sample buy-ige until later.

I started making music with a computer christmas -06 :)

[Robotaki]

beta-testers? go get the demo instdead, it's out damnit :D

wow I've been living in a cave. thnx for the update dude lol.

[Hy Bound]

See, what kind of bothers me is that most people don't realize Reason is more of a workhorse program than anything. It does basically whatever you need as a backup to any higher quality samples used on other sequencers. Reason started out trying to be the only sequencer you needed to make what everyone else could produce at the time. The fact of the matter is though; they haven't upgraded their core soundmodules since 2.0 (i think) and instead developed ReWire. That's when they changed from all-in-one workstation to ultra-efficient workhorse ReWire program.

99% of what is coming out nowadays has a much higher quality sound module than what Reason's synths and FX can achieve. Does that worry propellerheads? Of course not. They can achieve a moderately high-quality soundstation for the same amount of CPU cycles that a single synthesizer of a slightly higher quality can. I think its just that their marketing is trying to tell people that it is the only program you need to make music; which, you really can do, and very well if you have the knowledge.

Sorry to come off as a snob or something, but Reason isn't meant to make the cutting edge end-all songs that everyone seems to think it should, even with Reason 4.0. Don't get me wrong, i love Reason, but a program that prides itself on being ultra-efficient doesn't need to worry about the highest end sounds, that's why you ReWire it into another program that can add it's extra layer of sheen to what Reason produces.

[anosou]

See, what kind of bothers me is that most people don't realize Reason is more of a workhorse program than anything. It does basically whatever you need as a backup to any higher quality samples used on other sequencers. Reason started out trying to be the only sequencer you needed to make what everyone else could produce at the time. The fact of the matter is though; they haven't upgraded their core soundmodules since 2.0 (i think) and instead developed ReWire. That's when they changed from all-in-one workstation to ultra-efficient workhorse ReWire program.

99% of what is coming out nowadays has a much higher quality sound module than what Reason's synths and FX can achieve. Does that worry propellerheads? Of course not. They can achieve a moderately high-quality soundstation for the same amount of CPU cycles that a single synthesizer of a slightly higher quality can. I think its just that their marketing is trying to tell people that it is the only program you need to make music; which, you really can do, and very well if you have the knowledge.

Sorry to come off as a snob or something, but Reason isn't meant to make the cutting edge end-all songs that everyone seems to think it should, even with Reason 4.0. Don't get me wrong, i love Reason, but a program that prides itself on being ultra-efficient doesn't need to worry about the highest end sounds, that's why you ReWire it into another program that can add it's extra layer of sheen to what Reason produces.

I like how many says this, no matter the level of experience they have. It's becoming something that makes you sound like you know much. The fun thing is, not many can tell that something's from Reason if they didn't knew it before, at least if it's well done.

Also, I think people sometime will have to realize they're silly. The sound that can be produced inside of Reason only sounds "low quality" to people used with the sounds of specific expensive synths. It's not because those are better, it's just a sound that the modern music scene has gotten used to.
If we all just realized that everything that sounds good is good, we'd be a lot happier. Now everyone is going on and on about perfect-analog-clones and "warm" sounds. I can't believe we base our opinions about software, hardware and electronic music on the sounds created by old machines that sounded special because their limitations and circuitry.

Electronic music is becoming as snobbish as classical music. If you do anything new with an Orchestra, they'll laugh at you. All instruments that ain't from the classical era are bullshit. And electronics sucks and can never be as good as the masters of the past!

jeez, can't people just make good music and stop caring about what the masses think about something instead? :D
okay, enough ranting. What did you want to say with this Hy Bound? now you got me all wound up ;P

oh btw, gratz on the praise you got on the VotL special of In to the Score. You def deserved it!
http://www.intothescore.com/

[Knives]

Yea, that's what bothers me. I value clarity and pristiness very highly and I see a lot of other sequencers that can deliver but Reason always sounded a bit "fuzzy" or more "lo-fi" to me. I had a guy make a small beat for me in FL5, opened the .wav of the beat in R4's NN-19 and exported the loop. Did absolutely nothing else, and the sound quality difference between the original from FL5 and the re-exported verison from R4 was pretty much outrageous. I basically started this thread to seek some kind of confirmation or disapproval of my findings, and so far it doesn't seem like I've gotten much of either... so I'm still stuck at "Reason's sound modules suck."

EDIT: Anso made some good points, but it doesn't make me any less disappointed by Reason's audio-export-thingie-mah-jiggers.

[anosou]

Yea, that's what bothers me. I value clarity and pristiness very highly and I see a lot of other sequencers that can deliver but Reason always sounded a bit "fuzzy" or more "lo-fi" to me. I had a guy make a small beat for me in FL5, opened the .wav of the beat in R4's NN-19 and exported the loop. Did absolutely nothing else, and the sound quality difference between the original from FL5 and the re-exported verison from R4 was pretty much outrageous. I basically started this thread to seek some kind of confirmation or disapproval of my findings, and so far it doesn't seem like I've gotten much of either... so I'm still suck at "Reason's sound modules suck."

fun fact: this is what makes vintage analog gear desireable. the way they color the sound. grow up people :) first you want perfect analog copies and then you want to listen to it in pristine, cold digital quality? :D

EDIT: thank you

[Hy Bound]

oh btw, gratz on the praise you got on the VotL special of In to the Score. You def deserved it!
http://www.intothescore.com/

Wow, I didn't realize I was on there... cool! Thanks for the heads up.

However, I still stand by what I said; The point of the matter is... No matter what you want to believe, the synth architecture is not as high a quality sound as other recent synthesizing programs; this isn't to do with what it sounds like, it has to do with the output, its not a 64 bit transfer, like most other modern synths. The samples in the NN-XT are much more compressed in the ReFill format than .wav format. Like someone said that there is the Garritan strings ReFill... There's another version in a .wav format. The filesize in the ReFill pack is about 3/4 the size of the .wav pack. But it may just come down to your personal preference; from the songs I've heard from you, Reason seems very well-suited to your style and you use it very well (i especially like the Jenova melody synth you use in your fanfare remix). However, if you use Reason in the way that I make music; which tends to be more on the orchestral side with heavy manipulation on real instruments, Reason is very limited. There are only a few FX and the way the architecture is laid out, its impossible to get any new FX into it without another sequencer as a host.


I'm not saying that Reason only makes shitty songs or anything of the like. I agree with what you said that most people can't tell the difference between a Reason song and an FL song. However, saying that there isn't a boost in fidelity from Subtractor to Z3T4+ is just ignorant. The sound from subtractor may be what you personally enjoy, but unless you layer the shit out of those synths, you aren't going to come close to the fidelity of a newer edition synth. The phaser in Reason is also quite shitastic compared to something like Waves Metaphlanger phaser setting. Its output is a near mono signal... If you disagree, I would be more than happy to show you an example.

The point I'm trying to make, and was trying to make before, is that Reason is by no means a bad program, I use it in most of my arrangements pretty extensively. But if you're trying for some bleeding edge electronica track with sampled instruments, Reason is relatively limited in how you can go about creating incredibly rich sounds; you can do it, but it isn't going to hold up quite as well with something you use these $500 sample players for and such. However, if you're going for an electro-based tech-funk song, Reason will by all means fit every bill you will mostly likely try for. But Reason's real strength is in how it is used as a workhorse program; and propellerheads emphasizes this by not updating its architecture and instead tries to include ReWire into every other sequencer possible.

This isn't an attack on someone who uses Reason-only, but an opinion that you can get a much cleaner master even when Reason utilizes other program's architecture and features.

EDIT: I did not mean that the actual architecture of another program would change the source, but the different FX and features it has most certainly does.

EDIT 2: with regards to how older synths are sought after for their sound and how the modern music scene has just gotten used to the new synths: That's basically the same type of things found with mics... The older ones tend to color the sound so it will take away the sub-par response it would have had. Many people find the older mics to be much more suited to what they have heard. People who listen exclusively to old classic rock recordings don't like to use the new mics because they have an idea in their head as to what something should sound like. It doesn't matter to them that new mics sound much more clear and focused; they just don't sound like an old def leppard song they just listened to. The same can be said for different programs. When I listen to Hybrid songs, i tend to think that the Orkester library tends to sound much better when trying to achieve that sound as opposed to my EWQLSO library, which has a much better sound. However, if i listen to film scores, I can't even imagine using Orkester over EWQLSO.

So basically, listen to something that has the same type of sounds as a Reason track for a while, then go back to a song done in Reason and you will notice a big difference. For instance, I can tell which orchestral pieces are from Reason from BT's Stealth soundtrack and which aren't after messing around with some of Reason's orkester stuff. And again, that soundtrack is proof that Reason can output really good stuff. But you better believe that BT put that through a LOT of different FX (from other programs) to make it sound that good.

[Tensei]

EDIT: Anso made some good points, but it doesn't make me any less disappointed by Reason's audio-export-thingie-mah-jiggers.

http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12274

I think there's your answer. Personally I can't tell the difference between a .WAV exported from Reason and a .WAV exported from FL with Reason ReWired into it (using the same settings of course), so I don't think there's an inherent lo-fi quality or anything like that to Reason's mixdown feature.

[Knives]

Thanks for the link Tensei-San, but I've seen that thread and looked at the test, the guy never tests out Reason, and that's really the only DAW that should be in question.

[Tensei]

Thanks for the link Tensei-San, but I've seen that thread and looked at the test, the guy never tests out Reason, and that's really the only DAW that should be in question.

Oh fudge! You actually got me there, I just assumed they tested Reason too since Zircon remarked that in his post. Hm, I stand corrected.