REASON - Please Direct Reason questions here

[SenPi]

oh its out now. Sweet, I'm going to have to get me a piece of that sweet buttox!

[Uncle]

Guys, you can get live audio into reason.

There's this program that pretends to be ReBirth and the audio comes out the Rebirth machine.

Unfortunately I can't get it to work.

Has anyone had luck with this?

[Sonic 3]

Now I've just purchased reason, and just figured out how to work it.....Remixes are comming along nicely......BUT, I'm wondering.....can you rip from mp3s/wavs and place the sample into reason at all? If not, what music program would I have to get, in order to allow me to make music (well!) and plus rip samples to put into the songs?

[Malcos]

Of course you can rip wavs and put them into Reason. It can't import mp3 files though. In order to trim your samples nicely before they can be imported into Reason, you might like to get audacity, http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

which is a free wav editor (it's very good!), and to convert files from mp3/wav and vice versa, check out freerip mp3

http://www.mgshareware.com/frmmain.shtml

You can use either of the samplers in Reason to import the wav file once you're ready.

[V___]

You can use either of the samplers in Reason to import the wav file once you're ready.

And the Redrum, of corse

[Dafydd]

Guys, you can get live audio into reason.

There's this program that pretends to be ReBirth and the audio comes out the Rebirth machine.

Unfortunately I can't get it to work.

I was just about to ask about this...

[Sonic 3]

Ok, so I use the Dr. Rex loop player to preview/listen to a drum loop I like, and it sounds ok. However, after I load the loop into the Dr. Rex player and try to play it, it comes out sounding nothing like what it did on the preview! How do I rectify this?

Also.....when trying to insert a Dr. Rex drum loop into the sequncer window, instead of just insertinf the whol thing, much like redrum does with the fixed tempo loops, it forces me to remake the loo, by giving me all the instruments used in it. I can get round this by playing the drum loop as a preview, saving it with Windows Sound Recorder, and then putting it into Redrum.....but that's the long way round. Do you guys know how to get round this?

Also, when I do things this way round, there is a big BIG problem. The tempo. Now anyone who's played music generator 3, knows that before you insert a rip from a CD into your song, the game lets you preview it, and adjust the tempo of the rip, while listening to the tempo that your song is currently at. This is represented by 'clicks' which play along at the tempo your song is at, and then it's simply a matter of adjusting the tempo area of the rif in conjunction with your song. This doesn't seem possible with reason.....any way around this?

Sorry one more quezzie....I cannot figure out how to use NN19, or Malstrom. Sure I can preview the sounds, and then load them into the player, but when I try to place them in the sequencer window, all I get are beeps, the same sort of beep no matter what sound is inserted. I've tried playing around with it, but nothing seems to affect the sound. Can you help on this one as well?

lol, I really wish the makers of Reason, the makers of Frutiy Loops and the makers of the Music series for playstation would try and see what is missing from their projects that the others include. We really do need an all singing, all dancing music program!

Thanks!

[Malcos]

Ok, so I use the Dr. Rex loop player to preview/listen to a drum loop I like, and it sounds ok. However, after I load the loop into the Dr. Rex player and try to play it, it comes out sounding nothing like what it did on the preview! How do I rectify this?

Firstly, when you preview the Rex loop in the browser, it has a number before it. That value is the tempo. Reason is set to a tempo of 120 be default, therefore if you preview a 160bpm loop in the browser then load it into your 120bpm sequencer, it will play slower. You will need to increase the tempo in your sequencer to hear it at the correct speed.

Also.....when trying to insert a Dr. Rex drum loop into the sequncer window, instead of just insertinf the whol thing, much like redrum does with the fixed tempo loops, it forces me to remake the loo, by giving me all the instruments used in it. I can get round this by playing the drum loop as a preview, saving it with Windows Sound Recorder, and then putting it into Redrum.....but that's the long way round. Do you guys know how to get round this?

Firstly, go to the sequencer window and make sure that the Rex is highlighted. Then go to the Rex machine in the rack and press the 'to track' button next to the preview button. Now it's on the track and will change tempo with the sequencer tempo.

Sorry one more quezzie....I cannot figure out how to use NN19, or Malstrom. Sure I can preview the sounds, and then load them into the player, but when I try to place them in the sequencer window, all I get are beeps, the same sort of beep no matter what sound is inserted. I've tried playing around with it, but nothing seems to affect the sound. Can you help on this one as well?

Have you got a keyboard? Otherwise reason is not easy to use at all! Make sure that in the sequencer, you click on the instrument you want to play. A red circle should appear as you highlight each instrument. Make sure you click on the keyboard symbol to the left of that circle symbol. That is how Reason knows what instrument you want to play at that particular time with your keyboard.

How long have you used Reason? I'm assuming you just got it. Keep playing around with it, there's stuff that I'm just discovering even though I've used it for 5 years! And you might want to read the manual too.

[melee54]

This is extremely annoying. My computer meets the requirements for Reason, yet it skips very frequently while I am trying to record something. Everything works perfectly up until then. I hit record, play, start playing music then the tempo gets thrown off at random spots and it skips. Is there any way to fix this? Apprently Reason could run on the crappiest computers ever, so what's the deal with mine?

My comp's specs:

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2.10ghz)

768mb Ram

95gigs

Thanks in advanced.

[Malcos]

That sounds very annoying indeed. Perhaps you could try increasing/decreasing the latency settings and see if it makes any difference. What's your soundcard?

[melee54]

I just tried that, and I had no luck. I don't think my soundcard is that good. Judging by the name of it, sounds like it came out in '97 or something. It's called "Realtek AC'97". It's a real problem because you have to re-record everything if it messes up. If you try and edit out the part that skipped, then it sounds choppy...

[Malcos]

Wow damn. The problem is most definitely your soundcard man - you need to get a new one! Looking at the rest of your specs, your soundcard isn't quite up to par.

[melee54]

Man...I don't understand why they would put such a crappy soundcard in a somewhat recent computer. (2003 it Came out.)

Well, I guess I'm off to read on what kind of soundcard to buy.

Or maybe I can take one out of one my old computers...

EDIT:

Dude! All I did was update my soundcard drivers and its working PERFECTLY! I can't believe it, i'm very happy, hahaha! To test it I loaded up one of my most layered beats, and went on the internet at the same time while it played, and it didn't skip, not even once.

I'm such an idiot, not sure why I didn't try that before.

Back to my music! Woot.

[Sonic 3]

Hey cheers for those pointers malcos!

Only one problem though. When I add an effect, such as in RV-7 or the Scream 4 device, the effect is applied to the whole track......such as the Dr Rex loops, and some of the smaples in Redrum. How do I isolate effects, so I have one effect applied to just one device? (Such as having the Hall effects applied only to the 2nd Redrum device?)

Oh and I just got Reason btw. Well actaully I've had it for about 2 months but it's just sat there mainly...unused etc. For those of us without keyboards, what music program would you recommend? I mean Music 2000 and Music Generator 3 are fine and dandy...but Music 2000 won't let you rip from Unknown(copied lol) cds and the memory is WAY too small to use CD samples anyway. And MG 3 has a very limited midi maker. And it would be nice if the CD sample limit was increased from 20 to 30. That'd be just right. Now if only the two were combined........

Also do you know how to check the tempo of mp3's? And does anyone know of a program that lets you record mp3's/wavs at different tempo speeds?

Cheers!

Edit: And sometimes when I preview a loop I like, and go to load it up into a track, by clicking on to track like you said, some strange things happen. What the heck does it mean when it says "This track plays on a device other than the one you have selected. To continue click ok." If I go to OK, the entire contents of Redrum mess up! And parts of the song become silent! And the only way to rectify everything is load the song back up! What's going on?

[Malcos]

Hey cheers for those pointers malcos!

Only one problem though. When I add an effect, such as in RV-7 or the Scream 4 device, the effect is applied to the whole track......such as the Dr Rex loops, and some of the smaples in Redrum. How do I isolate effects, so I have one effect applied to just one device? (Such as having the Hall effects applied only to the 2nd Redrum device?)

Don't forget that in Reason, you click on what you want to apply the effect to, THEN go to the create menu. So you click on the redrum device, then go to create reverb.

Oh and I just got Reason btw. Well actaully I've had it for about 2 months but it's just sat there mainly...unused etc. For those of us without keyboards, what music program would you recommend? I mean Music 2000 and Music Generator 3 are fine and dandy...but Music 2000 won't let you rip from Unknown(copied lol) cds and the memory is WAY too small to use CD samples anyway. And MG 3 has a very limited midi maker. And it would be nice if the CD sample limit was increased from 20 to 30. That'd be just right. Now if only the two were combined........

Get a keyboard lol. Or Fruityloops?

Also do you know how to check the tempo of mp3's?

Now you're just being lazy, learn to use google. I did.

http://www.analogx.com/CONTENTS/download/audio/taptempo.htm

Edit: And sometimes when I preview a loop I like, and go to load it up into a track, by clicking on to track like you said, some strange things happen. What the heck does it mean when it says "This track plays on a device other than the one you have selected. To continue click ok." If I go to OK, the entire contents of Redrum mess up! And parts of the song become silent! And the only way to rectify everything is load the song back up! What's going on?

Ok let's say you loaded up a rex loop that you like. Go to the sequencer and make sure that you highlight that rex track before you put that loop to the track. You see? Reason cannot read your mind - you have to tell it where you want things to go. Ok now you have to experiment more with the program.

[IC]

Hey cheers for those pointers malcos!

Only one problem though. When I add an effect, such as in RV-7 or the Scream 4 device, the effect is applied to the whole track......such as the Dr Rex loops, and some of the smaples in Redrum. How do I isolate effects, so I have one effect applied to just one device? (Such as having the Hall effects applied only to the 2nd Redrum device?)

Don't forget that in Reason, you click on what you want to apply the effect to, THEN go to the create menu. So you click on the redrum device, then go to create reverb.

Also, if all else fails, you can always press TAB and manually wire things up.

Oh and I just got Reason btw. Well actaully I've had it for about 2 months but it's just sat there mainly...unused etc. For those of us without keyboards, what music program would you recommend? I mean Music 2000 and Music Generator 3 are fine and dandy...but Music 2000 won't let you rip from Unknown(copied lol) cds and the memory is WAY too small to use CD samples anyway. And MG 3 has a very limited midi maker. And it would be nice if the CD sample limit was increased from 20 to 30. That'd be just right. Now if only the two were combined........

Get a keyboard lol. Or Fruityloops?

Reason isn't that hard without a keyboard. Well, I have one, but I don't see what would make it more difficult than other programs without a keyboard.

[Souliarc]

Hey cheers for those pointers malcos!

Only one problem though. When I add an effect, such as in RV-7 or the Scream 4 device, the effect is applied to the whole track......such as the Dr Rex loops, and some of the smaples in Redrum. How do I isolate effects, so I have one effect applied to just one device? (Such as having the Hall effects applied only to the 2nd Redrum device?)

Don't forget that in Reason, you click on what you want to apply the effect to, THEN go to the create menu. So you click on the redrum device, then go to create reverb.

Also, if all else fails, you can always press TAB and manually wire things up.

Which you probably want to do (especially for ReDrum) because you don't want to put the same EQ (for example) as you have on the kick, on your snare. Selecting a device such as ReDrum and then creating the effect device, will route the effect to affect every channel of ReDrum. So, you route the output of the individual channel of ReDrum to the input of the effect, then the output of the effect to whichever channel you want on the mixer.

Even for an effect like reverb, you probably want to route it to an auxiliary instead of the specific instrument device, so you can control how much reverb for each instrument you want through the individual mixer channel's auxiliary knobs. In which case you'll want the reverb to be 100% wet.

[Dafydd]

I'm having serious problems with bass in reason3. I can't find any bass instruments I like. Listen to this:

Can anyone recommend a good bass sound, and possibly tell me how to equalize it to make it sound less like ass?

[Hy Bound]

Did you do that? If so, thats not a bad bass. I usually have a bass made with a two osc flat subtractor with the phasing set above 64 on both, with a filter at about 45. I then patch it through a scream, then a chorus flanger. Then i put some of the new compressor on it, relatively light, but more than a mastered compression. I tend to thoroughly automate my basslines though, kinda of a strong, yet deep bass sound tends to get through using that.

Otherwise, as for general tips, i would tend to shy away from EQing the bass in, it tends to muddy up a full, rich bass sound. Using Tape warmth on it is quite good for adding a bit of width and depth to the sound, but really, it depends on what kind of bass you want. I tend to use deep, thick and massive basslines in my music, but a lot of people prefer the softer or crunchier sides of it.

Before i start to ramble, i would just suggest:

1. play around with the subtractor, that will warrant a better bass sound than the maelstrom for the kind of bass you want.

2. Dont be afraid to layer your bass, but make sure they both arent taking up the same frequency too much.

3. My favorite thing to do is to sidechain compress the bass from the bass drum so it doesnt crud up the master bass when they both play.

4. Tape warmth adds a lot to the bass-like sound, as well as the chorus/flanger. Just dont overuse them.

5. Many people say that using copious amounts of EQ on synths (especially bass) works really well, but i personally hate it; you're getting a sound from something that obviously isnt there in the first place making it sound like shit.

Meh, im not an expert, but this is what ive found to be helpful. And yes, i repeated myself a few times...

[Dafydd]

Hey, that's funny, because that's exactly what I did. Subtractor -> Scream (tape) -> Flanger... and still I don't like it at all. Maybe layering is the only way. Plus the subtractor is so horribly mono... maybe I can fix that myself though.

[sgx]

I like to layer two synths for basses a lot. One more 'buzzy' that lacks enough low end to be good on its own, and one that's more like a sin wave sub bass sound.

Also, unison can be bad news for bass - width is good in the mid-high freqs, but usually bass freqs you want mono and centered to make them tighter. Use the mclass stereo widener to make the mid+highs wide, and the low centered.

[Dafydd]

[insert "Freelancer" quote here]

Yeah, that's good advice. Thanks.

[V___]

I like to layer two synths for basses a lot. One more 'buzzy' that lacks enough low end to be good on its own, and one that's more like a sin wave sub bass sound.

Also, unison can be bad news for bass - width is good in the mid-high freqs, but usually bass freqs you want mono and centered to make them tighter. Use the mclass stereo widener to make the mid+highs wide, and the low centered.

Any combi patch's available?

[sgx]

I put a few things in the combi patches thread (is that still around?)

But, I usually don't reuse synths too much, so I don't save a lot of my combis.

[Ash Williams]

Hi all,

I've been having a very strange problem in Reason and I can't figure out what's causing it or how to fix it, so I was wondering if anyone here can help.

Basically when my computer is playing a song there is no problem and everything works fine, but when I stop playing the song the cpu meter starts to climb until I get a message that my computer is too slow. This also happens sometimes after I stop playing notes on my keyboard.

Any help would be appreciated.