Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[Equinoxe]

Ok we all know Jarre's used it (or still is???)


Anyone in here using it???


I bought a copy 2 weeks ago and haven't been able to switch it off,I had a demo version of it and was pretty impressed by what it has to offer and since went out and bought the full blown version,I Have always been a sceptic with software based studios,relying more on Hardware than computers,but this program has changed my perception and actually has improved my productive workflow,and apart from the Korg Kontrol 49 Midi Keyboard and Korg PadKontrol to Play/input data etc I havent used any other Hardware in the process of composing since I've started using it...and for £200 UK pounds it contains a pretty massive sound pallette and sound creating machines that would rival a Nice large Hardware setup equivilant that would reach into 10's thousands of Pounds,Ok its not exactly Pro mastering facilities but you can achieve some good results with just Reason,and its nice to not have to woory about setting everything up everytime you play back the songs after a session,Just load up your song and away you go,replaying exactly as you left it everytime...



I'm not about to ditch my Studio Hardware setup ,but using Reason has certainly changed my view on Software based applications,and Questioned my need for Buying further Hardware synths,as I've already mentioned I havent used any of my other Hardware since composing within Reason...
Its got a few Negative points which,I've found out since using,but nothing that can't be worked around,and could probably be addressed in further versions,but overall I'm really enjoying using it,and I've been composing at a faster rate with it,due to its immediacy.....


Like it Loathe it,Never bothered with it..I'm interested to hear others opinions Good and bad??

[(Unknown)]

Ok we all know Jarre's used it (or still is???)


Anyone in here using it???

...

Like it Loathe it,Never bothered with it..I'm interested to hear others opinions Good and bad??

At the beginning I thought you were jokin'. The Korg man, a die hard-hardware user falling "in the box"...
Anyway I agree with you. Reason is an incredible tool and Propellerheads have very propelling heads When they came out with ReCycle! and Rebirth they were really far ahead. With Reason and Rewire they scored another goal.
What is amazng is that you flip this rack up and down, put devices like if you were a millionaire, do mess with cables (which are always long enough...), do not need a multi-plug adaptor for powering all this devices, etc. etc.

But... wait before selling your equipment.
I remember of Gwydi -the man of the JD-800/JD-990 forum- putting his beloved JDs on eBay ready to go, replaced by a VSTi virtual analog.
He was convinced by the forum users not to give them away on that sudden impulse and he was happy not to have done it.

Reason is really cool and quick, but it can easily sound thin.
I like the Dr.Rex player but it doesn't sound that good, especially if you use the factory loops which are sons of libraries that are themselves sons of early 90s libraries...
The samplers NN-XT are even worse to me.
I tried some converted AKAI programs and compared them with the AKAI S3000XL and there is no parallel
Still is a creative tool and people who master that program do wonders with it.

I sometimes think if only analog synths have still meaning these days.
Why do I purchase a second hand all digital synth which has modest converters, needs power cords, cables, MIDI, does not weight as a notebook with a USB/FW soundcard?
I don't know. I may have the some G.A.S. syndrome. I might be nostalgic. Or stupid. But I like how they sound and look.
3.00 o'clock here. Time to fall asleep and save words.

Cheers Equi

[(Unknown)]

I bloody hate Reason. Ableton Live 5 (what I use now) is the best choice for software IMO at the moment.

[Equinoxe]

Thanx for the FB guys,some interesting views here...

@Pete

12 months ago I would have said to you,never trust fully software studios,I am and always will be a hardware freak,and still am even after being won over by Reason,for me I'm not after a replacement for the Hardware nor will i sell everything up for Reason type products,I just feel that its another way of looking at the software environment,other than Cubase VST and a large collection of softsynths i dont use Software at all,and even then its minimal useage prefering to sequence on Hardware workstations,I'm more of a hands on Person prefering the feel of real hardware than just a mouse but having been given loads of different Platforms of Software seqs over the years I never came across one product that would make me sit up and realise that you could actually just use one sound creating tool and Sequencer and service your Musical needs without racks and racks of hardware and a pile of Keyboards...

In actual Fact a catalyst in me looking to buy reason was so that I could use it on the move within my laptop and still have a large collection of sound modules/Samplers etc,basically carry around a studio setup that allowed me to compose easily with minimal fuss.Yeh sure I was coping OK with just Cubase and VSTs,but it tended to be more effort into everything rather than a quick rough idea and work on it later,there was so much more to setup within Cubase to get ideas down,one of the good points about Reason is that its not so Processor Hungry(Korg legacy!!!! as Cubase and whole host of Vsts,plus it meant that with Cubase if i was including external Hardware to sequence from Cubase,it would mean making sure everything was setup exact everytime i replayed the song,whereas I could load up Reason everytime and away you go with little effort

I do find that the Sequencer page of Reason could be more logical,and given that I'm so used to Cubase V5 and SX,it seemed a little slim on editing features,but using Rewire allows me to still use it within the confines of Cubase to access higher spec editing ops

On the Sound side,Majority of the sounds are good,I wouldnt say they are the phattest timbres of sound modelling,but 75% are useable,and the presets are editable so it gives you an idea of whats capable from its synthesis,I think the best Feature on Reason 3.0 is the Combinator,which allows me to edit sounds in a similar fashion to my Korg Workstations,TBH some of the Preset sounds are well thought out ,and its immediacy of the functions allows me to work easily and effortlessly,without all the fuss that goes with a large Hardware setup...


The drum computer is quite ideal for me( using Korg ER-1's),I'm not a huge fan of most of the sound library in the drum samples,but its good that you can load your own in aswell,so this gives you more possibilities..and most of the Other utlilities are of decent specifications,and given that its so easy to use you can get your ideas down in next to no time,I tend to compose more on the Improvised side,and Reason is pretty Ideal for that working method so i Suppose thats why i took to it pretty much straight away,Although reason seems to be pretty flexible for Live work too,I don't think I'm confident enough in it yet to rely solely on it for Live work,but its opening new possibilities for me

Anyway cheers for your comments guys...Just wanted to hear everyone elses views on it(I'm not about to throw out the Korgs just yet)

One possibility that I would maybe consider to sell everything,In that Korg allowed proper access to it OS of the Oasys,so that the Raw Pentium would be able to run a software platform of your choice,so you could easily intergrate Reason within the Oasys platform,now that is one avenue I would explore to have just one Keyboard/Workstation and do away with the rest on my Korgs!!for me that would be the Icing on the cake of the melding of Both the Hardware and software systems

[(Unknown)]

Thanx for the FB guys,some interesting views here...

@Pete

12 months ago I would have said to you,never trust fully software studios,I am and always will be a hardware freak,and still am even after being won over by Reason,for me I'm not after a replacement for the Hardware nor will i sell everything up for Reason type products

But i must admit: The best thing on Software is: It needs no cables at all and no maintenance. If a Hardware Synthesizer starts to fail, it s always connected with having stress and loosing money. If it gets too much, then you´ll moving far, far away from making music. Months ago i have sold a -lot- of my equipment and the remaining pieces are more or less a bunch of crap. The only machines from my former "Synth-Park" which -really- work and which have no malfunction are two JX8-P, the DSS-1, the Kawai K1 and a Drumstation. JP8000: Death (sh*t device....as cool as it sounds and looks, as more crappy it is build, sry....). Soundmaker: Death. MS2000: Sold. Ex-8000:Sold. Proteus/1:Sold. RM1X:Sold. MC303:Sold. DSP2024P:Sold. Polysix: Death. Cruise: Death. The fat Mixing console with the Mulittracker: Death. Three(!) Yamaha MT8-X: Death. The two former Polysix: Both death. And a non-built Simplesizer. And so on. About the CZ-1 and CZ-3000: We better don´t talking about them. 80% of the death devices were E... crap. I won´t say how much i have payed over all the years for having nowadays nearly -nothing-. And you won´t believe how -angry- it makes me=>being not stupid, having -some- creativity inside, but nearly -everything- i have / had was in -any- case -useful-, because -every time- another device had a failure! At the end i was more with the solder iron working on my devices instead of using them!

Proud...conviction....really: -If- i would have -now- to choice between Software or Hardware, then only -new- Hardware -or- Software. All this half-death crap isn´t it worth.

Stef

[radek tymecki]

I have no dead gear

When sth goes wrong i'm trying to repair it

dead polysix? battery leakage for sure

[PHASEREFFECT]

I have no dead gear

When sth goes wrong i'm trying to repair it

dead polysix? battery leakage for sure

Hah...if it would be only this....8048 failure, 8049 failure...Soundmaker: Poly/Mono-VCO and Divider, then Mono-ADSR failure, MT8X CPU failure, even the MG-Desk, 6805 failure So, from where to get an AY-1-1313? From where to get a preprogrammed 8048/8049 (afair not Pin-compatible to the 8051) for the Polysix? From where to get the CPU-Code of a 6805 (AKAI wanted $200 for the CPU excl. $80 for shipping from the US)? Believe me, i have more than enough experience. But what helps the best experience, if you cannot get from anywhere replacement parts for a affordable price? And, be sure, i will -not- program for each device a replacement chip, even if i am able to do so. In fact not -any- of them is it worth. It is better to kill them finally and put something self-built into the housing.

Stef