I just wanted to say hi to all you fellow trancers out there! I'm excited to find a forum for specifically trance, and how helpful i've found it already! Much thanks to all the veterans out there that take the time to share the knowledge, its much appreciated! I'm a beginner with nothing but a computer, a MIDI keyboard, and Reason. To top it off is a little knowledge of what I'm doing (years of piano lessons!), but not much! Lately I've been doing lots of messing around on Reason, and I've gotten pretty disheartened..Not so much because it doesnt sound too good (there's no way I expect it to yet), but because I don't know whether to hit the manuals/books or to just jump in and tread deep water...I have the willpower, but I don't know where to go from here?

With Reason, learning can go two ways:
1) You get totally lost and you give up with arms in the air. Or...
2) Things will suddenly twig and you'll go "ahh...so that's how it works" and the creativity will flow shortly afterwards.

Don't give up. Once you reach stage two, you can start to have a crack at the basics, then progress to more advanced techniques from there. After that, who knows what else you can do....there's a whole world of amazing audio products that will help you achieve your goal.

Good luck with it mate!

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I really find that I don't like the sequencer in Reason...I tried out a demo of Cubase and the sequencing seems a lot more user-friendly...I also experimented with using ReWire, where Reason works as a slave to Cubase. Is this a good/bad idea?

quote:

Originally posted by cl0ckw3rk I really find that I don't like the sequencer in Reason...I tried out a demo of Cubase and the sequencing seems a lot more user-friendly...I also experimented with using ReWire, where Reason works as a slave to Cubase. Is this a good/bad idea?

i did this for about 8 months i use cubase solely now but it is good starting off if you have the money for both packages. although you will more than likely dump reason down the line so better getting to grips with cubase early.

good luck

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Yay, another Reason bashing thread.
Welcome to the forum.

quote:

Originally posted by dj_palm just dont sit with reason too long. i did and now i have realy problems adapting to "standard" sequencers with more possibilites like vst, hardware and all that.

So glad I switched to Ableton to sequence when I did!


Love the sounds on reason, HATE HATE HATE the sequencer!

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OK so I got a demo of Ableton too, and I know sequencers are (mostly) about preference, but I obviously can't have any bias considering that both Cubase and Ableton are completely foreign to me. In any case, I can still make very good use of Reason by ReWiring it I think. That way I can still use the sounds, but ditch its sequencer!

For most beginners I recommend Fruityloops, but if you've got years of piano training maybe you should head straight for Cubase as the sequencing/scoring/arrangement may actually seem more natural.

Reason's a good product too though, no bashing here - especially if you've got a lower-end machine and don't want to get into the technical issues like choosing a sound card and finding the right plugins. Has good MIDI support as well. Just, as some people have said, it's a rather non-standard workflow that many instrumental musicians find difficult to adapt to.

There are lots of Reason tutorials out there - I'd suggest reading those first, and if you still can't get into it, give Cubase a shot. If you do switch to Cubase, there's no reason to rewire Reason (no pun intended) for the sake of its sounds - you can create those just as easily with a variety of VSTs, most people who rewire Reason do it specifically *because* of its sequencer.

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I haven't tried Reason, but I know a lot of good producers use it. The only drawback with reason is there's no VSTi support, but, the refills seem to offer enough quality samples and synths. I use Fruity loops myself. I have some musical training, but I got used to the Fruity sequencer very quickly.

I learned everything the hard way, by diving right in. I only look at manuals or watch tutorials when I really get stuck. This is probably not the best way to learn. If you are the type that doesn't mind learning from tutorials or manuals, do it that way then, it will save you time. The main thing is, think about what you want to do, then find out how to do it. Learn as you go along, that is. There will be plenty of stuff you'll never think of that you can do, that's where tutorials come in. Ever few weeks I find something new and amazing that I can do with Fruity, after 5+ yrs of using it, and I wish I would have known about it before. So do both, dive in and tread water, but also keep the manuals and tutorials close by.

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welcome to the boards and good luck i suggest you take up smoking chronic to help with your creativity!

quote:

Originally posted by aquila With Reason, learning can go two ways: 1) You get totally lost and you give up with arms in the air. Or... 2) Things will suddenly twig and you'll go "ahh...so that's how it works" and the creativity will flow shortly afterwards. Don't give up. Once you reach stage two, you can start to have a crack at the basics, then progress to more advanced techniques from there. After that, who knows what else you can do....there's a whole world of amazing audio products that will help you achieve your goal. Good luck with it mate!

This man speaks the truuuuffffff

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thanks for all the tips guys!

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