I don't play keyboard. At all.
I draw sequences for everything I create. Always have. That little pencil tool is my "instrument."
How do you guys program Reason? Playing keyboard, sequencing, a combination of both, other?
Also, how do you begin a sequence? With drums, a bass line, a main melody, a sound effect or loop?
I find that drums and bass are often first for me, though sometimes, I will start with a particular tune.
I draw sequences for everything I create. Always have. That little pencil tool is my "instrument."
How do you guys program Reason? Playing keyboard, sequencing, a combination of both, other?
Also, how do you begin a sequence? With drums, a bass line, a main melody, a sound effect or loop?
I find that drums and bass are often first for me, though sometimes, I will start with a particular tune.
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Methodology
Mon, April 21, 2008 - 10:20 PMI play keyboard well enough to put in a melody or a beat or a bass line, although not well enough to be in a band. I also use the pencil to draw some notes, and the arrow to move them around, copy notes and phrases, and fix up timing.
I usually begin a piece with a rhythm line of some sort, although sometimes it's a melody or even a particular sound that comes first. Once in a while I'll begin with a drum loop, but usually I like to make my own. Even if I begin with the drum loop I'll copy it to a track and start messing around with the notes.
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Re: Methodology
Wed, April 23, 2008 - 8:10 AMi actually dont think that being a keyboard player helps playing midi unless youre trying to write a key or guitar/harp line. in reason while recording, i leave my cursor right over the record button and set my loop region only to the part i want to record into. if what i recorded isnt close enough to what i want, i hit apple z and its gone. then the recording stops but the loop keeps playing. my cursor is already hovering over the record button so i dont need to touch the mouse. once i hit apple z its gone and i hit my my trackpad button just to get it recording again for my next take. its really quite fast this way. i also try to record longer regions just so when i hit enter, the whole region can be edited without messing around in the sequencer with the new little separate zone enabler crap ha ha.
once ive decided on a tempo, i devote a mixer to just the beat. i run a redrum with channels 1 through 10 going to channels 1 through 10 on the mixer. this way you can effect every single sample instead of the whole redrum by using effects as sends in the mixer. then a rex machine or four in the last channels of the mixer and start making a beat. i do this first just because i hate the metronome. its nice to have a beat from the start because the beat, dynamically, has the most influence on the feel of your song, and if the drum samples dont sound right, it will be the first thing thats noticed.
basically, writing with midi is just like taking notes to remember for later. get used to painting in notes, moving and most importantly, deleting what youve played so you can just drag your favorite versions of the same thing into the spot it previously held.
personally, i just installed logic pro 8 and it has stopped my midi from working (not sure why). this has brought to my attention how important midi is. piano roll editing alone will take forever! peace guys -
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Re: Methodology
Wed, April 23, 2008 - 3:41 PMI seldom, if ever compose out of a drum loop or bassline. I will dink around in REAKTOR in standalone with some of their drum machines/audio manglers and use the recorder box to make loops from however. Often I will just start with dinking around with my little midi controller and one of Reaktor's (or Absynths) modules and record that and make a loop. That usually kicks things off for me pretty well. From there, I'll often start fleshing things out/mangling them further in Ableton and use Reason as a rewire slave for additional instrumentation. Even when I used Reason by itself I would often just start with Subtractor (and probably the Matrix) and a nice long chain of effects and come up with something really spacey and fucked up. It's just more interesting that way to try to make beats conform to it or it can inspire a nice hook.
www.myspace.com/mortal_engines
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Re: Methodology
Thu, April 24, 2008 - 10:11 AMI use my mouse. I have more control. It takes ages, it doesn't feel organic.... but I have more control over things. The thing is I´ve always been really poor gearwise, I could never afford a really good midi keyboard... so for years I would just use what was available. I´m so used to drawing sequences with a mouse that a midi keyboard is to me useless for recording. It's lovely for live performance, but for tight sequences I just draw with my mouse. -
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Re: Methodology
Sat, May 10, 2008 - 1:06 PMI draw or play different parts in differently. And like you, I'm not much of a keyboardist. But you can definitely be very creative and flexible in how you compose in Reason. Really, that is one of its big advantages.
For any drums I'm creating in Reason, it's all patterns written up to the note lane in the sequenceer.
You can also draw a sequence out on a matrix and write it up to the track, controlling gate and note cv. Then, you can edit and draw in on the sequencer from there.
For bass lines and some synths, I'll use a Matrix and route its gate out to the amp env of the subtractor, nnxt/19, or malstrom. Then I'll draw in gate which will control the rhythm, and the note is still controlled by my hand on my Maudio Axiom midi kb.
For pads and strings and the like, I usually just play that on the keyboard. I can manage to stay in key on the Axiom as long as I don't have to do it too quickly. :)
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