ableton 5 vs reason 3

Having both would be great. It sounds like you want to slice and dice and get really involved in the sounds, which Reason is great for; if you could make loops there and then arrange them in Live, with its VST capabilities, that'd be nice. But start with Reason; it seems best suited to what you want to do. And it can do everything you want; it's capable of most all the same arrangement stuff as Live. The only thing you need extra is some little program that'll let you record multi-track audio -- so that if you want to record something like a vocal line and then shove that sample into Reason, you'll be able to.

But the breakdown is this, basically --

Live = can record audio and handles VST plug-ins (for infinite addition of little tools)

Reason = quickly and intuitively lets you work on a really detailed sequencing level

Though yes, something like Audacity is fine for recording and processing raw sample sounds, before shipping them into Reason and manipulating them. My usual chain =

Soundforge (recording and prepping sounds)
Reason (developing and sequencing patterns into song)
Cakewalk (recording multi-track parts like vox and guitar)
Reason (mixing parts back in and finalizing arrangement)
Live (adding VST effects and mastering)

Within the next year I'll be getting my home studio together and I haven't decided which way to go software-wise. I feel really comfortable with Cubase, but I know Pro Tools is more ubiquitous/pro and possibly has higher quality plugins. I tried the demo of Ableton once and found it really non-inuitive, contrary to its rep.

(Still, I can't imagine anything getting the ease of sequencing you get with Reason, where you can use simple, uniform controllers to automate any parameters you want. The moment you notice the "curve" function, you have full control to program out so much, easily, right down to, say matching patterns of wheel modulation or effects settings for every individual note.) (I like copying curve patterns and matching them so different parts flicker the same way -- an envelope here, a reverb decay there, a delay pan here, etc.)

Usually I'm in love with the NN sampler -- especially with the way you can set polyphony. There isn't much more I want in terms of sample control.

2) See, the ability to easily edit wav files/samples is more important to me than Reason's grid sequencing and effects chains. I'd rather be able to go through a phrase and quickly make some cymbal and snare hits shorter or longer than prepare a bunch of different length samples and load them into Reason.

(Our difference on this makes sense, though, cause I imagine you're working more with full performance recordings! Most everything I do is getting programmed from the ground up, which is the kind of construction Reason's obviously really good for.)

Mr Death

Let It Go Let It Go Let It Go

Did Nabisco notice this?!

Is the pope Greek?

if you've got the separate tracks for a song (like that 'drugs in your body' by thieves like us) and want to make a remix of it but add a big beefy bassline and harder technoish drums and some twinkly effects, what program would be best? and what else would i need - a good softsynth?

I used to use a ZX spectrum until recently cos (...) you can easily make it do what you want

Okay that is hardcore. Especially the "easily".

s.rose, you want ableton live with operator.

live 5 is the first software sequencer/sampler workstation I've ever worked on that felt like it made almost as much sense as hardware - live 6 doesn't improve on a great deal in that respect, but it does have some better built-in FX.

thank you tom, i am working through the tutorials on ableton live 7 now. it seems like a great program. have you or anyone on IMM used live 7 yet? (and does live 7 come with operator built in? i can't seem to find out of this version has it or not)

fuck we're on 7 now? I only just got around to giving a shit about 6

lol they're trying to turn this shit into some kind of full-on logic pro bullshit aren't they

HOW ABOUT A VOCODER??? EH!?!?!?

they may be trying to market it as a pro-full-DAW-work-flow-environment-experience but that's just so the legions of schmock and schmindie fools buy it. they haven't actually bothered to add any logicy features. in fact, logic and that crowd are stealing off ableton more than the other way round.

s.rose, live 7 has managed to split itself into loads of different products that you need to buy separately, including but not limited to, operator, sampler, essential instrument collection, drum machines, tension, analog and session drums.

the best thing to do is buy the cheapest product you can find that comes with live lite (i got a m-audio audiophile pci soundcard for £45) and then put the serial number into the live website. then go to the webshop and you can buy either the ableton suite (everything) for €599 or the ableton suite without the drum samples and essential instrument collection (it's far from essential) and cardboard box for €499.

god i think i am going to use garage band :(

Ableton == in any form == will reduce you to tears after wrestling with its interface and hardware connections with a PC. Really sophisticated Euor-made dogshit. If that's your thing, then it's great.

??

I have had zero wrestling issues with it, its interface, and especially not hardware connections; what exactly are you working with?

show him what you're working with.

(I have also had exactly 0 issues with ableton besides the fact that impulse has no button of its own to quickly and easily backwardize a sample)

I just can't imagine what interface problems are being referred to. Granted, I don't use any complicated connections with it, but everything seems to work pretty simply -- pick the driver format you're using, it recognizes any interfaces, you select and use them ... what problems would develop? I feel like any interface issues wouldn't be with Ableton, they'd be with your system dealing with the hardware in the first place.

Personal breakthrough, 9:30pm, January 19

Redrum is murder backwards.
Now checking other Reason modules for similar evil references, will report back.

"scream"

No WONDER I haven't had any luck breaking into the bigtime with my awesome music...one of my drum machines is evil!

All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy
All work and no play makes Z S a dull boy

I only just noticed the synth is Malstrom and not Maelstrom.

Should I go for Ableton? I am a Reason-head.

I'm really, really happy with using both -- I prefer the Reason environment for actually programming things, and the Live environment for recording, plug-in effects, automations, etc. I think they work really well together. Most of the things I work on, at this point, are a half-and-half split between tracks routed in from Reason and tracks recorded with Live.

me 2

Well, I'm getting me Ableton posted to me so I can have a go on it and see what I think. I've been warned that I can just say goodbye to my life for the next few months, that it's totally like crack rock.

Oh, wow: Propellerheads is just starting to beta-test a package called RECORD -- full multi-tracking software that can mount in and use any of the modules from Reason. Supposed to be released this fall.

^quite interested in this myself

ooh, record for reason users includes an upgrade to 4 for users of 1.0 thru 3.0

so effectively you get either record or the upgrade for free

sweeet

for users that purchased Reason between May 11th and September 8th, 2009.

i bought reason 2 several yrs ago, so i'm not eligible? how the hell would someone own v. 1 or 2 without having bought it before may 2009?

nar that only applies to the $50 rebate

Users that purchased a new, full copy of Reason version 4 between May 11th and September 8th are entitled to a $50 USD/€30 EUR rebate on Record for Reason Owners, available in the Propellerhead online store. To obtain the rebate, send us a copy of your receipt through this e-mail form before placing your order.

ok i figured i must have read it wrong

thats a great deal, i might actually pay for software again. how is record though? looks kinda cubase-y