reason

[cascade]

whats the best programme for making trance/dance music?

im about to buy a new pc from reb sub.com, its packing a terratec DMX6 sound card, 3.ghz pentium 4, and a midi man oxygen8 keyboard,

but which programmes do i need, i was thinking of getting reason 2 cause my mate recomends it?
how about cubase?

[log:one]

ive said it before and ill say it again.... FLSTUDIO.

the trouble with reason is the compressor is shit... and eventually your gonna get to the stage where you cant make it sound as good as you want it to...

a lot of people dont take fruity seriously (i didnt for ages) but scrape the surface and youll find all the power youll ever need... with the added bonus that its easier to use than your A-hole. plus in reason you cant load any VST instruments, so thats amazing things like Atmosphere (a string/synth/atmos/pad monster), V-station (a lush, versatile synth) and countless others out the window.

but different people have wildly different opinions... id say your best bet is to get in some demos and see which one takes your fancy...

[Barely Human]

like Atmosphere (a string/synth/atmos/pad monster), V-station (a lush, versatile synth) and countless others out the window.

Mmmmmm...... aaaaattttmmmmoooooosssssppphhheerrreeee..!!!

I wonder where you got that :D

Deffo check out FL STUDIO, dont listen to what a lot of people have to say about it, check it out for yourself. Im sure you will be impressed :D

[Louk]

Reasons amazing to learn with
I swear by it as i keep saying.
But i admit that FL Studio is good (there ya go logan...!!)
but I will not convert.

Besides why not just rewire it with cubase ?? Cubase is amazing too...i'd run it if my laptop could handle it!

Louk

[djTequila]

I've been using Reason for a while. If you know someone who can use it well, get some tips and starting points off them. Once you have your way in, you'll be able to learn the system inside out - and only then will you start to notice the limitations.

From here, you'll have learned enough about sampling, synthesis and arrangemet skills to move up to a professional package like Cubase or Logic. Starting off with these is a bit hardcore - but they will give you the power and versatility you need.

I moved to Cubase SX, because it had a more transparent interface. However, the programming tools on offer are poor compared to Logic's sequence edit functions. Logic seems to be far more tightly programmed as well. In the current climate, Cubase SX is too buggy and unstable to use in a professional environment - Logic has the edge on timing and stability. Either wait until Steinberg fix up Cubase, or use Logic.

Be aware that Logic is no longer made for the PC, so if you buy into it, you're buying the last version made for the platform. I thought it was worth it after half an hour...

Get some books about the technology, programming and the rest. Paul White (SOS editor) is brilliant author - I especialy recommend 'Creative Recording 1: Effects and Processors'. Also, Huber's 'Modern Recording Techniques' is a good, broad-based starting point with some good advice buried away.

Find a course on studio techniques and MIDI. It's good to give you an idea of what you need before you start to spend money, and courses are great places to get contacts. I landed some engineering work from going on one.

Tequila

[Dave Elyzium]

I read alot about the whole Reason vs FL debate and it amazes me that some people only want to use one programme to produce there music!! By doing that you are straight away limiting yourself whatever the software you are using.

I like to produce using a variety of progs, getting you individual samples sounding shit hot before you even sequence them is key so get a good sample editor (Soundforge or Wavelab are the best IMO) or Cool Edit Pro is good if you want to do multitracking (i use this for breakbeat tracks if im using an (eek) guitar)....

I use Orion Pro (similar to fruity loops i think) for sequencing VST instruments and for gating pads for that classic rhythmic strings effect as it has a wicked sidechained gate plug in, ill then sample riffs and lead lines and load them into reason...
Most of my sequencing is done in reason, ill get the arrangement done in reason and then mix down each track seperatley to an individual .wav file before loading them into Logic Audio for the main mixdowm and mastering session as the range of effects and controlk in the environment are awesome......

Basically.....if i were you i would start off using a program which i know people who use, so u can get a good grounding, then when you are more confident, add other progs to your setup and you will learn how to get the best from each prog!!

Feel free to email me mate, if you want to ask anything and i will try and help....

[djTequila]

This is a good point - each program has specialities that make it easier to get particular effects.

Logic is the most powerful MIDI tool on the market. No question.
Acid is wonderful for chopped-up effects on beats, vocals, or whole tracks - and for time-stretching, although that's easy enough in Logic if you learn how.
Logic and Cubase are great host environments for VST instruments.
Reason is immensely flexible with audio and control paths, and very controllable... It allows immediate mapping of MIDI controllers to on-screen knobs, and automation is very easy.
Ableton Live combines the automation ease of Reason with the wave munging capabilities of Acid... And adds some very interesting new groove manipulation twists. No MIDI though.
Reason makes it very easy to 'steal' grooves from MIDI parts, and combined with Re:Cycle can create incredible chopped loop effects - rhythmic, atmospheric, or tuneful. The Malstrom synth is wonderful for texture, and a couple of the new effects are good, but the subtractive synth needs an overhaul. And there's no VST support - despite what the Turnkey ads say.
Soundforge is cool for chopping up samples as it has a sweet user interface, and even has FM synthesis built in.
Wavelab is great for mastering, as it allows VST and DX plugins to be applied in realtime...

And that's just a few programs that I know.

I'm looking forward to getting my hands on Cakewalk's Project 5 sometime soon... It's getting rave reviews all over the shop. Anyone had a go yet?

[cascade]

cheers guys,
how do you guy buy ?
are you all honest as the day is long and buy them from the shop or do you just download them or get them copied from somewhere?
is it worth spending all that cash on an authentic copy of reason or cuebase or flstudio?

[log:one]

Yes. It most definitely is worth it. Buy boxed versions, go to church on sundays and dont forget to tip at least ten percent.

[DJ Corbzy]

Yeah FLSTUDIO all the way, I started with Reason and quickly bored of it, got fruity 3.4 then got flstudio and its the best....

[lohki]

you can combine fruity and reason .. create your melody in reason and put it into FL .. everything is possible..

however .. FL is the best !!