Is Reason enough, or should I upgrad, or whate..?

CDotF

CDotF

Rapper Slash Producer
Hey folks, quick question from a rookie beatmaker..

I find Reason to be a beast when it comes to making beats, just with all the sounds that's included within it.

But I find it sort of liMiting since a majority of the sounds are synths. Nothing wrong with synths and I love it for especially for the gangster, synth-heavy G-Funk sort of sound (off the top of my head, Eminem and 50 Cent "never enough" or 2pac's "cant c me") and down south style beats..

..but when it comes to a certain style of rap (sort of like J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Large Professor type of sound) I cannot figure out how Reason could be used.

Are those types of sparse, minimalist instrumentals only created through heavy sampling? Should I drop the 500 bones on Logic Studio (I already have Logic Express but without the content) to get access to the internal sounds? Which specific plugins/VSTs should I be looking at if ever (I should mention that I already have the IK multimedia bundle)?

Thanks in advance..
 
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You can sample inside Reason, and yes, that's where those type sounds come from. Sampling. I always though of Reason as a well-rounded program for integrating samples. Just the factory soundbank that comes stock is enough to cover drums, bass, and extra sounds that layer well with samples.

The problem will come with you figuring out the best way for you to integrate sampling into your Reason workflow. Reason ver. 5 does sample, plenty of threads on these boards discussing it, you also have the option of using Recycle or another 3rd party loop editor.

If that's your only problem with Reason I wouldn't suggest abandoning the program behind it. I'd suggest researching to find a good solution to how you can comfortably sample inside it. There's literally hundreds of methods to do so.
 
deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
You can sample inside Reason, and yes, that's where those type sounds come from. Sampling. I always though of Reason as a well-rounded program for integrating samples. Just the factory soundbank that comes stock is enough to cover drums, bass, and extra sounds that layer well with samples.

The problem will come with you figuring out the best way for you to integrate sampling into your Reason workflow. Reason ver. 5 does sample, plenty of threads on these boards discussing it, you also have the option of using Recycle or another 3rd party loop editor.

If that's your only problem with Reason I wouldn't suggest abandoning the program behind it. I'd suggest researching to find a good solution to how you can comfortably sample inside it. There's literally hundreds of methods to do so.
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to take this thought a step further...

go to youtube and spend a few hours watching videos on Reason...


here are a few links to great Reason videos:

http://www.boyinaband.com/

https://www.youtube.com/hydlide24#p/u/0/zhjP3tKopDk

https://www.youtube.com/user/PropellerheadSW



the bottom line is that if you cant do what you want to in Reason you are going to have the same problems with logic and any other product...

next point, all of these products are powerful and you will not master them in a hour, week and/or maybe months. my advice is learn what you have but take you time.

Rome was no built in day...

p.s. throwing money at problem is not always the answer...
 
Thanks for the thoughts guys, i appreciate it. After spending the day watching beatmaking videos on Youtube, i realize that i have pretty much everything I need. I need some extra drum kits because the default ones in Reason aren't making the cut for me.

While I'm at it, i might as well ask: are the sounds that come in Logic Studio much iller than the default Reason patches? I saw on the Apple website that it comes with 1700-something instruments. Sometimes I can't help but feel limited as I feel like I've heard all the default sounds Reason has to offer.
 
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CDotF said:
Thanks for the thoughts guys, i appreciate it. After spending the day watching beatmaking videos on Youtube, i realize that i have pretty much everything I need. I need some extra drum kits because the default ones in Reason aren't making the cut for me.

While I'm at it, i might as well ask: are the sounds that come in Logic Studio much iller than the default Reason patches? I saw on the Apple website that it comes with 1700-something instruments. Sometimes I can't help but feel limited as I feel like I've heard all the default sounds Reason has to offer.
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having a billion and one sounds are great but the key is what are you going to do with them...

there are free refill download at the Props web site and on the internet. plus, esoundz has a few refill sale each year.

just curious...

have you gone thru the sounds that came with Reason? have you created any combinators? have you use the cv routing?

in others words there is a billion and one sounds that come with Reason but "you" need to create them....
 
take your time with reason or any of the programs you want. you will get what you want. i have been in your shoes before. everything you neesd is there!
 
You should get recycle, go crate digging and start making rex files...and if you still need more sounds I guess for Reason the Sonic Reality Refills are cool.
 
Call me ignorant for saying this because I don't use Reason, but I agree that Reason is a beast, but I can't imagine why you'd need anything more to produce hip-hop...
 
No. The sounds that come stock in Reason are better IMO then the ones that come with LOGIC. I have both and use both but seriously Reason has got you covered. Try using some sounds in your beats that you normally wouldn't use if your looking for more sounds. Also get some refills. theres alot of free ones and some dope ones by Point Zero and Vengeance. The sounds that come with Logic are good but for real Reason does have better stock sounds.

---------- Post added at 08:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:46 PM ----------

If you are looking for more drums kits best way to do so is get some more kits and then layer with what you already got. That will give you infinite posibilities. Plus the less sounds you have the more creative you will be trust me. I had everything I could get my hands on whether bought or downloaded I didnt give a crap. Now I use everything stock from Reason and apart from a few refills I got thats pretty much it.
 
Wow, I forgot about this thread for a bit. Thanks for the feedback, everybody. I appreciate it.

cbrewer said:
No. The sounds that come stock in Reason are better IMO then the ones that come with LOGIC. I have both and use both but seriously Reason has got you covered. Try using some sounds in your beats that you normally wouldn't use if your looking for more sounds. Also get some refills. theres alot of free ones and some dope ones by Point Zero and Vengeance. The sounds that come with Logic are good but for real Reason does have better stock sounds.

If you are looking for more drums kits best way to do so is get some more kits and then layer with what you already got. That will give you infinite posibilities. Plus the less sounds you have the more creative you will be trust me. I had everything I could get my hands on whether bought or downloaded I didnt give a crap. Now I use everything stock from Reason and apart from a few refills I got thats pretty much it.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, that's exactly what I needed to hear. Now I don't feel bad at all about not using Logic.

I upgraded to Reason 5, and in the past week or so I've spent a lot of time poking around the program, watching tutorials, etc. Plus I went shead and got my hands on the Propellerhead refills, and downloaded a whole bunch of free ones.

Been getting a whole lot more out of the program, so that really helps. Thanks again everyone for the responses
 
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all i use is reason.....reason 5.0 iz a "beast"...listen to my beatz and u can tell....lmao...i can help u if run into any problems
 
funny about the Logic comparison. I feel the opposite to a certain degree. IMO Logic has better stock sounds for certain things such as the Drum Kits, strings, pianos, and loops (apple loops vs rex files). That being said, Reason has much more variety and better sound design abilities. Reason should be more than adequate to get the kind of sound that youre looking for. As Deranged mentioned a lot of that stuff youre referring to are primarily chopped/looped samples. However, one thing ive noticed is that a lot of new releases are moving away from just soft synths and using actual live instruments like bass, guitar, and horn players to either replay completely or add onto tracks. For something like this I would suggest adding Record or adding Logic and you can simply rewire Reason as needed, best of both worlds.
 
The best thing to do with Reason or Reason and Record is to both crate dig and/or look around your house and sample, and also check out third party refills to round out what sounds you need. This is whether you need synth sounds or acoustic/realistic instrument sounds. There are lots of good ones out there in every category. Target your needs. For example, if you need better brass than the stock sounds, look for a top notch brass refill collection. Same with other instrument or synth sounds you may feel like you are lacking. Go this route and Reason/Record will go a long, long way without needing anything else.

The key is to keep making music rather than just demoing and checking out gear all the time. Make the most with what you got and look for refills to fill in the gaps in your sound.
 
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