reason or project 5

contact

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Hey, I'm new at this studio scheme
But i was willing to invest in some software synths. I know reasons great, but I'm looking for more of a hip hop vibe. Shall I go with project 5. Or should I save some more, buy a synth rack, and use cubase sl?
thanks
 
Project five is a little more flexible than reason and gives you more room in terms of being able to create your own sounds and stuff but It has a steeper learning curve. Reason is a good all in one program that gets you used to hardware and stuff and is a little easier to use and is probably a better choice if you plan on getting into hip-hop
 
project 5- the extra time learning it would be worth it. Maybe get reason later on. I put reason on the back burner a bit ago.
 
contact, grab the demos for both and give them a whirl. They have very different approaches; I find the Reason interface inspiring while P5 never really grabbed me...but as you can see, there are people for whom the opposite is true. P5 also lets you use VSTs, whereas Reason doesn't, so that's something to keep in mind if there are VSTis you're planning on checking out.

The only real advantage Reason holds right now is its seniority; having been around for longer, there are far more tutorials and resources available. You don't mention FLStudio...it's very popular (and unpopular :)) in the hiphop forums here, so you'll find that there's a lot of people here with experience in using it for just the vibe you're looking for.

FLStudio also has a demo. I really can't stress how important it is to check these things out; other people's opinions reflect their experience with the package...it's a good starting point, but you won't know for sure until you go hands on.
 
Sonar 3 Producers Edition is your answer. Good recording, good synths and samplers, good effects. Enough to start with anyway. Get a controller and be done with it. Plus you can rewire Reason with it later.
 
Hi, I happen to own Project5 Soft. Synth. and have since about October of '03. Are you guys saying that this is a good software? I kind of like it, but I've had some tough times with it, and I want to find more sounds and everything, but i always use the SAME THINGS over again. I let my friend borrow this, and he says he found some tight sounds somewhere in it, and told me to keep working with it, but it's pretty frustrating. Is there really more things to it than the 'Up-Front' things you will already see, and if you know any good places to find some tight sounds could contact me and tell me how to find them. This will help alot, but I was thinking Reason would be 10 times better, so hit me bak.

X
 
Hey xplosve!

I haven't really used P5 at all, other than to poke at the demo for an hour or so. But the questions you're asking are the same sort of questions that everyone asks when they're starting out, no matter what environment they're using: "how do I get better samples?" and "how do I make it sound better?"

Try doing a search in this forum on 'samples', you'll find dozens of threads that list literally hundreds of sites where you can download free samples from. This is a big part of the learning process, I think...when you hunt for samples, you start to discriminate and learn how to listen for the sounds you're looking for.

Have you played around with the synth units in P5? Once you learn the fundamentals of the various types of synthesis, you can start to make your own sounds from scratch.

Project5 also supports VSTi & DXi plugins, which means you can basically add to it as many virtual instruments and effects as you want. If you haven't already, check out K-v-R, they review pretty much every free & commercial audio plug-in available. Here are some great free ones to get you started:

+ Crystal: great for pads, can create complex, textured sounds
+ SuperWave PPG: awesome analog sound
+ Frohmage: not an instrument but an effect unit, perfect for filter sweeps

The thing is, even though I myself prefer Reason to P5, that's mostly because by the time I tried P5 I'd already been using Reason for 6-7 months. If you're already comfortable with P5, you're probably better off sticking with it at this point, otherwise you're just going to have to go through the same painful initial learning process with Reason.

P5 has had a lot of very positive reviews, with most reviewers praising its workflow. One thing P5 does that I wish Reason offered was the ability to set up your own controls for various devices, so that one pot would alter multiple parameters etc. With this, you can more easily setup P5 as a performance instrument for example.

So that's my advice! Hunt down new sounds, dive into the synths and start looking at VSTs. Four months really isn't long at all when getting to know a new instrument, esp. one that's as potentially complex as P5. Don't worry that your software is inadequate and just have some fun :)
 
thanks alot alex!! By the way, i have used the synths on P5 but i dont know how to control some of them, but I will be spending more time on those now and looking at sample thanks to you! thanks for the adivice alex once again..

X
 
A few more things :)

Cakewalk have some updates available on their site; there's a bunch of new presets for the PSYN, as well as a free copy of Triangle II, a DXi softsynth. There's also a tips page that has some video tutorials. There's also Project5.com, which looks like it aims to be P5's answer to ReasonStation.

'Computer Music' is a UK magazine aimed at the beginning electronic musician and has a good range of tutorials, including this one on Analogue Synthesis for Beginners.

Hope this helps!
 
alright thanks alex for the info, it's really helpin right now...peace out!

X
 
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