A quick software question ...Is it worth looking into Reason Essentials ?

that post was Grim.  ugh!

MachineClaw
for $69 ($57.96 at JRRShop with GROUP code) it's not that bad an investment even if you don't use it all that much.
 
you can rewire.
 
there are some minuses like no Thor synth, no midi in/out, bunch of FX missing or limited.  Essential also only works with Essential files, no export or import, once upgraded to full Reason you can open Esential files and then do what you need to with those files in Reason, but Essential is limited.
 
Essential is like the Reason taster to see if you like the workflow, features, rack extensions and rewire.  if you want the full version you can upgrade later on to full version of Reason.

 
MachineClaw ,
 
OK rewire cool ...the rest Ala all the minuses have me thoroughly confused ... 
no midi in or out ? how can music be made ? Is Essentials an audio only program ?
no export or import ? What ? OK now I'm really feeling stupid ....worse than my first day on this forum ....
The videos I saw on u tube a while back with a guitar player demoing Essentials only are what perked my interest at first ...
I had gotten the impression that Reason Essentials was along the lines of the striped down functionality of something along the lines of  Abelton 9 intro .... 
Limited track counts , striped down instruments , effects , only able to use a limited group of  sound packs ...
 
When I demoed FL 12 I was able to make sounds and do things . Once I closed the project I knew if I wanted to get back what I had done , I would have needed to have purchased the program ...
That part I was OK with ...it seems Essentials operates that way ...
Am I misunderstanding something here ?
 
thanks for helping me out now it seems I have more questions than before .....
 

The Grim
if you have essential reasoning, you could reason essentially that getting reason essentials is essentially reasonable
 
 btbh i haven't a clue, never used it or even looked at it . . . . . . .  i'll be on my way

 
good one ....
 
it doesn't  change the fact that I'm totally confused after hearing what Reason Essentials does and does not do ..
 
Essentially , from my point of view Is this feeling unReasonable ? 
 

MachineClaw
that post was Grim.  ugh!

Yeah it was ...classic
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 

I also recently got Reason (version 8 full), and I'm having a ball with it. V8 runs all of the latest REs and frankly, there's not a lot of difference between v8 and 9 so I haven't felt the need to upgrade.
 
I should mention that I bought it secondhand for $100 at KVR marketplace.  The full version offers a lot more than Essentials, without the limitations, so if you can find a similar deal, I strongly recommend you go for that instead.

Just get Reason Essentials for the sampler.  This came up in a recent thread with Craig Anderton that was titled something like "Sonar needs a sampler".  Then rewire RE to Sonar...

Reaper?

Hi MachineClaw thanks for coming back and helping me out
 

MachineClaw
I have the full version of Reason so I am not sure about the exact details of the stripped down version of Essential.

This is one of the things I hope to find out ...
 

MachineClaw
 
If you look the comparison chart on Reason 9 vs Essential 9 you can see that there is a Midi Out/Midi Clock Out and it's included in Reason but not in Essential.
 

Wow , thank you for pointing that out to me ...that detail I had actually missed when I looked at the comparison chart ...
 

MachineClaw
 
The file format I mentioned only because in Essential it appears that Essential projects are self contained, you cannot import Reason files.  You only use Refills in Essential in a limited way which are a big thing in the Reason world.
 

I'm learning a lot from you
I will confess publicly that I have no idea how Reason handles it file structure or what a Reason file is in the first place ...I have never been around the program ...
 

MachineClaw
 
Reason certainly can and does audio track recording well.  Reason does not play well with others outside of the Reason sandbox.  It's getting better, every version gets better.  Propellerhead disbanded their forums.  there used to be a lot of talk on their forums about midi, syncing to external hardware etc.  they never addressed these concerns and haven't for the most part.
 

Glad to hear it does audio ...the rest you have mentioned in your paragraph explains a lot ...
I tried to find out what I could as a lurker on the Propellerhead forums ...Nada is what I left with ...
I came running back to the SONAR forum , got on my knees and started kissing the Welcome mat
We do have it pretty good here ...
 

MachineClaw
 
If you want some good rack FX and synths and the use of samplers then Reason does that very well and there are a lot of REX and refills out there to play with.  this can be rewired into a HOST DAW and used like a VST plugin synth sort of.  if you want simple straight forward audio recording Reason can do this and does it well.  If you want midi and controlling external hardware boxes look elsewhere, it's not Reasons strong suit nor designed with that in mind.
 

That part sounds good ...is that only for the full version of Reason ?
 

MachineClaw
 
I quite honestly only got Reason so I could do REX files and import them into Spectrasonics Stylus RMX that was my sole purpose.  the Reason rack extensions and quick audio editing was a plus, the refills and the samplers that Reason has are really nice to use and the rewire functions into Sonar a huge plus.
 

You have some VST's that are nice ...I don't have those ...the rewire thing has had me interested ...
 

MachineClaw
 
I have and maintain Sonar as my main DAW, it's what I grew up on (still learning).  Now I have ProTools 10/11, Cubase 8.5 Pro, FL Studio Professional, Ableton 9 Suite.
 
ProTools I use and got because of an Eleven Rack hardware box that came with ProTools.  like Protools but rarely use it.
 
Cubase I got because I have a lot of old hardware boxes and Midi is important to me.  Cubase just handles midi better than other DAWs, so I use Cubase for that.
 
FL Studio has one of the industries best piano roll input.  it's just fast, works, and makes sense.  A lot of the other functions of FL Studio do not make sense so I use it for inputting notes fast and laying out ideas in a piano roll style super fast.
 
Ableton 9 Suite I got because Max is included and there are a ton of free Max devices that control or work with hardware midi devices.  I don't like Ableton all that much but how it works with Max and the use of these wild free Max devices is incredible.
 
 

+1 on SONAR 
Pro Tools and a current version of Cubase are not programs I own .....
Cubase AL 5 is still on my i Mac ...I thought it was good for a taster program ...I can see myself going there
 
I have demoed FL 12 (?) the $200 dollar version on both PC and Mac .I thought FL was very good ...
At the time , I was still new to X3 so having 2 programs , one I paid for the other I was demoing was more than I could handle as far as the learning curve went ...having had a little time away from FL I can see myself going there
 
Abelton Live 9 I have on both PC and Mac ...
disclaimer I'm only running Live 9 intro version so I'm not to deep w the program as to what can be done in Live
I do enjoy Live 9 a lot when I use it and I could certainly see myself going there with the full program....the cost of the upgrade has held me back ..
The 64 bit version of intro does not seem to want to play nice on my Win 10 machine at all ...
I have had decent results just running the 32 bit version of Live intro in Win 10 ...
 
Since we have been talking about DAW's I may as well chime in with a couple that I do use for just about everything I do ...
 
SPLAT ...Love it ...still learning it ...just went lifetime
 
Samplitude Pro X 2 ..one of my absolute Faves ...gets used for everything at one time or another regardless of where I started my song in ...also use it as an audio editor and to dial in sections of my SONAR projects ...
 
Logic 9 gets a fair amount of use .  I may start here and port music over to SPlat ...the same is true for sending over SPlat projects via stems ....I'm real big on synergy ...
 
I'm still in the process of evaluating Reaper ..I'm actually liking this so much more than I ever thought I would ..
In the interest of keeping the Peace I will choose to hold my tongue ....
 
Harrison Mixbus 3.7 both PC and Mac ...very stable on my computers I've had great luck using it ..
I use it once my song project is close to completion ...
 
Project 5 V2 .5 ..to this day I still prefer using P5  over SPlat when it comes time to go all Matrix View ....
 
I have a lot more DAW's that I can mention that I like using and messing around in ....
If I happened to mention all of those other DAW's I will only wind up convincing anyone who may be reading this that I am a Jack of all DAW's and a Master of None
 

MachineClaw
 
Sooooooooo why are you interested in Reason at all.  what do you hope to get it to do in Rewire into Sonar?  to what purpose do you need it?  $60 bucks is not a lot of cash, but if your throwing it away on something you wont use I would suggest you go to the table and roll the dice a few times, you may win but if you loss you'd be in the same situation.

That is exactly what I'm here trying to find / figure out ...
a little back story ...
Right up until 3 years ago when I went over to 64 bit and X3 I had been on a 32 bit XP machine running SONAR 6 PE while rewiring Project 5 V 2.5  ...I was very happy with that set up and the workflow of the music I was creating.
 
It appears that nothing I have as my current DAW software is A Rewire slave on any of my machines other than Live intro which I have not been able to get working properly w SPlat when I ran Live as a 64 install ....
I'm looking for something to use as a  Rewire Slave / program that I can get my head around to replace what I had with Project 5 ...combined with SONAR ....
Reason or possibly Reason Essentials seemed like it may be a good idea as a place to start ...
After hearing what you have told me I may be wrong for 2 reasons ...no pun intended lol 
I would have to spend the full 4 bills for the full version of Reason to get the compatibility I'm looking to gain .
It seems that Essentials may be an interesting program to check out , but I won't be able to use it in the way I would want because the features I need aren't there or accessible in that version  ...
 
For all intensive purposes it seems I'm right back to square one  .....lol
 
I'm not looking to Rewire for the sake of Rewire ...I'm looking to create a workflow environment  that mimics what I had before using SONAR w P 5 VIA Rewire only in a more modern software and functionality environment ...
As we all know the SPlat part of the equation is modern ...Yet, what do I end up using to replace P 5 ?
It seems I keep going around in circles because my alternate software choices these days for P 5 seem to be the same usual suspects I have demoed or purchased light editions of ...
 
It appears my current choices for doing what I want are bumping up my version of Abelton Live 9 intro to Standard.
Then busting some a$$ to make sure that I can get it to work w SONAR in 64 bit ...
Giving the FL demo another try and using it as a rewire slave w the hopes I can wrap my head around the program.
Giving the Reason full demo a try and finding out if this would work for me ...and if I can crest the learning curve
Trying out all of the above as mentioned using  Bitwig ....
 
MachineClaw , just so you know I honestly do appreciate all the effort you have put forth in helping me sort my questions out ....I may have gotten a little wordy here in this post ...but I don't want you to think that I'm ranting at you personally ...I'm over here just stating what appears to be some of the issues I may have to solve ...
The use of online brevity of words is not one of my strong points ...
 
thank you so much for all you have brought to my attention with your super helpful reply's to my questions..
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

kennywtelejazz

abacab

kennywtelejazz


abacab ,
 
Wow nice find
Having the ability to record directly into the Sampler and editing the Sample right then and there is Awesome ..
That feature could turn out to be a real game-changer in and of itself ...
My two opposing "working brain cells"  are in the middle of a marathon session of  playing rock paper scissors ..
The winner gets to decide if we are gonna spring for this one or not 
 
thanks ,
 
Kenny

It does look sweet.  I also found a free sampler plugin that can do direct recording, the TX16Wx by CWITEC.  But so far I can't get the audio input to connect in Sonar.   It can do everything else that you would need. 
 
But get this, it works in Reaper!  I too have been demoing Reaper lately. So go check it out with your new Reaper http://www.tx16wx.com/  
 
Not looking to jump into a new DAW yet or anything, but just playing, and learning.  I like how Reaper handles audio and midi tracks with routing as well as plugins.  It must have something to do with the way that Reaper defines tracks, or rather seems to treat them all equally.  Same with plugins.
 
The TX16Wx is a VST instrument by definition, yet the audio input is exposed in Reaper.  In Sonar apparently, a VST plug must be of the FX flavor to show it's audio input to Sonar's routing scheme.  I have tried putting TX16Wx in a Sonar FX bin, as suggested, but so far it is a dead end for the signal path when I do so. 
 
Well anyway, it seems that Sonar does a lot very well, but there are a few features that some other software does that Sonar may lack.  So I guess the decision for workflow is it better to jump around several applications to get a few more tools that speed things up, or maybe to provide a bit more inspiration?
 
So right now, for live sampling I am thinking maybe Reaper + TX16Wx, or Reason Essentials with NN-XT.
 
And for chord and arranger tracks I am looking at the new Cubase Elements 9 ...
 
Happy New Year!
 
Cheers

abacab ,
 
I finally got back here to say thanks for posting this 
 
Kenny

Hey!  When I get the time I may post up a thread in the Software Forum with some details for a how-to setup TX16Wx in Reaper for a live sample session.  I used the included TX16Wx quick start guide, but was a little lost after recording the first sample.  It works, but the description on how to map the sample to the keyboard, etc. seemed to skip a few steps.  Had to dig into the main manual to sort it all out.
 
The biggest difference that I see with using Reaper for live sampling is that when you open the Reaper routing dialogue for a track (with an instrument such as TX16Wx) is that there is an option for "add new receive".  When you look at that menu, you will see everything in the project that can send audio.  So you can pick any receive that is from any track with an audio clip, or an external audio input.  Cool!  Sampling enabled!  I'm puzzled why you can't do this in Sonar?