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View Full Version : How is external gear used in various songs?



buckman
06-22-2002, 07:46 PM
Hi there,

I recently downloaded a beta of Reason 2.0, the PropellerHead software. I am blown away at how cool it is, and how easy it is to make most genres of music with it. In Reason, you can "turn around" the various gear and move any cable to any spot, so for example, you can add a reverb unit, and patch the drum machine to the reverb, then back to the mixer. Not enough reverb? Add another reverb unit, maybe choose a gated sound, then patch reverb one to reverb two, then back to the mixer. So, what I am wondering is, is this how it is done in studios with pro gear? If so, does someone have to redo all these patches on a per song usage? Or is there some way to plug in all gear into some master controlling device, then use software or something to send audio to any of the devices in any way you want? I am thinking you have to manually move the cords around from outputs to inputs and so on. I'd imagine, just like how home theatre is eventually supposed to be all integrated so that you can route a vcr output to your second vcr, or your tv, or both, and route the dvd output to the tv, or the vcr for recording, or perhaps to the tv screen on the refrig in the kitchen, that there might be, or will be some way to have all this great external gear, but control where the audio goes via one central station.

For those of you who read this and haven't seen Reason, check it out. It is an amazing piece of software! Its $400 MSRP, but you get like 20 different pieces of gear. What is even cooler is that you can add as many of them as many times as you want to any given song, so that you can add 4 analog synths, 3 granular synths, 5 drum machines, 32 reverb machines, and so on, all to a single mix! It also has the ability to work with up to 64 hardware outputs at I think either 32-bit, or 24-bit audio resolution. I know it does 32-bit internal, but I think the output resolution is dependent on the actual hardware it sends the audio to. The only thing Reason 2 is really missing is the ability to add new plugins that can be patched in like the rest of this gear. It does support ReWire to hook up to other programs like CuBase though.

Anyway, thanks for any replies.

DAS
06-24-2002, 03:45 PM
You've correctly identified one of the most compelling arguments for software based instruments and effects. In the "old" days EVERYTHING in the studio had to be set up and tweaked for each session. Once the session (or mix) was over, and the gear was struck, there was really no way to ever get back to the same point again. You could get close, but there was (and is) no such thing as a full studio recall for all the gear. People wrote things down, took Polaroid snapshots, etc.

As time progressed various components in the studio began to have storage and recall capabilities, but still nothing truly integrated. Eventually computers began to tie all this together with products like Pro Tools (one of the first real studios in a box) and Reason. There are still quite a few limitations to get around with both the old school hardware and new school software based systems, but as time goes on the capabilities we have access to (and the low cost of them) continues to astound us "old dogs."

levon
06-28-2002, 09:43 PM
i agree with das,i come from the same era whats called the analog world.yes there was no automation in the analog world untill the hybrid world started. the analog and the digital breed.
if u made a bad take that day than the next day is almost from scratch
and the problem is do u have the same feel?are u matching your nylon strings with whatever you want to sound etc.etc.
the only thing that i realy miss in the analog world is that warm sound but digital is getting warmer and now recently they hybred tube with motherboard its a revolution.the best of the two worlds analog and digital
combined.
in a way the new generation i mean the digital generation,is lucky less money,no hassle tapes and most importantly everyone can have a pro studio at home .
a studio in your home?this was unheard of unless you were son of a capital or something in those days.so i am happy things are getting easier for the public instead of those greedy labels owning everyone.