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Re: REASONable software looper question
At 08:13 PM 10/23/2002 -0400, ArsOcarina@aol.com wrote:
>Matt,
>
>In a message dated 10/23/02 4:03:21 PM, nicholson_matt@msn.com writes:
>
> >Reason stands on its own for good synths for cheap.
>
>Like I said this is MOST of what I want it for. I've heard
>some of the sounds generated by Reasons synths and
>have been impressed. I was thinking of maybe, possibly
>getting an Oxygen8 USB keyboard and playing around
>with it in Reason. If there were also some sort of
>"loop player" for my .AIFFs files that could be played from
>the MIDI note-on/off from that USB mini-keyboard input it
>could sort of replace my little hardware phrase samplers
>too.
Another option which has been touched upon but not fully discussed is that
of doing a "roll your own" setup with an off-the-shelf sequencer and a set
of VSTi's of your own choosing. The big plus with this sort of setup is
that you get to pick the sequencer and only the instruments that really
excite you. The downside is that it's a little more complicated that just
tossing in an install disk and *bam* you get what they give you.
One of the reasons I think this option was dismissed fairly quickly was
that it was brought up in context of something like Cubase SX -- which is
a
great program but would admittedly be overkill given your requirements,
not
only in functionality but especially price. However, there are a lot of
good budget sequencers out there which could act as VST hosts and
therefore
give you the option to pick and choose exactly the functionality you're
seeking (especially if something like Ambiloop makes the jump over to
VST-land).
In particular, I've just begun playing around with Muzys
(http://www.muzys.com), a fully-featured budget sequencer which, in
addition to the standard "track-roll" sort of editing, features an
interesting alternate form of composition. It has what essentially
amounts
to a loop sequencer that works with either audio loops or MIDI. It ain't
Ableton Live, but it does have some of that functionality in that you can
load in pre-recorded loops, justify them against each other (i.e. 'Loop A'
plays six times in the span it takes 'Loop B' to play once), then control
pitch & speed on each. Also,supports VST 2.0 as well as Rewire (PC only,
Mac coming soon). If it sounds interesting, try downloading the latest
version from the website. It's fully functional with the exception that
it
emits an audio dropout and soft hiss every 30 seconds or so.
Back on Reason, I've never personally been a big fan of the "workstation"
concept -- be it an old Korg M1 or a software package like Reason --
because inevitably some portion of the all-in-one-package is entirely
unnecessary for my purposes or just plain sucks (although I've got to
admit
that Reason is better than most). You touched on this yourself, Ted, when
you mentioned that your Roland guitar synth had a sequencer which is, for
all intents and purposes, worthless to you. Yet, this is functionality
that was factored into the price you paid for the unit.
Regardless, before jumping for Recycle/Reason, check out the current issue
of Computer Music (issue #52, on stands now in UK/Europe and to
subscribers; due out next month in the US). Coincidentally, Loops just
happen to be the main theme of the issue. However, it also contains a
full
workshop tutorial in Recycle, so you can at least get a good idea what
it's
like to work with the program. As far as the other articles, while they
primarily concentrate on pre-recorded loops, there are a lot of techniques
that can just as well be applied to any sort of repeating content -- live
or otherwise. Worth a look on the newsstand, at least.
-c-
_____
"i want to reach my hand into the dark and *feel* what reaches back"
-recoil