The thing is, reaper can be pretty cool to work in reaper, if you know how to do it:
the sample explorer of reaper have a concept of “database” which allows you to make “virtual folders” which also can be seen as a tagging system. For instance my “kick” database allows me to access kicks from various places. It is a minimalist, yet good system to tidy up samples way more efficient than ableton (which has the same functionnality but with a limited amount of “databases” )
Then, you can set reaper so that double clicking on a sample directly load the sample on a new track in the reaper sampler.
then you can quickly assign a midi note to that sampler with some kind of midi learning : play the note and double click on the note mapping.
then midi editor can be customised to work exactly as you want : you like FL studio ? create FL studio mouse modifiers (that dictate behaviours of the mouse) You like ableton ? Create a custom toolbar with a select button and a pencil button.
The thing with reaper, is that a fresh install can be not very convenient and is a blank canvas. But over the year, you can creates Macros, scripts, shortcuts, mouse behaviour exactly to fit your needs.
That is similar with control surface with reaper, there are great external tools (reaper is so much scritable that there is a huge coding community) which allows to deeply integrate control surface which behave as you want.
However, It is very nerdy as you can spend a lot of time for this and loose focus on music (as with GAS).
That being said, I am really more efficient with reaper as I know it like the back of my hand
Even if I did fork out £800 for a ST I’d still only use it for about 10% of the songwriting process. Same goes for all hardware - get the sound design and basic patterns recorded into Ableton Live for proper music-making.
Thing is, music straight from hardware tends to sound like shit. Everything needs EQ’ing, compression and saturation at the very least. Then everything sounds better through multiband compression and whatever other tools and gubbins you might have.
Long story short - get your ass back in the DAW, son!
Consider that you’ll be connecting your midi controller (min 1 USB cable, possibly a power cord and maybe a dongle), your headphones and maybe your macbook’s power supply…plus potentially an external hard drive…cause you know, music software takes quite a bit of space.
Do people really do that? I know I’ve had the idea often but never actually ended up doing or enjoying this sort of “on the fly / in between the cracks” work.
No you couldn’t. It’s hard enough to mix half decent on a great system in a treated room, forget about mixing on bluetooth headphones in a busy train, it’s like trying to drive blind. You’d just change your mix, you most likely wouldn’t improve it and by the time you listen back to things on your main system you’d probably wonder what the hell you did to your mix.
Again, I doubt it. When it comes to editing and processing, ok, yes. When it comes to writing and creating, I think not (and personally I think the MPC’s line workflow is anything but fast and convenient…I think writing in a DAW is much worse still). The dream of the perfect midi controller that unlocks the “hardware-like software DAW” is just that, a dream. I’ve owned a shitload of midi controllers and tried programming them all to different DAWs…and never achieved that hands-on vibe. The Push 2 with Ableton is possibly the closest thing to a properly integrated experience for writing/composing/jamming music (or the suggested Novation Launchpad X with Ableton which is in fact modeled after the Push 2 and its integration)…bitwig also offers some decent integration (eg with a Launchkey Mini Mk3 if you wanna go small), but don’t expect the fluidity and immediacy of hardware working with a DAW. That said, when it comes to mixing, there are plenty great controllers out there that integrate with DAWs and make for a wonderful workflow, however those are mostly not portable.
I think you looking at a DAW flow could be yet another form of GAS. Usually, if I’m GASing, I get out of it by reducing complexity and increasing intimacy with individual instruments in my line up (go deep and focussed rather than broad and shallow). In the end it comes down to your personal discipline and wisdom, as someone else stated, an in-the-box workflow will have you gassing for plugins, no doubt.
If you still want to try a DAW, I guess one of the non-linear options will be your best bet for creative writing (Ableton Live or Bitwig). Of the linear DAWs, I find Studio One 5 and Logic Pro X to be the best and most intuitive, but mind you that writing in a linear workflow DAW is VERY different to jamming and writing with hardware.
Reaper can do a lot but it is a bit convoluted in workflow I find and the customisation is another endless pit of “not-quite-there-yet” distraction.
My tip to you: set some hard boundaries for yourself, reduce the complexity of your setup further, maybe even just use a single box for a month or two (and unplug the rest).
Yes, this is part of the attraction for me. On computer software, I’m very much a keyboard shortcuts nerd and I love ways to speed up my workflow. Reason is good in this regard too, but it’s way less compatible with modern midi controllers.
MPC 2.0 is the DAW software for the PC/Mac and yes, it can run standalone on your computer. However, it’s a nightmare to use without the hardware control surface. It’s like they really didn’t care about the workflow for users without the hardware. But yes, this is doable.
I’d estimate that the time it would take to establish a decent workflow in MPC 2.0 is roughly equivalent to learning a completely new DAW from scratch. And with that in mind, MPC 2.0 would never be my primary choice (if I didn’t have the hardware, that is).
It’s very true, and to my defense, I’ve been able to mix better in the MPC than in Reason. But I’d attribute that achievement not to the MPC but the way my music has evolved (less is more at the arrangement phase, better use of compressors, more ruthless EQ:ing, etc). In this regard, the MPC is very much a DAW, just a clunker one.
The MPC shines in the creative phase, but struggles with mixing. But compared to, say, a Syntakt, the MPC is actually a very capable mixing environment.
I did it often in Reason. I don’t mean proper mixing, but something like discovering that the hi hat was 2 dB too loud after all, so quickly take it down and then compile a new mp3 to audition. That’s way harder when your MPC One is stuck at home in your studio and you wanted to enjoy the latest mix on your way to work the following day.
All great input, I appreciate it! I’m attracted to Reaper due to its very reasonable price point and keyboard/macro customizability, but it doesn’t look like the most inspiring environment. I probably wouldn’t be looking to get rid of all hardware anyway so inspiration would still come from other sources, like the Hydrasynth, so I’m less concerned with creativity and more concerned with productivity.
Yeah, well, that is entirely subjective as I tried many daws and I even bought a licence of ableton I never use in the end.
Also, even without customization and being a power user, reaper is very nice to use as it is.
I was just saying that made some customization over the years, and believe it or not, It actually help me producing more music.
Quite funny. In the last weeks I am on the same trip and I have a quite similar setup. On the one side: a MacBook Air M1 with Logic, on the other side MPC One, Hydrasynth Desktop, Microfreak and Model:Samples. I guess my initial thoughts came from the NGNY Thread in combination with current global situation. And I always wanted something portable (which is why I bought the Model:Samples).
So I sat down with Logic again, which I bought before I had the MPC One to record and mix my Gassy acquisitions (which of course never happened…) and suddenly I struck magic. The stock plugins and sound sources of Logic are absolutely mind blowing for me and in combination with some 3rd party stuff I already owned (like Audiothing Wires and Alborosie Dub Station) things are possible quickly that completely blew me away. E.G. Yesterday I played the on-board Harp “Rompler” through Wires and Space Designer and I just noodled for like half an hour. And the real “total recall” is also really nice for me, as I always tended to do several projects at once which is a bit of a pain with my other setup.
I am just thinking about putting the other stuff away and seeing if I miss it and meanwhile learn more about music theory and so on.
Funny thing: In the last weeks I have also developed quite a distaste for all the youtube Synth videos that are so gear specific and I try to go more for things that are more focussed on composition or general techniques. It seems that it somehow started with this big Behringer roll out of synth clones that completely flooded me and I thought “might as well go for plugins then” somehow
sure, you could do the same in MPC 2.9 with your mpc project copied over to your laptop, I totally agree that it isn’t a nice interface, but small interventions such as the one described is absolutely doable.
An interesting question for you is why you left Reason for hardware in first place? Jot those down and see how you expect to return to a DAW and make up for these reasons. I understand midi control mapping is one point, do look up the limits of that to understand what you can and cannot do…I say this out of experience, lol, I’ve spent MONTHS on end trying to setup something immediate via Midi that would cover all/most basis within a DAW…there’s ALWAYS something that’s not covered that you think need in a moment more than anything and so the search for the perfect setup begins anew
Also just to make this clear, I’m not trying to discourage you at all, just want to point out that while a DAW has amazing benefits, it does have significant drawbacks, especially when it comes to immediacy and hands-on control (much less so when it comes to editing and mixing of course). That one is often forgotten/overlooked when the pendulum is on the other side of the court
Since you are not looking to primarily compose inside a DAW, I think a linear one will be a good choice…so Reaper, Studio One, Logic, Cubase etc.
Reaper obviously is the cheapest of the bunch, though studio one can be had for cheap as well (I bought a license of Studio One Pro for 180€).
I’d try a demo of those that have one to see which appeals to you most, they all do the same thing more or less, just in different ways.
Most DAWs have customisable shortcuts, S1 also has Macros etc etc. in the end you should also find it visually appealing, at least to me that’s an important part of feeling comfortable in a DAW.
I should add that I have both in my studio: a fully autonomous hardware setup and a DAW setup which bridges with the hardware via a patchbay.
Actually, there’s more to GAS than just wanna buy new stuff.
When Having GAS, we are also buying the dream of a “perfect setup” indeed, or we have a kind of “fear” of actually producing, of actually being limited or something.
It really is a modern sickness in music as we feel that we need to be up to date with technology.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I don’t see anything wrong with exploring differents products/plateforms : I learned a lot from the daws and piece of hardware I tried. It is fun to have something new.
But my serious suggestion might be to indeed look at it from another angle.
Can you perhaps redirect your gear lust towards vintage gear and future classics? With careful buying/selling you can turn a GAS habit into an investment exercise. You’ll get better return on a lot of gear than you will a savings account, and you can’t sell second-hand plugins. This doesn’t apply that well to new gear, but it can help you keep a revolving door of creativity without constant losses.
Half the price of a 999gbp drum machine though, and to be fair it does more than all your other hardware put together and cones with a massive Library of excellent content…
I was in the exact same position as you, and now Ive fully embraced Ableton and push I’m back on the right track, no more gear lust, less time sweating over new releases and watching endless tutorials about gear I’ll never own… eff all that is what I say, it definitely didn’t do me any good creatively or personally…
Wow, that does sound like we’re on extremely similar paths indeed! I have the same craving for something portable, I left the DAW to find more inspiration (and I really did find it!), yet, I keep feeling that I’m wasting my time trying to learn too many different workflows. I could just go back to Reason 10, which I already own, and I know it would feel familiar and fast, and I know that many things would actually sound better than on the MPC, for example the reverb (don’t like Air Reverb, prefer RV7000 in Reason).
I think the thing is that hardware opened up a whole world of new possibilities for me that has forever changed how I think about making music. Particularly, I look at automation different, it’s not just for smooth filter cutoff sweeps, it can be used so much more dynamically (p-locks, essentially). And I think of arrangement differently (less is more), and I’ve learned to appreciate samples more (they’re not just for simple playback). I think my music is a lot more dynamic now than it was before, less “piano roll” and more hands-on knob twisting. But now that I’ve gained all that knowledge, I also know how to apply that in the DAW.
I just tried Reason and was instantly reminded of how quick it can be. I have shortcut set up so I simply press 1 to solo the drum bus, 2 to solo the bass bus, and so on. It’s just SO much faster than navigating around the MPC to the correct Track/Program and muting with the touch screen.
So I’m definitely considering a more hybrid approach as some here have already suggested. The reason why I’m considering switching DAW from Reason is for other reasons: it feels like they’ve reached a dead end with their software, and I’m tired of paying and re-paying for software. Compared to the price model of Reaper (and, I guess FL Studio), Reason appears to be greedy. So is Ableton. So, I think I’m going to explore and see if I can make Reaper work, despite it looking like the potentially least inspiring environment of them all. The way I’d justify that is that the DAW is all about workflow and productivity - I’ll still get all the inspiration I want from the hardware I actually do enjoy using.
Fair point, you are right. It’s a pretty sad computer DAW, but it could definitely be used in a pinch for the above use case. But it makes me wish it was better, and that leads me back to the DAW and makes me question why I need the MPC.
Yes, great question and suggestion! There were some obvious reasons:
The novelty, but also nostalgia of hardware (I started 25 years ago on a Roland W-30).
Some pretty stupid limitations in Reason midi mapping. For example, the otherwise excellent MPK Mini Mk3 has endless encoders, but you can’t map them as endless (relative mode) in Reason 10. So, they just turned into useless fixed encoders in the end. It seems that most midi controller manufacturers don’t bother writing scripts for Reason anymore. This may sound like a small thing, but it was huge for me. What I love about the MPC is that I can twist a real know when tweaking a value. That may not be possible with any other DAW either since I’m talking about twisting the knob of the currently focused parameter in the MPC with that big knob, but at least I know that the endless knobs on the MPK would work well in Reaper/Ableton/etc.
I wanted more inspiration from working with real hardware. I still do. And I plan to continue doing so. Even if I switch back to the DAW, I only mean for the arranging/mixing part, not for the creating flow / composing / idea generation phase. I’m already certain that hardware plays a huge role for me there.
Lack of experience. I simply didn’t know as much as I do today about what kind of music I want to make, how I like to compose, which concepts turn into great beats vs horrible mixing problems down the road, etc. So, part of it is: it wasn’t really Reason’s fault, it was my own lack of knowledge of what I wanted to do. Hardware taught me more about what I want to do, and continues to do so.
This wasn’t a reason then, but it’s a reason now: Reason 10 lacks polyphonic aftertouch support in its sequencer/piano roll. Meaning, I can’t record from the Hydrasynth and have the aftertouch recorded into Reason. This works perfectly on the MPC. I wonder if it works in Reaper?
Yes, your input is well-received and very appreciated! I agree, immediacy and hands-on control is what I love about hardware and I won’t trade that away. But, being able to unplug all the hardware and continue with arrangement, mixing etc without constraints is something I really miss, and being able to mix more quickly is something else that I miss.
Yes, a linear mode is fine (though I’ve come to appreciate Reason’s blocks mode and wouldn’t mind something like that because it helps you focus on one part at a time). though it’s important that the DAW. Indeed, I wouldn’t primarily compose in the DAW, but it’s still important that the piano roll is decent/quick and that there are some good plugins included (or free), as I really don’t want to end up in a VST GAS nightmare instead. If I keep the MPC One, I would probably do the drums there instead of in the DAW, but I’d prefer to be able to do some of that in the DAW, or I probably won’t stop GASing about the Syntakt. That’s one area that still seems weak on Reaper, drum arrangement. Reason makes that very easy if you’re comfortable with a virtual hardware environment.
Yeah, I probably need to try a few and pick the one that suits me the most. I’ll start with Reaper because it’s the one I want to like the most due to price and customizability, but…
…it’s also the least visually pleasing one of the bunch. Maybe I can find a theme that doesn’t make me feel like I’m back in Windows 98 land.
Would love to hear how you make that work! I particularly struggle with “the switch” (when to commit to print and moving on to working in the DAW).
That’s one area that still seems weak on Reaper, drum arrangement. Reason makes that very easy if you’re comfortable with a virtual hardware environment.