Hello ... Reason 4 and midi newbie here. I have Reason 4 and am now in the market for a midi-keyboard. I was told the M-Audio Oxygen 49 would be a good inexpensive midi keyboard for Reason 4. Just wanted to get another opinion on that before I buy one on eBay. I am a guitarist/song writer who has never used Reason or a midi device before. My primary reasons for buying a midi keyboard (and using Reason) are to expand my recording tools particularly in the area of creating better (and my own) drum loops, and creating keyboard tracks for my songs. My current DAW is Garageband 08 with an Apogee Duet interface. Any advice. comments or suggestions welcome. Thanks!
M-Audio Oxygen 49 and Reason 4?
- Thread starter obcbeatle
- Start date
mixgeneral
New member
Question..Why go with Reason when you already using a Garageband? Always think its better to learn one software at a time. I use Reason myself and I own Oxygen 61 keys. which I find it easier to play since there are few more octaves. Yes Reason is really easy to start a loop and very comfortable to get around for me. Reason 4 cannon record audio i'm sure you are aware of it. Its just to put ideas for songs.
Reason 4 M-Audio Oxygen 49 Garageband
Thanks for the reply. I was told by a former band member of mine a few years ago that Reason and Redrum specifically was a great tool for creating drum loops. I've been fiddling with drums loops in Garageband for awhile now and it felt like it was time for me to get a midi-keyboard because programming the drum loops with fills, etc has been rather difficult and time consuming ... in both GB and Reason. You are right about learning one piece of software at a time. Both GB and Reason have quite a learning curve. Anyway ... once I get the midi-keyboard my plan was to use the keyboard control surface to create the specific drum patterns and fills I require for my music then export them from Reason into GB. You say Reason 4 can't record audio. Do you mean I can't export loops or tracks from say the Redrum Sequencer into a DAW like GB, or that that Reason 4 is not a DAW? Sorry I'm a little confused. Thanks again for your reply!
Thanks for the reply. I was told by a former band member of mine a few years ago that Reason and Redrum specifically was a great tool for creating drum loops. I've been fiddling with drums loops in Garageband for awhile now and it felt like it was time for me to get a midi-keyboard because programming the drum loops with fills, etc has been rather difficult and time consuming ... in both GB and Reason. You are right about learning one piece of software at a time. Both GB and Reason have quite a learning curve. Anyway ... once I get the midi-keyboard my plan was to use the keyboard control surface to create the specific drum patterns and fills I require for my music then export them from Reason into GB. You say Reason 4 can't record audio. Do you mean I can't export loops or tracks from say the Redrum Sequencer into a DAW like GB, or that that Reason 4 is not a DAW? Sorry I'm a little confused. Thanks again for your reply!
mixgeneral
New member
I'm sorry if I'm confusing you. Redrum is a 10 sounds total drum machine sequencer in Reason which is very simple to use so if you ever used drum machine before it will be not very difficult to get it going, you can also use NN-XT sampler to load a full kit up to I believe 127 sounds. Reason 4 itself does not record audio, but it can trigger audio files (wav, aif) and you can certainly export it to GB. Reason is a DAW but in version 4 its still mostly midi no audio recording like Reason 5 and specially 6.
Got it ... thanks for the clarification! I ended up getting an Oxygen 49 on eBay. It should be here in a few days! Also ... I just programmed my first drum loop in Reason 4 and imported into GB with no problem. I will check out NN-XT. I saw a YouTube tutorial about NN-XT when I was watching Redrum tutorials so I'll need to go back and check it out. I have a lot to learn about Reason ... but what I've seen so far it seems like it will be a pretty cool tool to use to get some musical ideas into GB ... especially onec I get the O49. Plus I can use the O49 direct with GB. I've never had a midi-controller so I'll have to figure that out too. Anyway ... thanks for your feedback!