One of nicest DAW, but now - mid-2021 - Reason 12 have ton of limitations, such... no VST3 support (like N.I. Komplete Kontrol & Maschine 2), instruments outputting MIDI aren't supported, ...

 

My first DAW (on Amiga 2000)...

 

thats my fav so far

 

Reaper use underlying OS APIs directly or uses some lightweight wrapper. Ableton uses Qt, FL uses Delphi and was rather light as well before introducing new vector UI. Using such framework is easier for devs, must say Reaper's devs are fucking pros, its a pain in the ass to play around with win api.

 

reaper dev concentrate very much on optimization based on os and cpu

 

it's called ilogic theme you can go to reaper forum and get it by donating to blankfiles also if you want i can send you my config files after you get the theme to give you all the shortcut keys and action created from my script.

 

If you use Ableton's fx you're good to go. I use R2R's offerings and I need more tracks.

 

12 seems to load vst 3? Instrument MIDI output seems to work? Not sure about Maschine or the other NI sequencers/synths but Kontakt seems to work fine for MIDI out inside Reason 12?
I tend to run the rack inside Cubase 11 mostly but I use Reason stand-alone for large scale sequencing.

 

which daw is the screeenshot above?

 

Reaper.
http://www.houseofwhitetie.com/reaper/imperial/wt_imperial.html

 

To me it has been Cubase all the while since I started with Steinberg back in the eighties on Atari ST. I feel at home with it and love its MIDI capabilities. I tried Reaper, but did not like the workflow. I Tried PT, but when I watch tutorials using PT I am less than enthused. Ableton looks too clinical and sterile, which is simply a matter of taste. I am 72 and love the visual affinity to mixing hardware. So - Cubase 10.5 for me since I do not plan to leave Win 7 unless I am forced to by compatibility issues sometime in the future.

 

Logic but I don't use it.

 

Ohhh i see what you mean.

The problem with the super basic things, is that sometimes, well for him those are not basic.
I will give u an example, lets pretend somebody doesnt color channel. He would never require to learn where this feature is in ableton, since he has no need to know that. THats why well, he didnt know basic stuff. (what i can think off)

This is cool that Ableton inspired/motivated you to get a flatter theme for reaper.

I tried collabing in the past, for me is it not a thing im good with ... bcs everybody has their own way of doing things. Most of the time i complained in front of my screen, what the person did as i got the project back. Hmm

 

I've bought I LOGIC (V3.90) theme for REAPER, waiting for his reply... Looks fantastic!

 

Nope! R12 doesn't support VST3. It's clearly indicated in official website. Same about multis and instruments who output MIDI.

 

This is my favourite theme as well (Hydra Theme by Blankfiles, for anyone wondering).
And the best part is, it even has many matching icons (here is the same theme with my custom toolbars):

 

That's interesting because my current Kontakt (latest version) is running in it and I only installed the vst 3 ??? It also transmits ??
So f*** knows ???

 

Collaborating is hard because finding someone who is on your level is hard. It turns into backpack carrying for one or the other person when you have years more over someone else no matter what they use.

I was just surprised he didn't know what automation clips were and where that "moving encoder" information goes. He was basically mixing without automation or blending anything for 4 years somehow. He did complain how his music didn't sound right yet.

But when I showed him that automation is indeed a thing. He got really happy and promised he would get me signed even though he was not signed himself. Although I don't look into sending demo's or getting signed and have mentioned reasons to him why I don't want that. But he still promised me a record deal lol

When I asked how he could get me signed if he's not even signed when nothing is certain. He took offense to that I think because later he made a comment about my timing being off even though it was his timing because of his latency and tried to explain what it was but he said I should stop making excuses about my timing and use snap to grid lol by default..

I adjust ppq settings to freely slide samples based on where they should go, not from the default sample start. But lining up the transient peaks instead, the correct way. Or at least adjusted to where it sounds right by ear. I hope he learned about latency because that would have helped him. It seemed to him that the start of the sample lines up with the grid or its wrong.

This is what I mean about finding someone with as many years of experience as you, otherwise the session goes differently than you'd expect. Not only will your collaboration be just a lesson in disguise for him. You will also get blamed for something they didn't know about. It's hard to convince someone that is in their feelings and also unaware of the terms you're using.

It was like trying to understand someone that skipped alphabet class and went straight to trying to build complete sentences to no avail, so you end up looking stupid because they are better at being in their feelings than you are at explaining why their feelings are wrong. It's funny cause he made an Fl studio is wack type of comment too but I was teaching him how to use ableton within my first hour of using it ever. So that made me want to write off an entire culture from my shock and never work with people again.

@ArticStorm I've collabed more than several times, online and in person. More or less it's just teaching or getting taught most times if you even found someone that matches your style despite how much either of you know cause that's on obstacle too.

The tiny lessons learned along the way is part of it when it goes both ways but it's different when those lessons are soley sourced by you which take the bulk of the collab working time so when you explain things you feel exhausted.

But I'm still very hopeful that I will find someone one day that would be perfect for collaboration and it will feel like a cakewalk, the vibes will be right, it will be shits and giggles where we just take turns doing things and supporting each other without all the negative bullshit.

What I mean is the ego matters too, when someone is on your level then they have no time to hate on you for anything because they got their own in front of them so there is no envy and no hate. It left a bad taste in my mouth for a bit but I was back to working with people that same year. Took some months off to stay working solo dolo though.

I worked with a cubase/sequioa/nuendo guy who was much older than me and way more experienced and I had too many pitfalls to name then but he didn't shit on me and I never challenged any of his advice or make it difficult for him. I just did my best and he was super cool even though we were offset cause I sucked ass and he was phenomenal at production. But I was still the heavy weight in his bag then lmao

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 21, 2021

Collaborating is a choice. It is also very much an attitude, which in these times of so little work and COVID, many people really need to pull the stick or their heads out of their ass.

A really good, seasoned musician of decades, will know within a very short space of time (generally first listen) whether the person fits in their musical comfort zone or not. Any musician of any amount of years should know immediately whether they like the music or not. That said, if the decision is based purely on honesty that the music does not fit for them, that is a good choice. Continuing, if you are talking about collaborating on an entire CD's worth of music, that is a decision that has to be considered far more carefully. This generally happens after collaborating on several tunes and knowing it will work. The days of Record labels doing contracted collaborations are almost completely over.

To attitude - it does not matter whether one musician is better than another, or one can do something better or worse than another. For any project to work like a well-oiled machine, roles should be agreed upon. If someone can write great melodies, or great lyrics, or arrange great for an Orchestra, ensemble etc etc etc... Their role in the collaboration should be defined as to where the line is drawn if they are not personal friends. If someone can consistently write exceptional melodies, does it matter whether they are a high school student or a professional musician of many decades? NO, it does not. Someone is good at something or they are not. If High School students could not write good melodies, in popular music there would not have been so many artists with their own songs barely out of puberty.

It only becomes like a backpack or a monkey on your back or a pain in the ass if you allow it to be and not agree on who does what. The only other time if that occurs after defining roles to monitor is that each person pulls their weight.

There are a lot of dynamics in any collaboration or partnership. The amount of divorces globally is a testament to that. Music is like a marriage or family with many people. It's a personal thing to collaborate and share creative ideas.
The real trick to collaboration is not just skills, it is that you get on well, communicate comfortably and like each other as well as respecting not only their musical ideas but also respect them as a human beings and being open to the concept that not all of either person's ideas will make the final cut.

EDIT - In collaboration, the moment any party refuses to budge on an idea, it is no longer about the music it is about their own ego being unwilling to consider that it may not be best for the tune. It might be best (or not), but allowing the space to know whether it needs to go or stay is everything. Nobody is above the music and there are annals in history of collaborations failing due to egos getting in the way of productivity.

 

Last edited: Sep 22, 2021

@odod to add to this reply, do note that there is a free, public version of this theme (also by blankfiles), and that there are several versions of the donationware theme with some visual differences. If you're not sure whether you want to donate (it's worth it IMO), give the public version a try.