I’ve never liked VST’s. Never. There’s just something about them that I find so distracting from the whole music process. And what’s crazy is that I’m one of the only people who feel this way.
There’s a lot of different reasons why VST’s just feel wrong to me, wrong like someone walking outside in the dirt with bare socks and no shoe on. Wrong because…
Pop-up windows kill the immersion
Nearly all music software started out emulating physical music studio hardware. VST’s started out this way too. So it just seems wrong having these floating pop-up windows. The idea of virtual hardware floating on top of another and another…
Continue reading Am I The Only One Who Hates VST’s? →
After creating my own audio patch cable experiment proved unreliable, I ordered some normal, boring looking 1′ (0.3m) black with red and white tipped RCA cables. But I still wanted the cables to have a distinctive look to them. So I decided to paint them. Supplying your own cables, it’ll cost you less than $10 to do it yourself too…
Materials needed
Spray paint. I highly recommend Krylon “Fusion For Plastic” (what I simply call Krylon Fusion). You don’t need any sanding or spray painting primer or none of that stupid mess.
Continue reading How To Paint Your Own Audio Patch Cables →
Here’s a trick I’ve developed over the years when using Reason. When you’re browsing different instrument sounds and you’re trying to compare and choose the best sound, instead of trying to remember which sounds are the best, instead write notes (text) while auditioning sounds. But don’t bother doing this in a note pad or on a piece of paper, do it directly in the rack. How? You do it with the free ReMark Rack Divider (Propellerhead Shop link) by Selig Audio.
Taking Notes While Auditioning Sounds & FXs
When auditioning sounds, many times I’ll come across a patch, device or effect that I think is okay, but feel that I can find something much better. After 10, 20 or 50 different things later, I realize the thing I had before was probably the best thing. Yet, in trying to go back to find it, I end up not finding it and just giving up.
Continue reading Reason: Write Text Notes When Browsing Instruments →
I love the add-on device to Reason called Synchronous. But I should start by saying I don’t use many add-ons for Reason. I feel Reason pretty much added everything people could want with version 5 (when you had to buy both Reason and Record that then turned into what I called “Super Reason”). When you have the Combinator, the Spider Audio / CV Splitters / Mergers, the rack mixer and now the virtual SSL mixer console and the ability to edit and place audio directly in the sequencer, you pretty much have everything you need.
The Combinator is so powerful, there isn’t need for much else. But that’s for another, future topic. Because of how much Reason can do currently, there isn’t much need for 99% of the new, outside devices to be bought. But Synchronous is a little different. Here’s the intro video.
Continue reading Reason: A Good Time For Synchronous →
Recording artist & producer.
