Reason Or Other??, which app to chose for music composing Options

[Klingman]

New to the scene and wanting to get started.... Curious to know which app the lot of you might recommend for music composition.
I am fancy to the trance and progressive house circut, and would like a point in the right direction so I can make the proper purchase..

reason, project 5, cubase.. which would it be.

Help is greatly appreciated.

Klingman

[azusa]

Add "Live" on to your list too.

[Klingman]

Yup, I know about that one and have heard nothing but good things... But considering I will need to purchase headphones, a controller and a music app, Live will be somewhere down the road.. I am mainly looking for an app that will allow me to compose, from start to finish..

what do ya think?

[koolrok]

dude go with reason, its easy and convient to learn , and just overall the best soft synth software on the market, it rewires prett easy with cubase too. some monitors and an ozone you should be set.

[Klingman]

Thanks for the advice... Thats what I will probably go with...

Ozone? Help me out, whats this...?

[koolrok]

an ozone is a keyboard midi controller mobile workstation that allows you to play all the sounds in reason , just like a keyboard , it also is a sound card so you can record live playing or vocals, but you can't record on to reason , you would need cubase sx(what i use) or logic etc. , its great for laptops like macs G3, G4.
you should check out www.m-audio.com thoroughly, im still learning all this ti dude i actually go to school for all of this , but you should still look into what fits you , like are you desktop or laptop based , wanna ask aquestion just
email me dude koolerok@yahoo.com , i liked to have my brain picked. later

[Beenome]

Alright Kool you seem to know a lot about these softs, I'm wondering if I could use Live to record audio and reason rewired just like i would do in Cubase, because obviously i dont have that much cash. I want to play live but i also want to produce my own stuff with a good sequencer, Live is enough ?

[koolrok]

man just get LIVE and reason if you want to do live DJing , cubase is a little pricey , but it is well worth it , its the only recording software you'll need ever!! reason and live and you should be cool dog make sure to pick up the ozone or oxygen 8 you def. need them. just wait to get cubase its not that important yet if your starting out , dont for get about recycle 2.1 though you might like that too. keep in touch let me know how it goes kooerok@yahoo.com
if you any other ?'s
oh yea you could record and mix down from both , but the quality is not that great (i.e. cubase sx) but reason has copressors and all that so its cool !!

[spoodie]

Useful info, thanks koolrok. I'm in the same boat; interested in dabbling in music but don't really know where to start. I've got my hands on Reason but it looks like a need a keyboard, the problem is that the product you recommend is a little pricey for me at this stage, so I have some questions:

1. Will the lesser keyboards allow me to get started, what are the drawbacks of the more basic designs?
2. Do you need a MIDI connection for these M-Audio keyboards or will USB do the job? I've got a flat-panel iMac.

Thanks for any advice you can provide.

[Beenome]

You can go for a simple keyboard (midi controller) like the Evolution ones, but they don't have an audio interface like Ozone, but you don't need that with Reason anyway, you might need it later if you want to add your own voice or guitars and stuff to your productions, but as far as a midi controller is concerned the Evolution keyboards do a great job and they even have cool knobs that help you control stuff in Reason (you will need the implementation chart !), and they work prefectly fine through USB, Firewire is better only if you do audio stuff ! I personally use an Evolution MK 249 C, perfect !

Now I have a question for Koolrok, do you think that Cubase SL or Logic Express would be enough to get started, cos I am a bit short of cash, and they'd probably do the job for me cos I'm no professional, but I would like to add voices and guitars (or sounds i would take for the street) to my work on Reason through a Firewire 410.