suenos09 wrote:Real Good Info everyone. One question though. What's the sequencer resolution in Reason vs. the MPC 2kxl? I understand most software sequencers resolution is higher than the MPC 2k. Thanks in advance.
suenos
EXACTLY --- This is why when you complete your composition you would prefer to load it up into Logic rather than staying with your MPC... It is even tighter if its then Rendered into AUDIO... Audio has the highest resolution of all... and in most Modern Sequencers you can even quantise the Audio and do away with Midi altogether, simply drop your samples right onto the arrange window...
Also, Unless you have a kick ass PC its not such a good Idea to use Reason or VSTi as sound modules... What people don't understand is that they are not made for this (allthough it does work, Herbie Hancock does it live on stage with Jazz players through a Mac laptop)... When its in playback mode VSTi or Reason will degrade the quality of the Audio stream once the CPU becomes under load, It does this so the CPU can cope. Infact, I would say (allthough Im not 100% certain) That untill you render your VSTi or Reason sequence into Audio files right before mix down the sound quality will be lacking.
The problem with midi latency arrises like this: When your sequence on your MPC is playing its beats it has 0 latency as the Sample is physically in the sequencer. However, if you have it hooked up to your PC the Midi Note has to travel from your MPC down the midi cable into your Midi Interface, then into the PC' kernel, then to the App, Reason then has to tell that note to head to the VSTi which then plays the note. Obviously there is a time lag of some kind... This is not a very long delay, but a delay none the less. Now if you have 16 channels traveling down the one cable and Reason is under a heavy load as its playing 16 VSTi it may force some of your notes to wait to be processed as its very bussy playing and doing other tasks... If your multi-tracking into say LOGIC through a Yammaha 0v1 then into Logic or Pro-Tools .. I would say your Drums are going to be noticeably Early Compared to your other music and other random notes may be slighly late as well...
If Reson is Sequencing Internally (or any other Sequencer for that matter) It has been designed for this tasks and It knows because the notes are within Reason and it reads ahead in the sequence and knows a whole bunch of notes are comming up and adjusts appropriately by getting ready in advance... This is what you would prefer ultimately...
I remember 3 years ago, every Dance producer was going down the Logic path with EXS sampler because Logic and EXS were so well integrated they were really tight, tighter and better integrated than Say Cubase and Halion or Cubase with an external sampler (that has changed now mostly)... Otherwise Producers would stay with Hardware... As Hardware samplers and sound modules as they are dedicated to recieving Midi Notes and playing them (there is no complicated OS environment).
This has all changed a bit now obviously as PC's are Crazy powerfull and Music software gets really good... However, the same issues are there and its important for your composition to consider these things in advance.
If I wanted to use a sound from a VSTi in my MPC? I would sequence that sound in Cubase, then render it to audio, edit it in Sound Forge and setup the loop, riff or whatever then transfer it to the MPC by Zip. Then after my composition is complete I would transfer all the MIDI into Cubase, plus load all the samples into Halion and Mix it down internally....
Or I might Record all the Audio Multi-Tracked, Multi Imputs and synced by MTC to Cubase and then edit and mix down purely in the audio demain... I can also then add more VSTi's as I know its going to perform better internally at that stage! with less Midi Happening!
I hope this helps and give you all some ideas what is possible this day and age and a comparison between the old and the new!!
peace,
M.
