Ableton Forum

Since it will be a minute before I can get Reason 5, I thought about which new devices in the new version that I could emulate in Live. I think most would agree that Ableton's Session view crushes Dr OctoRex and Blocks. Sampling has never been a challenge for Live. Neptune is okay, but not that significant. So that leaves us with the Kong Drum Designer. On the surface, you gotta love it: simple 16 pad front end, tons of options for using analog and digital drum modeling, integrated effects chain and so on. It seems like alot to envy but then I got to thinking: it can't be that hard to create something similar to Kong in Live. So I created a Drum Rack, rewired reason 4 to give me access my favorite refills, and found that Live is more than capable of creating a device similar to Kong! Multiple sound sources, check. Effect chains for each pad, check. Simple interface for controlling device, check! What exactly was I jealous about? Currently, i am working on a setup that works without using Reason, just to prove to myself that I can live without it. Don't get me wrong, I see Reason as a decent tool and I will continue to use it, but I think it helps me to avoid GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) and its cousin SAW (software acquisition syndrome). I need help yo! The problem I'm having is I enjoy using ReFills too much. Am I missing something in Live that equals (or surpasses) Refills? Anyway, if anyone else has worked on something similar, I would love to hear about it.

Sounds wicked,any chance of making that rack available? Be well helpful. Thx.

Sure thing. Just need to add a couple of tweaks. Should have it up later today.

I'd also like to see what you came up with.

shelLuser, I appreciate your lengthy response, but I'm not sure you answered my question. I asked how many devices found in Reason 5 could be emulated in Ableton Live, so I wasn't looking for a qualitative analysis as much as I was looking for examples of how Ableton devices could be programmed to do the same job as Reason devices. Using this premise, Ableton's Session view can accomplish tasks similar to Reason's Blocks, as well as Dr OctoRex. I agree that some of the features of Dr Octo would be challenging to create with facility in Ableton, but its not impossible. I specifically focused on the Kong Drum Designer because it is the most compelling of the new features. I spent quite a bit of time playing with this device during Beta and it's the feature i most look forward to using (remember I said I could not purchase Reason 5 YET). While I'm waiting for that day to come, I don't have to be absent the use of simlar features because Live is up to the task. To give you further insight into my thinking, James Bernard (of Propellerhead SW) constantly challenges himself to do more with less (like creating a drum pattern using only Thor). In this same vein, I want to push myself by learning the features of Ableton well enough to create Ableton devices that do a fair job of emulating Reason devices.

Let me close with two thoughts: first, this exercise has been very rewarding for me, because it forced me to explore features in Ableton that I previously neglected. It is real easy to stick with what you like using (or know how to use). Sometimes breaking up your normal process leads to new discoveries that open up your creativity. My second thought is my appreciation for Reason has grown tremendously and can't imagine making music without it, except when I intentionally avoid it to see what i can come up with. So here is your challenge, should you accept it: walk us through using Seesion view in a manner that reproduces the feature set of Dr OctoRex. I will be working on the same thing; maybe we can compare notes very soon.

You can repitch individual slices quite easily via various methods. One being chopping the slice into a Drum Rack. The other, using the Automation Editing.

The biggest "difference" in My book is MIDI Control. Ableton Live is kind of a, grab-bag when it comes to MIDI assignment. Nice for assigning anything to anything, but really lousy when you want something that easily commits to an instrument. This doesn't fully go into the 'functions of each instrument' department but for that specifically, you'd have to ask whether you intend for this emulation to be for life performance or studio applications.

^ great reading, thank you.

Ive been a Reason user since 1.0, but I never used malstrom, am I missing out?
I think this synth is so cheesy, with 303 loops etc, I think, if I work with this synth, I can also start buying Trance re-fills and that sort of thing.
Do you think Autechre and Monolake etc would use Malstrom on their albums?

the thor synth is awesome. analog is utilitarian but thor is a beast.

also the LFOs on maelstrom are the key. i will layer it in sounds but not alone. i often route the lfos on it to other things.

Being able to route the LFOs from one synth to almost anything else is something that makes Reason very interesting to use. It would be great if Live had something that looked kind of like the Chord plugin (instead of Shift and Velocity it would have Frequency and Shape) that just has a bunch of LFOs that you could then map to any macro button on any track you wanted.
I guess you can kinda do that with a looping unlinked envelope but that's not terribly intuitive.

robotsound wrote:the thor synth is awesome. analog is utilitarian but thor is a beast.

also the LFOs on maelstrom are the key. i will layer it in sounds but not alone. i often route the lfos on it to other things.