Reason 4 - Rewire or Export?

[Guy Gabriel]

I don't like the sound quality of Reason, now I've got a project in it which I wanna mix in Cubase.
Now my question is does it make any difference in the sound quality if I just rewire it to Cubase or export it in 24/44.1 and import the wave files to Cubase?
Is there a difference between rewiring and exporting soundwize?

Thanks

[xabiton]

yes now try it and see if u like it

[Mr.Cheese]

and now I i have to take a poop

[Led]

Are you going to rewire or export the poop?

[Guy Gabriel]

Originally Posted by xabiton

yes now try it and see if u like it

I don't know how to rewire, that's why I'm asking, if i knew how to do it I would try myself and compare the sound.
The question was whether there is a difference in the sound between rewire and export.

[xabiton]

then read the fu*king manual. thats what its there for. or even the help files.

[jbuehler]

Rewire it FOR SURE.

The trouble with Reason is its sound engine is pretty crappy. This is meant to conserve cpu power because Reason's original goal was to be efficient enough for all computers. This is the reason you can basically have TONS of plugs (devices in Reason) running simultaneously.

Anyway, Rewire gets around this perfectly and sounds great.

If you Export WAV files you will still be using the Reason sound engine but if you Rewire you won't, you will than be using Cubase's

You will notice a huge difference sonically instantly, especially if you Rewire each track/device to its own channel in Cubase and mix from there.

This is what I do in Pro Tools and there isn't much extra cpu use at all.

[PettyCash]

Reason will run in rewire slave mode as long as you have Cubase already opened first. Next you have to activate the Reason rewire channels in Cubase.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by jbuehler

You will notice a huge difference sonically instantly, especially if you Rewire each track/device to its own channel in Cubase and mix from there.

You will not notice a huge difference, but you should definitely notice some difference overall.

That being said, I usually always rewire out of Reason, but lately I have had some beats that were made completely within Reason (a real time saver).
During a recent listening session I noticed that the beats done completely within Reason were catching more attention than some of the ones done completely within Nuendo, or done with both Reason and Nuendo. No one (other producers and artists) noticed any big differences sonically between each beat I played for them, infact I had to mention to them what I used to make the beats they were really feeling, and they were all suprised about the beats done in Reason.

That just proved to me (a fellow Reason rewire advocate) that its all about how you use this program. Yes you have to work harder to make complete Reason productions sound "professionally" pleasing. but if you are great at what you do, its far from being impossible.

[jbuehler]

Originally Posted by PettyCash

You will not notice a huge difference, but you should definitely notice some difference overall.

Dude, I am a die hard Reason fan since 1.0 but I have to back up my claim, "You will notice a HUGE difference sonically when you rewire REASON."

By a HUGE difference, I mean the difference between 88.2 and 44.1 or the difference between various types of tubes.

It isn't HUGE to a novice but to good ears it is like a night and day revelation and you never go back.

That is the truth. Propellarheads designed it this way. This is the Reason they invented Rewire for Reason.

If your clients like the beats made only in Reason more it is because of the Mastering Combo set to Hip Hop preset. That has been my experience. It sounds good but it is a played out sound that Premier has been doing for nearly 20 years.

[Guy Gabriel]

thanks 4 the help g'z

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by jbuehler

Dude, I am a die hard Reason fan since 1.0 but I have to back up my claim, "You will notice a HUGE difference sonically when you rewire REASON."

By a HUGE difference, I mean the difference between 88.2 and 44.1 or the difference between various types of tubes.

It isn't HUGE to a novice but to good ears it is like a night and day revelation and you never go back.

That is the truth. Propellarheads designed it this way. This is the Reason they invented Rewire for Reason.

If your clients like the beats made only in Reason more it is because of the Mastering Combo set to Hip Hop preset. That has been my experience. It sounds good but it is a played out sound that Premier has been doing for nearly 20 years.

Well I think quite the opposite. To a novice, the differences would be more like night and day. To a person that has more experience, better ears, who is able to gauge the differences in more detail and who is great at mixing, the differences are more like night and that time period just before sunrise.

A casual listener probably wont notice the difference because their ears aren't trained to care; A novice engineer should notice the difference, and will just stick to the fact that it is a really positive difference; Someone more advanced will definitely notice the difference, and will know exactly what it is that the Reason stuff lacks in comparison to lets say... Reason rewired into Pro Tools for example.

I started using Reason back when they first released version 2. I have continued to use it over the years updating to version 3, and I now version 4. Back then I would have agreed with you. Im pretty sure there are Reason threads here on GS where I have stated to others the same things that you are claiming to now. But as of now, after re-evaluting what I personally am able do with Reason, the differences between not rewiring and rewiring dont seem as big as they use to be. Rewiring still sounds better obviously, but the differences are not huge as you say they are, to say huge would be an overstatment and an indication that maybe your mixing skills are not up to par enough to make due with what Reason has to offer and its limitations in regards to mixing. IMHO, the difference is significant enough to make me prefer rewiring; at the same time though, if I was in a rush to get a bunch of stuff created in Reason mixed down (like I was recently), I would be confident in the results that I can achieve within Reason.

Also, I must caution you against using any mastering suite presets, or using mastering suite at all unless you understand what you are doing. I have seen too many beats, songs, whatever being squashed to death with that thing, by those who think that they can just "set it and forget it". I can now see why you would think the differences are night and day, if mastering suite presets are what you have been relying on and have had past experience with. The producers and maybe even the artists that I met up with for the session would know better than that... then again knowing myself, I probably beat that info into their ear drums thousands of times before lol...

[jbuehler]

Originally Posted by PettyCash

Well I think quite the opposite. To a novice, the differences would be more like night and day. To a person that has more experience, better ears, who is able to gauge the differences in more detail and who is great at mixing, the differences are more like night and that time period just before sunrise.

A casual listener probably wont notice the difference because their ears aren't trained to care; A novice engineer should notice the difference, and will just stick to the fact that it is a really positive difference; Someone more advanced will definitely notice the difference, and will know exactly what it is that the Reason stuff lacks in comparison to lets say... Reason rewired into Pro Tools for example.

I started using Reason back when they first released version 2. I have continued to use it over the years updating to version 3, and I now version 4. Back then I would have agreed with you. Im pretty sure there are Reason threads here on GS where I have stated to others the same things that you are claiming to now. But as of now, after re-evaluting what I personally am able do with Reason, the differences between not rewiring and rewiring dont seem as big as they use to be. Rewiring still sounds better obviously, but the differences are not huge as you say they are, to say huge would be an overstatment and an indication that maybe your mixing skills are not up to par enough to make due with what Reason has to offer and its limitations in regards to mixing. IMHO, the difference is significant enough to make me prefer rewiring; at the same time though, if I was in a rush to get a bunch of stuff created in Reason mixed down (like I was recently), I would be confident in the results that I can achieve within Reason.

Also, I must caution you against using any mastering suite presets, or using mastering suite at all unless you understand what you are doing. I have seen too many beats, songs, whatever being squashed to death with that thing, by those who think that they can just "set it and forget it". I can now see why you would think the differences are night and day, if mastering suite presets are what you have been relying on and have had past experience with. The producers and maybe even the artists that I met up with for the session would know better than that... then again knowing myself, I probably beat that info into their ear drums thousands of times before lol...

I HATE HATE the mastering suite.

I only use the NXT and the Redrum straight into Pro Tools. And the rest is through RTAS plugs. I mostly just like the sequencer for drums.

I guess you may be right, REWIRE may not be as big a deal as it used to be. I would believe that for sure. I just haven't tested it otherwise for nearly 6 years now.

[Factory101]

Originally Posted by Guy Gabriel

I don't like the sound quality of Reason, now I've got a project in it which I wanna mix in Cubase.
Now my question is does it make any difference in the sound quality if I just rewire it to Cubase or export it in 24/44.1 and import the wave files to Cubase?
Is there a difference between rewiring and exporting soundwize?

Thanks

To Rewire you need to remove the Reason mixer and plug each instrument directly into the Reason Hardware Interface...

...then in Cubase create a new separate track for each instrument coming (via Rewire) into Cubase...

...the channel numbers (e.g. 1/2 or 3/4) on the Reason Hardware Interface should be the corresponding channels you select for each Rewired track in Cubase.

In effect, Rewire enables you to 'link a cable' directly between a Reason instrument and a Cubase track/channel.

Best, 101

PS read the manual.

[filin]

Originally Posted by jbuehler

I only use the NXT and the Redrum straight into Pro Tools. And the rest is through RTAS plugs. I mostly just like the sequencer for drums.

If you're not using the Scream4, you're missing out. Also, there's loads of great things you can do with the combinator, using the CV inputs and routing matrix to do weird and wonderful things.

[Synthy08]

I just rewire....sound quality stays the same....i use 4.0 though.......then i mix in cubase....then.....finito