Reason 2.5 Sound Quality

[dubaifox]

In browsing through the samples to see what is there, including a Refill of Strings and Sonic Sampler, I have noticed that many of the Rex Files are very small, mono, and sound, well pretty lame.

As much as I love the layout and functionality of Reason 2.5, how do I beef up the sounds? If you buy a killer library (say Drums From Hell, or Discreet Drums) that includes Rex file format, will these sound as good as other samplers, formats?

I read somewhere that Rex uses a pretty severe file compression to make the size small, which would of course affect sound quality.

Any reccomendations for excellent re-fills?

Disceet drums looks great, but I'd want to know it would sound great through Reason.

[vf124]

As much as I love the layout and functionality of Reason 2.5, how do I beef up the sounds?

Well, for me Reason is excellent. The learning curve can be a stretch but worth it...you might try reading the manual for starters. I took the time to print the electronic manual which now covers three binders.

I also purchased the "Users Guide to Propellerhead Reason 2 by D. Poyser & D. Johnson" & "Reason 2.5 Power by M. Prager" both great for tutorials, etc...

[meltedworld]

If you scope the propellerheads website I think there is some info about the compression used. They claim that it is a lossless format. It seems to halve the file size, and there have been advances in compression algorythms that will yield lossless compression. I think Monkeys Audio was one. Perhaps Propellerheads use similar type of compression. I have never really noticed a decrease in quality when creating my own REX files. I think that the Reason RFL format uses a similar compression technique, as I refilled a 500MB drum sample CD for a guy and it turned into 169MB refill. He questioned wether I had left any of his samples out, and I had to explain about the compression thing. I never really noticed any loss in quality, but I'm sure Reason has a 'sound'.

[dubaifox]

...you might try reading the manual for starters.

I am not actually talking about programming aspect of it, for it is here that Reason really shines. You can take relatively mediocre sounds, and becuase you have such control you can make them pretty decent. It is the actual raw samples I am talking about. There are some good sounds to be found, but there are alot of really awful ones.

I can't imagine that reducing the size of a file by 2/3 wouldn't affect the sound.

[GW]

If you´re not satisfied with the strings, try the new Strings refill from Propellerhead for under 100 USD. I heard it friday and it really sounded good, especially bass, cello and viola.

[tele_player]

I can't imagine that reducing the size of a file by 2/3 wouldn't affect the sound.

That depends completely on the contents of the file; it's definitely possible, for some files, to reduce the size by 2/3 with absolutely no loss of data.

That being said, I did some searching on the Propellerhead website, and didn't find anything which stated explicitly that they use lossless compression. I did see mention that there's no loss of quality when making ReFills, from which one might reasonably infer that lossless compression is used.

[Rubo]

I don't know about compression or not, but I can tell you from my ear, Reason's sound engine sucks. I've notices when you import a good quality sample into Reddrum, it takes away a lot for it's fullness and low end, when I import the same sample into pro tools it sounds much better. Now if you're talking about Reason synths, then they absolutely suck in sound quality compared to something like FM7 or Moog Modular. If you have other outboard gear or at least a good analog mixer, then you can make it sound very decent - not more then that, but if you're 100% in digital domain then you're sound will suffer, even with a good converter. But don't take it form me, since I'm spoiled with hardware and obsessed with sound quality.

Cheers

[vf124]

But don't take it form me, since I'm spoiled with hardware and obsessed with sound quality.

Don't worry...hehe

[pk_hat]

It's all subjective, of course. Sure, using Factory Rex files, or patches as they are in the Malstrom or Subtractor will sound like absolute garbage. Throw in some AKAI sample cd's in there, for drums, synths, etc, or any generally good quality samples, and learn to program synths and apply the right effect, and Reason sounds just lovely. Dunno, works for me, though I'll never diss hardware, I do love it. BTW, I haven't used the Rex player in nearly 2 years, I just don't like it. Reaktor is certainly the catalyst in terms of sound quality.