Logic’s Environment, a modular layer in the program for creating custom configurations, isn’t well known to many Logic users. But if you can get used to its slightly unusual interface, it’s capable of some really powerful stuff. You know, important music stuff. Like connecting Logic to your Nintendo NES game system. Jonathan Flugel writes:

The MIDINES evironment was created based on this chart:
http://www.wayfar.net/0xf00000_midi_chart.php

The environment allows for control of the 5 channels of synth/audio that the NES [supports]

Here are the 5 parts:
1-2 - Pulse Synthesizer waves
3-4 - Triangle/Square waves
5- sample channel

Since this is also my primary template for a Logic session there are other goodies I left in there:

1. NYC compression bus channel
2. 3 bus channels that I got from Hybrid (electronic group) for simple drum processing
3. MPC groove templates taken from an MPC 60
4. Ableton Live and Reason ReWire objects

There you have it: Logic + NES + MPC + Live + Reason. If that’s not a digital dream studio, I don’t know what is.

In case you want to give this file a look:
MIDINES.zip
That’s the MIDINES, Logic 8 file (if anyone has a MIDINES but Logic 7, let us know and we can share the Logic 7 file.)

Propellerheads have unveiled the newest version of Reason, entering beta now and shipping in fall. “Eagerly anticipated” genuinely applies here — I’ve heard various chatter about the new version for over a year. Anyone expecting audio recording or plug-in support, it’s still not here, but the upgrade does have some major enhancements that appear to stay true to its roots.

Thor “polysonic” synth: Continuing the industry-wide trend of combining different synth methods, Thor features six different envelopes, four filter types, wave shaping, and unique “analog-style” modulation routing. From anyone else, that description might be a non-starter, but the Props have a long history of really terrific synth design, and they promise Thor, like its predecessors, will be light on CPU usage — definitely bucking a separate industry-wide trend.

A mixer for quantization? Here’s where things get really interesting. The ReGroove mixer isn’t a mixer. It’s a groove/swing quantization tool. Quantization is real-time and adjustable, and can be applied to a full 32 groove channels independently. For anyone ready to break out of the mechanical sound of sequencing, this could be a powerful tool. I find it especially intriguing given the ridiculously simplistic quantization tools in Ableton Live; for some fine-tuned grooves, the combination of Live and Reason might again become popular. Oh, and yes, 32 independent grooves could well prove to be absurd overkill — we’ll have to figure out just how to use this. Or you could just apply one of the included groove presets, including (Props’ words, not mine) “vinyl funk gems of the 70s.” Sweet.

New sequencer: Yes, the original Reason sequencer was downright awful. This one sounds like one you might actually use:

…make global edits using “clips,” assign notes and controller events to different “lanes,” manage multiple takes, and edit events numerically—to name but a few of the hundreds of enhancements. Controller data now uses vector automaton for the smoothest of transitions. Users can manage tempo and time signature changes through a transport track. The inclusion of a floating tool window makes getting to frequently used tasks a snap.

In other words, Reason’s sequencer is a real sequencer now, at long last.

Also tasty-sounding: a new monophonic arpeggiator.

Despite its fantastic, CPU-light synths and effects, Reason had clearly fallen behind in terms of workflow. Beefing up quantization and sequencing and adding a new killer synth may be modest changes, but they sound like the right direction to me. I think the big question for a lot of users will be whether Reason fits in with another tool that handles audio, like Live, FL Studio, or a DAW. (And, for you hard-core sequencer types, maybe no audio at all but Reason inside an insane tracker.) I look forward to testing it.

The New Reason

And now, the obligatory giant rack shot:

All the major music software developers I’ve talked to have begun testing Vista, but Propellerheads has decided to go out on a limb and be the first to declare it “Works with Vista”, slapping on Microsoft’s official “approved” label:

Propellerhead Software Vista Compatibility

The flagship Reason, the original loop splicer-dicer app ReCycle, and the sample loading utility Reload have all been certified as Vista-compatible. In fact, you don’t even need a special upgrade: the existing versions work as-is, with two minor caveats. You’ll need admin privileges to install, and you’ll have to reauthorize your machine. (Updated: I shot off my mouth here and said that ReCycle wasn’t Universal on Mac. In comments, it’s noted that, while there’s not an Intel-specific build for Mac, ReCycle runs just fine on Mac OS X in Rosetta — makes sense, as unlike Reason, it doesn’t have the same performance needs.)

Now, requiring admin privs to install an app is a good thing, not a bad thing; OS X users have been doing this for some time, and it’s a major security hole in XP. (If anyone tries to use the “Windows just has more spyware because it’s a larger target” argument, you might ask them what kind of OS would let any application install anything anywhere without any user intervention. This should absolutely make Vista more secure.)

This news does tell us a little more about what to expect from other music software, and even if you’re on Mac or XP and planning to stay there, I promise there’s some free modular goodness at the end of this story. Really. You should read on.

Propellerhead has just unveiled three updates, Reason 3.05 for Mac, and ReWire 1.7 and an updated REX library for Mac and Windows. The big story is native compatibility of Intel-native Macs for Reason, but that’s not the only story. Just about everyone will benefit from the new versions, on PowerPC and Intel Macs, and Windows PCs, possibly even if you don’t run Reason itself. This general trend could be enough to make 2006 the Year of Music Software That Finally Runs Faster.

As reported here last week, Apple’s 7.2.1 update to Logic Pro and Express adds ReWire support to Intel Macs. Logic 7.2 also revamped the way ReWire works on all machines, so it’ll benefit all Logic users, not just Intel Mac owners. But the addition of ReWire means you can now fire up a Core Solo or Core Duo Mac and ReWire the Intel-native Live into Logic.

And what a sweet combination it is.

Apple’s Logic Pro and Express 7.2 were the first major music applications out the door with support for Intel Macs when they came out early this spring. As a result, though, Apple was a bit ahead of the curve: the Intel Mac ReWire SDK wasn’t available yet from Propellerhead, so Apple couldn’t include support for ReWire on Intel Macs. (ReWire works just fine on Logic 7.2 if you’re running a PowerPC-based Mac.) That didn’t matter at first — until Ableton Live shipped, complete with ReWire support.

Well, in case you haven’t checked Software Update lately, Mac Logic users, ReWire is here. And it’s a joy to use, finally, because Apple has added support for stereo ReWire objects and labels its ReWire I/O correctly. That means you can run a MacBook Pro or Intel mini with your Intel-native copy of Live ReWired into your Intel-native copy of Logic (which is blazingly fast on Intel, I might add), all with your Intel-native drivers from the likes of MOTU, M-Audio, and Edirol. Why it’s just about musical nirvana for laptop-based musicians. Now we just need the Native Instruments stuff and Max/MSP for a complete Intel Mac laptop experience. You can expect both to ship well before anything with the Adobe name on it. Snicker at your graphic artist friends, because you know you want to — oh, wait, I use Adobe software. Uh, never mind then.

Lots of other little tweaks that correct some major issues with 7.2; details after the jump. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: if you’re using Logic, you absolutely have to get 7.2, whether you’re using an Intel or PowerPC-based Mac. It just fixes a lot of Logic’s remaining rough edges.

Want to share audio between applications easily on an Intel Mac? Now you can. JACK OS X, the superb open-source solution for routing audio between applications and computers on Mac OS X, is now a Universal binary for Intel/PowerPC Macs with today’s release of version 0.73. That means if you’re running an Intel Mac, you can now easily route audio between your Intel-native copies of software like Ableton Live (released last week) and Apple Logic Pro (shipped last month).

Updated: The creator of JACK writes us to note that inter-app MIDI is bound for an upcoming release. (See comments.)

If you’re an early adopter and bought an Intel iMac or MacBook Pro, and you have “a keen eye and a habit of breaking things,” Propellerhead Software would like to speak to you. They’re beta testing version 3.05 for Intel Macs only, starting some time next week:

Reason for Intel Mac

You don’t even need a registered copy of Reason 3.0 to play. Just as interesting, though, is what’s buried in the announcement: we’re getting an updated ReWire library, and the Universal Binaries may not be the panacea we’ve heard they are — Propellerhead says they avoided them to prevent a big performance hit for existing PowerPC Mac users. More after the jump.

One audio app at once? Never enough, right? I’m working on a new tutorial with tips for setting up some typical ReWire scenarios. (For the unitiated, ReWire is a technology developed by Propellerhead for connecting multiple audio apps. Run a master app first, then launch the slave app, and the master should control transports while the slave feeds audio into the master app.)

Updated: I have resolved my issues with Logic Pro 7.1 + Reason 3.03 — well, sort of. ReWire configuration in Logic is really quite complex. I’m going to put together a new tutorial and template file, because what’s included with Logic is insufficient. Watch next week. In the meantime, would still love to know your experiences.

So here are my questions for you, readers:

1. Are you using ReWired apps? Which ones?

2. Having any trouble? Any tips that have fixed things in the past?

One general tip: reinstalling applications often seems to correct ReWire installations, or you can manually remove the ReWire support files (do a search on your HD for ReWire). Of course, the whole appeal is the system is supposed to work transparently. But let’s see if we can compile a new, up-to-date ReWiring guide. Look forward to hearing from you.