propellerhead reason vs. spectrasonics atmosphere

[(val)Liam]

which do you think would be better for producing ambient?

[dj4mula]

Use em both.

[mux]

Reason is like a swiss army knife, while atmosphere is like a Torx screwdriver. Both are very, very useful tools, but you'll definitely need more than just a Torx.

[Sean]

Atmosphere can't be used in Reason unless you're rewiring it through Cubase, Logic, Buzz, etc. I don't really see how you can compare the two... Atmosphere is a VST instrument that's awesome for pads, leads and some synth basses (specifically the moog samples), whereas reason is a full blown virtual studio.

[ryantron]

ive never heard of atmosphere. is it a vst plugin or something?

[mux]

Yep. A really powerful VSTi synthesizer.

http://www.spectrasonics.net/instrum...tmosphere.html

Very nice. Wish it wasn't software. :/

[dj_zyx]

Both are good at producing ambient music. I'm not sure how many sound banks and patches are in atmosphere. I havent played around atmosphere yet. Listen to some of the demos on there site, sounds really good for ambient. I think Atmosphere is geared towards more ambient sound, but in the long run you will peak out with that program and be heading towards reason for more help.

[ryantron]

i'll have to check that out. :)

[Sean]

Originally Posted by dj_zyx

Both are good at producing ambient music. I'm not sure how many sound banks and patches are in atmosphere. I havent played around atmosphere yet. Listen to some of the demos on there site, sounds really good for ambient. I think Atmosphere is geared towards more ambient sound, but in the long run you will peak out with that program and be heading towards reason for more help.

Um, no. Atmosphere is NOT a standalone program; it can only be used with a studio that supports VSTi plugins (ie. NOT reason). If you're able to use Atmosphere, then you're using something like Cubase, Logic or Buzz, and hence will not need to ever go to reason for anything (not knocking reason, it's its own thing and that's fine and all, but it's not exactly the end all and be all of electronic music production). Atmosphere comes with around 1000+ patches, each with 2 sub-patches, hence allowing for a nearly endless combination of patches; most of these are focused on lush pads and atmospheric type sounds, but there are a shitload of lead sounds and bass sounds as well. Due to the nature of the instrument, with all of the patches coming from hardware samples, not much external tweaking is required to get a phat sound. I'd definitely recommend it to people.

[mux]

Originally Posted by dj_zyx

Both are good at producing ambient music. I'm not sure how many sound banks and patches are in atmosphere. I havent played around atmosphere yet. Listen to some of the demos on there site, sounds really good for ambient. I think Atmosphere is geared towards more ambient sound, but in the long run you will peak out with that program and be heading towards reason for more help.

I don't think any software is good at producing ambient music; I think music comes from musicians. A good musician can produce ambient music with whatever is in their studio. Atmosphere may be a good *tool* for a musician to use in producing ambient music.

I also think using built-in patches, programs, and soundbanks is totally weak. If you're going to make music and call it your own, use the tools as TOOLS, not as crutches - I bet I could get a really mean screamy TB-303 lead sound out of Atmosphere if I worked at it.

I feel the same way about sample CDs, Reason "Refills", and presets on grooveboxes - any hardware synth that you can't overwrite *all* the presets is, IMHO, a toy. Shortcuts like this are for people making music for a living, for porn, daytime TV, lower-end videogame soundtracks, etc - there's art, then there's artwork. Art has no shortcuts.

My 3D animation instructor in college drilled into our heads that there is "no such thing as a 'make cool animation' button! That button is labelled 'hard work'!". I agree 100% - I mean, did you go to the Squarepusher show last night? Sure, a lot of his stuff is a combination of wicked software and methamphetamines, but there's also his long history of jazz bass - and that's what makes him Squarepusher. Anyone can program a 256thth-note dentist-drill snare roll; only an artist can spend 20 years learning to play the bass like that.

Just my opinion.

[dj_zyx]

Um, no. Atmosphere is NOT a standalone program; it can only be used with a studio that supports VSTi plugins (ie. NOT reason). If you're able to use Atmosphere, then you're using something like Cubase, Logic or Buzz, and hence will not need to ever go to reason for anything (not knocking reason, it's its own thing and that's fine and all, but it's not exactly the end all and be all of electronic music production).

I know Atmosphere is a plugin. I read there site. It had presents for sounds, just like bryce 3d has presents for landscapes. In my opinion Reason is one of the best studio programs ever made in history. The idea of importing a sound cutting it up in NN-XT. Brilliant! I just like the rack layout, easy to work with. The only thing they need to improve on would be the sequencer, but thats where Logic and Cubase come in.

my opinion.

[dj_zyx]

I don't think any software is good at producing ambient music; I think music comes from musicians. A good musician can produce ambient music with whatever is in their studio. Atmosphere may be a good *tool* for a musician to use in producing ambient music.

I also think using built-in patches, programs, and soundbanks is totally weak. If you're going to make music and call it your own, use the tools as TOOLS, not as crutches - I bet I could get a really mean screamy TB-303 lead sound out of Atmosphere if I worked at it.

I feel the same way about sample CDs, Reason "Refills", and presets on grooveboxes - any hardware synth that you can't overwrite *all* the presets is, IMHO, a toy. Shortcuts like this are for people making music for a living, for porn, daytime TV, lower-end videogame soundtracks, etc - there's art, then there's artwork. Art has no shortcuts.

Reason is a tool to make music you can use it anyway you want. depending on what you want done, Atmosphere is a present plugin which means it has its limits, but it does have the idea of creating your own sound and not recycling sounds from other people IE records,CDs, tapes, etc...

Mux I totally agree with you on that, I hate people that produce music using Acid, and trackers, your just recycling loops. Whats the point of bitting someone else when you could make it yourself and make your own unique sound and people will say hey thats Mux, or thats Zyx...

[(val)Liam]

gracias for your view points :)

anyone try project 5? if you have, what do you think?