automation and track lanes: a total mess

[deeplink]

double click on the thumbnail of the device in the track lane and it will take you to the corresponding device in the rack...

if that's what you're asking?

[RoryM0]

In some way, yes, but the chaos in sequencer is still there

Agree, it's not very friendly to work with - especially once your track counts get into double figures and your mix/audio channels start getting level and panning automation, and your devices start getting multiple automation lanes each. Ugh.

I've only been using Reason regularly since R9.5 so I can imagine those who have been using it for much longer are so used to the way it works that they just think that people who don't like the sequencer part of Reason are just being nit-picky, but all I can say is that as soon as I got my hands on the RRP with R12 (didn't buy into R11) and could use the rack in another sequencer - I've hardly looked back. The transition really hasn't been that big of a deal so far.

I would go one further and say that the mixer window is awful to use and I'm glad to see the back of it (something you can't even do with TAB in Reason )

Reason's rack paradigm is really the only evocative part of it for me. I understand the 'whole greater than the sum of its parts' argument towards Reason standalone but beyond some edge cases like CV experiments where everything is modulating everything which would be impossible with multiple racks in another DAW, I will stand by what will be a very unpopular opinion and say that RS should take Reason forward as the rack plugins first and the DAW as a legacy product...

[chimp_spanner]

I opened up a project and I have really absolute no clue which autmation / effect lane depends to which device, its all total mess. I really can't work good on with the project, because I don't see which effect lane is attached to which device.

Any tipps to create an kind of track lane order in the sequencer?

Periodically you should select all your devices in the rack, right click, and sort selected device groups. This *should* bring all connected device tracks into line with their note tracks, although it's a bit hit and miss sometimes as to whether it ends up above or below it. The best thing you can do is just keep organised in your project. So for instance if I have an audio track for rhythm guitar I'll call it Rhythm Guitar. If I then automate the gain for the amp on it, the amp track is called Rhythm Guitar Amp. I also colour them the same as well, so they look like they belong together.

It's not perfect tbh. Automation for connected devices should either be nested, OR, we should have the ability to collapse them into folders. I like how Live handles it. All automation is hidden until you go into automation mode, and then you can either see the last thing manipulated or show all used lanes.

I do appreciate that Reason is a bit different though, in that it's possible for a device to exist independently of an instrument. Which I suspect is where the difficulty lies.

[Loque]

I agree. Its hard to organize stuff in Reason.

I use in seaquencer:
* Colors
* Names (my fx have the same name as the patch, sometimes prefixing names)
* Tight stuff together
* Blocks
* Names

In the rack
* Colors
* Rarely Combinators, because its hard to find things and see all whats available
* Never use Insert Fx, since i cannot see whats "inside"
* Keep everything collapsed
* Use "spacers" like TMA
* Organize in lanes, like drum stuff on the left, bass stuff on right, synths on even more right, fx on full right, send and master insert fx below Master section

Mixer
* Colors
* Tight everything together, organize similar to the rack, like drums on the left and so...
* Rarly spacers with empty channels
* Busses often to mark a group
* Busses on the right

Another rule is, never rename a track, Combinator or channel. Always let the names auto generate from the basic patch.

Works for me, but some more visual grouping and collapsing would really be helpful.

Just saw a video from a artist i really like and he showed his big live sets in a DAW and i can promise, this would not be possible to organize in Reason. My "little" projects are already hard to manage. If you want to have a look and listen, check it out:

[BRIGGS]

If I don't label stuff, things become chaos. : )

[Tweak]

Its similar issues to those described by the OP that got me thinking of this feature request:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7526827

Not strictly solving the problem mentioned here, but certainly going some way to helping. That and some grouping/folder system for stuff would be pretty sweet

[jam-s]

You can drag and drop sequencer lanes to re-arrange them to our liking. This might reduce chaos. Also you can give clips a label (right click menu option when clicking the clip). This helps in keeping things organised.

Regarding automation I find it useful to put any Instrument and its processing chain into a combinator and then map the Buttons to the automation targets. This allows to have (most of or all) the automation for all those FX in a single sequencer lane.

[pushedbutton]

If every word document you wrote was called document1.doc, document2.doc etc. you'd soon loose track of which document you wanted to open.
Name things, colour them, put them in separate racks, use busses.
The tools are in place to keep things organised, you just need to use them.

[chimp_spanner]

It is a little hard sometimes. I've been doing some Reason writing sessions on stream and sometimes I just totally lose my place in a jumble of tracks, devices and automation lanes. I would love to be able to fold them all into one thing, but yeah until then I think you just have to be pro-active with organisation, naming and colouring. Another thing you can do - bit of a hack - is to use a device like ReMark (like one of those note taking devices) and create a note lane for it. This creates a dummy track in the sequencer that you can use as a track list divider. So something like

---DRUMS---
Kong 808
Kontakt Acoustic
---BASS---
Synth Pluck
Synth Pluck Scream
- P1
- P2
- Damage
Reese
---GUITAR---
Rhythm
Rhythm Amp
- Gain
- Channel
Lead

etc. etc.

I *should* balance this out by saying that even in a DAW with more organisational tools (like Cubase 11 Pro) it's entirely possible to get just as jumbled. A lot of it is down to individual practice/habits. I was just sorting out a big video shoot project in a Cubase file that got chopped and butchered for tour back track and almost had an fit trying to figure out what was what. *BUT* I was able to use folders, import tracks from other sessions and use track visibility to get on top of it. So there's still a strong argument for some improvement there however you look at it.

[Loque]

If every word document you wrote was called document1.doc, document2.doc etc. you'd soon loose track of which document you wanted to open.
Name things, colour them, put them in separate racks, use busses.
The tools are in place to keep things organised, you just need to use them.

In Word you have a search function, in Reason you do not have one.

Now try to find that one device hidden in 300 devices and maybe its somewhere hidden in a Combinator or a Insert Channel

[pushedbutton]

If every word document you wrote was called document1.doc, document2.doc etc. you'd soon loose track of which document you wanted to open.
Name things, colour them, put them in separate racks, use busses.
The tools are in place to keep things organised, you just need to use them.

In Word you have a search function, in Reason you do not have one.

Now try to find that one device hidden in 300 devices and maybe its somewhere hidden in a Combinator or a Insert Channel

Well if you need to do a little digging there's always 'scroll to connected device'.
Have a little faith in understanding how you work, if someone else can't understand your filing system that's their problem. You can help yourself out along the way by staying organised or you can submit to the chaos and repent at your leisure. I wouldn't want to have Reason dictate where everything is placed or what devices should be called.
And I'm quite confident that I could find that one device.

[SynthGang]

For organizational purposes I long ago established a standard colour palette that I apply to every single one of my projects (e.g. red for bass, blue for drums, green for harmony, yellow for instrumental bus, pink for vocals, and tracks always aligned in that order from left to right in my mixer pane from bottom to top in rack view)

But I really wish Reason would give us an RGB colour picker or even the ability to create a gradient effect for a range of channel strips (e.g. going from dark pink to a lighter pink across a specified range of channel strips).

[dvdrtldg]

I agree the sequencer is a dog's breakfast. But one handy thing I've learned is that if you want to change the name or the colour of a track, it's best to make the change in the sequencer lane. That way, the change will be replicated in the mixer and the rack (say, 95% of the time)

[dvdrtldg]

But I really wish Reason would give us an RGB colour picker or even the ability to create a gradient effect for a range of channel strips (e.g. going from dark pink to a lighter pink across a specified range of channel strips).

Yeah this would be a huge help. There just aren't enough colour options on the list as it is, especially if like most people you want to group things together (e.g. drums in shades of blue, percussion in shades of green etc)

[plaamook]

For organizational purposes I long ago established a standard colour palette that I apply to every single one of my projects (e.g. red for bass, blue for drums, green for harmony, yellow for instrumental bus, pink for vocals, and tracks always aligned in that order from left to right in my mixer pane from bottom to top in rack view)

But I really wish Reason would give us an RGB colour picker or even the ability to create a gradient effect for a range of channel strips (e.g. going from dark pink to a lighter pink across a specified range of channel strips).

I do that. Couldn't agree more.

[plaamook]

That way, the change will be replicated in the mixer and the rack (say, 95% of the time)

What the hell am I doing here!!! (In Reason I mean...)

[fullforce]

If every word document you wrote was called document1.doc, document2.doc etc. you'd soon loose track of which document you wanted to open.
Name things, colour them, put them in separate racks, use busses.
The tools are in place to keep things organised, you just need to use them.

Some people just can't. I'm one of them.

[bxbrkrz]

It's even 'more fun' when you get a well advanced project (+30 tracks) from a friend for you to mix, rearrange, etc. And that friend has their own and very unique definition of a 'well organized' Reason project

[SynthGang]

I agree the sequencer is a dog's breakfast. But one handy thing I've learned is that if you want to change the name or the colour of a track, it's best to make the change in the sequencer lane. That way, the change will be replicated in the mixer and the rack (say, 95% of the time)

I have yet to wrap my head around how this works! I really wish the change would be automatically reflected regardless of whether you're renaming the channel strip or the sequencer lane!

[selig]

I agree the sequencer is a dog's breakfast. But one handy thing I've learned is that if you want to change the name or the colour of a track, it's best to make the change in the sequencer lane. That way, the change will be replicated in the mixer and the rack (say, 95% of the time)

I have yet to wrap my head around how this works! I really wish the change would be automatically reflected regardless of whether you're renaming the channel strip or the sequencer lane!

Naming is actually simple in Reason. You can name devices/tracks in the rack/sequencer, and you can name mixer channels in the mixer or the rack. Confusion may come because normally the mixer channels FOLLOW the track/device name. However, you can ‘break’ this link by naming the mixer channel differently than the device/track. if you later change your mind, just deleted the text in the mixer channel name and it will relink to the device/track name.
This works 100% of the time, there are no exceptions to this I’ve ever noted fwiw.