Bella Morte formed in 1996 in Virginia, a gothic rock band with a smattering of punk attitude and industrial noisiness. The band has released numerous CDs and has toured extensively. Their most recent release is Bleed The Grey Sky Black. Synth player Micah Consylman took some time to talk to Gearwire about Reason and the MIDIjet Pro.

Patrick Ogle: Why did you choose Reason over the other available Mac software?

One of the initial reasons for choosing Reason over other available software was its portability. A Reason file can be totally self-contained and still be a relatively small file. Reason is also cross-platform compatible and extremely processor efficient. For us, this meant that a song in the process of being written can go from my computer, to a band mate's computer, someone else's laptop, and back to me. The file can then go live on stage without there ever being an operating system issue, worrying about everyone having the right plugins or in most cases, computer speed. We started using Reason when it first came out and have been using it ever since; currently we are using version 3.0.

A lot of people like how the interface looks like rack mounted components and how there are animated patch cables.

Tell me about some of the specific features that attract you to Reason?

As a synth player, I come from a hardware background so having a virtual rack that looks and acts like hardware is really great. Reason is invaluable for its use as a virtual synth rack. I would need a massive hardware synth rack to create the same sounds as I do with Reason. I have the ability to totally customize a sound with several different types of synthesis routed in and out of many different effects. After I have created a sound for a new song all I have to do is copy and paste it into my live rig, add whatever midi control functionality I want. For example, having my expression wheel on my keyboard control how much delay and distortion is on a sound, while simultaneously controlling a low pass filter on a subtractive synth and a formant shift on another synth. When I'm done I just grab my laptop, jump on the tour bus and start playing shows.

Like most software companies, Propellerheads insists Reason is intuitive and easy to learn. What do you think about the learning curve of the software?

On its most basic level, Reason is very easy to learn. For anyone who has sequenced MIDI, they should be able to pick it up pretty quickly and if they have used hardware, it's a breeze. For more advanced stuff, it can have a pretty steep learning curve. I have met plenty of people who have abandoned the program once they had a more involved MIDI or sequencing issue to deal with. One big problem for most synth players is that Reason does not respond to standard MIDI control numbers. The MIDI control numbers seem to be arbitrarily assigned so whatever MIDI control gear you are using, you have to reassign all the MIDI cc numbers to Reason's unique ones.

For me there have also been some issues with having enough sounds for our live show. It takes too long to load up most sounds between songs and for our live show I don't want to be tethered to my computer. Instead, I load everything up in a rack ahead of time and change MIDI channels on my controller in order to switch between sounds. This works fine most of the time but we have a large collection of songs some of which use 3 or 4 sounds each. 16 sounds for the 16 channels of MIDI are just not enough. I had to figure out ways of using the Combinator and other units to toggle through additional sounds via MIDI control.

Writing in Reason can be challenging if you are using it for something other than dance music. For example, if you have a section of a song you want to have a tempo or time signature change... good luck, there is no native support for this. There are some clever ways around this problem but that's another story.

How do you tweek Reason when you use it (the virtual "patching" whatever?). Have you changed the "default behavior" of the software to suit your needs? How and why?

Reason is a very compact and efficient program. On the surface it looks like a cheesy all in one synth suite. The stock sounds and demo songs are reminiscent of stock techno from a bad public service announcement about kids going to raves being dangerous. Once you get into the guts of customizing and routing synths, you will find a totally different beast. There are multiple routing options between synths and effects; you can also create a sound that uses subtractive synthesis, sample playback and, "graintable," synthesis all in the same patch. "Graintable" synthesis is one of my favorite things about the overall sound of Reason, it is a combination of granular and wavetable synthesis that the Malstrom (one of Reasons software synths) uses. This kind of synthesis is so unique that it has become part of my signature sound. It's something I use as a synth player in Bella Morte, my side project Mortech and almost all of the records I play or produce on.

Have you used different versions of Reason and if so what, if any, are the improvements Propellerheads have made to the software?

I have used every version from when it came out until now and there has been a steady progression of the software over the years. New to version 3.0, among other things, is the "Combinator". This is a unit that allows you to neatly bundle up and save all of your synth patches in one unit. It also gives you master MIDI control over all of the synths and effects contained in the unit.

What are some drawbacks of Reason?

Some of the main drawbacks of Reason are: 1. MIDI control numbers are not standard and some fairly common controls, like bank and patch change, do not work at all. 2. No tempo or time signature change native to the program 3. Depending on the patch size, load time can be slow and pre loading sounds can get convoluted when you have a lot of sounds.

Any tips you might have for new Reason users?

Reason can be a great writing and performance tool, if you really put some time into learning it's ins and out's. Don't get discouraged if at first your sounds and songs don't sound how you want them. Try running all your lead synths through a little distortion and EQing the crap out of them, using several synthesis types to make one sound. Automating all of your levels, effects and filters can lead to a really cool sound.

Why do you use the MIDIjet Pro?

After a lot of trial and error and other research, it was the only device that worked for me.

I notice you are an endorser of the product how and why did that come about?

I play keytar as well as a standard keyboard live. In fact, I play keytar on 75% of our songs and I was really tired of having to tether myself to my rig with a long MIDI cable. I was always getting tangled up and unplugged. We have a really active live show, so I need to be able to move. Now that I have the MIDIjet Pro I can run around stage like a madman, dive into the crowd and jump into mosh pits. Now the only bad thing is how many keytars I break. I'm telling you they need to make a keytar out of metal.

What features of the MIDIjet Pro appeal to you over other units?

The main reasons I decided on MIDIjet Pro are the reasons to choose any wireless unit; Latency, reliability, size, and range. All in all, it outperformed all the other units on the market.

MIDIjet pro operates on the 2.4 GHz license free band. In addition, it pipes all of the MIDI channels that a standard MIDI cable would (16 one way).

Have you ever had cut out problems with this or any other unit?

I have had cut-out and stuck note problems with other units, but not MIDIjet Pro. When I first got it, I cranked my amp up all the way, walked out of our practice space and across the block. I could barely hear my amp and it was still working. It finally cut out half way down the next block. With other MIDI systems this would have been an annoying stuck note. The MIDIjet automatically stopped the stuck note.

Have you used other wireless units? How do they compare?

Yes, and they were not nearly as good. A new one that came out not too long ago is the M-Audio wireless unit. It is really cheap but I think you can only use it a whopping 30 feet from your receiver. I couldn't even get to the edge of most of the stages we play on.