traV̶E̶R̸se - Bull-headed Collaborations

on creating music with my cousin

Every week, my cousin (who we shall call DJ MIXMASTER @Slamlord SEGA-Supreme) and I meetup in my studio and work on writing music. Our style of collaboration is very nuanced, to say the least. We basically constantly talk shit on eachother while writing cool beats. This relationship of degradation and riffing is quite healthy, believe it or not. Amongst men, the closest friends talk the most shit to eachother; I think it is just a natural thing that happens.

Both my cousin and I are Taurus, meaning we are bullheaded and stubborn as hell, and it shows. We agree on everything that counts, but we adamantly swear allegiance to the dumbest things and argue relentlessly about their virtues vs their rival's pitfalls. From studio software to video games we will tirelessly debate and argue our side and refuse to budge an inch to the other...in fact, our ridiculous rivalries all started with video games.

Super Nintendo vs SEGA

Most gamer children of the early 90s remember the first console turf war that happened between Super Nintendo and SEGA. Many probably had picked a side, swearing allegiance to a specific console, the children evangelically espousing its truths against the blasphemous rival. (while still secretly wanting to play some of those cool games on the other console...) It was either Super Nintendo or SEGA and the battle lines were drawn.

For me, it was the Super Nintendo. For DJ MIXMASTER @Slamlord SEGA-Supreme, well, he was a SEGA fan. Me, with my grey and purple Super Nintendo, playing absolute classics such as Super Mario World, Zelda LttP and Super Metroid (which are still some of the most speedrun games still to this day). My cousin is over here rockin' the jet black Sega Genesis with the "BLAST Processing!!" playing gems like Sonic 2 and Altered Beast.

To be fair, both systems had some incredible games. In my teenage years when I had a job, I bought a Sega Genesis purely to play the Sega version of Shadowrun. Shining Force on SEGA was awesome. Super Nintendo had some of the best most cherished and loved JRPGs, still adored to this day with Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy and others. And yes, Sega's Sonic 1-3 are great games which mostly hold up today, and are still bangers to play.

Oh, OH, but you will never hear me praise SEGA if DJ MIXMASTER @Slamlord SEGA-Supreme is nearby. As youths, we were crusaders for our consoles, proselytizing our dedication. For me, Super Nintendo was it, for @slamlord it was SEGA. It's always been a cheeky rivalry; while we were kids we were serious, but as time moved on, the rivalry morphed from "honestly caring about this or that console" to an exercise of stubbornness. This stubborn rivalry exercise has extended to this day, in 2023, with two grown-ass adult men still arguing over which console was better.

(authors note: clearly it was the Super Nintendo.)

Taurus gonna do what a Taurus gonna do.

The Taurus Zodiac sign is universally known as being the most stubborn of the Zodiac signs. Most Earth Signs tend to be pretty stubborn, however it seems the Taurus is the Zodiac most 'overtly' stubborn, the most willing to display their bullheaded-ness. (Or so the tabloids and online zodiac websites say.)

So it's natural that me and @Slamlord maintain stubborn tongue-n-cheek positions on things that ultimately don't matter. We want to argue with eachother. This relationship has extended back for decades. Super Nintendo vs Sega. I took piano lessons, he took guitar. He likes Windows and I like Linux. Fast-forward to today and...

Reason Studios 12 vs Image-Line FL21

The ULTIMATE Recording Software Showdown.

I've been using Reason Studios (in the past it was known as Propellerheads Software) since Reason 1. I have save files from 2001 archived that still open and work in current day Reason12. In terms of usage, I've used Reason longer than any other piece of software, except arguably the Office Suite and the OS Windows itsself. I've put hundreds of hours into it. Reason is my DAW. (Digital Audio Workstation)

@Slamlord is a bit more recent to the audio production world, but he has chosen Image-Line FL20 (Now FL21) as his DAW of choice. He's been tinkering with learning the ins and outs, using Youtube tutorials to learn workflow production templates, node editing his own synth tools and creating mastering chains. His skills at production have grown quite rapidly since he started, taking a more "watching tutorials" approach vs my "mess with it til it sounds good" approach.

But you can see where this is going. Clearly, we have a new rivalry, and boy is it a doozy.

I'm familiar with FL20; I own a copy and I've released music solely written with that DAW. So I know a bit about it already, but I still prefer Reason. But when @Slamlord comes over to work in my studio, the DAW debate has become a front and center point of contention. Reason12 vs FL21, which is the better DAW.

When we argue, we do so tongue-in-cheek but with an air of sincerity. That is to say when we riff and talk shit, there's a level of truth to it. One of the cool things about this is it really does dig out the corners of truth, or the little nuances of truth that might otherwise be overlooked.

StarryAI

A stubborn, studious, stoic & serious audio studio session.

So the current 2023 battlelines are drawn. In one corner, I'm holding Reason12 as the DAW of choice, and in the other, @slamlord is stating FL21 reigns supreme. With such a critical eye cast towards both DAWs, I can definitively define what each DAW has over the other in my humblest of opinions. In the year 2023, every professional level DAW has incredibly similar functions, so when comparing Reason12 to FL21, I will be highlighting subtle differences between the two. Both are professional level DAWs in their own right.

• Both pieces of software have robust aftermarket plugins, 3rd party plugin support and robust workflow features. Each DAW has a stylistic workflow, subjective preference comes down to the user.
• Reason: Reason has the ability to send and receive a midi clock sync. FL21 can only send a midi clock sync. Reason has Control Voltage emulation, Eurorack emulation where FL21 does not.
• FL21: FL21 has much more customizable GUI interfaces for custom synth layouts. Reason has the Combinator, but FL21 can quite literally build a GUI panel from scratch. ZGameeditor. Reason does not have any video editing or visual generation software to speak of.

While we feel inclined to argue and fight eachother over DAW semantics, really truth be told it is a form of familial bonding. We never really argue. It's more we are challenging eachothers truths and assertions, while maintaining our own. We've messed with eachother all our lives, its just cousinly love.

Two People Writing Music Using Synths, Keyboards And Guitars, Sitting In An Elaborate Recording Studio, StarryAI

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trA̷verse: on trA̷verse: A series of musings, memoires and mementos gathered, garnered and gleaned from exploring new digital ecosystems. Born too late to explore the seas, born to early to explore O̵u̸t̷erSpace, born just in time to explore the Metav̷e̴rse̷.