AA 2.0, Reason 3, and Lexicon Omega

Hello All!

I am having trouble using AA 2.0, Reason 3.0 and a Lexicon Omega. I use AA for the actual audio recording, but I use Reason for things like drums, keys, ambience, etc. I can get audio into AA fine using the Omega. However, when I enable Rewire in AA and attempt to begin playback in either program(AA or Reason) nothing happens. The play button lights up on my AA transport and thats it. The locator doesn't move.....Reason does nothing. I'm wondering if this is a driver issue or something else that I am overlooking.

It is worthy to note that before I installed my Lexicon Omega, AA and Reason were working fine together in Rewire mode.  I had Reason 2.5 installed initially, and when I began experiencing these problems, I upgraded to 3.0, but to no avail.  

My system specs:

Windows XP
AMD 64 3200
1gb RAM
Lexicon Omega(with current drivers)

Hi Billy and welcome to the forum. Unfortunately you're not alone with this problem. I think we will have to wait until the problem gets sorted. Until then you'll have to find a workaround.

Mark

Wow.....

Are there any details regarding the issue?  Have they pinpointed where it's at?  I'm guessing it has something to do with Rewire and the Omega.

I can't see why it should have anything in particular to do with the Omega - Reason and Rewire and Audition looks like a much more likely cause of difficulties.

Strange thing is....I didn't start getting these problems until I began using the Omega.

As far as workarounds....I'm looking at the Native Instruments Komplete package at the moment.  I am rather unfamilar with their products with the exception of Guitar Rig.  Do NI products work well with Audition and if so, which ones would be comparable to Reason as far as features and such?  

In otherwords, I like having the ability to use Reason via Rewire because it allows me to create in Reason and record in AA, all on the fly.  If I make the switch to NI, will I still retain this convenience?

Also, I currently have no MIDI equipment except the Omega.  I use an MAudio Radium 49 for the input into Reason.  Will I have to purchase any other hardware/software to make the NI products work with AA or does AA have a built-in sequencer?

Sorry for the long post!

I have no experience of NI stuff, so I can't tell you at all how well it will or won't work with Audition. AA doesn't have any sort of a built-in sequencer at all - it only uses MIDI in a relatively minor way, inasmuch as it can play MIDI sequences to an external device, and use MTC for synchronising purposes (and there's a flaw in that as well in AA2.0).

Upon reflection, there is one thing that does bother me a little as far as the Omega is concerned, and that is that it's a USB1.1 device - and this means that the poor interface will be working flat out, and that's inherently not good. But Rewire and Reason communicate internally with Audition - the Omega does not enter into this process at all, being merely an interface to the outside world.

Let's put it like this: Mark says that you're not alone with the problem, and he's not using an Omega...

Billy, as Steve says, I can't see the Omega having any real problems. If you take Reason out of the chain and see if the Lexicon works with Audition, then a solution with ReWire should come about. I've a couple of ideas in mind through a bit of research and a couple of other programs but I'm still fiddling about. I'm looking the most direct solution.

To give you an idea, I've been onto Loui as part of Propellerheads design team and even He's stumped, so we'll leave it at that

Mark

Sweet.  I had no idea you guys had those kind of connections here!

The only thing that made me finger the Lexicon was the fact that my problems didn't arise until it was added to my system.  Prior to the Lexicon, I was using a Creative soundcard(one of the higher end models) and both programs worked in perfect accord with each other in Rewire.  It appears that AA and Reason are both trying to use the ASIO driver at the same time.  Is this normal?

If I use just AA with the Lexicon, all is well.  When I enable Rewire WITHOUT starting Reason, all remains well.  But when I launch Reason, that's when the trouble starts.  I've tried re-assigning the sound device in Reason to DX or MME, but no luck.  And when I boot up Reason after an AA session, it tells me that the previous audio device could not be used - and I get the nasty little red X mark in the Audio settings in Reason and end up having to reselect my Lexicon in the Audio settings.  

I write/record acoustic guitar tracks mostly, and being able to add the extras to the mix with Reason has been extraordinary.  So I hope a fix is found soon, otherwise it looks like I might be going after a different interface or perhaps even different software.  I've been a fan of AA since the CoolEdit days, so I'm pretty partial to it.  And I know Reason almost as well.

I also tried using ASIO4ALL, and that didn't work either.

I was using a Creative soundcard(one of the higher end models) and both programs worked in perfect accord with each other in Rewire.  It appears that AA and Reason are both trying to use the ASIO driver at the same time.  Is this normal?

Creative don't make any high end soundcards at all - they only make crap. The only high-end stuff to come from that stable comes from E-Mu.

There may well be an issue in relation to the Omega's ability to handle multichannel ASIO, I suppose - this would be entirely down to the driver, and I shouldn't have excluded that possibility. What is supposed to happen is that software should only claim ASIO channels that they have registered a claim with as far as the driver is concerned - all other ones can then remain available to other software. There are several possibilities though - one is that Reason detects another program accessing the driver and gives up, or that, as I already mentioned, the Omega doesn't support this properly and the channels aren't released.

In orfer to establish which scenario is relevant, you'd have to test this with other software where its ability to share is known.

I had no idea you guys had those kind of connections here!

Many of us are better connected than you might realise!

Right-O Steve.

I have tested this same theory with Cubase LE, which is the software that came bundled with the Lexicon.  Reason works splendidly with this program in Rewire.

Reason works splendidly with this program in Rewire.

Ha! Ha! Just as I suspected!

Now to get it into Audition! "Oh! More Fool Me!" Adobe, what ARE you doing?

Mark

Ok.  So I have talked my engineer to getting rid of the Lexicon, as it appears to be the problem.  We uninstalled it earlier this evening and poof.....the problem went away.

Now my next question is.....what would be a good USB interface for recording mic/guitar input?

Now my next question is.....what would be a good USB interface for recording mic/guitar input?

Does it have to be USB? FireWire would be a rather better bet - especially if you ever want to use it with a laptop, and give you a lot more choice into the bargain.

Incidentally, I just read a good review of the new (FireWire) Presonus Inspire 1394, which is pretty cheap, and would very likely do everything you need.

USB or Firewire.  We are recording with a desktop, so either would be sufficient.

I keep seeing people in here talking about a Layla G3 or something like that.  Is that a good card?

Billy, I've got a Echo Layla 3G. So far I haven't had problems with it but again, it depends what you need it for. You can see it here[url]
They also come in Firewire flavours

Mark[/url]