I Am Reason

Been a min...

2011-02-06T11:25:00.000-08:00

Been a good min since I have had time to play with Reason or make anything new. I intend on getting my hands on Reason 5 and Record 1.5 very soon. I will be posting new threads of useful information very soon.

Thanks,

How to Use Reason 4’s Spider Audio Merger & Splitter

2010-02-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Curtsy of Audio Tuts

http://audio.tutsplus.com/tutorials/mixing-mastering/how-to-use-reason-4s-spider-audio-merger-splitter/

How to create a vinyl scratch effect in Reason 3.0

2010-01-28T00:19:00.001-08:00

How to create a sidechain compression effect in Reason 4

2010-01-28T00:18:00.001-08:00

How to sample with Reason 4.0 and ReCycle

2010-01-28T00:17:00.000-08:00

Recycle 2.1 Tutorial - High Quality

2010-01-22T14:58:00.001-08:00

Recycle Tutorial: How to Chop and Edit Beats

2010-01-22T14:56:00.000-08:00

I Am Reason Update!

2009-12-27T22:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have been hunting and gathering like a fucking native trying to find all the gems for Reason 4 and get it all into one spot for easy access. As of this point I am running dry of resources and am going to jump into another section of Propellerheads...Recycle! So be ready to see some new posts on this great piece of software.

Sequencer Tutorial Part 1, 2, 3

2009-12-18T22:31:00.000-08:00

Download Part 1 Here!

Download Part 2 Here!

Download Part 3 Here!

Note Cycle / Time Machine

2009-12-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

Note Cycle

Note Cycle is based on the Pad Cycle of the MPC5000
Using Thor's sequencer you can cycle through 2-16 notes chromatically (It really goes all the way down to one, but thats not cycling obviously)
Theres also a note repeat function (think of it as a bonus). Unfortunately Thor's sequencer is monophonic, But I'm sure some creative minds can come with a fix for that.
Routing: In the "Note&Gate" Spider, connect the first split output(s) to Note CV input(s) (sometimes labeled as just 'CV In') of your receiving device(s). Connect the second split output(s) to Gate CV input(s) of your receiving device(s).

Download it here!

Time Machine

Time Machine is a recreation of the dirty lofi sound of the vintage samplers like the illustrious sp1200 (which is what the backdrop is modeled after) Complete with Bit Depth, Sample Rate, Low Cut, Low Boost and a few others controls. Routing: Hook the source audio output into the combinator audio input and combi audio out to the mixer or audio interface.

Download it here!

Provided by: Lion-ucs

A New Look at Vocoding

2009-12-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

You can think of a vocoder as a morphing multiband equalizer, in which the morphing is controlled by a spectral analyzer. Typically, speech (called the modulator) is analyzed and matching equalization is applied to a pitched, harmonically rich source (called the carrier). Lightning-fast personal computers have allowed the quality of analysis and the number of bands to increase radically, and the uses for vocoding have expanded accordingly. In this column, I'll discuss an unusual approach to vocoding that has broad application: using the same signal as modulator and carrier.

Using the same signal as modulator and carrier may seem pointless, but it can be very effective used with other signal processing, either inside the vocoder or applied prevocoder to the carrier or modulator. I'll use Propellerhead Reason's BV512 vocoder for my examples, but any high-end vocoder can produce similar results.

Plugging In

The BV512 gives you four ways to manipulate the relationship between the analyzer and the equalizer frequency bands: you can shift all equalizer bands up or down, emphasize the high- or the low-frequency bands, boost or attenuate individual bands, or completely remap the band dependencies (that is, change which analysis band controls which equalizer band). In each case, the frequencies that are prominent in the modulator control different frequency bands of the equalizer.
In addition to the BV512 vocoder, you'll need a sound source; for my examples, I've used Reason's Dr:rex. Use a Spider Audio module to route the stereo output of Dr:rex to the carrier inputs of the BV512 as well as to one of the Spider's merge channels. Then route the output of the merge channel to the modulator input of the BV512, which is mono (see Fig. 1).

Shape Shifting

Load a harmonically interesting loop into Dr:rex, press the Preview button, and use the BV512's Dry/Wet knob to hear the difference between the raw loop (dry) and the vocoded loop (wet). With the default BV512 settings, the wet version will sound a little pinched, with the highs and lows rolled off a bit. Turning the Decay knob all the way up and the HF Emph knob to about 7 will produce the closest match, but the BV512's presence will always make itself known.
Start by manually adjusting some of the BV512 frequency band levels. Switch between Equalizer and Vocoder modes to hear the difference between fixed and dynamic equalization. Also experiment with the number of bands; more is not always better. I find 16 and 32 bands to be the most usable in this context, but even 4 and 8 bands produce interesting results.
Next, experiment with the other BV512 controls. The Shift control has the greatest impact, and you can automate it by cabling Dr:rex's LFO output to the BV512's Shift input. That produces an effect reminiscent of phasing or flanging (see Web Clip 1). Now flip to the back of the rack, disconnect the Shift automation, and draw some cables between different outputs and inputs in the Individual Band Levels section. You can use a Spider CV module to connect one output to several inputs, as well as to combine several outputs.

Betwixt and Between

Effects inserted in either the modulator or the carrier signal path often have a subtler impact than usual. Delay lines work especially well, and you can use high feedback in the modulator path. (Ensure that the delay is panned fully to the side that feeds the modulator's mono input.) Try a 16th-note delay in the modulator path, with a 10 to 50 ms delay in the carrier path. Try a delay of a few 16th notes in the modulator path, with a longer delay in the carrier path (see Web Clip 2). Modulator delay will have more impact with short BV512 decay settings.
The distortion and destruction effect Scream also works well in the modulator path. If you put Scream inside of a Combinator, you can automate its Damage and Body Type selectors by assigning them to Combinator rotaries and automating those. That works particularly well with percussion loops (see Web Clip 3). Web Clip 4 is a Reason song that contains all the examples in this article.

After a Brief Delay

2009-12-12T20:09:00.001-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

A delay line simply echoes its input at its output, and unless you take some extra steps, your listeners will soon tire of the effect. Rhythm-based delay lines, however, can add a vital element to electronic tracks. Sync the delay to the master clock, set it to a rhythmic value such as an eighth note, add a little feedback, and you've transformed a dry beat into a percolating phantasmagoria.
The Web Clips made for this column were created in Propellerhead Reason 3.0. Reason can patch devices together in user-defined signal paths, which makes developing complex multi-effect routings easier than it is with a conventional mixer (see Fig. 1). If you own Reason, you can download and experiment with a Reason song file for each of the examples presented here.

The Tone Zone

Begin by splitting the signal that you want to delay. Send one output of the splitter to the mixer dry, and send the other outputs to a couple of delay lines. The delays should be set to 100 percent wet, because you've handled the dry signal path manually. Set each delay to differing numbers of 16th notes to create a polyrhythm.
Next, patch a parametric equalizer between the output of each delay and the mixer. Set the two EQs so that each of them boosts a different narrow notch. In the mixer, pan the delay output channels left and right. The EQs will give each side of the stereo delay image its own tone color (see Web Clips 1 and 2).
Now patch a phaser after each EQ. Again, set the parameters of the two phasers differently, so as to give each side its own character.

Bad Bends

The order in which effects are patched is significant. If you use pitch bends on lead synth sounds, route the lead into a delay line set to a fairly short time with a bit of feedback. Send the output of the delay through a distortion effect.
Each time you bend a note, the distortion effect will receive several echoes of the bend, which will be at different pitches because they've been delayed by different amounts of time. When several notes at different pitches are distorted together, the distortion will add a rough edge to the tone. The result: a more expressive pitch bend. This patch can add subtle coloration or grinding distortion (see Web Clips 3 and 4).

Pick and Kick

Sending an entire drum loop through a delay line would likely produce an extremely busy texture. Instead, isolate a single sound within the loop and apply a delay to that sound. Digital audio sequencers allow you to isolate sounds in various ways. For example, you may be able to use a scissors tool to snip apart an audio waveform and drag a particular sound vertically to a different track without affecting its start time.
I loaded a REX file into Reason's NN-XT sampler and routed a few of the sample slices to a separate audio output. I chose a prominent backbeat slap sound in a hand-percussion loop for treatment and patched its output into the mixer, where two aux sends routed it to separate delay lines whose outputs were set to 100 percent wet.
The first of the delays, set to two 16th notes with some feedback, fed Reason's Unison (chorus) effect and a Scream distortion unit, giving each of the echoes a slightly different tone. Scream fed a third delay line that was set to a 4 ms delay and high feedback, which caused the delay line to ring. The slightly different tone at each input caused subtle variations in the waveform. This part of the patch works much like Karplus-Strong plucked-string synthesis.
I routed the second aux send to a delay of two 16th notes with no feedback followed by a Scream distortion unit, which turned the slap sound into a short noise burst. You can add a reverb with a short decay time between the delay line and the distortion to lengthen the noise burst (see Web Clips 5 and 6). Adding distortion to the output of a reverb destroys the natural character of the reverb, but it's good for horror-movie special effects like this one.

A Different Drummer

2009-12-12T20:08:00.000-08:00

Provide by: Electronic Musician

Using vocoders for nonvocal purposes is nothing new. Of the vocoder's two inputs, the carrier needs to have sustained notes with rich timbre. The speech input, which is used to shape the carrier, needs to be rhythmic and have quick changes in timbre. As an alternative to speech, the percussive and unpitched nature of drums makes them especially well suited to the task.
Full drum tracks, however, don't make the best vocoding sources; tailoring a drum part specifically for vocoding will produce more-interesting results. In this column, I'll describe how to build a Combinator based on Propellerhead Reason's BV512 Vocoder and Redrum modules to use as a general-purpose drum-vocoding effect (you'll find the Combinator and several Reason songs illustrating it in Web Clip 1 ).

Combinatrix

Start by creating a new Combinator, which will automatically be cabled into your song's main mixer. Inside the Combinator create a Line Mixer, two Spider Audio modules (Spiders), a BV512 Vocoder, and a Redrum. Hold down the Shift key when creating these modules to prevent automatic cabling. Rename the two Spiders as Carrier and Speech.
Cable the Combinator's To Devices output to the Carrier Spider's Splitter input. Cable one of the Carrier Spider's Splitter outputs to channel 1 of the Line Mixer and cable another to the BV512's Carrier input.
Cable the Redrum output to the Speech Spider's Splitter input. Cable one of the Speech Spider's Splitter outputs to channel 2 of the Line Mixer. Cable both channels of another of its Splitter outputs to the left channel of its Merger input; that sums the Redrum outputs to a mono signal; cable the left Merger output to the BV512's Modulator input. Finally, cable the BV512's output to channel 3 of the Line Mixer and cable the output of the Line Mixer to the Combinator's From Devices input. I call this Combinator a Drumcoder.
I like to program the left two Drumcoder buttons to quickly solo the carrier and drums. Both buttons should solo channel 3 (the BV512) of the Line Mixer. The carrier-solo button should also toggle the BV512's Enabled switch between 1 and 0. The drums-solo button should also toggle the BV512's Dry/Wet control between 127 and 0 (see Fig. 1).

Care and Feeding

Reason sees the Drumcoder as an effects device. To use it, load a Reason module that produces a pad or ambient sound. It will automatically be cabled to the Drumcoder's Combi Input to become the carrier.
You could load a whole kit into Redrum, but you'll get better results choosing individual drum sounds based on their vocoding effect. Try standard drum sounds as well as sound effects. When you have some or all of the channels filled, move on to building patterns.
You can add interest to the Drumcoder in several ways. Insert a compressor with a high compression ratio between the Redrum and the BV512. Insert a long-tailed reverb in the Line Mixer's Aux bus and set the bus to prefader. Raising the carrier channel's send level will then add a hint of carrier without dominating the mix. Feed a pair of delay lines from the Redrum's Send outputs and use the Speech Spider to add their outputs to the BV512's Modulator input. Then, using different delay times, send some individual drum channels to each delay line.
I assign the Combinator knobs to the Line Mixer's Aux return, individual delay times, and the combined feedback of both delays. I assign a button to simultaneously enable both delays and another button to toggle the BV512 between 8- and 16-band operation. Consider using the LFO output of a Malstrom or Subtractor to modulate the Combinator knobs.

Master Class: All the More Reason (Bonus)

2009-12-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

Three Quick Tips

Razor tool. Selecting a region by dragging along the timeline with the Razor tool divides and selects all clips at the start and end points of the selection. Quickly glue all the clips in the region by selecting the Join Clips menu item or pressing Control/Command + J. This technique is useful for organizing regions of a song so that verses and choruses are identified in the arrangement.

Masking clips. Clips work in layers, and the topmost layer takes precedence. Rather than making several edits to existing note or automation clips, add a new clip on top of an existing one to mask out events. This is a fast way to mute out a region of notes. It is also a quick method of adding automation changes without having to edit several breakpoints.

Velocity grooves. In addition to changing the timing of notes, ReGroove also modifies their Velocity and length. Even with precise quantization, you can still apply Velocity-only grooves. Disable the timing aspect by adjusting the Timing Impact slider to 0 percent. The timing will remain unchanged, but the MIDI note Velocities will be altered.

Master Class: All the More Reason

2009-12-12T20:05:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

Propellerhead Software's Reason 4 introduces a new sequencer that has a region-based interface, similar to DAW applications. Clips displayed along the sequencer's timeline represent note and automation data. Regions can be trimmed, spliced, and quickly duplicated. The sequencer has been completely recoded and now features tempo and time-signature automation. Version 4 is more than an update; it's practically a new application, optimized for the speed and capacity of the latest personal computers.

The landscape of Reason 4's sequencer is different from those of its predecessors. Its primary editing pages are still the familiar Arrange and Edit modes, though a new subset of Edit mode has been added: the Clip Editor, which lets you modify note events and automation. Incorporating another layer of editing may sound as though it would be more complicated, but the keyboard shortcuts streamline many tasks. In addition to illustrating key-command functionality in the sequencer, I will discuss various approaches to automation, using the ReGroove quantization system, and adapting pattern sequences.

Get a Handle on Key Commands

The new key commands in version 4 increase the efficiency of recording and editing sequence data, and anyone who has yet to explore the use of Reason's keyboard shortcuts will certainly benefit from them. It is important to know the keys, but developing a feel for the order of keystrokes will help accomplish tasks that normally require navigating through several editing menus.
Experienced Reason users should already be familiar with the Control (Win) or Command (Mac) + A (Select All), + S (Save), + Z (Undo), + C (Copy), and + V (Paste) keys, as well as the Tab (Flip Rack) key. Window-selection keys are also on the keyboard's left-hand side: Control/Command + 1 to view the rack, and Control/Command + 2 to view the sequencer. If you're accustomed to navigating the previous key commands, you should have no problem learning the new shortcuts for selecting the sequencer's editing tools: Q, W, E, R, T, and Y. The G and H keys control the horizontal zoom, the F key toggles the sequencer's Follow feature, and the S key toggles the grid-snap feature.
Your computer's cursor keys let you navigate through the clips in Reason's Arrange and Edit windows. Once a clip is selected, pressing the Enter/Return key (not the Enter key in the numeric keypad) opens the Clip Editor; this action is the same as double-clicking on a clip. To exit the Clip Editor, press Enter/Return again and use the Left or Right cursor keys to move to the next clip in Edit mode (see Fig. 1) or use either the Shift + Tab or the Control/Command + E shortcut to toggle back to Arrange mode.

The process of recording sequences centers around the Enter/Return key and other keys in the keyboard's right-hand area. For example, try using Control/Command + I to add a new instrument, and then use Control/Command + Enter/Return to start recording. Stop the transport by pressing Shift + Enter/Return. Hit Control/Command + K to quantize the clip, and then press Enter/Return to open the Clip Editor. In the Clip Editor, use the cursor keys to navigate through the notes, the Control/Command + Up and Down cursor keys to transpose, and the Control/Command + Left and Right cursor keys to nudge recorded notes.
In the Track List, the Up and Down cursor keys let you scroll through tracks. Track scrolling is useful for quickly switching between patches during a live performance. In addition, it's useful during recording because you can jump to another track and continue to sequence a new part without stopping the transport. With the New Alt and New Dub sequencer features, you don't have to stop and delete a bad take. Pressing the Period key mutes the current take and creates a new lane in which you can record another pass. For a simple overdub, press the Comma key to create a new lane without muting the current take.
If you still aren't comfortable with the concept of switching between clips to edit notes, a simple work-around is to select all clips along a lane and use the keyboard shortcut Control/Command + J to join smaller segments into a single clip. Then use the Enter/Return key to open it directly in the Clip Editor. With some practice, the new key commands will become second nature, and the benefits of using clips will be readily apparent, especially when you use automation.

Automation Clips

Automating parameters is an integral part of sequencing music, one that makes it possible to manipulate various aspects of a performance. In Reason 4, automation data is organized in clips along automation lanes. The easiest way to set up an automation lane is to right-click on the knob or slider that controls the desired parameter, and then select Edit Automation from the contextual menu. You can also activate lanes using either the Automation pull-down menu in the toolbar or the recording parameter automation. If no track exists for an effects device such as a Scream 4, selecting Edit Automation in the contextual menu automatically creates both the track and the lane (see Fig. 2).
You can copy automation clips to other lanes — a feature that's useful for duplicating fader automation to several mixer channels. Although this procedure normally works flawlessly, data copied between different range types will display the Alien Clip warning (a series of dark red stripes overlapping the clip). If that occurs, try using the contextual menu's Adjust Alien Clips To Lane command to make the data conform. Copying the fader automation to a lane controlling EQ gain, for instance, will require adjustment, but copying fader automation to one controlling filter frequency will work without adjustment.

Sound Design Workshop: Steal the Thunder

2009-12-12T19:59:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

One of the exciting features of Propellerhead Software Reason 4's new Thor Polysonic Synthesizer is its ability to route audio into the device and process signals with its variety of new filters. These include a classic lowpass filter with selectable poles, a state-variable filter with sweepable passband, a comb filter, and a formant filter.

Of Thor's three filter slots, Filter 1 and Filter 2 are monophonic and are not active until an incoming MIDI event instantiates a voice. Filter 3, in Thor's Global section, is stereo and always active, making it ideal for creating a filter-bank effect (see Web Clip 1).

Reason's browser does not distinguish between Thor instrument and effects patches, but it does identify Combinator patches as effects if a cable is connected to at least one of the Combinator's To Devices jacks. (Otherwise, Combinator patches are identified as instruments.) I've embedded the Thor patch described here in a Combinator effects patch for easy access (see Web Clip 2). This Combinator provides a framework for developing a flexible effects unit that's usable in a variety of applications.

Thor Modulation Bus Routing

Thor's programmable routing matrix offers a variety of signal-patching possibilities. To process audio with Thor, I've routed two of Thor's audio inputs to Filter 3 and set their amount parameters to 100 so as not to attenuate the signal (see Fig. 1). This should be the only signal path, and I've disabled the three oscillators and the other two filters. I've also set the polyphony to zero in the Keyboard Modes section to prevent the synthesizer section from instantiating a voice.
The Combinator's dedicated controls give you more flexibility than you have when using Thor alone. For example, a single knob or button can affect more than one target, and each routing's range and polarity is set independently. I've mapped Rotary 1 to the cutoff frequency, Rotary 2 to filter resonance, as well as Rotary 3 to the filter Drive control. Rotary 4 is routed to Filter 3's Type parameter, which lets you switch between the four different filter algorithms in real time without noticeable artifacts. The first three buttons are assigned to parameters that change aspects of the filter: passband mode (bandpass or highpass), self-oscillation, and comb-filter feedback polarity.
Button 4 is mapped to the delay-effect wet/dry balance to toggle delay at the output. Automating the wet/dry balance rather than the Delay On parameter prevents audio artifacts, making the control usable in performance. The delay is set to a tempo-synchronized duration of 3/16th notes, and the button toggles the wet/dry balance between 0 and 35.

Pattern Control

Thor's step sequencer is programmed with a gate pattern using the step-duration and gate-length parameters. Rather than modulate the filter-cutoff frequency directly, the step sequencer gates the global envelope, which has a fixed modulation routing to Filter 3's cutoff. The sequencer rate is set to eighth notes, the mode is set to Repeat, and Thor's programmable Button 1 is routed to trigger the step sequencer. With Button 1 in the On position, the step sequencer continues to cycle regardless of the transport state.
The Combinator lets you assign Pitch Bend and Modulation Wheel as modulation sources, and I've used these to affect Thor's pattern modulation. The Modulation Wheel is assigned to Filter 3's Global Env Amount in the Combinator Programmer, so the Modulation Wheel determines the global envelope's effect on the Filter 3 cutoff.
The Pitch Bend wheel is mapped to select from three 1-step patterns on a Matrix Pattern Sequencer. The Matrix Curve CV output is routed to set Thor's step-sequencer rate. The three patterns set the rate to either quarter, eighth, or 16th notes.
Once you've set up the desired routings, you can automate the Combinator's rotaries and buttons in Reason's sequencer. In the example song, I've processed a Dr.REX drum loop and automated all the Combinator controls. For performance, you might want to automate some controls and MIDI map others to change them on the fly.

Sound Design Workshop: To the REXcue

2009-12-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

Sometimes a sampled beat sounds perfect just the way it is. But a little creative patching can transform it into something wildly new. You can adapt the techniques that are described here to work in almost any DAW. If you have Propellerhead Reason 4, you can download the song file and tinker with these patches (see Web Clip 1). If not, you'll have to listen to the MP3s and experiment (see Web Clips 2 and 3).
To reproduce the patches, create a Dr.REX loop player inside a Combinator. From the RnB HipHop folder in the Dr.REX Drum Loops folder, load Rnb01_SupaDupa_060_eLAB.rx2. This loop has some built-in rhythm variations; it isn't just a straight 16th-note pattern. After loading the loop, use the Dr.REX To Track button to install the MIDI data in the Combinator sequencer track, and then turn the tempo down to about 62.

Filter Squash with Mod Wheel

Set the Dr.REX filter to bandpass and turn up the resonance. Set the filter frequency near the middle (about 70) to produce a narrow band that lacks lows and highs. Set the amp envelope sustain to zero. The decay time should be very short, producing a clipped sound. Turn the oscillator pitch Octave knob down to zero so that the drum hits turn into noise bursts. The beat will sound vaguely like the imitation of horses' hooves produced by banging coconut shells together.
To even out the peaks, add an MClass Compressor to the output of the Dr.REX. Turn the compressor's input gain up, turn its threshold down, and increase the ratio to 16:1.
Using a modulation wheel, you can make this beat “speak.” Add a line mixer and a DDL-1 delay line to the Combinator. Then patch the DDL-1 to the aux send/return of the mixer, route the Compressor's output into channel 1 of the mixer, and send the mixer's output to the Combinator's From Devices jacks.
In the Combinator's Programmer panel, assign the mod wheel to control the Dr.REX Amp Env Decay (range 19 to 127) and filter resonance (range 82 to 34), and the line mixer's channel 1 aux send (range 0 to 90). On the Dr.REX panel, set the mod wheel to adjust the filter frequency with a value of about 12.
Pushing the mod wheel up will transform the dry coconut beat into a sustained wash of noise by increasing the decay time. Short jabs with the wheel work better musically than long, sustained movements. The filter will be swept upward by the wheel, and its resonance will drop so that the sweep doesn't become overwhelming. The sweep sound will be routed through the delay line, so it will echo.

Ringing Echoes

Begin again with a Dr.REX in a Combinator. Run the output of the Dr.REX through a PEQ-2 that is set to produce a sharp midrange peak. Create a Subtractor synth, but don't attach its audio to anything. Instead, use its LFO 1 CV output to modulate the frequency of the PEQ-2. Set the LFO to a slow rate.
Attach the output of the PEQ-2 to a Spider Audio splitter section. Create a line mixer, and then attach one of the Spider's output pairs to a mixer channel. This is the almost-dry drum channel; it has been processed only by the PEQ-2.
Create a couple of DDL-1s, and then give them inputs from the Spider. Leave both of them set to 100 percent wet, but increase the delay time of one DDL-1 to five 16th notes. Next, route the output of each DDL-1 to its own CF-101 chorus/flanger, patch the outputs of the CF-101s into the line mixer, and pan them slightly left and right. Add lots of feedback to the CF-101s and sweep each of them with its own internal LFO. Make sure that the three LFOs are set to slightly different rates (see Fig. 1).
The CF-101 modules add a metallic ringing to the echoes coming from the delay lines. Keep them at a low level compared with the almost-dry drum channel: a little bit of ringing echo goes a long way.

Sound Design Workshop: Beat the Blahs

2009-12-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

For fifty or a hundred dollars, you can buy a CD or DVD that's packed with great-sounding, professionally designed drum loops. But sometimes a beat needs a little work to sit well in your mix. And if you use it just the way it is, there's always the remote chance that someone else might use the same beat in their song that you use in yours, which would be embarrassing. Also, creative sound design is so easy and so much fun that it would be a shame not to take a few minutes to shake, rattle, and roll that beat into something new.
In this column, I'll show you how to slice and dice a beat and then run it through a vocoder. If you have Propellerhead Reason 4, download and run Mangling_2.rns, which contains both the slicer and vocoder patches (see Web Clip 1).

SPLITTING HAIRS

If you use Reason, you already know how to load REX files into the Dr.REX module. But Dr.REX is rather simple. You can do much more with a REX file by loading it into Reason's NN-XT sampler module.

This trick works with files from the Reason library and with third-party REX files. First, load the file into Dr.REX, and then use the To Track button to extract the MIDI data from the file. Next, create an NN-XT and load the same file into it. Drag the MIDI data from the Dr.REX track into the NN-XT track.
Now delete the Dr.REX and listen to the sliced-up beat as it's played by the NN-XT. It should sound just the way it did before.
Open the NN-XT Editor panel (see Fig. 1). Click on the Select Zone Via MIDI button, and play up and down your keyboard. By doing this, you can quickly identify the zones that trigger the snare, kick, and other samples. Use the Out knob at the right end of the row below the display to assign the kick and snare samples to their own output channels (such as 3-4 and 5-6).
Route each of the three types of sounds (kick, snare, and hats/other) into a different Scream distortion unit. Cable the outputs of the three Screams into a line mixer, and start fiddling with the parameters of the Screams. I got good results by applying a tube algorithm to the kick, ring modulation to the snare, and overdrive to the hats.
You can do a lot more with this type of patch. Adding stereo delay to the snare using separate DDL-1 units for the left and right sides is a trick I often use (see Web Clip 2). Try replacing single samples in the beat with other types of audio, or apply NN-XT's filter and envelopes to them.
Try splitting one sample (such as the kick on the downbeat) to a different output and sending it to a delay. Add a couple of high-feedback CF-101 Chorus/Flanger modules to the input or output of the delay, and throw a Scream in somewhere to add overtones to the signal (see Web Clip 3).

VOCODER PULSE

Although adding vocal tracks to Reason songs is technically possible, it isn't easy — so why does Reason have a vocoder? One good application for this module is to use a Dr.REX beat as a modulator. Patch the Dr.REX left output to the vocoder's Modulator input, send the output of a Malström or Subtractor to the Carrier input, play sustained chords, and then start the beat. Instead of hearing a drum loop, you'll hear pulsing rhythmic chords (see Web Clip 4).
It's important to use a harmonically rich sound (such as a Subtractor sawtooth wave or the Malström FemaleChoir waveform) as the carrier, because a vocoder only subtracts partials from the signal; it can't add any. A beat that includes both low-frequency and high-frequency components will give the pulsing chords more variety.
Try turning up the vocoder's Decay knob a bit so the sound is more flowing, or turn it down for a choppy rhythm. Better still, tuck the whole patch into a Combinator, assign Rotary 1 to control the vocoder's Decay knob, and patch a synced sawtooth LFO from a Subtractor to the Rotary 1 rear-panel CV input. The decay time will change every bar or two depending on the speed of the LFO.

Sound Design Workshop: Screamin' Drums

2009-12-12T19:39:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

ADD AMBIENCE TO YOUR DRUM TRACKS WITH REASON'S SCREAM 4 EFFECT

Propellerhead Reason's Scream 4 is a distortion unit with a 3-band EQ and a cabinet simulator tacked onto the end. Although most often used as an insert effect, it is equally handy as a send effect for dialing in a bit of ambience on drum and percussion tracks. Think of it in the same vein as mixing different mikings in a sampled-drum library. Here, I'll describe a basic setup and some enhancements for processing Reason's Redrum drum machine.

The Setup

To make the setups portable and to facilitate saving Redrum patterns (which are not saved as part of Redrum patches), start by creating a Combinator. Inside the Combinator, create a Mixer 14:2, two Scream 4s, and a Redrum. Now flip around to the back of the rack and notice the automatic cabling. As you'd expect, the Scream 4s are cabled as mixer sends 1 and 2, and the Redrum's main output is cabled to the first mixer channel. Less obvious is the cabling of the Redrum's two send outputs to the mixer's Chaining Aux inputs 1 and 2. That makes the Scream 4s available as sends from both the Redrum and the mixer.
I like to leave mixer channels 1 through 10 available to service individual Redrum channels, so I move the main output cabling to mixer channel 11 — any uncabled individual channels will appear there. If you want to add this configuration to a Redrum in an existing song or to a Redrum saved along with its patterns in another Combinator, simply drag that Redrum into the new Combinator and cable it manually.
Configure the Combinator controls so that rotary 1 selects the Redrum pattern and button 1 toggles its Pattern Enable button. Route the remaining three rotaries to the mixer's channel 11 level and the first two aux return levels, respectively. Those rotaries then set the dry Redrum and both Scream 4 levels. Route the buttons below those rotaries to mute mixer channel 11 and enable/disable the Scream 4 modules (values 1 and 0), which, in effect, mutes them.

Dialing It In

Devote the first Scream 4 to the kick drum by turning up the Redrum channel's S1 knob on all channels that hold a kick drum sound. Create a new pattern that plays only these channels and, with the pattern running, set up the Scream 4. If the kick drum is a bit dull, start with a little distortion in the Damage section (otherwise turn Damage off). Overdrive and Tape modes make good choices with the Damage knob in the lower part of its range. Also adjust the low and mid EQ levels as needed.
Body is the most important Scream 4 stage in this context, and I find it easiest to set up by muting the dry Redrum and dialing in the mix afterward. Body types A and E work well with kick drums. Start with the Auto knob at full left (that takes the envelope follower out of play) and adjust the Scale and Reso knobs. Next, try backing the Scale knob off and turning Auto up so that you have the original tone at the peak with a little contour on the tail (see Web Clip 1).
I use the second Scream 4 for some combination of the remaining channels, often just the cymbals. I leave Damage off, adjust EQ to taste, and use the procedure just outlined to tweak the Body settings (see Web Clip 2).

Bells and Whistles

Adding effects to the remaining two mixer aux sends is a natural extension to this Combinator (see Fig. 1). For example, you might route the Redrum snare channels to individual mixer channels, and then insert an effect on aux send 3 to process them. A delay line (DDL-1) or an enveloped filter (ECF-42) both make good choices. Use either the mixer sends or the Redrum sends to route the snares to either or both of the Scream 4 modules. The returns (delayed or filtered signal) will not be Scream 4 processed, which makes for a nice contrast (see Web Clip 3). Alternatively, you might place an effect after one of the Scream 4 modules to process only that.
Reverb is another good candidate for one of the mixer sends. As with the delay, the dry Redrum signal will be reverbed, while the Scream 4 effects remain dry. For compression, insert a compressor between the Redrum and the mixer (not as a send effect). That will compress only the dry signal, which is probably what you'll want.

Sound Design Workshop: VocoVerb

2009-12-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician
USE YOUR VOCODER TO TAME UNRULY REVERBS AND DELAYS

You can create unusual reverb- and echo-like effects by following extreme reverb or feedback delay with a vocoder and using the dry signal as the vocoder's modulator. Of a vocoder's two inputs, the carrier is the signal being processed, whereas the modulator (sometimes called the program) is analyzed for its harmonic content. That analysis is used to filter the carrier so that only matching harmonic content gets through.
In the classic example of vocoding — robotic-sounding singing — speech is the modulator and a harmonically rich sound such as strings or a lush pad is the carrier. But vocoders are now put to all kinds of uses in sound design. I'll use the built-in vocoders in Propellerhead Reason 4 and Ableton Live 8 for my examples and provide templates from both applications in Web Clip 1.

The Hook-Up

In Reason, create a Combinator and insert a BV512 vocoder, a DDL-1 delay line, a RV-7 reverb, and a Spider Audio module. Create all modules with the Shift key held down because Reason's automatic wiring is not helpful here. Connect the Combinator's To Devices outputs to the Spider's Splitter inputs and then create a chain from a pair of the Spider's Splitter outputs through the DDL-1, through the RV-7, and into the vocoder Carrier inputs. Cable another pair of the Splitter outputs to two of the Spider's Merger left/mono inputs to create a mono mix of the incoming signal and cable that Merger output to the vocoder's Modulator input (see Fig. 1).
In Live 8, create an Audio Effects rack in an effects-return channel, insert Live's new Vocoder module in the default chain, and name that chain Modulator. Create a second chain, insert Simple Delay and Reverb modules in series in that chain, and name it Carrier. Set the vocoder's Carrier input to External and choose the Post FX (not Post Mixer) output of the Carrier chain as its source. You will ultimately want to mute the Carrier chain to suppress the dry signal from the output, but for setting up the delay and reverb, temporarily unmute the chain and deactivate the vocoder. (I set up a Macro knob to let me quickly toggle back and forth.)

The Tune-Up

You might use the delay, the reverb, or both to process the carrier. For choppy material such as a percussion or rhythm track, try the delay by itself and with no feedback. Set the delay time so as to shift the beat by an 8th- or 16th-note or the corresponding triplet, depending on the material. Then bring in some delay feedback or add some reverb and adjust the reverb tail to dial in the effect you want (see Web Clip 2). With drums, instead of using the whole track as the modulator, try just the kick drum or the snare.
The three critical vocoder settings in Reason (Live) are Shift (Formant), HF Emph (Enhance), and Decay (Release). Shift offsets the carrier bandpass filters relative to the modulator analysis bands. For example, if you're using only the kick drum as modulator, then a negative shift will bring out higher-pitched percussion. In Reason, you can also flip to the rear panel and remap the bands manually. HF Emph boosts the high-frequency end of the carrier, which often adds clarity. Decay refers to the envelope followers (virtual or real) used in the modulator frequency-band analyses. Increasing decay allows more of the carrier to ring through, an effect similar to increasing a reverb tail. Finally, the number of vocoder bands has a dramatic influence, and more is not necessarily better. Tweaking each of these settings will make its effect obvious.
For denser material such as long chords, pads, and ambient sounds, try delay times of 100 ms or less without reverb. Delays of a few milliseconds combined with high feedback produce resonator effects that add subtle color once they are masked by the vocoder. Automating the vocoder's shift or manipulating it in real time with a mod wheel is especially effective with resonator-like settings (see Web Clip 3).
To create a choral effect for vocals and instrumental tracks, use a tempo-synched delay with different settings for the left and right channels, and use a reverb with a fairly long tail. Then adjust the vocoder band count, shift, and decay settings as necessary (see Web Clip 4).
Finally, experiment with other effects along with or instead of delay and reverb. Distortion, flanger, chorus, phaser, frequency shifter, and beyond are all fair game. The purpose of the vocoder is to tame their more extreme aspects while retaining the original flavor.

Sound Design Workshop: Clean Sweep

2009-12-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

Provided by: Electronic Musician

The familiar sweeping effect known as flanging takes its name from the way in which it was originally produced using a pair of analog tape machines. The machines were fed the same input, and the signals from their playback heads were mixed and recorded while someone pressed lightly on the flange of the feed reel of one machine to slow it down relative to the other. That caused an increasing delay between the two output signals. Before the delay became recognizable, the pressure was switched to the feed reel of the other machine, decreasing and eventually reversing the relative delay.
In the digital world, it's a simple matter to re-create this setup with a pair of delay lines in place of tape recorders. That's an amusing exercise, but you can accomplish the same thing more easily with a single feedback delay plug-in inserted as a 100-percent-wet send effect. Map a convenient MIDI controller such as a mod wheel to the delay time and set it to range from 1 to 10 ms or so. Feed it white noise and listen to the effect of moving the mod wheel: Increasing the delay sweeps down and decreasing it sweeps up. Feedback is the other critical setting; more feedback yields a more pronounced effect (see Web Clip 1).

Taking Your Time

Using a delay line makes what's going on in flanging transparent. A delay of a few milliseconds shifts the sine wave components that make up a sound (pitched or otherwise) from a fraction of a cycle to several cycles. Some frequencies cancel and others are reinforced in a comb-filter-like pattern in which the combs are harmonically spaced (see Web Clip 2). If you use a sine wave or something similar like an electric piano patch and slowly move the mod wheel, then you'll hear the level rise, indicating reinforcement, and fall, indicating cancellation.
To calculate the lowest cancellation frequency in Hertz, divide the delay time in milliseconds into 500. Even multiples of that frequency are reinforced while odd multiples are canceled. Conversely, to calculate the frequency-cancelling delay time, divide the frequency into 500.
Sweeping the delay time by hand has a number of advantages: You control the range and can vary it with each sweep, you're not limited to a constant speed and, instead of sweeping, you can use the controller to lock in different timbres created by the aforementioned reinforcements and cancellations. But for two-fisted playing, use your DAW's automation options, use a delay with a built-in LFO or use a MIDI LFO output from a soft synth to modulate the delay time. Use an envelope or envelope follower instead of an LFO for a triggered sweep (see Web Clips 3, 4 and 5).
As an alternative, try modulating the delay times in discrete steps, for example with a step sequencer like Propellerhead Reason's Matrix module that sends out control signals. With high feedback, the resonances at the reinforcement frequencies produce an audible pitch sequence.

More Is Less

You can thicken the flanging effect by using a multitap delay or multiple delays in parallel. To retain the sweeping sound, modulate each of the delay times from the same source. You have several alternatives for setting the delay ranges. To best preserve harmonic relationships, use the same ratio of maximum to minimum delay time for each delay. For example, if you set one delay to range from 1 to 2 ms, then you might set others to range from 2 to 4 ms, 3 to 6 ms and so on. Try panning half of the delays hard-left and the other half hard-right. Then swap the maximum and minimum settings for the delays on one side so that one side sweeps up while the other sweeps down (see the figure above and Web Clip 6).
Flanging is typically applied to a single track to produce its signature sweeping sound. For an alternative that is not as pronounced and works well on mixes and submixes, try low feedback and different non-proportional modulation ranges for each tap. That masks the sweeping while adding depth and motion to the sound. Long sweeps of four or eight measures often work better in this case (see Web Clip 7).

Thor Tutorial Part 2

2009-12-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

Ready for round 2?

Download Here!

Reason 4 CSi Master

2009-12-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

This interactive training DVD-ROM guides you through the key operational techniques and cool new features of Propellerhead's Reason 4. Comprised of approximately six hours of movie tutorials, this unique learning tool includes not only functionality, but also production techniques, special shortcuts, key commands, and before and after audio examples. "Reason 4 CSi Master" takes you to the next level of software and production operation through detailed discussions of software buttons, elements and menu items, production technique demonstrations, shortcuts, and tips. If you're a new users, the Introduction topic is useful for learning set-up, first record, edit, and mix. Even the most experienced Reason users will find tips and techniques that advance their overall knowledge of this powerful software!

Get the video here!

Want to run the DVD on your computer? Follow these steps!

Power Tools for Reason 3

2009-12-03T03:09:00.000-08:00

This is a book to have regardless of what you think you know. Buy it here!

http://www.pt-reason.com/

Introducing Reason 4 - Google Books

2009-12-03T02:53:00.000-08:00

A Great source of information. Right under everyone's nose.

It goes over Dr.REX, Redrum, and the Combinator!

Introducing Reason 4 - Google Books