SuperSweet's
Completely, Totally and Unashamedly
UnOfficial Reason FAQ
[Sweet's home page] [Propheads
Page] [Reasonstation] [Terms
and Conditions]
Version: 2.0
Last updated: 23 April 2004
Greetz all.
This FAQ is intended to draw together some common themes encountered on
the Propellerheads General Board for their virtual studio product
"Reason". This FAQ has been created by extracting relevant posts
from relevant peeps on the board.
Some notes:
(1) I don't profess to be an expert on any of this. Nor should
you assume that the people who've posted are experts... although they
may be. Finally, I have not
confirmed the tips myself, so they may or may not work. Make ur
own evaluations.
(2) This is not intended to be comprehensive. Comments and
criticisms are welcome. Please help me improve the FAQ.
(3) Where I've linked to articles, browse the whole thread to get the
full picture.
(4) Orthography is English (AU). So please don't go telling me
that I've spelled colour [sic] wrong.
(5) I'd prefer if u don't mirror this, so that I can keep
it up to date better. But feel free to link till ur blue in the face.
(6) This FAQ has a whole heap of links to the Reason board at
Propheads. If you're not a member there you won't be able to read
them. Go figure.
(7) I'm a PC user, so my knowledge (or interest) in what's happening in
Mac world isn't that great. Please email me contributions if you
want the Mac info up to date.
Please email me with comments or broken links - gobnat@optusnet.com.au
Stuff covered in this FAQ:
1. Reason's
Sound Quality isn't Phat (phat enough)
2. Tips on
Getting Phatter Sound from Reason
3. How Does
the Reason Compressor Work?
4. Mastering and Levels
5. Dithering
6. Can I record Vocals (other audio) in Reason
7.
Extracting Vocals/Removing Vocals
8. Which is
better - Mac or PC?
9.
Splitters and Y-cabling in Reason
10. Midi
Out - How Do I Trigger X From Reason?
11.
How do I load my own graintables into the
Maelstrom?
12. What's in
Your Studio?
13.
iloyd's funky Reason Racks (pictures)
14. Sequencers and
Reason
15.
Some Links to Stuff about Effects
16.
Where can I found out about Music Theory?
17. Where
can I found out about different sorts of electronic music
18. What is ReWire?
19.
Links to Resources on the Web
20.
Will Reason Run on Linux Today? Ever?
21. About Copyright
22.
Specific Tips, Tricks and Techniques
23. Midi Controllers
24. What is Recycle?
25.
Requesting Features for Reason 2010
26.
How do I make my own Refills?
27.
Is it cheating to use Factory Drum Loops (etc)
to make music?
28.
How do I get earth shattering drum/ synth/ kazoo tracks
29.
Reason Timing Tests
30.
Stuff re/Etiquette on the Reason Board
31. What
Monitors?
32. Interesting Asides
33. About Vocoders/ The BV 512
1. Reason's Sound
Quality isn't Phat (phat enough)
Many posters have argued that Reason's sound isn't phat enough for them
for one reason or another. Some people conduct mock experiments,
others go by their ears alone.
Note: 2.5 includes effects devices to pump up your sound.
1.1 Sample
posts criticising Reason's sound quality
(see also the thread and some of the me toos in the threads):
1.2 I
imported sound into Reason then exported it and I can tell it sounds
different, so Reason must be crap.
Reason exports with 3db headroom, so your exported sound will be not as
loud as the original and will therefore sound different. You will
interpret this sound difference as "badness" of sound. If you want to
do this sort of comparison normalise both waves to the same level
first.
1.3 Sound
Analysis and Props' Comments
(a) iloyd's sound quality research
2002-10-16
http://www.propellerheads.se/board/general/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayMsg&displayMsg=54317
A few
weeks ago I and an engineer friend made some simple tests on Reason's
sound quality issues. We especially wanted to see if there is any sound
colorization within Reason. So we started by preparing various loops
and one shot samples of any sort. We triggered them with various Reason
instruments (NNXT, NN19 and ReDrum) and exported them to wave.
Then we spectrum analyze both the
source and result wave files with the quite complicated spectrum
analyzer of Izotope Ozone. When we compared the result graphics we saw
that there is almost no difference. I mean, there is %99,99 no
difference between the graphics. The remaining difference was mostly
about +/-0.001db at no specific place in the spectrum. So this means to
us that there is no colorization or muddiness or any such problems with
the audio engine.
Beside this we realized one
interesting thing that might be considered as a problem: There was
always a noise around -96db in the silent parts of the exported waves.
Even when there is no sound was playing at all. This noise was becoming
slightly louder if we added more and more devices (FX or instruments)
up to -90db when there was about 50 devices. Theorically there
shouldn't be no noise, just plain silence when there is nothing
playing. We didn't go more in this, though, because it wasn't that
important for us when considered the hardware devices we were using in
the studio like Roland JV1080, Korg Triton, etc with always have much
more noise in their audio outputs. Perhaps it is related with one of
the
FX processors in Reason...
Anyway, I'm happy to know that there
is no serious problem with Reason in the sound quality department. I
think that the usual "Reason does not sound fat/bright/clean" threats
are the result of the quite simple FX processors that come with Reason.
Ok, there are quite working tricks to make some cool and fat FX's by
chaining them. But Reason is not fat "out of the box".
[snip]
Anyway, I don't complain and just
wait. But I wanted you know that if Reason is not that complete yet, it
does not engrave most of the negative feedback we see everyday in this
forum. I personally am satisfied that Reason's sound is top quality
right now, if not as special as everyone need.
TG
Note: iloyd, in a later part of the thread, indicated that the tracks
were normalised before spectral analysis. Any sound can be broken down
into
its various components at each frequency. What iloyd is saying is
that
each of those components was the same after processing in Reason, so
Reason
does not affect the frequency spectrum of the sound. - the sound "stays
the
same" when processed through Reason, except for a change in its volume
(modulo
some noise at -96dB). [As I note below, and as a couple of
people
have pointed out, this noise is apparently only present during what
should
be silence.]
(b) Note from Tage
This is an extract from Tage's (propheads) response
2002-10-18
http://www.propellerheads.se/board/general/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayMsg&displayMsg=54548
The
differences is sound quality that people think they hear is all a
matter of amplitude. Ask someone to judge between two identical mixes,
but with one 3db louder, and they will say that the louder one was much
better.
As your tests show, the only
difference is in amplitude and the reason for that is of course that
Reason needs to keep a little headroom to play samples polyphonically.
If we didn't, Reason would distort when trying to play two sounds
polyphonically.
[snip]
Thanks!
/Tage
(c) Fred's observations on Reason
Sound
2002-10-23
http://www.propellerheads.se/board/general/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayMsg&displayMsg=55246
::What
a refreshing topic.
Ya know, I think a lot of people who
bring this up are people who are used to pulling a Korg Triton out of a
cardboard box, plugging it in, hitting a key and enjoying a full, rich,
fat, complex sound texture.
Now go into that fat patch and
disable the reverb, the compressor, the equalizer, the exciter, the
chorus, the delay, the presence, and be sure to neutralize the EQ
settings on your mixer, and no outboard effects please.
Now hit the key again. Is it fat,
sturdy, loud and optimized like straight off a commercial CD? No? Well
call Korg and complain!
A Korg Triton patch isn't the
equivalent of one Malström or Subtractor, it's a whole Reason
rack! The building blocks in Reason are low-level and there are no
ready-made microwave meals, just the basic ingredients and you'll have
to peel the onions yourself.
Think of Lego - on one hand there's
those standard pieces that are one or two units wide and 1, 2, 3, 4, 8
or 10 units long, and they come in black, white, red, yellow or blue.
Then there are those new 'cheat' pieces like complete engine blocks,
animals, tiled roofs and furniture. Those kits don't require you to use
your imagination and creativity, and they don't allow you to build
anything except what's on the picture on the box. You can't build a
spaceship out of six rabbits and an antenna. Well, Reason is like those
original Lego pieces, you can build anything if you put your grey
matter to it but you can't be lazy.
/Fred
See also:
Blackworm's
analysis of the NNXT at Reasonstation
2.
Tips on getting Phatter Sound from Reason
iloyd's sound quality research
2002-10-16
http://www.propellerheads.se/board/general/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayMsg&displayMsg=54317
As a
result you can always try the following tricks to help your sound:
- Use double reverb in series for
your master "send" reverb. Use the first one as the early reflection
part by setting the size very short like "-45" and use the second one
as the long tail, setting the algoritm to Hall and keeping the size
above "0". Keep the dry/wet setting of the first one as "pure wet
(+64)" and use the dry/wet setting of the second one for the balance
between the early reflections and the long tail. This is very essential
trick for realistic reverb effects with debth. Think of the Waves
Truverb!
- Use double chorus in parallel with
different delay and rate settings for Left and Right channels. This
makes a huge difference, really!
- Try setting up some interesting
delay effects: Forexample if you want a pingpong delay with some
modulation on the delay part: First connect a chorus device to one of
the effect send outputs of the mixer. Keep the chorus in "only wet"
state and attach a different delay device for each left and right
outputs of the chorus. Connect one of the two delay outputs to left fx
return and connect the other one to right effect return. Now you have
independent delays for the left and right channels even with some
modulation affect that is achieved by the "only wet" chorus effect
before the delays.
- Try returning master effects to
mixer via a mixer channel instead of the fx return inputs in the mixer.
This way you can create fx feedbacks or you can add the other three
master effects to the wet part of the master effect you connected to
the mixer channel. Forexample you can add master reverb to the echoes
of the master delay.
- And use compressors and parametric
EQs to maintain a brighter, cleaner, more in control sound from any
instruments.
3.
How does the Reason Compressor Work?
General:
If a signal is instantaneously above a certain level, a compressor can
cut it at that level, or reduce its excess - if it's over by 6 db, a
compressor might squash it so it's only over by 3. Conversely, if a
signal is below a certain level a compressor can expand it. If
it's under by 6 db, it could increase the volume of the sound so it's
only under by 3 db. As a result the difference between the
loudest and softest sounds is reduced. So if the loudest sound
was at -3db and the softest at -18db, after compression the
loudest might be at -6db, with the softest at -15 db. So what was
previously a dynamic range of 15db (ie 18-3) is now only 9db (ie 15-6).
Thus the dynamic range of the sound is said to be "compressed".
See also:
Fred's and my emails below re differences between effects compressors
and mastering compressors.
The section below on effects processors.
I've
made some experiments with the compressor by creating a track that gets
a bit louder every 2 seconds in 12 steps in such a way that the mixer
channel meter gradually lights up one more every 2 seconds.
I then put the
compressor between mixer and soundsource and played with the
parameters. The meter in the mixer should then be affected by the
compressor, according to the theory. Well here's what I have found out:
- If you set the Ratio to the max (16:1), the signal will gradually get
louder until it hits 17 on the meter, when it just stays ("caps") at 17
even if the incoming signal still gets louder. You can use the Tresh to
control the amount of amplification before the signal goes to the stage
where the capping occurs: 0 gives you +11 on the meter, 20 gives you +9
and so forth until 120 gives you only +1.5. So with a Tresh of 0, the
signal gradually gets louder until it hits 17, then it stays there.
With a Tresh of 120, it doesn't reaches the cap - it only gets
amplificated a bit.
- If you set the
Ratio to 99 (8:1), the signal will gradually get louder until about 12,
and then continues to rise farther, but three times slower. The Tresh
can be used to control the amount of amplification before the signal
goes to the stage where the decelerating happens. Tresh 0 = +8, 20 = +7
until 120 = +1
- If you set the
Ratio to 85 (4:1), the signal will gradually get louder until about 12,
and then continues to rise slower. The thresh again controls the amount
of amplification before the decelerating. Tresh 0 = +6, 20 = +4 until
120 = +0
- If you set the
Ratio to 46 (2:1), the signal will gradually get louder until about 10,
and the continues to rise two times slower. Again, the thresh controls
the amount of amplification before the signal goes into the
decelerating. A tresh of 0 gives you +3, 20 = +2 until 80 and more
gives you +0.
- If you set the
Ratio to min (1:1), nothing happens to the signal.
What we experience as
a compression is the "capping" and the "decelerating" of the gradually
increasing waveform. In real life, this means that in your signal with
louder and softer parts, the louder parts get softer and closer to the
soft parts, resulting in a more uniform loudness.
For all my
experiments, I've set the parameters "Attack" and "Release" to the
minimum, so that the changes in amplification and compression happen
immediately. This can be changed for certain effects. Let's say that
any change in the input can only be of two forms:
1 - the input gets louder
2 - the input gets softer
Attack and Release can control how the device reacts in these two
cases. Attack controls the case of "input getting louder", and Release
controls the case of "input getting softer"
- Attack: When you
have a signal of average loudness and suddenly it gets louder, the
device would normaly just cut back the signal according to your
settings. But maybe you want to preserve a bit of the "punch" in the
sudden increase of volume. You want that the signal to be louder for a
short moment before it gets back to your specified settings. With the
attack parameter, you can decide how long the old compression of the
softer part will still be applied until it gets to the new setting. The
range of this knob is between 0 and about 0.3 seconds. Most common
usage: preserve the "punch" of drums.
- Release: After the
loud signal everything goes back to average. You want the listener to
hear the decrease in loudness, so the old setting for the loud part
should still apply for a short time, making the softer part even
softer. The range for this know is between 0 and about 3 seconds.
So these are the things I have learned:
- If your input is between 0 and 12 on the mixer scale (only the green
lamps are lightening up) Compression happens only with a Tresh of 60 or
less.
- Even in the most exreme setting (16:1), the soft parts of the music
are only amplified, but not compressed. The compressing starts with
signals of 5 or more in the meter.
- While Tresh only changes the amplification, Ratio changes both the
amplification and whether the cap happens edgy of softer (the
"decelerating" thing)
- What happens if the input gets softer while the device is still in
the attack phase is beyond my knowledge. Does it finishes the attack
phase or jump directly into the release. We'll perhaps never now... :-)
- Attack is pretty nice, but put it below 40 and the audio get garbled
Well,
that's it. Hope it helps!
Gnorpf
Gnorpf subsequently did some more
research on the Reason Compressor and posted it. See the Board
Thread (Gnorpf's post reproduced below)
It looks like there
are still a few open questions about
compression, so I decided to make another experiment and post my
findings here. What came out in the end is an extremely simple
explanation. First of all, I converted the experiment into a .rps that
you can download here:
http://www.propellerheads.se/song/reason/index.cfm?fuseaction=download_song&songID=7129
Here's
a primer how you can grasp compression very quickly: Play the rps and
look at the LEDs on the first Mixer at Track 1 and you'll see that the
sound gets 1 LED louder every second. Then turn the compressor from
"Bypass" to "On" and set the following settings:
Ratio: 127 (16:1, the maximum)
Thresh: 34
Attack: 0
Release: 0
Before
you play the song again, remember that the signal that goes into the
compressor is still the same, but what comes out now is the processed
signal. Play it. The fact that the outcoming signal is now louder is
not important. The really special thing is that as soon as the signal
reaches 3 yellow LEDs, it stays there. The input signal gets louder,
but the output signal stays about the same. This is compression (D'oh!)
What do the knobs do?
THRESH defines how loud the incoming signal has to be that the
compression kicks in. Here's a handy table:
Input1-20 Thresh
01 . . . . . 0
02 . . . . . 0
03 . . . . . 0
04 . . . . . 0
05 . . . . . 8
06 . . . . . 20
07 . . . . . 30
08 . . . . . 40
09 . . . . . 50
10 . . . . . 60
11 . . . . . 60
12 . . . . . 70
13 . . . . . 80
14 . . . . . 90
15 . . . . . 100
16 . . . . . 110
17 . . . . . 120
18 . . . . . 127
19 . . . . . 127
20 . . . . . 127
RATIO:
You may have noticed in our experiment that the volume stays at 3
yellow LEDs for some time, but then still gets louder. This is because
the Reason compressor doesn't limit the volume absolutely. What it does
is rather: After the threshhold point, an additional increase in input
volume result in a very small increase in output volume.
With the
RATIO knob, you can decide how steeply this increase happens. The
increase in our example is the flattest setting (16:1). The steepest
setting on the other side is when an certain increase in input volume
result in the same increase in output volume (1:1), which is the same
thing as using no compression at all.
So what we experience
as "compression" is the fact that louder parts of your music are turned
down and closer to the soft parts, resulting in a more uniform loudness.
For
all my experiments, I've set the parameters "ATTACK" and "RELEASE" to
the minimum, so that the changes in amplification and compression
happen immediately. This can be changed for certain effects. Let's say
that any change in the input can only be of two forms:
1 - the input gets louder
2 - the input gets softer
ATTACK
and RELEASE can control how the device reacts in these two cases.
ATTACK controls the case of "input getting louder", and RELEASE
controls the case of "input getting softer"
ATTACK: When you
have a signal of average loudness and suddenly it gets louder, the
device would normaly just cut back the signal according to your
settings. But maybe you want to preserve a bit of the "punch" in the
sudden increase of volume. You want that the signal to be louder for a
short moment before it gets back to your specified settings. With the
ATTACK parameter, you can decide how long the old compression of the
softer part will still be applied until it gets to the new setting. The
range of this knob is between 0 and about 0.3 seconds. Most common
usage: preserve the "punch" of drums.
RELEASE: After the
loud
signal everything goes back to average. You want the listener to hear
the decrease in loudness, so the old setting for the loud part should
still apply for a short time, making the softer part even softer. The
range for this know is between 0 and about 3 seconds.
I
hope this is of use for some people :)
Cheers!
Gnorpf
In
this
post Fred (ex props (98?), but he gets upset when people take what he
says
as gospel, so ignore his posts :) notes that the Reason Comp-01 effects
device
was intended as an effects device, not to compress a whole mix.
...which occasionally
becomes the subject of heated debate.
The Reason
compressor, as well as the compressor in ReBirth, is not so much
intended to be a compressor (though fully usable as one), as it is an
*effect*. I have a vague recollection of the compressor in ReBirth
being introduced after Marcus (developer) took a fancy to compressors
as effect units. He liked the exaggerated oooomph.
I seldom use the
compressor in Reason as an all-purpose compressor as such. I tend to
use it as an insert on a couple of machines and set it to the wildest
setting possible, i.e. 16:1, zero threshold, whatever attack, and zero
release. Anyone who applies that kind of compression to an entire mix
is bonkers, naturally, but for single instruments it's funky.
I'm not sure whether
the Reason compressor is more of a 'Pelle' device (Pelle is the main
DSP man) or a 'Marcus' device but I would imagine that at least to some
extent the Reason comp was, however subconsciously, regarded as an
effect unit rather than a COMPRESSOR compressor if you catch my drift.
/Fred
4.
Mastering and Levels
Bob Katz Level Practices in Digital Audio - http://www.digido.com/Audiolevels.html.
Mr Katz argues that today's recordings are too "hot" -
that
is, they all have the same volume, throughout, and that volume is
maximised. This is the reason why some CDs sound louder than
others at the same volume on the dial.
Bob Katz Compression
in Mastering Article.
...
The single biggest problem was that my mixes were too quiet in certain
frequency ranges. In house music, the kick drum must be pronounced,
but without proper compression, the rest of the mix is simply too
quiet. Turning up everything else isn't really an option as things
become unbalanced.
So by boosting the
mid range liberally -- in some cases on individual channels, some cases
with submixes and the entire mix -- I was able to inject significant
life into my mix(es)...relative to how they sounded prior to this
exercise. It seems I never give enough priority to the mid range. As a
matter of practice, I now have two Reason EQs on the rhythm submix as
well as the melodic submix and the entire mix. I use two so that I can
amplify or attenuate given frequency ranges in at least 4 narrow bands.
I found that this produced the least muddiness while still delivering a
pronounced boost. Even two narrow bands situated very close together
provide a cleaner boost then a single band that covers the range in
question.
Cutting frequencies
can do more than boosting them. Rolling off some low end here and
there, or notching a band once in a while can do a surprising amount to
your mix; especially if a[n autogain] compressor follows.
Along each step there
is a compressor as well. I don't always compress very much, but
they're there and I can A/B with commercial recordings and get similar
results. I've also learned to use the autogain quite nicely. Try
putting a compressor across your mix with the ratio, threshold, and
attack set to full (127), and the release set to all the way down (0).
From there, play your track in the quitest, and loudest passages and
adjust accordingly. I had astonishing results with this technique.
On the A/B tip: once
your song is mixed and you are happy with the result, A/B with a
commercial recording you like several times in various parts of your
track (and across more than one day). This helps overcome fatigue and
offers your ears some degree of impartiality.
I also played with
the damp factor on the reverb. I typically set it quite low or off
altogether, but increasign the dampening can actually warm up a mix.
So, to summarize...
EQ in narrow bands
and pay close attention to the mid range. Cutting can be just as
useful as boosting.
Compress in stages
and play with the autogain feature of the compressor.
A/B often, but
reserve it for mixing and the final stages. Mix across more han a
single session / day.
Use the dampening on
channels with heavy reverberation added.
Ignore the clip
indicator and use your ears and / or a wave editor.
...
Mastering links (in no
order):
Required Reading
The Ozone mastering guides: http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/ozoneguide.html
Packages
Sound Forge: http://www.sonicfoundry.com/
I LOVE SOUND FORGE 6.0!!! You should
buy it!!!! ;) - DJDM DJDM
on
2002-09-13 read
it
See also Fred's comments on Sound Forge (August 2002) (SF
is a pro tool for amateurs and semi-pros, not a pro tool for pros): Read
it
T-Racks: http://www.t-racks.com/
"It's not just eye-candy. It has one
of the most subtle EQ and compressor settings of any digital app I've
tried. Great for all kinds of mastering work. I even use it to juice
up digitized vinyl recordings. Heartily recommended." clvrmnky on 2002-08-18 Read
it
Waves Mastering bundle: http://www.steinberg.net (I'm
buggered if I can work out their website I think a team of monkeys must
have worked on their navigation)
get Waves Masters bundle w/
Wavelab 3.0 or 4.0. you cannot go wrong. drumyon on 2002-09-18 Read
it
Ozone: http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/directx.html
I have had much better
results with Ozone. T-Racks is easier out of the box, but the
results,INMHO, are not as good, once you start to understand what it is
your trying to accomplish. There is also a good little mastering guide
on the Izotope website.
I'm not affiliated, with Izotope ,
I'm just a user. If you are going really pro and can afford it , just
read the liner notes of your fav . CD, see where it was mixed and send
it to them. Most of the good mastering houses will do the remote thing
for you. It's a bit pricey, but can make all the difference,. holowan on 2002-09-17
read
it
BIAS Peak (Mac): http://www.bias-inc.com/
Note: There is a fundamental problem with relying on testimonials
in that the person making the testimonial may not have worked with all
of the products on offer (unless they're a crack head :)
5.
Dithering and internal processing
Dithering is another way of saying that digital isn't as perfect as
people make it out to be. While copying from one place to another
can be done perfectly digitally, you need to go to special
efforts to do other operations "perfectly" - that is without
introducing distortion or colouration [sic]. Bob Katz explains
this well (if a little technically) by use of a money analogy in his
Secrets of Dither article.
Required Reading:
Bob Katz: Secrets of Dither: http://www.digido.com/ditheressay.html
Gives a good overview of dithering and how and why it is used in
digital audio. Criticisms of techonology are a little dated, and
become more so each day. Fundamentals remain true. He does
note that dithering introduces noise at -96db. Not clear whether
this is related to Reason's "noise at 96db", but is an interesting
coinkidink. [Note: Apparently it is unrelated as -96db noise is only
present when the track is silent]
Ozone Dither Guide: http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/ozone/OzoneDitheringGuide.pdf
Reason uses 32 bits for internal processing and exports as 16/24bit to
sound cards/mixdown:
Re: 6 dB / 1 Bit Business... Posted by marcus (props) on
2002-08-23
http://www.propellerheads.se/board/general/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayMsg&displayMsg=46924
...
3) While processing audio signals in
mysterious ways, keeping a signal in 16 bits is very hard, since it's
easy to lose information on the way. So instead most music software
uses 32-bit floating point while processing the audio - Reason does -
and only converting it to for example 16 bit or 24 bit when pushing the
audio into the sound card. When pushing the audio to the sound card -
this is the spot where lower bits are truncated and the signal is
clipped etc.
...
6. Can I record
Vocals (other audio) in Reason
No. You can't. For god's sake, get over it. It's not going
to happen.
From the mouths of the Props (Jan 2003):
First, on audio recording, Niels Larsen:
"I think it's out of the question if we just said 'a little bit of
audio'. That's the sort of thing that we just don't do. We have a lot
of people saying: 'You could just put in a couple of tracks' or
'Why don't you do an ADAT-like device and call it ReCorder?' A nice
idea, but it's the wrong way to approach an issue like that. If you put
an ADAT into the rack, it's like having a little 16-channel Mackie
mixer and an ADAT connected to it. At what point do you become more
frustrated and begin to say 'I want to do more than that, I want
to do editing. Why don't I have editing?' That instantly becomes an
issue. Then it becomes 'Oh, I need more mixing facilities...' And
then Reason as
a concept, as a product to make music, might change too much. That's
why audio tracks at this time is really a no-no, because we feel we'd
be ruining what we created rather than enhancing it.
Ernst
adds his thoughts. "People ask us 'what is your hang-up with audio,
what is your hang-up
with VST plug-ins? Why don't you just do it?' And I don't think there
is a hang-up. We'd like to think that Reason is not a 'me too' product.
There were certainly soft synthesizers before it, but something that we
did - we're not exactly sure what it was - took it to
another level. If we ever do hard disk recording, I'd like to try to
pull off the same trick again! I don't want to just do a 'me too' thing
for adding hard disk tracks to Reason; even though it would probably be
practical it's not what we are about. It's not right for us. We'd just
be an inferior Cubase, and why would we want to be that?"
Also Read Fred's
Rant.
[Ed: You don't get something for nothing and audio in Reason is not
something I want my money paying for. Rewire of audio into Reason
is different kettle of fish...]
Nor can you load an audio file into a track and play it back in Reason.
What you *can* do, and this is a kludge if you're working with
audio of any real length (longer than a couple of seconds) is load the
sound into either the Redrum or NN-19/XT and play it back from there.
This is a kludge because it doesn't allow you to start playback mid
sample. So, if you've got 1 minute of sample, and are trying to
fix something up in the song at the end of that sample you'll have to
play through the whole sample to get to the part you want to hear, each
time.
Another kludge is to Recycle your audio track and load it into the Dr
Rex. This gives better control over where playback starts from.
See this
Board thread.
There are plenty of audio recorders out there, go find one. If
you're looking for a free recorder try Audacity.
7.
Extracting Vocals/Removing Vocals
Removing Vocals
It is sometimes possible to remove vocals from a stereo mix. This
is only the case if the vocals are in the centre of the recording, and
the rest of the mix isn't. It involves inverting the phase of one
of the channels and mixing it with the other channel, to create a mono
file with the vocals (and everything else in the centre) removed
(hopefully). Usually [Ed: I have not tried this, commenting
vicariously] complete elimination is not possible, instead you
end up with a large reduction in the volume of the vocals.
See (for example):
http://forums.syntrillium.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5904&FORUM_ID=16&CAT_ID=4&Topic_Title=REMOVING+VOCALS%3F%3F&Forum_Title=Tips+%26+Tricks
If it's a short sample you're trying to extract, you can also try some
noise reduction plug ins, taking the "noise" sample from the music
shortly before or after the start of the vocal. This will
introduce high frequency distortion into the vocals.
Extracting Vocals
Now, *if* you can remove the vocals, you can also extract them! - at
least in theory. Call the tracks: O (original stereo file) and VE
(mono file with vocals removed).
Summary: effectively O = vocals +music and VE = music. Therefore
vocals = O - VE. Trouble is they have different gain and O is
stereo, while VE is mono.
Normalise VE to a similar level to O. Create a mono mix of O.
Phase invert VE and mix with mono O. This should give you vocals
with greatly reduced gain on the music. It's unlikely to give you
vocals and nothing else. If there are other things in the centre
of the stereo mix, then these things will be preserved too.
Editor: This vocal extraction technique is pure theory. I
haven't tried it and am not sufficiently interested to do so.
However, if you have any success, please let me know.
8.
Which is better - Mac or PC?
PC of course, esp if they're running Linux.
[Joke!!!!!]
9.
Splitters and Y-cabling in Reason
In March 2003 the Propellerheads announced that version 2.5 of
Reason will include both audio and CV splitters/mergers. So
splitting/merging of audio/CV is no longer an issue - use the Spider
Audio or Spider CV units.
If you're using a version prior to 2.5:
Strangely, Reason doesn't include any facility for splitting signals,
either audio or CV. I recall seeing some posts on this issue in
the past, but can't find them now :( From memory:
(a) splitting of audio outs can be achieved by routing them through
an effects device with mono in to stereo outs (or through two such
devices if you want to do this in stereo) (and making sure the effects
device is set to pass the sound through unchanged). You can also
use a mixer as a splitter, through the send devices (send them out, but
return them to a separate mixer rather than the aux returns - the sends
on the mixer are mono).
(b) splitting of CVs cannot be done.
[As at October 2002]
10.
Midi Out - How Do I Trigger X From Reason?
You can't. Reason doesn't have midi out. If you want to trigger
something else, you'll have to do it from an external sequencer.
11. How
do I load my own graintables into the Maelstrom?
You can't/it's too hard/don't you have something better to do?
Re: make yer own graintables???? Posted by blank on
2002-10-23
http://www.propellerheads.se/board/general/index.cfm?fuseaction=displayMsg&displayMsg=55245
Hmm...
been over this about a dozen times before but let's have a go again.
Short story: You
can't, because there's such a friggin mindbogglingly huge amount of
markers in each waveform (more or less one for each pulse) that it
would take you about 6 weeks to edit a waveform manually but you still
wouldn't know where to put'em.
Now here's an FAQ.
Q: But I wanna try
anyway! I can't believe it's all that complicated and I do believe I
have the know-how, thank you very much.
A: OK, go ahead. Try.
;-D
Q: So how do the Props do it then, if it's so impossible?
A: They use a combo
of infinite supersuperior ultraknowledge and a really funky, rugged
homebuilt DOS executable that provides *some* automation for this
daunting task. In my hands, or yours, this application is about as
useless as a set of unmarked keys and the instruction "go unlock some
door somewhere. Good luck".
Q: But there are
other apps that are almost like Malström and you can put your own
waveforms in those!
A: Yeppers, and they
suck and don't do it properly, because doing it properly requires
plenty of human intervention. It's an extremely time-consuming process,
and that's why there aren't one thousand graintables, but rather eighty
or thereabouts.
Q: But what about
ReCycle?
A: You wanna make a REX file with 45,000 slices...?
Q: So am I stuck with
the current wavetables forever?
A: Not necessarily. In theory, it's possible to add more in future
versions. The current graintables comprise a kind of ROM-bank; assuming
this is ROM-bank "A", there's an opening for bank "B", "C", "D"
etcetera, if the Props feel like filling it up.
/Fred
Editor: In my opinion, if there is a way to let Reason users create
their own Graintables the props should open it and let them. When
users are able to do this at home Graintables will propagate as quickly
as soundfonts and refills have.
12.
What's in Your Studio?/ How Old are you?
In September 2002, disruptor started a long (and instructive)
thread, asking what people had in their studio set ups (?sets up?).
One thing it did reveal is that people are generally jettisoning
their hardware in favour of software. If someone feels like
tabulating the responses, I'll happily put it up.
In January 2003, there was also an interesting thread on how old people
were (mostly in 20s by the looks of things): Board
thread
13.
Funky Reason Pictures (was iloyd's funky Reason
Racks)
iloyd created some kewl ray traces to show his Reason Racks.
Check them out here:
http://www.iloyd.com/photo/reasonst2.jpg
http://www.iloyd.com/photo/reasonst3.jpg
See also Matthias
Derer's Virtual Studio
At one stage you were able to get all of the Reason devices in hardware
from here.
However, the link doesn't seem to be working now (5/03) ThomasPeters,
where are they now? Email me man.
14.
Sequencers and Reason (incl. some stuff re Logic)
While Reason includes a basic sequencer it has a number of
drawbacks, including inability to stack or name groups, no midi out, no
ability to change tempo through the song. If you want proper
sequencer features, or if you want to use other soft/hard synths with
Reason in realtime you will need to acquire a dedicated external
sequencer. To be fully featured you should ensure that your
sequencer has Rewire support (see section on Rewire below). If
you don't Reason will be a dumb midi recipient and you won't be able to
pass audio between the two applications. Dedicated sequencers
include:
Cakewalk Sonar: www.cakewalk.com
Cubase : www.steinberg.net
Logic: www.emagic.de
The problem with rewire capable sequencers is that they are designed to
be compatible with hardware synths. You're also paying for things
like inbuilt audio editors and effects. If you just want to
interact with Reason and other soft synths, if you have a dedicated
audio editor or effects then you're paying a premium if you buy one of
these sequencers. You might also want to try a cheaper rewire
capable sequencer like Tracktion,
which has received at least one good review on the board.
As at November 2001, Logic has poor integration with Reason - for some
examples read
this thread. Many people have complained about difficulties
in rewiring Reason into Logic. Logic also only supports Rewire v 1.
That is, routing of audio information. Other programs, such
as Cubase and Sonar support Rewire 2 - which will allow routing of midi
data between Reason and the host program.
See the tip on getting midi from logic to reason and audio from reason
into logic 4.7.3 here.
See Board thread on Sonar and rewire here.
15.
Some Links to Stuff about Effects
If you want to know about effects check out these links:
Computer
Music Mag Tutorials: includes Eq, Compression,
Gating, Reverb, Dynamics
Intermusic
Mag Tutorials includes Delay, Reverb, Compression, Gating,
EQ, Enhancers, (some multiple articles)
Harmony Central
Effects Page
Sound
on Sound Compression Techniques Article
How
the Cher "Believe" effect was created (SOS Article)
See also the mastering section (eg compression)
16.
Where can I
find out about Music Theory?
Dr Sonny Burnett's Music Theory Web Study Guide
Central
Peel Secondary Music Theory Tutorials
Music Theory for
Songwriters
How chords are
constructed (excellent table)
How scales are
contructed (table)
Music theory.net
(includes chord calculator)
Uni of Oregon
Electronic Music Primer [ed: link not tested b/c don't have plug in]
Virtual Piano Chords
Guitar, Bass and Drum Tabs
17.
Where can I found out about different sorts of electronic music
Try Ishkur's
guide. It has samples and short explanations across the whole
gamut of electronic music.
You can also have a look at:
The All Music Guide.
Phobos Electronica Primer
18. What is ReWire?
Rewire is a way of routing information (audio (v1) or midi and audio
(v2)) between client and server applications. For example, if
Reason is Rewired into Sonar, Sonar will control Reason's transport
controls, can send midi to Reason and Reason's audio output can be
routed back to Sonar (eg for recording or effects).
See the Props' Rewire
pages.
And the Props' Using
Rewire Page.
19.
Links to Resources on the Web
Reason Specific Links (in no order)
The Props Site, direct link
to the General
Board and General
Board (most recent 100 threads, no frames, but u won't be able to post
a new thread)
Discover
Reason tutorials from Propellerheads (tutorials progressively
added over time)
iLoyd's site funky
reason pics and some Reason set ups
Reasonstation
- forums, articles,
advice
Reason
Freaks - some forums,
articles, advice
Doru
Malaia's Free Refills - What is says
Pegasus' Reason
Site Some songs, refills and tips (read the tips they're good)
Reason Why - (Nihongo de no
saito)
Reason Area of
Linkpage descriptions of each device and effect, some tutorials,
includes a Table
of Reason Keyboard Shortcuts.
Funk Station
Synth resource, with some Reason stuff
Reasonic Tutes, news, patches
Raapie.nl Some tutes, refill
reviews
Reason Refills What it says.
Cakewalk v6 Panels for Reason Allows Cakewalk users to control
Reason instruments.
The
Reason Webring
www.peff.com
Reason User in particular the Reason File Archive
Rykthereactor's Site -
includes some refills with malström, subtractor etc patches
The best places to start (IMHO) are the Studio Covers Site (which has
links to articles on other sites), the tweakmeister, and the tutorial
archives
of Computer Music and InterMusic.
Studio Covers Site (excellent
link site) The links to the SOS articles on synthesizers are
highly recommended, if a bit waffly.
Rich the Tweakmeister - Tons of reviews, views and advice.
Computer Music Magazine
See also their Tutorial
List.
Intermusic (apparently
related to Future and Computer Music). In particular see their Tutorial
Archive.
Future Music (owned by the
same chaps who own Computer Music Magazine. Future music is more into
hardware and is for the computer challenged, Computer Music is more
into software)
Harmony Central
Sonikmatter - Check out the forums.
Emusician Magazine Another computer
music mag. See also: Reasonable
Advice article
SonicState
Sound on Sound magazine -
requires
registration for recent articles. In earlier versions of the FAQ
I
bagged this mag out for requiring registration. However having
gone
through some of their back issues, they've got some really good stuff.
So
give it a go and bear with them.
Shareware Music Machine has
shareware music proggies.
Home Recording dot Com -
stuff about home recording
Black Water Music
- Some articles on various things. A bit stream of consciousness.
Recording.org emag - Articles
on recording, a bit lacklustre.
Digital
Domain's Audio Links Page
T. Yahaya
Abdullah's Page Has some stuff on Synthesis and Music Theory
University
of IOWA orchestral samples [Board thread] and Direct link
Loopers Delight
- has a tips and tricks section.
Drum Home Page Drum
Tips page
Hollow Sun Synth Samples
Pro Sound Web - Web site
with sound related stuff
Some links relating to DnB suggested on the Reason Board: http://www.dogsonacid.com/, http://www.dogbeats.co.uk/
(samples), http://spinwarp.com/
Reason Sound Website:
some info re DnB, Techno and Trance, short glossary of terms.
Musicians
Tech Central Website: Link site to lots of info.
AT&T
Text to Speech Online
20.
Will Reason Run
on Linux Today? Ever?
Today: No, it won't. It won't
even run under Wine.
[Sweet: IF YOU DO GET IT RUNNING UNDER WINE LET ME KNOW see email addy
above]
.
Ever? From time to time the
Props get this message on the board and say no, not ever. That
not ever seems to have gone from a "you must be kidding" to a "probably
not" over the last 18 months (to Nov 02). Whether Reason will
ever run on Linux is a simple question of economics. If it's not
worth it for the Props (or someone else subbing to the Props) then it's
a fair bet that it won't happen. So if you would like to see
Reason for Linux, let the props know (politely) by email or on the
board and (this is the important bit) that you'd be happy to pay for
it.
[Sweet: For the record, I'd like to see Reason on Linux + I'd be
willing to pay for it.]
21.
About Copyright
For a history of copyright (detailed) see my paper: Copyright in
a Frictionless World
22.
Specific Tips, Tricks and Techniques
See also Tutes in mags listed above.
Sequencer follows the current position - Ctrl-F to turn off follow
cursor
Using the Redrum as a gate: Computer
Music Article and Scotfree's
Songs made from the Tute.
Getting individual samples into NN19: Props'
Board Thread
Recording rewired stereo channels in Sonar: Props'
Board Thread
Playing devices without playing track in Sonar: Props'
Board Thread
Tutorial
on FM synthesis using the Subtractor: Marcus
Unlimited/Chromaticus Article
How to make a Rave Horn sound: Read
the Board thread
Board:
Making a sonar ping sound
Board:
Tips tricks and know how
Fred's
rebirth simulator
Board:
more ooph in Bass
Board:
Using the mixer as a 4 splitter (in this case to EQ in parallel)
(no longer relevant with audio spiders in 2.5)
Board:
How to make a "Hoover" sound
Board:
Another discussion on Hoovers
Reasonstation Thread on how to make Killer
Drum Loops
Applying different effects to different REX slices (see whole thread):
Props
Board Thread
Board:
Pr0g7r0n1c's suggestions on convincing guitar sounds
Board:
lonelyMC on inaudible notes
Oggy
Explains Spiders
Trin
explains the prefader (effect 4)
See
also BV512 section below.
Thoughts
on how to make IDM/Autechre/Aphex Twin like tracks
Some
comments on making Techno Music
Why
use the NNXT instead of the NN19?
Board: Gigarock's
Timestretching in Reason
Board: Thread
on capturing streaming audio
What
the LFO Values correspond to
Board:
matrixmillion's CV delay
Board:
gnorpf: What frequencies do the PEQ-2 Equaliser settings equate to?
Board:
seliq: what do fader values correspond to in dB?
Board:
some views on using Gates in Reason
Board:
Some views on how to get a "matrix" like sound (ie in matrix the movie)
Breakaway24's vocoder special effect
Create a Mixer
Create a Vocoder
Hook up send 3 to carrier input
Hook up send 4 to modulator input
Output the Vocoder to its own channel on the mixer.
Build your song as
normal...
Use channel(s) with high-freq content for send 3
Use channel(s) with vocals, rhythm, etc. for send 4
Toggle the post-fader
switch for send 4. Reduce volume for a simulated 'insert' effect.
DeEsser in Reason: Props
Board Thread
RJ1234's tip on phattening sound:
take
the left output of a mod (in this case a malstrom) and
input it to a mixer channel (1) then take the right output of the mod
and input it to a delay left input then take the output of the delay
both left and right and input to channel 2 on the mixer...now pan
channel 1 left and channel 2 to the right...then adjust the
milliseconds on the delay machine to anything under 30 ms...a good
number is about 7ms...this effect is called the haas zone effect...have
fun!!!!!!!!!
The
unofficial 2.5 Dirty Tricks Thread
Side chaining and Ducking:
Per Matti
The
CV outs of the BV512 turns audio signal levels into cv signals.
In eq mode, use one or more of these, invert it and send it to the
level cv input of your choice. Now,
that level will "shrink away" in time with the audio source. Experiment
with effects on the input audio source to "diffuse" the ducking signal.
Per jamesw:
Another method of ducking, this time triggered by the gate of the
kick drum. The gate is sent to the malstrom which in turn triggers the
2 shapers & the filter envelope any of which can be used to shape
the the dynamics of the volume reduction for the ducking mixer.
23.
Midi Controllers
If you are going to be using a midi controller you must get this controller map
posted by James Wheating. The updated controller map is available
from Freewebs
(as at 13 May 03).
Some manufacturers' sites (no order):
Evolution
Doepfer
Midiman
Waveidea
Or, if you want to roll your own: Have a look at Harmony Central's
DIY Midi Links or Thorsten Klose's Midibox
Stuff.
Some comment on the Board
Oxygen-8 v Evolution MK-225C - Props'
Board Thread
Evolution MK-249C v Roland PC-300 - Props'
Board Thread
Comments on MC 249C from reasonstation.net
Comments on Edirol PCR controller from Props'
Board
Reason has does some weird things with controller assignments.
In particular, it can be difficult to override Reason's default
controller assignments. This means that your controller might
change two parameters at once (ie the one you want to change and the
Reason default parameter for that controller number). Apparently
this can be overcome by creating a Matrix for the relevant instrument
and deleting it. This tip comes from a reason mailing list:
"I
don't know why this works for me, but you can try it and see if it
works on your end. Right click on your subtractor and choose
'create' then choose 'matrix pattern sequencer' this will
automatically create a matrix pattern sequencer hooked up to the
subtractor. Now see if the Osc 1 fine tune stops moving. If
it does like it does on mine then great! Now all you need to do
is click on the subtractors filter attack and have it learn the
ms2000's filter attack knob and then delete the matrix
afterwards. Works for me. Sure hope it works for you.
I know I'd cringe to have to get in dirty with the ms2000's midi sends.
Good luck!
Bill"
24.
What is Recycle? What is a .REX file?
Recycle is a program from the Props which slices up audio into its
constituent
parts. A .rex file is the file that is output from Recycle.
.rex
files are played through the use of Dr. Rex.
Props'
Recycle pages.
Known problem with Recycle adding an Echo by default Read
Thread. Remove it by setting "Stretch" to zero.
25.
Requesting Features for Reason 2010
There's no official way. My suggestion would be to socialise it
on
the Board first, get people's views, refine the idea and if you still
think
it's worth suggesting, then drop it into the Props' feature
request email hotline. But for gawd's sake don't flood
the board with suggestions.
26.
How do I make my own Refills?
My god! Why on earth would you want to do that? Don't you know
that refills are evil?
Well, if you can't be dissuaded, what you need is a Refill
packer. Get it here.
27.
Isn't it cheating to use Factory Drum Loops/ REX
Files/ Loops from
CDs/ Packaged Samples/ Anything but a piece of string to make music?
[ed: these are my opinions, not objective fact]
When I was living in a dorm on campus, I used to cook a chocolate cake
from
a packet of cake mix every week or two and share it around. One
of
the other guys living there used to poo poo me doing this because I
wasn't
"making it all" myself. In his opinion I should have been doing
what
he was - buying the basic ingredients sifting and mixing them and
then
cooking them up. My response was that even if I was buying flour
I
etc that's still not making it myself b/c someone else had ground the
flour
for me/ extracted the bicarbonate of soda or whatever. There are
a
number of different levels on which one can make a cake "by
yourself"/roll
your own - right down to growing the grain and milling it yourself.
If
you do this you will have an incredible degree of control over all of
the
ingredients that go in to making the cake. However, you may find
yourself
committing too much time to tackling minute detail, when it's not
really
going to make much difference to the final product.
In this particular case I was completely in the right and that guy was
just
an asshole. However, is there a broader moral that can be taken
from
this story? In my view anything you can use to make music is just that
-
a tool to make music. If it makes life easier, well so be it, use it.
There
are two problems that can arise from the use of tools. The
first
is that you will tend to rely too much on the tool without developing
an
understanding of how the tool is doing its job. The second is
that
you will constrain what you are doing to the limitations of the tool.
Both
of these are things to guard against, but neither is a reason for not
using
a tool. Personally I don't use pre recorded loops at all, and I
use
REX loops rarely. The reason for this is that while the loops may
sound
great by themselves, they're impossible to extend or improvise on.
If
you want to change them slightly to achieve a given effect you can't
(well,
you can filter them). As such I end up being frustrated with them
and
for this reason, don't use them. [This is not to say my music
isn't
boring and repetitive, only that I don't use prepackaged loops to
achieve
this :-]
So, is it cheating to use prepackaged stuff to achieve your aims?
Well,
that depends on whether you're a buy the cake from the shop kind of
person,
a packet mix kind of person, or a grow and mill it all yourself kind of
person.
28.
How do I get earth shattering drum/ synth/ kazoo tracks
Unfortunately there's no easy way to get any of these. What's
more, different people use different techniques to achieve the same
result. You're going to have to find your own way of working.
That said, a constantly occurring piece of advice that I see is
that if you like something, try to emulate it. This will give you
an understanding of what the elements are which make up the piece you
like, as well as the musical functions each of those elements is
performing. It will also train your ear to hear better. For
example let's say you've got a drum track you think is really neat.
You would emulate it by doing this:
(a) Take a sample of a couple bars, load it into an NN-19 and loop it,
change the tempo so the sample matches the length of a measure.
(b) load up a Redrum module (or two?)
(c) identify each of the separate drum sounds that are in your fave
track, find the nearest match in the Factory Sound Bank, and load those
matches into your Redrum (often you only have to get the class of drum
- eg bass, snare, hat, to recreate the feel of the track)
(d) as you loop the track in the NN19 try to insert drum hits in the
drum's sequencer track as they happen - watch for both timing and
duration of the hits.
In no time you'll not only have an emulation of your drum track, you'll
also have an understanding of its components and the functions those
components play. The same advice will work if you have a
dedicated sequencer (eg Sonar, Cubase, Logic). It may even be
easier as you can load the sample straight into an audio track.
See also:
This
board thread
29.
Reason Timing Experiments (the Big Daddy Reason Timing Tests)
Arothman conducted some experiments on Reason's timing and posted his
results to the board here.
30.
Stuff re/Etiquette on the Reason Board
Some pointers for the Board:
N/T
n/t and nt means "no text" - so don't bother opening the response.
Unless it's someone else's response to an earlier n/t where they
might have actually included a response but forgot to delete the n/t
from the title.
Reading the manual
Please look through the manual/in the help file before asking a
question. People get very frustrated when asked questions the
answers to which are already in the manual which came with the program.
What's more, you'll get your answer faster if you look in the manual.
Responding to people who haven't RTFM
The converse of the earlier section is that we should all take 4 deep
breaths before abusing anyone for not reading the manual or responding
with RTFM in one of its varied guises. Remember the golden rule -
if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all (didn't you
listen to your grandmother when you were a kid?). If you think
someone is asking a question which is already answered in the manual
tell them what terms they should be looking for, or (better) give them
a page reference. Aggro on the board doesn't help anyone.
[ed my opinions, not Props policy]
What do the icons mean?
The icons indicate which software you have registered. There is
also an additional icon which indicates the poster is a Propellerhead
employee/has some special status (eg see Fnordoman's icons in this post).
Register your software
If you haven't registered your software don't expect to get an answer
to your questions. Pple on the Props boards tend to ignore
questions from unregistered users. The exception to this is
people who want to know about the software in order to make a
purchasing decision.
Trolling
Please don't feed the trolls.
If someone, esp. someone without any software registered, posts a
message saying Reason is crap, or should have audio, or your
grandmother is hairy or whatever, just don't respond. Trolls post
messages to get a response. As soon as you respond you've given
them positive feedback (even if you've called them nasty names).
Silence is the best option.
31. Buying Studio Monitors
(speakers)
The whole point about buying monitors is to ensure that they
faithfully reproduce the sound that's presented to them, without
colouration. Another way of putting this is that they should have
a "flat frequency response". If they don't then they're
changing the nature of the sound either by over or de-emphasising some
frequencies. This is bad because everyone's speakers are
different. So, if you have speakers which (for example) emphasise
the bass in the mix then when someone else plays what you think is a
track thick with phat bass on their speakers the bass will end up
sounding flat.
True flat frequency response costs astronomical amounts (don't even
think about it for <$US1,000). This doesn't mean you can't get
something acceptable for a project studio for less, just that it won't
have a perfectly flat frequency response. However, their its
response will probably be good enough.
There are two categories of studio monitors that you need to consider -
active and passive. Active monitors have an amplifier built in to
them. Passive monitors will need to be powered by a separate
amplifier. The advantages of active speakers is that they
are a single contained package with amplifiers which are specifically
designed for the speaker cones that they drive and which have
crossovers specifically designed for those cones. However, when
you buy active speakers you're paying extra $$$ to have the
amplifiers. The gain controls on active speakers can also be a
little harder to use than if you had a separate amplifier.
The larger the speaker (actually, the bass cone in the speaker), the
deeper the bass it is able to reproduce faithfully.
For more info see this
thread.
And this article at Future
Music.
If you get some monitors you will also want to know about room tuning,
so go read these links:
http://www.vex.net/~pcook/RecAudioPro/
http://www.homerecording.com/monitors.html
http://www.studiocovers.com/articles13.htm
http://www.recording.s5.com/html/recording_tips.html
http://www.alesis.com/support/cc/speakers.html
http://www.digitalprosound.com/Htm/TechStuff/May/Mix-TechFiles2.htm
http://gonzoft.tripod.com/articles/a6/a6.htm
http://www.godsofmusic.com/gom/articles.php?action=detail&ID=147
Here are some additional room tuning links suggested by drumyon:
http://www.bobhodas.com/pub5.html
http://arts.ucsc.edu/ems/music/tech_background/TE-14/teces_14.html
http://www.muselogic.com/acoustics.html
http://www.etfacoustic.com/modes.html
http://homepages.tig.com.au/~audio/electric/helmholz.htm
As an aside, there was this thread on favourite
speaker evaluation music.
32. Interesting
Asides/Trivia
Easter Eggs
Don't read this section if you want to find them yourself...
Screws on the Subtractor.
Manufacturing location of NNXT
Matrix LED
Dr Rex LED
Insert disk sequence on NN19
And the others...
Other tidbits
Where did ReAson get it's name: Board
thread
Why
is Reload only for OSX and Windows XP?
How to calculate the length of a song - open it up, you'll be told in
the refill view how long the song is. Barwise, use this as a
ready reckoner: if the song is x bpm, then bar x = 4 minutes and
scale from that (so at 120 bpm, bar 30 = 1 minute, bar 60 = 2 minutes
bar 90 = 3 minutes etc).
33.
About Vocoders/ The BV 512
All I can say about vocoders is that they can be a little bit tricky,
especially if you mess up what is the carrier and modulator. Read
the manual twice, slowly. If you don't get any sound you've
probably got everything set up backwards. Try swapping carrier
and modulator inputs. Make sure you have both carrier and modulator
inputs!!
Some tips specific to the BV 512
The BV512 can be used as a
spectrum analyser (route the relevant signal to the modulator input,
decay control affects update speed, hold button freezes the spectrum
and the hold itself can be controlled by CV) and an equaliser (errr...
turn it on to equaliser).
The CV outs of the BV512 can also be used to convert
an audio signal into CV outputs. This, in turn can be used for
ducking (by sending the CV to a spider and inverting it). Here is
matti explaining it on the beta board:
For
the cv outs to work, BV512 needs to be in vocoder mode,
not eq mode as I stated in the first post. Forgot! sorry... :-)
Create a Mixer,
Dr:rex, Subtractor, Vocoder and Spider CV.
The DR:rex: [Audio L
> Mixer Ch 1 L] + [Audio R > BV512 Mod In]
The Subtractor: [Audio Out > Mixer Ch 2 L]
The
BV512: [Mod Out 1-4 > Spider CV Merge In 1-4] The Spider CV: [Merge
Out > Split A In] + [Split A Inv > Mixer Ch 2 Level CV In]
If
you load a simple drum beat into the DR:rex and play a continuous tone
on the Subtractor, you should be able to hear the synth tone "duck" in
time with the beat.
This was contributed by jamesw in the same thread
Another method of ducking, this time triggered by the gate of
the kick drum. The gate is sent to the malstrom which in turn triggers
the 2 shapers & the filter envelope any of which can be used to
shape the the dynamics of the volume reduction for the ducking mixer.
Example
of BV512 used to create robotic voices
Mark Cole's 10 things to do with the BV512
Thread
Here are some links about Vocoders generally:
http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~eal/audio/vocoder.html
http://ptolemy.eecs.berkeley.edu/~eal/audio/voder.html
http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/vocoder/
See also the tips section above.
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Change history
2.0 23 April 2004 Introduction of new Propellerheads site broke
many of the links in the FAQ. This update fixes those links.
1.9 3 October 2003 Added a heap of links, including a lot
of links which relate parameter values to the real world eg fader value
x = y dB and some explanations of how to duck and sidechain using
Reason
devices.
1.8 13-14 May 2003 Major additions
relating to BV512 (section 33), some tips and tricks, more links re
studio monitors. Link to updated controller code map.
1.7 29 March - 11 April 2003, links added, including Fred's
tutorials, notes about buying studio monitors. Expanded on comments re
audio in Reason.
1.6 10 March 2003, again some links added. Corrected
details re splitters (Reason 2.5). Section Logic and Reason changed to
Sequencers and Reason, inserted some info re sequencers. Added link to
Arothman's Big Daddy Reason Timing Test results. Added some links
to tips. Added some info re default controller assignments etc. Added
section in relation for some pointers on the Board. Added section
on stuff about the board/board etiquette. Added link to James
Wheating's controller map.
1.5 30 January 2003, some links added. Added section 28 on how to
get earth shattering tracks, added Gnorpf's further explanation re
Reason Compressor.
1.4 21 December 2002, some links added (about electronic music
styles,
some tips, some general links), added section 27 about using packaged
loops,
comments on pcr controller, added change history section.
1.3 1 December 2002