Reason 5 Sampling With Kong Record 1.5

How to set up Reason 5 Record 1.5 for sampling and how to sample using the
Kong Drum Designer. Forgive for Kong being too quiet, I'm still finding the
right settings on my digital recorder.

Gear used;
Reason 5
Record 1.5
Gateway laptop
MXL V63M Condenser
Tascam DR-07
Behringer 802
Logitech keyboard/mouse
snagit 5.0

Mr Brandon Peoples
.

New-product anouncements in Roland CONNECT Sept. 1, 2010

On September 1, 2010, Roland launched a new and innovative lineup of
musical products via a unique web exhibition called Roland CONNECT.

We Love - Promo Video

With the duo We Love, Ellen Allien has sought out the golden needle in the
haystack of current club music. It's almost impossible to resist the charm of
the sweet Giorgia Angiuli, with her alluring brown eyes, and the wild locks
of the contemplative, emotional Piero Fragola. The pair's debut album could
become the chorus of the summer. Their enchanting songs fuse the ecstasy
of club land with the emotions of pop. Giorgia and Piero moved from the
south of Italy to Florence and immersed their intimate love songs in a
synthetic glamour. Simmering beneath the cool exterior of the synthesiser
and guitars is the sex appeal of seventies glam heroes. Their gigs are
legendary: in these pop performances, We Love create their own cosmos
of music, film and fashion. Donning futuristic costumes and masks, they
take us on a crusade of love -- the strongest feeling of all. "On stage we
are like two soldiers of love: two faces behind a visor, two bodies behind
a black and white suit of armour."

The debut album "We Love" will be released on BPitch Control on 13.09.2010
.

Code Controller from Livid

Preview 1:

Here is a quick preview of our code controller. It is a grid based encoder
controller, where each encoder act's a a button and knob. I am running Live
here with the first knob in each row controlling the level for that column, and
the effects for that column on the next 3 knobs. Each knobs also launches a
different clip.

Preview 2:

Here is a preview of the functionality of the Code controller. This model is a
prototype, so there is a little bleed in the lighting (not on the production
model). And yes I did say open source, this controller is open source

Livid Instruments
.

Move over DS-10...

Coming December 2010:

'KORG M01' is a palm-sized Music Workstation for Nintendo DS!
You can make a wide variety of music with 8 tracks sequencer and more than
300 sounds including the legendary Korg's M1 sounds. Anyone can generate
musical notes, chords, and drums by Touch control screen without music
knowledge.
ニンテンドーDSで実現する「手のひらの中のミュージック・ワークステーシ
ョン」。KORG DS-10開発スタッフとコルグ社が再び集結。あの銘器、
KORG M1をモデルに、誰でも・いつでも・どこでも曲作りを楽しむことがで
きるシンセサイザー＋シーケンサーがついに登場！
http://www.detune.co.jp/

Kong 808 Refill for Reason 5 / Record 1.5 Preview

First and foremost, this is an attempt to create a usable Roland TR-808
sample set for the Kong Drum Designer in Propellerhead Software
Reason 5 / Record 1.5. From there, it's become a sound design experiment
to see how the original sounds can be manipulated using the various effects
in the Kong Drum Designer device. This is a preview of some of the patch
sets for the refill.

The sampling of the TR-808 is fairly extensive with over 500 individual
samples. 250 variations of the dry tones and their corresponding accent
tones. Multiple samples of Hand Clap and Hi Hats reveal the analog nature
of the 808 as no two samples of the same tone are identical.

Some tones are processed through some hardware and DSP to create special
effect palettes, but the source of all the sounds is based on the 808 hardware.

More information will be posted shortly on my website:
http://www.peff.com/journal/

you can follow along with the progress on my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peff/65...

Twisted Tools Buffeater

Buffeater - Granular Buffer Effects for Native Instruments Reaktor 5
6 Individual FX
Multi-FX version with dynamic ordering
Internal Automation
Presets for each fx block within the multi-fx
Templates for Kore and Maschine
Coming in September

Twisted Tools
.

Automate your ReGroove

Here's an idea -- a quick tip actually -- on how you can automate
Reason and Record's ReGroove Mixer. You can't actually automate
it, but you can fake it and here's the workaround that might get
you thinking in a different direction and open you up to using the
Regroove mixer if you don't already.

Reason 101
.

Don't forget your Solos and Mutes

Just a quick tip to remember to use your solos and mutes as a
creative song-writing tool. Don't forget about them the next time
you are mixing down your tracks.

Reason 101
.

Jazzmutant Lemur Spacedrone MOD

"Video preview of new and free project to Reaktor|Lemur users,
designed to create all sorts of sci-fi sounds, atmospheres,
soundscapes, drones and multimedia sounds, using the lemur
as a controller to create, mutate and manipulate sounds.

Based on the original Reaktor Spacedrone intrument, I've
added some new features to play it with my lemur.

- All the sounds of video generated with this new version
of Spacedrone, created/performed from the lemur patch.
(Mixed at low level)

The instrument includes 80 presets created by:
- Richard Devine
- Antonio Blanca

Thanks a lot for watching."
absoundscapes.blogspot.com

Esquivel

Directed by: David Hubert - Olivier Staphylas
Produced by: Michelle Jurado
Director of Photography: Olivier Staphylas
Video/Sound Editor: David Hubert

illuzionsproduction.com
staphylas.com

Shot on location at Esquivel Shoes, California
Esquivelshoes.com
.

"game of life" midi sequencer

shaolinmonk01

Hi-Fi by Bante

Saw this great video on 24 Flinching (which I really should thank City of Bass
for turning me on to). Italian video artist Bante brings to life iconic jazz album
covers. Cool Sheeattt:


music video for the upcoming concert season @ Bellavista Social Pub.
Director: Bante
DOP: L.Semplici
Hero: Moussa Kaba
producer: frisca
dog: ultimo
Produced by Filmatindustriali

Go Underneath - State Shirt [video song] - univox el capistan

This piece started out with just an old Univox drum machine running through
a couple effects pedals (strymon el capistan and bluesky). I ended up adding
some other elements and followed jack conte's "video song" format, where:

"1. What you see is what you hear (no lip-syncing for instruments or voice).
2. If you hear it, at some point you see it (no hidden sounds)."

www.stateshirt.com
.

Hybrid Aggression Beats vs Dr Octo Rex

Here's a video I made this afternoon using Neoverse's Hybrid
Aggression Beats and Reason 5 in Record 1.5 (betas):


Beats from Neoverse. Dr Octo Rex from Reason 5. I'm using the pads
on my Akai LPD-8 to switch between the 8 different loops slots in
Dr Octo. The knobs are set-up to control the size of "Trigger Next Loop"
(Bar, Beat, 1/16), Freq, Res, Filter Type, Attack and Decay - thru "Edit
Remote Override Mapping" (right click on Mac mouse).

Gets Loops at Josh Mobley's Facebook page.

Lewis.72
.

CycleOn with Reason 5 + Record 1.5 and Dr.OctoRex

CycleOn is fully compatible with the Record + Reason 5 duo package.
This video describes a method of modifying the combinator patches to
take advantage of the new Dr.OctoRex loop player. Eight pairs of loops can
be blended and tweaked by adjusting the mod wheel.

More information available on my website:
http://www.peff.com/journal/2010/03/0...

Reason 5 + Record 1.5 duo: http://www.propellerheads.se

loops courtesy of Loopmasters: http://loopmasters.com

PEFF
.

Reason 5 Record 1.5 Tutorial: Blocks In a Nut Shell

This is the basics of Blocks that will get you moving right along.
Once you understand how blocks works, the creative flow will
stream like never before.

MrBrandonPeoples
.

Sugarland talks Moog

Kristian and Brandon Bush of Sugarland came to the Moog Factory in
Asheville, NC to talk about how Moog's analog sounds enhanced their
upcoming record, The Incredible Machine. The Incredible Machine comes
out October 19. Learn more about it at www.sugarlandmusic.com

MOOG
.

Vermona DRM1 does acid

Vermona DRM mk3, does a short acid set. All drum from the DRM1
with 2 pre recorded drum tracks, also from the DRM1. ABL2 does
the bass line and a bit of R3 somewhere... a little bit of biscuit at
the start, but it didn't really fit so I stopped using it.

I would also like to say that youtube has tainted the crispness of
the drums... :(

duncanperson
.

Reason 5 Unboxing Propellerhead

less than 5minutes after UPS showed up at my door, the Reason 5 upgrade
was unboxed. stay tuned for more videos on the most noticed new features!!!
phead

MrBrandonPeoples
.

Metrognome:Falcotronik - iSlander

falcotronik

Blocks: Splicing Effect In Reason 5 / Record 1.5

Using Blocks in Reason 5 and Record 1.5 to create a splicing effect by over-
lapping block regions.

Synth riff is from Subculture by New Order.

PEFF
.

Reason 5 Dr.OctoREX with TouchOSC and Osculator

TouchOSC for iPad layout with loop switching controls for the Dr.OctoREX
loop player in Reason 5.

Using Osculator 2.10 beta to configure feedback messages that switch off
buttons in TouchOSC. Osculator could really use a 'bang' event to make this
work perfectly.

PEFF
.

Pigtronix - Echolution - Stutter and Pitch Bend Looping - (ZVEX Loop Junky)

xtimehascomex

Behind the Scenes of Propellerheads’ Oversized Drum Machine at CDM!

There's a great article over at Create Digital Music on how Propellerheads' built the "World's Biggest Drum Machine".
Check it out!

Reason 5 License Number & Unboxing

sendmeajob

Axon Programming Tutorial Part Two Of Six

This video is a three minute overview of how to make connections between
neurons, and how to get complex rhythms.
Audio Damage

Sergels Torg

As kestersimm pointed out on the PUF, the fantastic picture on the front of the Props page is of Sergels Torg. As wiki states: Sergels torg (in English: Sergel's Square) is the most central public square in Stockholm, Sweden, named after 18th century sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, whose workshop was once located north of the square.

Swedish pop star Robyn performed live at Sergels Torg on the show "Dom kallar oss artister":


Video courtesy of OskarSigvardsson

New Shirts in the Prop Shop!

Propellerhead

The Thing About Reason

What exactly is the thing about Reason? That thing that makes musicians and
producers world wide choose Reason as their go-to tool for making music.
The thing that helps people create more music than they ever did? We asked
some of our favorite artists and here is what they said.
Propellerhead

Reason 5 Signature Patches

We have expanded the Factory Sound Bank in Reason 5 to include Signature
Patches, Rex Loops, and samples from some industry heavy hitters and straight
up legends. You've now got a window into the experimental mind of Black
Eyed Peas' Printz Board, the one-of-a-kind production tricks of Public Enemy's
Hank Shocklee, and modern dance-floor primed kits from Adam Beyer/Carl
Lekebusch and Sharooz Raoofi.
Propellerhead

Today is the Day!

Reason 5 and Record 1.5 will be released on Wednesday August 25, 12:00 noon CET.
Don't miss it!


UPDATE:

I just received an e-mail from the Props informing me I'm eligible for the free grace period upgrade to Reason 5 / Record 1.5 (I ordered Record for Reason Owners yesterday directly thru Propellerheads.) The e-mail links to the propellerheads.se shop where "Reason 5 Free Upgrade" is one of the products available for purchase under Reason software. From there I chose the shipping method, which for a cheapskate like me was the free slow boat to USA. If your eligible for the free upgrade and didn't order thru the Props shop there's info on Propellerheads.se about where you'll be getting your upgrade from... in the USA it's Line 6.
.

EditEd4TV Online Seminars Details

EditEd4TV's Reason 5.0 and Record 1.5 Online Seminars
September & October, 2010

It's time to ramp up the online seminars again! Now that our two favorite applications are officially released, I'm hosting 5 seminars on each new device: one Saturday will be spent taking a deep look at Neptune, another weekend will be spent with Dr. OctoRex, another two weekends will be spent with Kong (that beast requires more time than the other new features), and another on Blocks and Sampling (both are basic enough to most likely fit into one seminar).

Here's what we'll be covering:

1) Neptune
2) Dr. Octorex
3) Kong part 1
4) Kong part 2
5) Blocks and Sampling

Those of you that have attended the seminars before know what it's like... it's not a washed out thin pass through the basics... we go deep, we cover pretty much everything, and you can throw your questions out at anytime via the chat window and I'll do my best to answer everything I can. You also know that I often hand out special patches at the end of each seminar, so you'll have something to play with later.

The seminars will be recorded, and you'll be given a private URL where you can watch and/or download the recorded seminar (please note that these recordings will be available only to those that attend, so don't worry, your investment in this won't be washed away by online versions being handed out for free.)

As an added bonus, if you pay for all 5 seminars in advance, you'll get a $15.00 discount (it's almost the price of a full seminar!) PLUS a special EditEd4TV shirt - ooh, ahh!

Each course is $20, sign up for all five for $85 and score an ace EditEd4TV t-shirt.
Go to www.baumanproductions.com to sign up!

DEEPER by The Cloud

Download: thecloud.bandcamp.com/album/star-stomach

ReLaunch beta 4 coming soon!

ReLaunch is an application to make Novation LaunchPad work
nicely with Propellerheads Reason and Record.

New features:
Support for 4 different ReDrum or Kong devices
Play, Stop, Record buttons
Volume control of ReDrum / Kong Pads
Ableton style mode for up to 8 Dr.OctoRex devices
Mixed mode for 4 x Dr.OctoRex and 2 x Kong

Teaser Video:


Slides:

More information and beta 3 version available at www.deluded.co.uk

Project P036 by Peff!

Looks like Peff is working on a brand new refill featuring the legendary TR-808! From Facebook:

Project P036 has yielded almost 500 different drum samples from a straight, unprocessed 808: about 250 straight samples and their corresponding accented samples. All permutations of the open/closed/muted hi hat also sampled and mixed use of these make sequenced grooves sound really authentic to the real thing.

The World's Biggest Drum Machine

We decided to build the world's biggest drum machine.
Propellerheads

Discount Reminder.

Just a reminder... 1 week left on the Soundcells Resonant Filter discount code ("resonantfilter"). Code is good for 20% off all Soundcells products. Can't decide on a refill, check out the 10 Questions interview with Harald Karla from Soundcells for clues to some of my favorites!

The Midi-Fighter DIY Kit (Introduction

Visit this page for more info on this controller:
techtools.myshopify.com/produc...

Drum machine (pd + gem)

shaolinmonk01

paramdrum screencast

Don't know how I missed this screencast back in June '09. It features
one of my favorite Reaktor ensembles, ParamDrum by Peter Dines.
Check out the unusual sounds loaded by breatwiththedobro into
the sample map:


This is a screen capture of Peter Dines Reaktor ensemble Paramdrum.
I replaced the samples with my own kitchen/dobro sample map and
hooked it into Kore to control various parameters. Fun, weird loops
are a cinch.
brettwiththedobro

Reaktor Based Probability Engine

This is just a personal project, kind of my independent thesis statement on
controlled digital chaos. This is a patch I've been sculpting for the past few
months with Native Instruments' Reaktor. I apologize that there is alot of
"unseen" parts of this concotion, but I figure you can check out the previous
video (see below) for an idea of how this ensemble is layed out. Although,
there was just too many components here to be able to unfold and display
each device being used at any given moment, and obviously this isn't about
a pretty picture as much as it is about a roller coaster of potential with digital
audio. This was done without an external controller, aside from the QWERTY
config for the beatlookup module. There's way too many details to try and
give you a full tour of this ensemble, so just check out the mangling, and
feel free to ask whatever questions come to mind. Thanks for sitting through
the botches and buffer pops, had to use ye ol' soundblaster for the screencapture ;)
Also, the mstr clock was offset by a 1/4 note throughout the entire mix
(forgot to push stop before play ;P), so all the drops and pickups are a bit
weak, you'll notice the transients are offset in the beatlookup display when
it appears. and fyi, wear some headphones (not earbuds!!!!) if you don't have
decent reference monitors, i've recently found out that reaktor is incredible at
emulating tape saturation, as you'll find with the kick drums and the lowend
of the 303 module.
Eric Allen


ticklesitter

Scanner

A scanned synthesizer for max for live.
www.jobomusic.com

Cappuccino Synth

Get a small rare earth magnet, glue it to the top of a 33mH inductor, and your done.


http://gieskes.nl/instruments/?file=cappuccino-synth

another arpeggiator concept

arpeggiator build in Reaktor inspired by Catanya (VST PlugIn).
Who finds errors may keep them ;)
pankd

10 Questions with Robert Anselmi of Reason 101.net!

Robert Anselmi began Reason 101.net last fall with the intent to create a place where Reason & Record users could acquire the skills to use their favorite software creatively. And in less than a year Reason 101 has become the go to place for advanced tutorials and interesting sound design tips with Propellerheads software; Featuring Robert's own articles on topics like CV Switching and Creating Grain Samplers, as well as guest spots from the likes of EditEd Bauman. Somehow between creating his own music under the guise Phi Sequence and running Reason 101, Rob found the time to release the amazing refill Generations earlier this month. In this interview we explore Generations, Robert's own music, and of course Reason 101:

- Where are you based and what's the music scene like there?

I’m based out of Boston, and there’s an extremely healthy nightlife here. Not enough Techno, Trance, Glitch, or Experimental groups for my taste, but there’s still a few eclectic bands that call Boston home. One of my favorite would be the Dresden Dolls. Look them up if you have a chance.

- What was your first instrument?

My first instrument was a geetar. First Acoustic, then electric, then I dropped it for about 20 years, and got back into playing a little bass. Then Keyboards, and finally back to Guitar again. It’s a vicious cycle. Every time I get bored with an instrument, I need to stop, leave it alone for a while, and come back to it years later. That’s probably why I’m so attracted to Computer-based music. This way, I can create any instrument I like (even those that don’t really exist in the real world) and not only can I shape their sound, but I can also play and compose with them. Now if they only made a stable, affordable, intuitive midi guitar, I’d be a happy camper.

- When did you first start using Reason?

I started using Reason around 2005, so probably not as long as most folks. I was never there for 1.0, though I did use Rebirth as far back as 1998 or 1999 or thereabouts. I remember thinking that this had some really great potential. Then fast-forward to 2005 when I finally got my hands on Reason 2.5. I remember buying it (legitimately I might add) from someone over ebay. I’m the type of person who does all his homework before every single purchase. It’s a curse or a blessing. Not sure which. But I knew from what I had read that this would be the right software for me. And I wasn’t disappointed. It probably took me a good year or two to learn, and with the advents of Reason 3 and 4, which in my mind were major releases, I finally got to the point where I could say I’m fairly comfortable with the software. However, it should be noted that I was able to pump out a track in under a month from initial purchase. Though those tapes will never surface and will gleefully go to my grave; down with the ship so-to-speak.


- What's your day job and how does music fit into your day?

I work as a Technical Writer for a manufacturing company in South Boston. Music doesn’t necessarily fit into my day job, however, my day job fits into my music by way of my www.reason101.net blog, where I try to provide some written tutorials and videos to showcase some of the creative power of Reason and Record. It seems that no matter what creative task I undertake, it always involves an element of writing.

- Now that we've got the basics out of the way... First off I'd like to thank you for the early sneak peak of Generations! I really dig this refill and have quite a few questions about it! Beginning with - When did you start working on it and what was the initial idea behind Generations?

I started working on Generations probably about 2 years ago, though the majority of the momentum and majority of patches in the refill were completed over the past 3 or 4 months. Generations incorporates some of the best patches I’ve come up with since I started seriously constructing sounds in Reason.

The initial idea behind Generations was two-fold:

1. to provide something completely unique and creative for Reason; a set of modular audio processors and synths that had never been thought up or developed (at least not that I had seen before).

2. To provide a wide selection of sounds and effects that could be easily integrated into any musical project.


- My favorite part of Generations are the Systems. Systems are multiple combinators set-up in .rns files with corresponding combi-backdrops that show signal flow of the devices. The Evolving Mood Generator, Deep ReGlitch System, Audio Drum Processing... You've turned Reason's rack into a modular beast with these templates! Why did you decide to use multiple combinators set-up in .rns files for these and how did the idea come about for them?

My thinking was that everyone is always focused on creating one-off Combinators to perform specific tasks. Why not integrate these Combinators to construct modular systems out of them. In essence, why not create your own Modular Synth or effects processors out of a string of multiple Combinators?

The other impetus for putting the systems together was the fact that each Combinator is limited to 4 knobs, 4 buttons, and the two performance controllers (pitch and mod wheels). I kept bumping into the hurdle of needing more knobs and buttons to complete some of my Combi designs. So I started by adding another Combinator to be able to tie more parameters to the setup via more Rotaries and buttons. Things just kind of grew from there.

If you read through the Propellerhead User manual, this kind of “external routing” is frowned upon, mostly because you can’t save a Combinator patch which is externally routed (you’ll lose any external connections. But I think this was a mistake and missed opportunity on the part of the Props. Instead, I think folks should be encouraged to build and construct their own systems for their own projects, such that the Combinators interact with each other to produce sounds and FX that could not be achieved otherwise.

That is precisely what I was trying to develop and present with this refill. But while these systems are at the forefront of the refill, it’s important to note that this is only one facet of “Generations.” There are also many different patches, drum kits, synths, arps. etc. which CAN be used separately.

- I'd be re-miss if I didn't bring up the fantastic drum sounds and combinators in Generations. Many of these combinators have great patterns set-up ready for the tweaking. Having recently picked up an Akai LPD-8 pad controller myself, I've had an absolute blast playing with the kits in real time. My favorites are Glitch Box 3, Minimal Super Kit and Electro Drums. What initially struck me with your drum sounds is many of them are melodic sounding, fit so well together and they aren't your typical "drum sounds". How do you generally go about designing drum sounds? Do you have a set idea from the get go of the kit or is it more trial and error and experimentation?

Well let me say thanks for the kind words. I’m really glad you’re enjoying the kits. I had initially wanted to put more kits together, but after developing 3 massive drum combinators with 61 drum sounds each, I had to put it down for a bit. But the next version of the refill will definitely have more kits from which to select.

How do I go about designing the kits. That’s a tough one. I think there are two distinct and different ways I go about designing any sound, not just the drums. One method involves trying to imitate a sound. If that’s the case, I’ll load up that sound or sample in Reason and have it looping in the background on one track, while I attempt to get as close as possible to that sound on another track. This can sometimes involve a single synth, and at others it can involve a whole stack of devices. But the end result is to come as close as possible to that sound. Most of the simple 10-drum kits were developed this way. Trying to mimic drum sounds I have heard.

The second approach is the one I used with the Massive Combinator Super kits. With these kits I didn’t want them to sound like anything I had heard before. So I was not limited by forcing them into drum sounds at all. I just let my imagination run wild, and tried developing distinctive sounds that seemed to work together with each other and work well when used as a “one-shot” drum hit. I should say there was one limitation I imposed on myself and that was to try making them as light as possible so as not to strain the CPU. This is why most of the sounds only use a single Oscillator or single Oscillator and filter pair. There are a few that use more than one Oscillator, but not many. It’s safe to say the massive Combi kits were trial and error. Those kits took more than a little while to put together. But they are also the kits I’m most proud of producing.


- From a sound design perspective the other combis that really struck me in Generations were the Arps, particularly Cinematic Anticipation and FM Madness. Many of your Arp patches in Generations have multiple synths set-up with multiple RPG-8s, some at different rates on different octaves with unique insert settings. This all could have resulted in a complete mess, yet it really works here. What can you tell me about designing these patches? I noticed in many of them you used Stereo Imagers...

The Stereo Imagers are usually used to send different sound parts to different spaces in the patch. The Stereo Imagers are such a great tool to do this. You can send a sound to the back of the mix (Mono) or to the front (Widening). If you think of the performance happening on a stage, generally your drum and bass would be at the back and your synths and guitars would be at the front. This is precisely what the Stereo Imagers do. And so you can utilize them in your patches to replicate this. When working in a Combinator, it’s easy to create one synth or arp to target the back of the mix and one to target the front. That’s the Stereo Imager’s job.

Same goes with the Arps. In some cases, I like to use various Arps running in various directions and then try to hone in on which sounds or Arps go where in the mix. You could even do this with panning so that you have one Arp targeted to the left of the mix and one to the right. Or you can use a combination of Panning along with the Stereo Imagers to create a four corner mix (left back, left front, right back, and right front). I have a tutorial on my site that goes over this process of segregating elements in your mix. You can get very complex if you want to. And generally speaking I like to push the limits of Reason and see how far it can be taken. Not to say that everything is complex. It’s not. But just to see where the experimentation can lead.

- I know this is kind of like asking a parent who their favorite child is... but what combi or device are you most proud of in Generations?

Oh good grief. I really couldn’t say. I can tell you that since I’ve released the Generations refill, I’ve been shifting gears and starting to do more composition and create some new tracks for an upcoming CD I’m working on, and here are some of the patches that keep gaining my attention:

Combinators > Drum Kits > Mamba Jamba
Malstrom > Pad > Trillium
Thor > Synths > Yolongo’s Horns

As well as some of the Thor Textures and one-shots in the Thor > Drums folder. As for FX, I keep going back to the 12-way Filter FX Combinator and Verb Deli under the Combinators > FX folder.



- I love the backdrops for Generations as well as your websites design, do you hire out for your graphic design or do it yourself?

I do the majority of the graphic design myself. Though I have recently used a few stock photos to help promote and market some of my work. And Matt Pearson was the guy behind the design of my most recent “Dream Sequences” EP. We collaborated on a piece where I provided the music and he provided the visuals. He’s a great generative artist who creates these amazingly hypnotic visuals. I remember seeing some of his work online and saying to myself, I must get him to do a video for my track. And surprisingly we found we had common musical and artistic interests. It was the best case of things coming together perfectly between us. I hope to work with him again.

As for the Combinator backdrops and system visuals inside the refill, those are 100% my own graphic design. I needed a proper way to convey the sounds inside the Combinators, and needed a clever way to provide the signal path for the systems. When you have a system which spans 15 Combinators, any help getting you from A to B is going to be needed. This is where I decided to weave the signal path using a set of arrows within the Combinator backdrops themselves.

- Speaking of websites... You started Reason101.net last fall and it's become one of my go to places on the internet for advanced Reason tutorials and information. You have an extensive collection of posts with templates, patches and thoughts on music and music production. First off how's the reception been to your website and where do you get the idea for your different topics?

I’m glad you find the site useful. That means a lot.

I think the reception has been overwhelmingly good. It’s odd really. I think there are a lot of folks in the Reason and Record community who are willing to share ideas and thoughts. This goes against the thinking of a lot of other folks who are very closed-off and guarded when it comes to the tricks of the trade. This has led, unfortunately, to a lot of bickering, infighting, egotistical battles, etc. A side of the industry I find very sad.

It’s because of this guarded nature that topics such as Mixing and Mastering become known as “dark arts,” as if they are some secret concoctions brewed up by witch doctors. What a stupid idea. There’s nothing dark about it. It’s the physics of frequencies. And we can teach each other through methods and tutorials. Wouldn’t it be better if we all benefit from that knowledge instead of stepping on each other to keep it secret? But I digress. . .

I think that as a result of the state of the industry being what it is, when someone comes along to challenge this notion and provide knowledge in a free and open forum, such as Hydlide, Ed Bauman, James Bernard, Peff, or myself (and many others of course), people want to eat it up. It’s like they were starved and now all of a sudden there’s a nice big piece of cheesecake on their plate. Of course they’re going to be happy to have it and enjoy it and savor it. I’m just lucky and happy that I can be one of the ones to provide some of that sweet sticky goodness. Since I’ve been lucky enough to come into contact with others who have helped me along the way, I’m glad I can give something back to the community as well.

I look at the example of Hydlide as a case in point. When I provided the refill to him, I said, “Well, here you go. Do what you want with it. And if you get a chance, put together a song and send it over and I’ll include it in a ‘Demo’ folder on the refill.” A week later, he comes back with 10 amazing tracks that can hold their own. I was thinking “holy shit! You’ve got to be kidding me. And he’s still putting together showcase videos for me, writing a blog article about the refill, and more. I couldn’t have been happier. His songs BECAME the demo section of the refill. Because they deserve to stand on their own, and in my opinion are worth the price of the refill, even if there was nothing else IN the refill. It’s a perfect example of the way we as musicians should help each other out and collaborate with one another. It still shows me what our small community is capable of becoming when we work together.


- I'm always interested in hearing about other people's studio set-up. What makes up your home studio and is there any particular piece of gear your eyeing now and hope to purchase?

That’s a hard one. I tend to keep everything as simple as possible. I know there are those out there with every refill under the sun and every known piece of kit. But honestly, I live by the 90/10 rule, which states that you can achieve 90% of something in 10% of the time and effort, while the final 10% of a project will usually take you 90% of the time and effort. My thought is to get rid of that 10% and try not to worry about it so much. That goes for my music, my setup, and pretty much anything in life. Read The Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. It’s incredibly enlightening for anyone really.

I know that there are those out there that will find this heresy, but you don’t have to have the best setup, just like you don’t have to spend days EQing that one frequency to get it just right. The majority of my work is done using headphones, and sometimes the TV is going on in the background. Shocking! I know. I’ve even been on the bus between Boston and New York using my white iPod headphones mixing away. If I can’t put together a first draft of something within a few hours, I’ll drop it, and move on. That’s not to say I haven’t spent months on a tune before. But just remember if you can’t finish something in a few days or a week, don’t let it drag down your creativity. You have an unlimited supply of creativity. Learn to make the most of that instead of your gear. Get a track 90% of the way and let it be done. Or else hire someone else to work out the other 10% detail work.

So my setup consists of Reason, Record, Recycle, Audacity, A set of really good headphones, two laptops (A Toshiba Qosmio single core, and a Sony Vaio dual core), Novation SL-25, Gretsch Guitar, Line 6 UX input, 2 monitors, and plenty of backup and USB jump drives. That’s it really. Work with what you have and don’t lament what you don’t have. As you can see by my setup, I’m still able to put together production and release-ready music and refills. Don’t focus on what can’t be done, focus on what you CAN do with what you have.

That being said, if there was one thing I would love to own which I don’t already have, it wouldn’t be any hardware or software, it would be more time and a better computer chair with better back support (the former I know I’ll never have, and the latter I’ll have before the month is out).


- In addition to running Reason 101.net, releasing the Generations ReFill, you also somehow find the time to create your own music under the Phi Sequence moniker - which I love the description of on your website- "Ambient Glitch Music for Experimental IDM Minds". In a few of the tracks it almost feels like you have multiple time signatures going on (at the same time). Is this done primarily in Reason/Record? Do you mix and master the tracks yourself?

I appreciate you taking the time out to visit that site and check out some of my tracks. I have not put as much effort into it lately as I would like. All my time has been spent on Generations recently. But now that it’s completed, I’ve gotten back into composing and recording several tracks which will be released soon.

As for time signatures and the music theory behind the tracks, I very seldom pay close attention to the theory. The time signatures in Reason are more there for markers and placeholders, which is nice. But I’ll often start off a track with a set tempo in mind, leave it at 4/4 time, and just start working out some patterns and ideas; trying to get them out as quickly as possible and not stay too long on any one particular sound or track. If you spend more than 15 minutes auditioning different sounds or playing the same track over and over, I feel you get stuck. Better to quickly get everything out and then fine tune it all later. This way it stays fun and interesting, and you often find new ideas out of mistakes along the way.

I often start off tracks by cycling through a random matrix pattern to see what sounds right for the job. I do play parts in as well, so it becomes a combination of both random chaos and controlled order. That’s something I think every track should have. And while I don’t think I go as far as Autechre or Aphex Twin for the chaos that can be found in their tracks, I do have an affinity for glitch mayhem.

Apart from recording various samples through Audacity and now Recycling, everything is done in Reason and Record. I do everything myself for Phi Sequence. From sound design to Mixing and mastering. Though I also use other sounds from other people’s refills as well, when it fits. I particularly like the Lapjockey series of “Flatpack” refills, and Exode’s massive synthesis refill, which is incredibly huge and diverse.



- Reason 5 / Record 1.5 is coming out at the end of August. Kong, Dr. OctoRex, Neptune, Blocks - what are you most excited about and why?

Honestly I’m most excited to give Kong and Neptune a whirl. The Dr.OctoRex, Blocks and Direct Sampling features are all well and good, but to me they are more ways which will streamline workflows that we already use. For example, you might use Audacity to sample something through your mic, and then edit the wav file and bring it into an NN-XT. This has been one of my own workflows since I started using Reason. Now with Direct sampling, I don’t have to go into Audacity or import into the NN-XT. I can do it straight inside the NN-XT. It doesn’t add anything new. It just streamlines something I’ve already been doing.

With Kong and Neptune, I think there are several additional possibilities inside Reason, some of which are not obvious upon first glance. If you are a sound designer, however, you can use Neptune to process your synth sounds – not just vocals. There’s one idea. And in Kong, you can create some new and interesting drums based on Modeling synthesis. To me, those are the most exciting features. The rest is nice and all, but not mandatory for my own workflow.

- Who are some of your favorite musicians and where do you find inspiration for your own sound design and musical creations?

I get inspiration from everywhere. One of the best sources of inspiration comes from the people who participate in the various internet forums and communities. Many of their questions can eventually turn into articles on my blog. For instance, recently someone was asking how to turn the Combinator buttons into radio buttons so that if you had 4 devices, and each of those devices was connected to a button (turning the device on or off), could you then switch from one device to the other using the buttons). No easy feat. But when I was able to work out how to do this, it dawned on me that this might be a good topic for a tutorial. There’s one kind of inspiration.

Musically, I love anything Ambient, Experimental, Glitchy, Dub, Reggae, old school blues, and really anything that musically inspires me. I think a big key here is that I tend to gravitate to bands that are very much against the mainstream. Mum, The Orb, Future Sounds of London, School of Seven Bells. I truly appreciate any band that can go against the current trend of popular music and find their own voice. It takes a strong will power to do that. But I also think it’s the most rewarding musically.

I also find inspiration in areas outside music. The works of artists such as Jackson Pollock, Johannes Vermeer and the Dutch painters, J.K. Potter, Darwin Wiggett, and Matt Pearson are just some of the many artists I appreciate and find inspirational. They play a huge part in the finished product of my music and my sounds.


Thanks for the great interview Rob! Pick up your own copy of Generations at www.reason101.net today for the low price of $49 USD.

Flying Lotus - Pattern + Grid World

Flying Lotus has a new 7 song ep coming out September 21st on Warp Records entitled "Pattern + Grid World".

From Warp.net:

"While Cosmogramma is a monolithic convergence of 20th and 21st century musical forms, high in concept and wide in musical collaboration, Pattern+Grid World pulls the focus back to Steven Ellison and his machines. These machines are speaking (and possibly looking as well, judging by the EP's cover) from the go, as "Clay" introduces itself in a fog of synth and vocoder and gives way to one of the many surprises here, the schizophrenic ping-ponging electro of "Kill Your Co-Workers". Drenched in alternating melodies, it's a synthetic counterpart to the grand string and harp arrangements of Cosmogramma, making acclaimed illustrator Theo Ellsworth's subtly psychedelic cover image of vision-through-noise all the more intimate.

When Flying Lotus records hit their stride, all buttons labeled "pause" and "stop" disappear, and this one is no different. "Pie Face" is led by icy keys that could almost be mistaken for classic grime, before the stoned plastic marching band steps in. "Time Vampires" amazingly lands somewhere between vintage DJ Premier and Lee Hazelwood, while the stripped back bass and drum explorations of "Jurassic Notion/M Theory" are as shamanic and ceremonial as anything you're likely to hear come out of California. If "Camera Day" brings to mind a certain crew of dungeon-dwelling ATLiens, it won't come as much of a surprise that Killer Mike found its syrupy bounce recently inspiring.

Much of the messages surrounding Cosmogramma's release as well as reportage on the world's ever-emerging beat scenes has painted a picture of Flying Lotus as a patriarchal figure blazing the trail for scores of young artists with new conceptual notions of what can be done with a drum machine and a dream. While this notion is certainly not inaccurate, it sometimes overshadows the fact that FlyLo is also an incredibly singular entity. However, as "Physics For Everyone!" stutters to a close, if you listen closely you might just make out the sound of another kid in his room somewhere in the world, anxiously tapping out his first beat."

Flying Lotus - Camera Day (taken from Pattern+Grid World) by Warp Records

Nucleus SoundLab Late Summer ReFill Sale!

Four Great ReFills - $20 Discount

To celebrate the imminent release of Propellerhead Reason 5, four of our very best Reason ReFills are available at a significant discount! Each ReFill is priced at $20 off, until September 18th, 2010.

Filter Research 2
Pantheon II
Viral Outbreak
MK Digital Keys

To purchase at these special prices and for more information please visit the product pages above.

What a great deal! I personally worked on both Pantheon II and Filter Research 2 and can't recommend them enough. Really killer sound design work from everyone involved with NSL on those two projects. And Viral Outbreak has the best sounding samples I've heard from the legendary Virus synthesizer - which is exactly why Camel Audio asked NSL to create a version for Alchemy! Definitely check out this sale from Nucleus SoundLab!

monome xor

My first muck around with xor for the monome
James Rampton

EditEd4TV Online Seminars Coming Soon!

Received an e-mail from Ed Bauman a few days ago about his upcoming online seminars for Reason 5 / Record 1.5 and he was nice enough to let me repost the information:

Just a quick and simple email to let you know that I'll be starting up the online seminars again soon (ditched the "webinar" name because I just don't like the sound of that anymore). Once our two favorite applications are officially released, I'll be hosting some seminars on each new device: one Saturday will be spent taking a deep look at Neptune, another weekend will be spent with Dr. OctoRex, another weekend will be spent with Kong (that beast will probably require 2 or 3 seminars), and another on Blocks and Sampling (both are basic enough to most likely fit into one seminar).

Not sure if it will be in this order, but here's what we'll have:

1) Neptune
2) Dr. Octorex
3) Kong part 1
4) Kong part 2
5) Blocks and Sampling

Those of you that have attended the seminars before know what it's like... it's not a washed out thin pass through the basics... we go deep, we cover pretty much everything, and you can throw your questions out at anytime via the chat window and I'll do my best to answer everything I can. You also know that I often hand out special patches at the end of each seminar, so you'll have something to play with later.

Though I've always kept the seminars free, there will be a fee for these - yes, it's true, we've come to that point. Fear not... those of you that have gone above and beyond the call of duty supporting me during all these free seminar Saturday's will get a great discount. No price point just yet, but it won't be too outrageous. The recorded versions will be available only to those that attend, so don't worry, your investment in this won't be washed away by online versions being handed out for free.

So be on the lookout for an email soon with more details. Oh yeah... as an added bonus, if you pay for all 5 seminars in advance, you'll get a discount PLUS a special EditEd4TV shirt - ooh, ahh.

Thanks for all the support guys - looking forward to a great September learning all the new tools we're getting soon!

And by the way... stop by the EditEd4TV forum more often, post questions and ideas and more... it would be great to see you there more often!

I'm really hoping to attend these seminars! We'll keep you posted on further developments....

Future Jazz Project @ Seoul Fringe Festival

Seoul Fringe Festival Opening "Future Jazz Project feat.Kang Byung Su"
14th August, Seo-Kyo Art center, Hongdae, Seoul 8:00pm

Soolee (live performance, sound design and programming), Annqoo (keyborad)
Spctrm0 (Vj, Interactive Visual Programming)
Kang Byung Su (Media Design, Programming)
Media Kontroller (Video Directing)
SOOLEE

Native Instruments REAKTOR 5 - Crazy Ensemble AHRENDEES (Free!)

wow, this is some crazy stuff... free reaktor ensemble "ahrendees" downloaded
from NI forum website... this is very very cool ambient noise generator, i'm
impressed. i'm not playing anything, i only run sequencer.

Download Link: http://co.native-instruments.com/inde...

It is a part of Ensemble package. You need to register to download.
feelda303

Novation Helipad

Launchpad programmed via midi in ableton with a little help from max4live.
zealtv

Reason 5 Showcase: Kong Drum Designer - FX Modules

www.boyinaband.com - head over to my website to see tutorials,
grab some samples and check out my other blogs and reviews!

And www.boyinaband.com/forum for the forum (Shocking, right?)

In this one I show you reason 5's fx modules

Ableton Live :: UK Funky - Drum Programming Basics :: Dubspot

In this short video Dubspot instructor Michael Hatsis aka !include takes you
through the basic setup of a UK Funky style drum beat. He shows you where
to place kicks and snares, a starting tempo to use and also some further
modifications on the beat you can make by changing which sounds play
where. For those just getting started with production and interested in the
UK Funky sound, check this out. And for more production tutorials please
subscribe to our channel. Feel free to post questions about this in the
comments and we'll do our best to answer them. The more detailed and
precise you can be in asking your question the more readily we'll be able
to help you.
DubSpot

Reason 5 Showcase: Kong Drum Designer - Sampling Modules

www.boyinaband.com - head over to my website to see tutorials,
grab some samples and check out my other blogs and reviews!
And www.boyinaband.com/forum for the forum (Shocking, right?)
In this one I show you reason 5's live sampling, NN-Nano and Nurse Rex
in Kong! And also my beat boxing skillz.

52 Reason / Record Tips - Week 27: Using External Hardware Effect Sends/Inserts

If you've got a hardware effect device that you just love... maybe it's a lo-fi
effect you can't live without... or maybe it's a Lexicon 960L... you can wire
these effects into Record's FX sends and Inserts to process audio tracks and
devices. This week I show you the literal "ins and outs" of using external FX
with Record and how to make them a permanent part of your song for
exporting and archiving.
James Bernard - Propellerheads Product Specialist

Soundcells releases Afterglow V2!

Just received an e-mail from Harald at Soundcells about the release of Afterglow V2:

"Afterglow" - the ultimate atmospheric resource ReFill for trance producers, jungle heads and ambient artists.

It's analog, it's digital, it's tender and raw, glitchy at times but above all: Extremely Atmospheric !
All sounds have been meticulously designed to be combined with each other in the exact way the user would like it to be heard. Get great malstroem, suprising subtractor and fantastic thor patches, furthermore over 260 samples from analog and digital gear and also physical modeling synths. Version 2 adds 30 mind-blowing combinator patches mainly based on the field recordings which are included in this version. Further every original combinator patch has been reworked - same sound as before, but expanded button assignment...

Designed for excellent performances!

The combinators are programmed in such a way that they behave like real instruments. Soundcells has taken special care of this aspect by assigning the knobs, wheels and buttons for total musical, atmospherical and emotional control. Not only the lead patches offer the possibility to perform with emotion but also the pads and textures will give the user the feel of being a virtuoso soloist!

Afterglow Contents:

• 254 combinator patches (30 new ones since version 2).
• 100+ NNXT patches, 65+ Malstroem patches, 50+ Thor patches and 15 Subtractor patches.
• Analog leads full of character, lots of atmo textures and pads, bleeps, glitches, strange effects and field recordings.
• Highly original and inspiring drum and percussion machines.
• Especially great for designing/composing game and film scores.

Check out the Afterglow page at Soundcells.de for more information and some stunning mp3 demos. Afterglow V.2 is on sale for 34.90 € thru September!