NaviRetlav's Missing Pieces ReFill is an effects refill for Reason 5 / Record 1.5 and Reason 6 specializing in feedback delays. The combinator devices in the refill are split up into three different folders - Echo, Ncho and Vcho. The Echo folder features classic feedback delays. The Ncho folder contains echo patches that use the Neptune device, while the Vcho patches use the BV-512 Vocoder. A bit of warning - you'll want to mute the track when switching between patches ('m" is the shortcut for muting clips in Reason, which worked great for me when auditioning patches for this review.) Missing Pieces' combinators use feedback loops just like the equipment King Tubby hand built back in the day in Jamaica, so expect the sounds to be a little unstable (and I mean that in a good way ;-). Speaking of which, I asked Navi if these patches were inspired by old hardware after first checking out the refill:
"The initial idea for this refill came together with Reason 5 and the tape echo in Kong. There is only one problem that bothered me in Kong, It doesn't have tempo sync mode. I decided to recreate that effect with other reason devices, after a few tries I figured out how it works. Than I got an Idea how it could be improved by adding more effects inside a feedback loop and that became the basis for the refill. I've never had access to real hardware units that I could emulate, so this refill is fully unique."
Let's start with the first folder. The Echo folder has 85 different patches in 9 different categories: AmpLine, Digital, Distortion, Feedback, Modulate, Overdrive, Scream, and Tape. As you can probably guess from the categories these patches use both Reason's Scream Sound Destruction Unit and the Line 6 amplifiers. The combinator front is set up the same for all the devices in the Echo section with Rotary 1 controlling the Delay Time (tempo sync'd with Button 1), Rotary 2, labelled Feedback, controls the amount of send from the mixer going to the Echo (creating the feedback loop), with Button 2, Diffusion, switching between 0 and 100 setting for Diffusion. Button 3 switches the effect to Mono and Rotary 3 controls the Bass and Treble EQ amount. Rotary 4 controls the Dry/Wet balance of the effect and Button 4, labelled Sidechain Gate, dampens the echo effect when the dry signal is played (much like the "Ducking" control on Reason 6's Echo device.) And finally the Mod Wheel controls the Low Frequency Dampening of the echo devices from 1000 Hz to 20 Hz - which is great for quickly dialing in the sound you want. The 12 AmpLine devices use Record's Line 6 amps to create some gritty echo textures. Being a big fan of BIT crushing the 10 Digital Echo patches were some of my favorites with everything from sick crunchy BIT distortion to digital clipping!
The second folder, Ncho, contains patches featuring the Neptune Pitch Adjuster and Voice Synth. The front panel has a similar layout to the Echo folder patches except for Button 3 which enables the Neptune devices and Rotary 3 controls the amount of the signal processed by the internal FX. This folder has some killer patches in it, 65 in all, that would work great in dub and dubstep. I loaded up a Dr. Octo Rex with a few of the thumb piano and gamelan Rex Files from Slo' Motion Tokyo and was immediately transported into the land of Demdike Stare!
And while the combinators in Missing Pieces sound fantastic, what really impressed me was when I opened up the patches and looked inside... It took me a while to wrap my head around some of the routing! After which I had to ask Navi about his background in music production:
"I started playing with Reason 2.5 somewhere in 2006 year. I was impressed by the amount of sound that it could produce and the custom routing possibilities. I've always enjoyed focusing on sound creation, rather than writing songs. In fact most of the songs that I make are just side effects of experimenting with sound design."
The final folder, Vcho, features 50 Vocoder based echo patches with additional controls for the Vocoder properties mapped to Rotary 3 (Decay) and Button 3 (Shift.) These patches also use the effects devices in Kong, particularly the Rattler and Ring Mods for some very interesting results. One of my favorite patches in the third folder Vcho - 46 can turn a straight forward drum loop into something you'd think was coming out of the Radiophonic Workshop! Aside from sounds I also really dig the combinator backdrops for Missing Pieces, which I asked Navi about as well:
"I designed all the combinator backdrops for this refill, as well as the
graphics for the refill cover, pdf docummentation, icon and even the website design. Just like with sound design, I also learned graphic design on my own. But my art skills don't end at logos and web design, I'm also a fractal artist. Some of my work you can find at www.naviretlav.com"
Being a fan of all things dub I really dig this refill! And while Missing Pieces began as an attempt to expand the possibilities of Kong's Tape Echo unit, it really does much more than that - it's great for spicing up drum tracks, creating ambient textures and of course doing the rub a dub! Now I can neither confirm or deny that I've played with Reason 6's The Echo unit, but if I could I'd mention that the Missing Pieces combinators are a different beast altogether from the new delay machine coming at the end of this month in Reason 6. And really, can you ever have too many Echo devices? I should add, in addition to the combinators, Missing Pieces also comes with additional combi backdrops, 19 in total, matching Reason's clip colors so you can color code your tracks; as well as demo songs that load in Record or Reason 6, along with template songs for testing effects and recording feedback. mmmm feedback ;-). For those of you feeling confident about their remixing skills, Missing Pieces is one of the prizes in Boy in a Band's latest Skyline Remix Composition Competition, along with Reason 6! Missing Pieces is available as well for $15 USD thru www.naviretlav.com.
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