In this article, I’m going to go over some of the various aspects and things you can do with Live Sampling in Reason 5. Since all the sample players (NN19, NN-XT, Redrum, and Kong) have the new ability to directly record or “Sample” sounds, they can finally be called fully-featured samplers. So what does this mean for you?
First, it means you can resample from anywhere within Reason. Any audio going out of any device in reason can be sent to the “Sampling Input” which is integrated into the Audio I/O device (just under the Hardware Interface). This is perhaps my favorite use of the new Live Sampling capabilities, and it’s the focus of this article. Note, however, that you can sample from any outside source, such as a microphone, guitar, synth, or any other hardware that you can send into your computer. If you can send it into the computer, or create it in Reason, you can now sample it too.
Setting up your Song for On-The-Fly Live Re-Sampling
So to get the ball rolling, let’s start by taking a preliminary look at how to set things up in your Reason song so that at any point in your creative process, you can sample on-the-fly. It involves nothing more than a spider audio merger/splitter which splits the signal from your main mixer into both the “Sampling Input” and “Audio Output,” which are both found on the Audio I/O device.
And here’s the same method, but using Record 1.5. I had someone on Youtube request how this is done, so I thought I would create a video showing the method. It’s really simple. Just use a Spider to route the Master section outputs into the Live Sampling inputs as well as the audio Outputs. And then you’re all set:
Sample Editing
Now that we have a simple methodology for resampling anything in Reason, let’s take a closer look at what you can do with the Sample inside the sample editor. Note one of my favorite features here is the “Reverse” function in the Sample Editor. No longer do you have to use the RV7000 or Reverse function in the NN-XT player. You can embed this reverse functionality in the sample itself. Try this trick out: Save a drum sample. Duplicate the sample, open up the duplicate, Reverse it, and save it with a new name. Now you have a drum sample going forward, and the same drum sample in reverse. Tie each of these samples to a pad in Kong and you have them both playable at a moment’s notice. And all of this takes about a minute in Reason.
Using the “Song Samples” tab in the “Tools” Window
And finally, here is a video that goes in depth into the “Song Samples” tab of the Tools window (which is accessible by pressing F8 on your keyboard or going into Window > Show Tool Window). Note one of my favorite features: the Export button, where you can take any song sample and save it as a .wav file for use in not only Reason, but any other DAW or program that accepts .wav files (which is just about every one of them).
All of these features took less than an hour to figure out and understand. It’s a testament to the Propellerheads that it’s just plain easy for anyone to immediately jump into sampling. They took this process and made it intuitive. It’s nothing fancy or glorious or profound. It’s basic, simple, easy to understand, and gets you exactly where you need to go. Sure you can do this with a free program like Audacity, but it’s in keeping with the Prop’s philosophy of a closed system, and I’m glad that Live Sampling is now integrated into the program. Creating samples just became a little quicker.
So there are some ways you can set up Re-Sampling in Reason 5, editing your samples, and using the Tools Window “Song Samples” tab. As always, I’d love to hear your feedback and suggestions. For now, thanks for watching and keep on experimenting with Reason. We’ve all just merely scratched the surface.
hi just wondered if you knew why reason wont hear my microphone. the microphone works in any other application. whenever i click the live sample buttons reason records nothing. weird
Ace,
have a look at page 263 in the Reason 5 manual (setting up your Hardware Interface for Live Sampling). Make sure the audio inputs are correct. To do that, go into Edit > Preferences, and under the “Audio” menu, ensure the proper input channels are available and selected. Next, make sure you have the proper cable going from the input Audio to the Sampling Input (on the Hardware interface — as shown on page 263). Finally, ensure your Mic is connected, turned on, and working. If everything is setup properly and that still doesn’t work for you, I would contact the Propellerhead Customer support or ask for some help on the Propellerhead User Forum. Does that help?
Hi Phil
I tried using the audio spider hookup you described for Record to do some sampling .I double checked all my wire inputs and outputs to make sure they were right.I can sample sounds from any of the samplers but if i plug a mike in and try to sample i get nothing. If i unhook the spider and put the wires back to default i can sample fine with the mike. Does this mean i can’t do it both ways with the spider hookup or is there something im doing wrong?
Thank’s for your reply
Dave Cross
Hi Dave (it’s Rob by the way, not Phil. lol.),
I think what you’re trying to do is sample from both the mic input AND the output coming from the reason devices. To do this, I think you’d have to create an audio spider/merger under the hardware devices, then send an audio cable pair from the “From: Audio Input 1&2” on the hardware device to a Merge input on the spider. This is your mic sound. Then send the final mix from all your reason devices (which usually goes from the main mixer into the Hardware Devices “To: Audio Output”) into another merge input on the spider. This is your Reason final mix. Now send the Combined Merged audio from the spider into the “Sampling Input” and you’ll be sampling BOTH the mic and the Reason devices at the same time.
One last thing. As you probably realize, you’ll need to split the audio cables that are coming from your reason devices and have one pair going into the merged spider input (as I outlined above) and send the other split output directly to the Hardware Devices “To: Audio Output” — this is what I showed you how to set up originally in the article here. This is so that you can still hear what’s going on with your Reason devices.
I think that’s how you want it to work… and I haven’t tested it so don’t quote me on it. But I think that’s how you would set it up. Let me know how you make out.
Rob
Rob
Thanks for the reply (sorry about the Phil ,had a brain fart and blurried my vision) lol.
But i do thank you for the info…i will try this setup.
By the way, you are doing a great job and are a big help to a lot of us out here.
Thanks Dave
No problem Dave,
I think you probably got confused with my alternate glitched out super rockstar alias: “Phi Sequence” 😉 Common mistake. No harm done.
How would I go about wanting to sample sounds from my Mac (sound on my system).
I’m just soooo struggling with this.
Many help would be appreciated.
everything,
did you read the chapter on Sampling in the Manual? It should be pretty straightforward. I would also recommend posting your question in the Reason User Forum, as you’ll get many other responses. I would love to help you out more than this, but I don’t use a Mac. And I don’t want to give you any misinformation.
@Ace: same problem here… any solutions?
@Ace: same shit here.. any solution?
@tzs007, did you have a look at my response to Ace? Did it work for you? If not, I can only think that maybe the mic needs phantom power? Or, it is possible it’s not supported by the Record software (though I find that doubtful). Have you tried the Propellerhead User Forum? They might have some answers for you. Otherwise, I would contact the props directly. They are usually pretty good at getting back to you, though sometimes it takes a few days. Please let me know the progress, and share your experience or solution if you found one — since it seems others are having similar issues.