The ultimate in Combinator Backdrop design. This update expands on the previous “Psychedelic Leaves” backdrop design, providing 1 new Plate design and Scale option, as well as providing “+/-” indicators. All wrapped in a brand new “Monochrome Wiring” Background, with new colors. Use as is, or add in your own designs.
Download the Backdrop File (PSD – Photoshop) here: monochrome-wiring Requirements: Photoshop CS 1. and above.
Description: The ultimate in Combinator Backdrop design. This one file extends the functionality of the original Reason template and takes it to new levels of flexibility. This update provides new design options and expands on the previous “Psychedelic Leaves” backdrop design even further. See the features (outlined below the 2 sample images). Note: The images below are sized down (i.e., lower quality). I assure you they look much better when applied to your Combinator.
Semi Glow Plate design with new Arrow Scales and +/- indicatorsOuter Plate and Rivets Design with Bipolar Arrow Scales and new +/- indicators
Features:
All aspects of the design can be customized since everything is on separate layers. The following can be customized for all elements (both text and image elements):
Opacity of the Layer
Use of Layer Blend Modes on every layer
Color
Layer Styles
Hue/Saturation and other Adjustment Layers
Six types of Rotary Scales can be selected (The new Arrow Scales are shown in the first backdrop design image above). Note also that there are separate plus (+) / minus (-) indicators, which can be optionally selected if you like. They work in tandem with the Hash, Arrow and Point Scales and are shown in both of the images above. The six Scale styles are:
Hash Scales (Reason’s default)
Point Scales
Arrow Scales (*new*)
Bipolar Arrow Scales
Ramp Scales
Bipolar Ramp Scales
Plus (+) / Minus (-) indicators (*new*)
Four plate designs (The new Semi Glow Plate design is shown in the first image above):
Outer Plate with Rivets
Inner Plate with Inner drop shadow and adjustable gradient overlay
Separate Glow Plate design
Semi Glow Plate design (*new*)
This time, I removed the Device Names that were in the previous backdrop file, and instead created a “Text Layers” folder set with both the Logo Name and Device Name layers included. This way, it’s easier to just change the name to anything you like, rather than sifting through a bunch of text layers to find the name you want. The Device Name is placed in the top-right section of the Combinator, so it is visible even when the Combinator is minimized. Note that you can also adjust the color, opacity, text, layer style, etc. of each text layer separately
Top and Bottom of the Background is divided into separate layers so you can fill the top and bottom with different designs, fill colors, images, etc. The top portion has transparency locked so you won’t accidentally fill in the bottom portion. So it’s as safe as can be.
The bottom portion of the background has a simple gradient fill layer in which you can adjust how much gradient (lighting) to apply to the design (or turn it off by hiding it if you wish).
Basically, you have a wide degree of control over the look and feel of the basic design. Let me know what you think, and let me know if there is a way I can add to this or make further adjustments. Right now, I’ve made it very flexible. But I’m always looking at ways I can expand on this design and future designs.
I was playing around with a bunch of different Thor parameters and came up with a sound I really liked. So I worked on it some more and it turned into this little puppy. It’s not really a true organ, but it sounds somewhat similar. A bright twangy atonal organ.
Description: I was playing around with a bunch of different Thor parameters and came up with a sound I really liked. So I worked on it some more and it turned into this little puppy. It’s not really a true organ, but it sounds somewhat similar. A bright twangy atonal organ.
Features: The Combinator is fairly simple. It uses a Multi-Oscillator and an Analog Oscillator in Thor. Then it routes the Left part of the audio through a delay, and the Right part of the audio through a Phaser. After that, the two Mixers are used to Cross-fade the signals. You can then use Rotary 4 to decide where the signals are placed: Left or Right. Here’s the complete rundown of the Combinator controls:
Pitch Bend: The pitch bend adjusts the Pitch up or down by 7 semitones.
Mod Wheel: The mod wheel affects the Filter Frequency of the first Filter in Thor. Shifting the Mod Wheel up increases the Frequency a bit.
Rotary 1: Delay Dry/Wet – This controls the DDL1 Delay device’s dry/wet amount from fully dry (turned to the left) to fully wet (turned to the right).
Rotary 2: Shape – Controls the Bipulse Shaper drive from Thor. Increasing this rotary adds more shaper distortion to the signal. Lowering this Rotary lessens the distortion and provides a clearer sound.
Rotary 3: Envelope – Controls the envelope of the High-Pass Filter in Filter slot 1 in Thor. Use this to adjust the tone of the sound being filtered. You can get some very interesting results playing with this Rotary.
Rotary 4: Side Switcher – This crossfades the sounds. Since the Delay and Phaser are placed on opposite sides in the stereo field, this knob allows you to adjust which side you want to place them. When this Rotary is centered, both FX devices are placed center in the stereo field. In other words, there won’t be any panning when the Rotary is dead center.
Button 1: 1st Delay – This turns on the Thor Delay for some synched delay doubling. This simple switch will turn it on (when lit) and off (when unlit).
Button 2: Formant – If you want to completely change the way this patch sounds, you might want to try out this button. In essence, it adds a second Formant Filter in Thor’s second filter slot, so that both Oscillators are routed in series through both the High Pass Filter and the Formant Filter, and then out to the Amp. But this button will give your sound a whole new perspective.
Button 3: Alt Wave – This changes the Multi Osc Wave type for the first Thor Oscillator. When left off, the sound is more bright and distorted due to the saw wave. When turned on, the sound becomes much more dulled. You’ll have to play around with this button and see how it sounds along with changing the other parameters. It can add a whole new element to your sound.
Button 4: Chorus – I didn’t really know what to do with this button. But then I thought about creatinve some really wacky Chorusing, since this sound is already on the wacky side. So I adjusted the Chorus to affect the sound in a pretty severe way. Try it out. When lit, the Chorus is turned on, and when unlit, the Chorus is removed from the signal path.
Usage: You can use this any way you like. But mainly it provides a Synth Lead sound.
Other Notes: You can really change this sound around quite a bit just by playing with the Combinator Rotaries and Buttons. So you’ll have to experiment to find something that suits your taste. I’m sure there are also settings that might not necessarily sit well together because it’s sound range is pretty vast and varied. But I’ve found some pretty useful sounds out of this setup. I hope you do as well. Also note that there’s no finishing touches on it, such as compression or reverb, so this will sound pretty raw as is. You may want to add your own final touches through a second Dynamics Processor Combinator.
As always, please let me know what you think or let me know if and how you use this in your own projects. Happy Reasoning!
It’s rare that I advocate a specific refill. I can actually count on my fingers how many refills I rely on in my own work, and would rather try and figure out the answer myself or else try building my own instruments and combinators. But when it comes to inspiration and I’m looking to expand my knowledge I can’t think of anyone better than Ed Bauman. In his latest refill offering “Reasonable Help 2010” he provides you with 50 amazing combinators which push the envelope on what Reason can do. And he sets off to prove that most anything you can think of in your head can be worked out in Reason routings and device Combinations.
Without a doubt this is one of the best refills I’ve seen, and it’s not because it’s packed to the brim with a ton of new sounds or new patches. If you’re looking for new sounds, there are other refills out there that can give you off-the-shelf sounds. This refill is aimed straight at the Sound designer who wants to learn how to route devices in reason. It’s also aimed at solving common problems that people face in Reason. How to create a noise gate? How do yo scrub your audio, how do you make reason strum a guitar? All of these questions and more are answered. Other common questions from the forum are answered too. How do you put your vocals through a vocoder to get that Telephone voice? Want an instant Steam Locomotive with Whistle and train speed included. It’s all in there.
In a nutshell, if you’re willing to sit down and look through the patches to see how they are routed, and read the accompanying documentation, you’re going to learn some new tricks and better your Reason skills. If you’re just starting out, you may not entirely be ready for this one. But if you have a decent grasp of how to route your devices together and want to take yourself to the next level, these 50 patches will open your eyes to some brand new ideas. The true benefit of Reasonable Help 2010 is in the educational value. What better way to expand your Reason knowledge than having a 50-session class provided by one of Reason’s top gurus: Ed. He’ll hold your hand the entire way, and speaking from personal experience, he’s always there to help if you get stuck. I highly recommend you purchase your copy now. At $50.00 it’s an awesome deal.
Ed was gracious enough to provide a free .rns file from Reasonable Help: EditEd4TV_GateModifier.
EditEd4TV’s Gate Modifier Combinator
Ed also had some comments about this file, as well as some great insights into his work flow:
The reason I made this Gate Modifier patch was simple – the Slice Output of Dr. Rex is basically useless for triggering synth pads. I wanted something that could easily serve as an “in-between” module to transform CV data into something more useful. The concept is pretty simple: just take incoming slice data, which is basically just a small millisecond CV burst, and send that to Thor’s Step Sequencer CV Input Gate In Trigger. That small gate burst is perfectly fine for triggering the Step Sequencer. That trigger is used to trigger Thor’s Amp Envelope, which is held open depending upon the value of Combinator knob 1, which adjusts the Step Sequencer Gate Length value. The Amp Envelope attack and release values are adjustable as well. There’s also Gate Strength, which can be inverted so it sends negative CV values instead of positive values, which can be used as sort of a “ducking” feature.
So how do I go about this sort of thing? Well, most of my patches always begin with a need, a want, a solution to a problem. I always start with a Combinator with a Mixer inside. I may ditch the Mixer later if it isn’t needed, but that’s the default. At the heart of most of my problem solving solutions is Thor, since it offers so many incredible ways to take incoming audio or CV and manipulate it to death. There’s almost always a way to solve a problem with Thor.
So sometimes I’ll just decide I’m going to tackle a problem, I’ll make the Combi and put the Mixer in there, along with one Thor, and I’ll just sit there and think, maybe for a few seconds, or maybe an hour or two… just thinking. I’ll experiment along the way, maybe draw things out on paper so it makes sense visually instead of just mentally (sometimes if I’m away from home and I’m sitting somewhere on a video shoot I’ll start drawing out design concepts that just come to me, I’ll draw them out on paper, you can see 3 of them on the last few pages of the RH’10 PDF manual).
The worst is when inspiration hits when I’m driving, and all I can do is dictate the concept into my cell phone, which is somewhat difficult depending on the complexity of the design stuck in my head. So, once I’ve come up with a solution, and I design it in a Combinator, I’ll sit and stare and think for maybe an hour or so, thinking… “If I’m the end user of this, what will I hate about it, what will I want, what would I change”, and I go about solving those problems. Sometimes this can be really frustrating because I’ll come up with additions before I stumble upon some solutions, so I may end up programming knobs 3 and 4 to do something, then I discover it’s a much better solution if I have, say, the Mod Wheel do the same job as those two knobs, so I have to redesign my modulation routings and perhaps some CV cabling as well.
Eventually I land on the final design, and I’ll have some buttons or knobs left over empty, so I’ll try to come up with some fun stuff at that point. That’s when I wish the Combi Pitch and Mod Wheels had labels as well, since they’re stuck being labeled via the Combi skin… Sometimes I use those two wheels for other things and I’m too busy/lazy to design a custom skin for those different purposes. Also, I try to avoid tying up a knob with the “do not touch!” label, though sometimes it’s necessary. And that’s when I wish the Combinator was 8×8 instead of 4×4, and I wish it had, say, 8 CV inputs and 8 CV outputs on the back as well, not necessarily tied to the knobs if you don’t want them to be.
And here is an explanation of the inner workings of the rns file, direct from Ed’s PDF documentation:
EditEd4TV_GateModifier
This Combinator allows you to modify/extend Dr. Rex gates into a more useful state.
Knob 1 “Gate Length”: This knob adjusts the gate length.
Knob 2 ” Gate Strength”: This knob adjusts the gate strength.
Knob 3 ” Gate Attack”: This knob adjusts the gate attack time.
Knob 4 ” Gate Release”: This knob adjusts the gate release time.
Button 1 “2 Ordered”: This button switches the gate mode from single to two varying triggers.
Button 2 “16 Random”: This button switches the gate mode from single to 16 random triggers.
Button 3 “n/a”: This parameter is unassigned.
Button 4 “n/a”: This parameter is unassigned.
Pitch Wheel: This wheel is unassigned.
Mod Wheel: This wheel is unassigned.
Details: This Combinator is particularly useful when used with a Dr. Rex loop player. On the rear panel of Dr. Rex you’ll find a Slice Gate Output. Note that this CV signal is routed to the Spider CV Slice Splitter – this is purely for demonstration purposes. Note that the first split output is routed directly to Thor 1 Pad’s Filter 1 Frequency Modulation Input, whereas the second split output is routed through the GateModifier, then into Thor 2 Pad’s Filter 1 Frequency Modulation Input. Play back the demonstration sequencer and solo Mixer channel 1. This is the drumbeat that we’re using to send gate signals to the two Thor units. Return the Mixer back to normal and now solo Mixer channel 2. This is Thor Pad 1. Notice very short and barely useful clicks in the audio signal, which is a result of the very short slice gates affecting Thor’s filter. Return the Mixer back to normal and now solo Mixer channel 3. This is Thor Pad 2. Notice the much more active and useful affects on the audio signal, which is a result of the GateModifier creating better gate signals.
Inside the GateModifier you’ll find a single Thor unit. CV control needs to come directly into this Thor, into the Step Sequencer CV Input Gate In (Trig) jack. Each incoming slice gate will trigger a step in the Step Sequencer. This first step is set for a gate of 0%, but Combinator knob 1 (Thor Rotary 1) is used to adjust this gate length up to 100%, thereby creating much more useful gate lengths. This new gate signal triggers Thor’s Amplitude Envelope, which is then routed to both CV 1 and CV 2 outputs, where CV 2 is a polar opposite of CV 1. Though not used in this demonstration, know that CV 2 output is ready for use if needed as an inverted output. Combinator knob 2 is used to trim the strength of both of these outputs. Note that Combinator knob 2 is bipolar, with no affect on strength when centered. Right of center results in positive results (with negative results from CV 2 output) and left of center results in negative results (with positive results from the CV 2 output).
Combinator button 1 is used to change the number of steps of the Step Sequencer from 1 to 2, in a back and forth pattern. Step 2 contains modified parameters that create a different result than step 1, thereby making a noticeable difference in how the gated signal controls Thor. Combinator button 2 is used to change the number of steps of the Step Sequencer from 1 to 16, in a random pattern, with all 16 steps set for variable settings that result in an unpredictable, yet still slice accurate, gate signal.
Combinator knobs 3 and 4 adjust the Amplitude Envelope attack and release times, respectively.
In our example we’ve sent the gated signal to Thor’s Filter 1 Frequency Modulation Input CV jack, but you can of course route this signal anywhere you like. You’ll find this new signal works much better than the standard slice output of Dr. Rex. This GateModifier is also useful to modify the gate signals coming out of a ReDrum, where the ReDrum channel is set for gate mode 0 (sawtooth wave). Though you can get workable results by switching the ReDrum gate mode to 1 (square wave), this potentially affects the ReDrum channels audio waveform; in the case of, say, a crash cymbal, the affect of switching the gate mode to mode 1 are more often than not unacceptable (muted crashes). The alternative is to sacrifice a ReDrum channel to use purely as a gate signal in mode 1, which may also be unacceptable. Your best option may be to use the GateModifier Combinator, allowing you to select any gate output for use.
The Dr. Rex, Spider CV, Thor units, and sequence in this file are provided simply to test the Combinator’s features.
A huge thanks to Ed for putting this package together. You truly are an inspiration to all of us Reason users. Please keep doing what you’re doing and I look forward to your future products as well. You can purchase Ed’s Reasonable Help 2010 here: http://www.baumanproductions.com/reasonablehelp.html
I decided to try out some Redrum creativity by taking a standard Redrum patch from the Factory Sound Bank and punching it up. At the same time, I tried to get creative with the Filtering and Routings. A new way to use your Redrum device.
I often get asked and see on the Props forum many complaints that the supplied drum kits are lacking in depth and sound flat. Often this takes the form of slams against the props for providing lacklustre drum kits in the Factory Soundbank. Truth is, the drum sounds can be expanded upon, and if you’re willing to take some time, they can be made to sound much deeper and more punchy. It’s all in what you do with them. The power is all there in front of you, and with the Redrum there’s a lot of flexibility.
With this in mind, I decided to try out some Redrum creativity and put together a flexible drum kit that takes a basic kit from the props and turns it into something unique . There’s two things I want to accomplish with this tutorial: First: Create a Drum Kit that is more expansive sounding, and Second: Find some creative ways in which the Redrum can be used. So let’s see how far we can take it.
Before jumping in let me first say that this template is fairly massive. It contains a lot of Thor filters, and as such it can be a little expensive on CPU. If you find it taxing your CPU, you can scale it down (see my notes in the “Where do you go from here” section below), or you can bounce it to an audio track to be put into a Dr. Rex device or as a separate audio track entirely. Second, there’s two main ways I find can bolster the sound of your drums: Compression/Mastering, and Filtering the drums, so those methods will be explored below.
Download the Project files here: creative-redrums. The project files contain two Combinators inside an rns file. The first Combinator is the Original untouched kit put through the same Matrix sequencing. The second Combinator is the Drums we’re going to create below. Mute/unmute the channels in the mixer to listen to how they sound compared to one another.
As with all great Reason patches, let’s start by creating a Combinator. Inside the Combinator, create in order, an M Class Compressor, M Class Equilizer, M Class Stereo Imager, M Class Maximizer, 14:2 Mixer, Redrum Drum Machine, Thor Synth, DDL-1, and Spider Audio Merger/Splitter. Then hold Shift down and create a Matrix Pattern Sequencer.
Flip the Rack around and let’s start working on our Routings. First, move the Cables from the Combinator’s “From Devices” ins to the Audio Inputs of the Compressor. Then connect the Audio Outputs from the Maximizer to the “From Devices” inputs on the Combinator. This sets up the main mastering for the Redrum.
The Mastering setup on the back of the rack
Next, move the DDL 1 Left and Right input cables to the Left and Right Channel 1 on the 14:2 Mixer. At the same time, disconnect the Chaining Aux cables from the 14:2 Mixer. Also, connect the Left output from Channel 1 on the Redrum to the Audio In 1 on the Thor. Then connect the Right output from Channel 1 on the Redrum to the Left input on the DDL-1.
Next, move the Left and Right Audio Inputs from Channel 2 on the Mixer to two Left Audio Inputs on the Merger side of the Spider. Then route a cable from the Left Merged Output to Audio In 2 on Thor. With this setup, you’ll have no delay on the Left audio channel for the drum, while the Right Channel goes through the delay device.
Moving to our CV routing, plumb a CV cable from the Gate CV output of the Matrix to the Gate In on Channel 1 on the Redrum. And plumb a CV cable from the CV 1 Output on the Thor to the Pitch CV In on Channel 1 of the Redrum. Also cable the Note CV output from the Matrix to the CV 1 Input on the Thor, and the Curve CV output from the Matrix to the CV 2 Input on Thor. If this is all starting to get confusing for you, check out the routings in the Combinator file download, or else check out the image below.
The routings for the Thor Filter, Delay, and Matrix Sequencer.
Next, let’s flip the rack around and start working on applying settings to the front of the devices. First, click the “Enable Pattern Section” button on the Redrum so that the pattern is disabled. Click the browse button and load a patch (drum kit) into Redrum. I used the Chemical Kit 7 from the Factory Soundbank (under Redrum Drum Kits > Chemical Kits). Now you have a basis from which to work.
In Thor, we’re going to use multiple filters which will be applied to the Bass Drum (Channel 1 on the Redrum). So the first thing to do is to ensure that the Bass Drum Left and Right channels are routed into Filter 1 and Filter 2. In the Mod Matrix, apply the following settings:
Audio In1: 100 > Filt1 In
Audio In2: 100 > Filt2 In
This setup means that the Left (dry) Channel goes through Filter 1, while the Right (delay) Channel goes through Filter 2, and then both are sent in Stereo to be output to the Submixer.
Next, since Thor is not free running, like the Subtractor, we need to use the step sequencer to keep Thor “On.” To do this, set up a one step long pattern in the sequencer. Turn Button 1 on (so it’s Red) on the top panel of Thor. Then add the following setting into the Mod Matrix:
Button1: 100 > S. Trig
To be honest, since everything will be triggered when you hit the play button, you probably don’t need to setup the above (step 8). But it will ensure that Thor remains on and is running, which will ensure you can use the filters in the Voice section of Thor (the first two filter slots), as well as the Global filter section (Third Filter slot). If I’m wrong, please feel free to correct me.
Add a Low Pass Filter into Filter slot 1, and a Formant Filter into Filter slot 2. Route both the filters parallel into the Amp section of Thor. Turn off any Oscillators and Oscillator routings, as well as the Mod Envelope and Global Envelope sections. And Then add the rest of the MBRS settings as follows:
CV In1: 100 > CV Out1 (sends the Note CV data from the Matrix to the CV Pitch in on the Redrum Channel — yes you can send the CV cable directly from the Matrix to the Pitch In on the Redrum, but If you set it up this way, you can then use the Note CV to affect other parameters in Thor, if you wish).
CV In2: -75 > Filt1 Freq (sends the Curve CV data from the Matrix to the Filter 1 Frequency).
CV In2: 75 > LFO 1 Rate (sends the Curve CV data from the Matrix to the LFO 1 Rate).
LFO1: -46 > Filt2 Y (sends the LFO 1 to the Filter 2 – Formant Filter – Y Parameter).
Here’s the image which shows the front of the Thor Device and the Filter settings:
Thor settings for the main Bass Drum Filtering
Next, on the DDL-1, select 4 Steps, and in the Matrix, create a Random pattern. Alternately, you can build your pattern as you play the sequence. The Matrix will trigger the Drum’s Channel 1 gate, and play the pattern you enter. So it can be much easier to build up a drum pattern as you play. Also, as you play, adjust the filter settings in Thor until you come up with your own unique brand of Drums. At the same time, flip the rack and adjust the Pitch In Trim knob on the Redrum Channel 1 to taste.
Now comes the tedious part. Select the Thor, DDL-1, Spider Audio Merger/Splitter, and Matrix. Then right-click and select “Duplicate Devices and Tracks.” Once duplicated, flip the rack around to the back of the devices, and set up the routings into the second Channel of the Redrum and Submix (along with the CV routings, etc.). Do this for each Channel of the Redrum.
Once everything is routed properly, you can start to work on filtering each individual drum channel. Try out different Thor filters, as well as different Matrix patterns (right-clicking and using “Alternate Pattern” works well here, along with shifting the patterns left or right). Also try alternating some of the delay routings from left and right (by reversing the audio inputs on the back of the Thor. Finally, try out different delay steps for each of the delays. There’s lots you can do to fine tune this type of setup.
Combinator Mod Matrix
Going into all the modulations in the Combinator is pretty intense, so instead I’ll let you download the project files and see what’s going on. But a few words about how the Rotaries/Buttons work:
The Pitch Bend moves all the drum pitches up or down. This can be fun to play with while performing with the drums. The downside is that when the Pitch Bend is static center, so are all the drum pitches. But you can always automate it so that it stays in a non-static, non-centered position.
The Mod Wheel is tied to a basic drum Reverb which also affects all the drums equally. If you don’t like this Reverb, you can use your own. This way you can apply a little or a lot of Reverb to the overall mix. And then of course there’s nothing saying you can’t add a Reverb or other FX as Send FX on the Submixer. This was a last-minute thought.
Rotary 1-3: Applies Compression, EQ, and Maximizer Gain to the overall mix. In this way you can master the drums to your liking.
Rotary 4: Affects the Delay Levels for all drums at once. You can go from no delay (at the far left) to a pretty heavy delay (on the far right).
Buttons 1-3: Turns on/off the delays for the Bass Drums (1), Snare Drums (2), and High Hats (3).
Button 4: Turns on/off the Ride by muting it on Channel 10 of the Submixer.
Where do you go from here?
Add different variations and drum patterns (fills and rolls) in the Matrix pattern sections. Then create sequencer tracks for all the Matrixes. In this way you can play the patterns for each of the drums in their own separate tracks on the sequencer, and they are all pattern-based. This makes creating several variations very easy not only to explore, but also to apply in your song.
If things are a little too chaotic having all 10 drums running at once, simply mute some of them in the Drum Submixer, so let’s say you have a Bass Drum, Snare, and Hi Hat instead of an all-on cacophony of drums.
At the same time, if the CPU load is a little too much, try minimizing the number of filters used, and instead run each drum channel through only one filter, instead of two. Or delete the drums you aren’t using, along with their associated Thor/Delay/Splitter/Matrix.
Once you have this template built (and you already have mine done for you), you can add different drum kits into Redrum, and adjust settings for your filters, mastering, etc. One thing that helps is to work on the drums in a build-them-up-as-you-go way. So first do the Bass Drum, then mute the bass drum and go on to the Snare, then unmute and see if they work together. Once they do, move on to the next drum.
And no more than a few days after I posted this article, Matt Piper posted a great little youtube tutorial on how to process your drums through a BV512 Vocoder. You have to check it out. It sounds awesome. Great inspiration for those that want another way to beef up your drum kits: propellerhead-record-reason-vocoding-with-drums
So let me know what you think of this setup. Do you know of some great methods for getting more out of the drum sounds provided in the Factory Soundbank? Do you have any creative drumming techniques. Please feel free to share them. I’d love to see what can be done to boost the supplied drums and learn some new creative ways to ReDrum the kits. Good luck in your Reason projects!
The ultimate in Combinator Backdrop design. This one file extends the functionality of the original Reason template and takes it to new levels of flexibility. Select from 5 Rotary scales, 3 front plate designs, and 28 Combinator names. Plus adjust every single design element independantly.
Description: The ultimate in Combinator Backdrop design. This one file extends the functionality of the original Reason template and takes it to new levels of flexibility. See the features (outlined below the images):
Psychedelic Leaves Backdrop: showing the "Inner Plate" design and 4 different Rotary Scale stylesThe "Outer Plate" style.The "Glow Plate" design with separated plates.
Features:
All aspects of the design can be customized since everything is on separate layers. The following can be customized for all elements (both text and image elements):
Opacity of the Layer
Use of Layer Blend Modes on every layer
Color
Layer Styles
Hue/Saturation and other Adjustment Layers
Five types of Rotary Scales can be selected (all scales except the default Hash Scales are shown in the above images):
Hash Scales (Reason’s default)
Point Scales
Bipolar Arrow scales
Ramp Scales
Bipolar Ramp Scales
Three plate designs (shown in the above images):
Outer Plate with Rivets
Inner Plate with Inner drop shadow and adjustable gradient overlay
Separate Glow Plate design
28 Device Names are included and placed in the top-right section of the Combinator, so they are visible even when the Combinator is minimized. Note that you can also adjust the color, opacity, text, layer style, etc. of each name separately (for example, to create separate sets of backdrops for each). The names basically follow the folder structure of the Factory Sound Bank. Select from the following Combi names:
Example Combi
Test Patch
Loop Player
String Section
Voice & Choir
Sound FX
Woodwind
Reed & Pipe
Performance
Pads & Textures
Polyphonic Synth
Synth Lead
Piano & Organ
Orchestral
Percussion
Drums & Beats
Bells & Mallets
Guitar Player
Bass Player
Vocoder
Pattern Seq.
Modulation
Mastering
Fidelity FX
Chorus / Flanger
Reverb Device
Dynamic Processor
Digital Delay
Top and Bottom of the Background is divided into separate layers so you can fill the top and bottom with different designs, fill colors, images, etc. The top portion has transparency locked so you won’t accidentally fill in the bottom portion. So it’s as safe as can be.
A logo layer where you can add your own logo into the design. I might possibly extend this to create an image area for the logo so you can use either an image or text. Right now, the logo is text-based.
The bottom portion of the background has a simple gradient fill layer in which you can adjust how much gradient (lighting) to apply to the design (or turn it off by hiding it if you wish).
Basically, you have a wide degree of control over the look and feel of the basic design. Let me know what you think, and let me know if there is a way I can add to this or make further adjustments. Right now, I’ve made it very flexible. But I’m always looking at ways I can expand on this design and future designs.
I wanted to extend the functionality of the Combinator Backdrop Template that comes with the Reason software. And so I developed these two little puppies, which allows you to fully customize the look and feel of the design. More backdrop designs will come, as time permits.
Download the “Oil Paint” Backdrop File (PSD – Photoshop) here:backdrop-oilpaint.zip Download the “Roses” Backdrop File (PSD – Photoshop) here:backdrop-roses.zip Requirements: Photoshop 6.0 and above.
Description: I wanted to extend the functionality of the Combinator Backdrop Template that comes with the Reason software. And so I developed these two little puppies, which allows you to fully customize the look and feel of the design using Photoshop 6 and above. More backdrop designs will come, as time permits. Read below the images for the full listing of features:
The Oil Paint Combinator BackdropThe Roses Combinator Backdrop: adding a little flare to your combis
Features:
Three types of Rotary Scales can be selected (more will be added in future Backdrop designs): 1. Hashmarks (Reason’s default); 2. Point (shown in the above image); 3. Bipolar Arrow scale (in case the Rotary is bipolar. Note that you can mix and match between the Rotary scales depending on your setup. For example, if Rotary 1 is bipolar, you can select the “Bipolar Arrow” for Rotary 1 and select “Point scale” for the other 3 rotaries. They are all on their own individual layers within the sets. If you want to use all one scale, elect to show the entire set at once.
Top and Bottom of the Background is divided into separate layers so you can fill the top and bottom with different designs, fill colors, images, etc. The top portion has transparency locked so you won’t accidentally fill in the bottom portion. So it’s as safe as can be.
All elements are on their own layers, so you can make adjustments to each section of the design (for example, adjusting the opacity of each element individually).
Device name is located in the top right section of the Combinator, so that when it is minimized, you can still see what device you are looking at. And more importantly, names of all the different possible devices are on separate layers, so you can select the device name you want.
Color Fill Layers and Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layers sit on top of all other layers, so they are fully customizable. Customize the colors of each text layer independently, as well as the background, scales, labels, etc. All of this is fully customizable on an element by element basis.
A logo layer where you can add your own logo into the design. I might possibly extend this to create an image area for the logo so you can use either an image or text. Right now, the logo is text-based.
The bottom portion of the background has a simple gradient fill layer in which you can adjust how much gradient (lighting) to apply to the design (or turn it off by hiding it if you wish).
Basically, you have a wide degree of control over the look and feel of the basic design. Let me know what you think, and let me know if there is a way I can add to this or make further adjustments. Right now, I’ve made it very flexible. But I’m always looking at ways I can expand on this design and future designs.
Explore how to use Thor as a CV merger / splitter and Pass-Through, allowing you to set up the Combinator Rotaries so you can adjust CV levels and automate those CV changes. All of this without even breaking a sweat.
Let’s have the capability to freely adjust and automate some CV Trim Pots.
I knew that would get your attention. What? I can’t freely adjust and automate the CV trim pots on the back of the rack. What the hell is he talking about? Has he lost his mind.
Yes. I’ve lost my mind long ago. But I’ve recently found it and I’m here to try and provide a few workarounds to do things such as creating adjustable CV levels, as well as provide the ability to adjust merged and split CV sources. All without having to resort to the CV Merger/Splitter. Sound interesting? Well then let’s dig in. . .
When it comes to Thor, you’ve got a very powerful and, in my opinion, wonderfully versatile and variable sounding synth. But Thor can do a lot more than generate great synth sounds. It can perform a set of functions that no other device in the Reason arsenal can. In a previous tutorial I walked through various ways you could use Thor as an audio filter and explored a few practical uses of routing your audio through Thor. Here I’m going to explore how to use Thor as a CV merger / splitter, and furthermore, how using Thor can allow you to automate your CV trim pots, without even breaking a sweat.
The project files used for this tutorial can be downloaded here: adjustable-cv-examples. There are 6 Combinator Examples, outlining the types of tricks we’ll be doing with CV, Thor, and the Combinator Programming below. There is also the original sound source so you can compare that to all the other sounds in the 6 Combinator Examples. The Matrix tied to all the Combinators plays a single note “Drone” sound at 1/4 resolution. In order to test the examples, mute out the other channels in the main mixer except the one you are testing.
Using Thor as a CV Merger
Create a Combinator, and inside the Combinator, create a 6:2 Line Mixer. Then holding shift down, create a Thor. Without holding shift down, create a Malstrom. Then once again, hold shift down and create a Subtractor.
On the Subtractor, set Polyphony to 0, and press the Sync button on the LFO 1. Then duplicate the Subtractor 3 more times. On each new subtractor, select a different LFO waveform. You’ll now have 4 Subtractors with 4 different Waveforms.
On the Malstrom, open the “Electric Yawn” patch under the Factory Soundbank (in the Malstrom Patches > FX folder). This is going to be our sound source.
On the Thor, Initialize the Patch, and click the Show Programmer button. Turn off the Oscillator 1, and bypass Filter 1. Also click the “1” button next to Filter 1. Finally, add a Low Pass Ladder Filter into the Filter 3 slot. We’ll use 4 LFOs to affect the Filter 3 Frequency from the Thor, which in turn affects the Filtering of the Malstrom sound.
Time to flip the rack around and do a little routing. Move the two audio plugs going into the Line Mixer, and plumb them into the Audio in 1 and 2 on the Thor inputs. Then plug the 1 Mono / Left and 2 Right outputs from the Thor into the Audio in on the Line Mixer’s first channel. Audio routing through Thor is setup.
Next, on the back of the Subtractors, route the LFO 1 Output to the CV inputs on the back of the Thor; 1 for each of the 4 CV inputs on the back of the Thor.
Merged CV Routing through Thor
Flip the rack back to the front, and let’s move to the Thor’s Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS). On the right side of the mod bus, enter the following settings: Audio In1 > 100% > Filt3 L.In and on a second line on the right enter Audio In2 > 100% > Filt3 R.In. This sets up the Audio to be filtered through Thor.
Next, on the left side of the MBRS, enter the following settings:
CV In1 > 0 > Filt3 Freq.
CV In2 > 0 > Filt3 Freq.
CV In3 > 0 > Filt3 Freq.
CV In4 > 0 > Filt3 Freq.
Thor MBRS for the CV routings (left) and audio pass-through (right).
Now let’s turn to the Combinator Programming. Let’s set up each Rotary to control the amount of CV applied to the Filter 3 Frequency. In this way, the Rotaries will work as the CV trim pots. So here’s where the magic happens. Set up the following modulation for the Thor:
Rotary 1 > Mod 1 Dest Amount: 0 / 100
Rotary 2 > Mod 2 Dest Amount: 0 / 100
Rotary 3 > Mod 3 Dest Amount: 0 / 100
Rotary 4 > Mod 4 Dest Amount: 0 / 100
Combinator Programming
This modulation setup means that you can control the Amount in the Thor Modulation Bus via the Rotary controls. It’s usually overlooked by many people. But at the bottom of the Thor’s Modulation Bus, after you scroll down through all of Thor’s parameters near the bottom lies the Modulation Destination Amount and Scaling Amount. In this way, you can control any one of the 13 modulation routings (amount and scaling).
To sum up, this Combinator we’ve created will use all 4 LFOs from the four Subtractors in unison to affect the Filter 3 Frequency of the Thor, which in turn affects the filtering of the sound source from the Malstrom. The true beauty of it all is that you can control the CV level using the Rotaries on the combinator. This works like a CV trim knob you’d find on the back of the rack.
Using Thor as a CV Pass-Through
Merging the CV signals and then controlling their level with multiple Rotaries on the Combinator are all well and good. But let’s say you don’t want to control any Thor parameters. What if you want to control an external CV source. For example, you want to control the “Shift” parameter on the Malstrom with a Subtractor LFO. This is pretty easy. Just route a CV connection from the Sub’s LFO to the Mal’s shift parameter on the back of the rack and you’re done. But you can’t control the Trim pot with this setup. So using the same kind of setup as above, here’s how you can use Thor as a Pass-Through for your CV source/destination, and at the same time tie the CV amount to a Combinator Rotary.
Create a Combinator, and inside the Combinator, create a 6:2 Line Mixer. Then holding shift down, create a Thor. Without holding shift down, create a Malstrom. Then once again, hold shift down and create a Subtractor.
On the Subtractor, set Polyphony to 0, and press the Sync button on the LFO 1. Select the Pulse Width waveform for the Subtractor.
On the Malstrom, open the “Electric Yawn” patch under the Factory Soundbank (in the Malstrom Patches > FX folder). This is going to be our sound source.
On the Thor, Initialize the Patch, and click the Show Programmer button. Turn off the Oscillator 1, and bypass Filter 1. Also click the “1” button next to Filter 1.
Time to flip the rack around for our routing. On the back of the Subtractor, route the LFO 1 Output to the CV 1 Modulation Input on the back of the Thor; Then connect the CV 1 Modulation Output from Thor to the Shift Modulation Input on the Malstrom. Also turn the Shift Trim knob all the way right, so that it is completely controlled by the CV.
Using Thor as a CV Pass-Through: Routing on the back of the rack
Flip the rack back to the front, and let’s move to the Thor’s Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS). We only need one setting entered on the left side of the MBRS:
CV In1 > 0 > CV Out1.
Now we need to add one final programming setting on our Combinator. Open the Combinator’s Programmer, and set up Rotary 1 to control the amount of CV applied to the Shift parameter on the Malstrom. In this way, as before, the Rotary operates as the CV trim pot, moving from left (no CV applied) to fully right (100% CV applied). Set up the following modulation for the Thor:
Rotary 1 > Mod 1 Dest Amount: 0 / 100
If you move the Rotary, you’ll hear the LFO operating on the Shift parameter of the Malstrom. So now using this technique you can apply CV from any source to any device that has a CV input destination on the back of the rack, and also adjust the level of that CV source.
Note: if you are trying to control the Level parameter, it’s best to control your level from the Main mixer to which the sound source is connected. This way, when the Rotary is set all the way left (zero), the mixer’s channel fader will be used for the level. When all the way right (at 127), the Level is controlled 100% by CV. If, on the other hand, you try to control the level via the Malstrom’s Level CV, when the Rotary is at zero, no sound will be heard. When the Rotary is all the way right, you will hear 100% CV. So depending on what outcome you want, you may want to set this up one way or the other. The downside to routing CV from the Combinator to the Mixer’s Level CV destination is that you are setting up external routing from the Combinator. Not a problem if you save the file as an .rns instead of saving the Combi on its own. You can see this Level Pass-Through set up in one of the Combinators in the Project Files.
Using Thor as a CV Splitter
Next, we’re going to look at how you can split CV signals with Thor. This time, we’re going to send 3 CV signals to adjust 3 different CV destinations. Then we’re going to use the Combinator Rotaries to adjust the CV source level (thereby adjusting the CV amount applied to all 3 destinations at once).
By now you should be getting used to the type of setup we’re using. This time we’ll create the Combinator, then inside create the Line Mixer, Thor, Malstrom (with Electric Yawn patch), and Subtractor (to use the LFO 1). Alternately, you can select and copy the Combinator from the previous example, since it already has this kind of setup created.
Now we’ll flip to the back of the rack and connect the LFO1 Modulation output from the Subtractor to the CV 1 input on the Thor. Now, connect the Thor CV 1 output to the Malstrom Pitch CV input. Connect the Thor CV 2 output to the Malstrom Index CV input. Connect the Thor CV 3 output to the Malstrom Shift CV input. Finally, turn these three CV trim pots on the Malstrom all the way right.
Using Thor as a CV Splitter: CV routing on the back of the rack
Flip the rack around again, and in the Thor MBRS, enter the following settings:
CV1 > 0 > CV Out1.
CV1 > 0 > CV Out2.
CV1 > 0 > CV Out3.
In the Combinator Programming, you can set it up 2 ways, depending. If you want to control all 3 parameters’ CV levels at once with a single Rotary, Select Rotary 1 as the source on 3 different programmer lines. Then create 3 different Destinations: Mod 1, Mod 2, and Mod 3 Dest Amount. Enter 0 and 100 for the Min / Max settings respectively. If, on the other hand, you want to have separate control over the 3 different parameters, You can change the Source so that Rotary 1 controls Mod 1 (Pitch), Rotary 2 controls Mod 2 (Index), and Rotary 3 controls Mod 3 (Shift). It all depends how you want things set up.
Note: I haven’t yet tried this, but I think you can invert the signal (just like the spider CV splitter has an “inverted” CV out). To do this in our setup above, you can set the min / max values from -100 to +100 respectively. This way, your Rotary knob will be at 0 when dead center. Moving the knob left will invert the CV signal, and moving the knob right will give a positive signal. Like I said, I haven’t tried it out, but I think I’m on solid ground here.
So there you have it. Thor can merge CV signals together, split CV signals to send the same signal to multiple destinations, and can be used as a pass-through for CV signals to affect other devices via CV. While you can do all of this with the Spider Merger/Splitter, the advantage Thor offers is that you can adjust the level of CV incoming from the source and applied to the destination, and automate this in the sequencer via the Rotaries on the Combinator. This is something that cannot be done using the Merger/Splitter alone. I hope this leads you into other avenues of exploration with Thor and CV modulation. If you have any other ideas that come to mind, please let me know. And if you have anything to add to this, please comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
A very flexible Combinator mashup that plays an Arped up Thor run through a Vocoder. A second Thor is used to modulate the sound. Use this Combinator as a template to drop in your own Thor patches and then take it out for a spin at your next live gig. All the Combinator parameters are assigned to toy with the Arp / Vocoder settings. After all, the more flexible the Combinator is, the more use you will get out of it.
I was looking through eXode’s fabulous collection of free patches and combinators in his massive synthesis refill (available from the Propshop’s Free Refill Download Page – A must have for anyone who is looking for a great collection of new sounds!) when I came across a few patches that were hidden away with (arp) in parentheses after the patch names. Being one who loves a good arp sound I started to delve a little deeper into how it was put together. So this became the inspiration for this project. It fuses an arp with two thors — one for the modulation and another as the carrier, and both Thors feed through a Vocoder to the final output.
Now taking things a few steps further, I decided to deviate from what eXode did and add on a few modifications. Firstly, the sounds I used were completely my own (I didn’t want to copy eXode’s brilliant work). And I then took things another step further by assigning parameters to the Combinator rotaries and buttons. This way, you can use the Combi as a performance tool as well. And you can experiment with your own Thor sounds for the carrier and change the way the vocoder operates by toying with the Thor synth parameters, creating your own endless variety of Arp Vocoder machines.
So this is a bit of a mashup, being a Combinator that plays just fine as it is, or used as a template where you can drop in your own Thor patches. Finally, it can be used in live performance, since all the Combinator parameters are assigned for this purpose. After all, the more flexible the Combinator is, the more use you will get out of it.
The project files can be downloaded here: vocoder-arp. It contains an .rns file with a single Combinator which is pre-programmed to most of the major parameters you’ll need to adjust the Filter Frequency, Arp and Vocoder parameters.
Setting up the Vocoder Arp Template.
First, create a Combinator, then inside the combinator create a 6:2 Line Mixer, Thor, RPG-8 Arpeggiator, BV512 Vocoder, and then holding Shift down (to disable auto routing), create another Thor. Flip the rack around and route the bottom-most Thor’s 1 Mono / Left Output to the Modulation input on the Vocoder. This is the basic setup for the arped-up vocoder. The first Thor in the Combi is the carrier, and an Arp is tied to this Thor. In other words, this is the main sound going into the Vocoder. The second Thor in the Combi is used to Modulate that Carrier sound through the Vocoder.
Next, holding Shift down, create two Spider CV Merger/Spliters below the Combinator’s Line Mixer. Then hold Shift down and create a Matrix at the bottom of the stack. Set the steps to 4 and the resolution to 1/4th. Switch the Matrix mode to Curve, flip the rack around to the back and switch the curve mode to Bipolar. Then flip the rack around again and set up a curve pattern so that step 1 and 3 are +64 and step 2 and 4 are -64.
The front of the Vocoder Arp with all devices
Flip the rack around and on the first Spider connect the Arp Note CV out to Split A in and the Arp Gate CV out to Split B in. Connect one of the splits from Split A to the Carrier Thor’s CV in. Then connect the inverted split from Split A to the Carrier Thor’s CV1 Modulation input. Connect one of the splits from Split B to the Carrier Thor’s Gate input, and another split from Split B to the Carrier Thor’s CV2 Modulation input.
On the second Spider connect the Curve CV output from the Matrix to Split A’s input. Then connect one of the splits from Split A to the Split B input on the same Spider. Connect another split from Split A to the Vocoder Hold input. Connect the third split from Split A to the Carrier Thor’s CV3 Modulation input. Then connect the inverted split from Split A to the Arp’s Velocity CV in. on the Spider’s Split B, connect the inverted split to the Arp’s Octave Shift CV in. That just about does it for the CV routings. Luckily you can see the Combinator for yourself when you download the project files, because that was a mouthful. But it sounds more complex than it actually is.
Moving to the Arp, and while you’re on the back of the rack, remove the CV cables from the Mod Wheel and Pitch Bend CV out. This way when you use the Pitch Bend, it will only affect the Thor Carrier’s Pitch Bend setting. Now flip the rack around again. Set up the Arp with an Octave Range of 2, and Insert set to Low. On the Vocoder, set the Attack to 8.
The back of the rack with all the routings in place
Now we move to the Combinator programming. Click the Show Programmer button and enter the following settings:
For the Thor Carrier:
Performance Controllers > uncheck the Mod Wheel
Rotary 1 > Filter 1 Freq: 0 / 127
Rotary 2 > Amp Env Attack: 0 / 25
Rotary 2 > Amp Env Decay: 50 / 27
Rotary 2 > Amp Env Release: 18 / 27
Button 1 > Filter 1 Env Amount: 28 / 100
Button 4 > Delay Sync: 0 / 1
For the Arp:
Rotary 3 > Gate Length: 10 / 115
Mod.W > Synced Rate: 5 / 15
For the Vocoder:
Rotary 4 > Shift: -20 / 20
Rotary 4 > Decay: 80 / 127
Button 2 > Band Count: 3 / 1
For the Thor Modulator:
Performance Controllers > uncheck the Pitch Bend and Mod Wheel
For the Matrix:
Button 3 > Pattern Select: -1 / 0
The Combi's mod programming for the Thor Carrier (left) and Arp (Right)The Combi's mod programming for the Vocoder (left) and Matrix (right)
Now flip the rack to the front now, and load up your favorite patch in the Thor carrier. Usually a bright lead will work best, but experiment with any sound you like. You can take a look at how I programmed the Thor in the image below. I won’t go into all the settings that were used. You can pretty much see them here. However, there are some core settings that are needed in the Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS) in order to have the Combinator function properly. On the right side of the Bus, create the following routings*:
CV In1: -32 > Del Rate
CV In2: -56 > Del ModAmt
CV In3: 50 > Amp Pan
The front of the Thor Carrier
Add a matrix below the Combinator so that it is playing the Combi. Then enter a pattern and hit play. This tests out the sounds of the Combi as you experiment with your Carrier and Modulator. For the modulator, you usually want something atonal or heavy on the noise. Unmusical is best. Droning is perfect to affect your carrier signal. This is the fun part where you toy with the Thor until you get something you like. The nice thing is that you have a wide variety of sounds to choose from using the Thor synth.
An explanation of the Combinator Programming
Pitch Bend: This affects only the Thor Carrier as you would expect a pitch bend to operate.
Mod Wheel: The Mod Wheel controls the Arp’s Synched Rate from 1/4 to 1/128th. You can use this as a performance controller to create some interesting arp variations. Let your ears be your guide on this one.
Rotary 1: This controls the full range of the Filter 1 Frequency from the Thor Carrier. Fully left and the filter is closed, fully right and the filter is fully open.
Rotary 2: This controls the Amp’s Attack, Decay, and Release from the Thor Carrier. Fully left and you’ll have very short ADR setting. Fully right and you’ll have much longer ADR settings
Rotary 3: This controls the Gate Length on the Arp. This is one of my favorite settings to play with because it can drastically alter the sounds coming from the Arp. Fully left and you have very short note lengths where the notes are staccato. Turn the knob fully right and you’ll have very long notes – to the point where the notes blend into each other much more smoothly (legato).
Rotary 4: This controls the Shift and Decay of the Vocoder at the same time, affecting the phase of the sounds you hear. This actually shifts the filters of the Vocoder’s Carrier signal down (turning the knob left) or up (turning the knob right). This can be a fun parameter to play with, and you’ll have to experiment to hear what sounds pleasant to you.
Button 1: This controls the filter envelope for the Thor Carrier’s Filter 1. Use it as a sound mode switch, and as with the Rotary 4, you’ll have to hear what sounds pleasant to your ears.
Button 2: This adjusts the band count of the Vocoder. When off, Vocoder has 32 bands. When turned on, the Vocoder has 8 bands. One note about this button: it takes a little time to catch up with itself when you alter the bands. So this may not be great for performance, and you might want to keep this button either on or off. But it’s great fun to test out your sounds through different band counts. If you don’t like these settings, you can change them in the Combinator’s Programmer to switch between any 2 bands you like.
Button 3: For lack of a better word, I named this button “Slider” — as it sounds like the notes from the Arp are being slid on the last beat of the bar. In addition, the Slider button will Pan the sound from left to right in the stereo field based on the Panning settings that were set up in the Carrier Thor’s MBRS. Remember that CV3 in we set up in the Carrier Thor? That’s affecting the Pan of the signal. In addition, the Matrix we placed at the bottom of the Combinator Device Stack is waving the sound up and down like a pulse wave. With a resolution of 1/4, the signal is synched to the 4 beats of a 4/4 tempo. But the Slider does a bit more than that. It also controls the Hold parameter of the Vocoder via CV. This means that on the fourth beat of the bar, the Vocoder is held for the duration of that last beat (one full 1/4 note). Finally, it also controls the Velocity and Octave Shift of the Arp. Yep. One of those spiders and the matrix were set up to perform a simple switch. But I thought it was a pretty cool way to affect the signal. When you turn the button on, it starts up the Matrix pattern to control everything via CV. When you turn it off, the Matrix doesn’t play any pattern at all, essentially shutting down the CV triggers.
Button 4: Finally, we have a simple switch which either keeps the Global delay of the Thor Carrier free running (when left off), or synched (turned on).
* One note about switching the Carrier Thor’s patch. If you switch the patch, you’ll have to remap the settings in the Modulation Bus section for the CV1, CV2, and CV3 sources (all the settings on the right side of the Modulation Bus section). Otherwise, the Delay and Slider functions won’t work properly. Alternatively, you don’t have to switch the patch at all. You can play with the settings in the note / global sections of the Thor until you come up with a sound you like. Point is that since this Combinator is so heavily programmed, switching patches requires a little more tweaking than normal.
Switching patches in the Modulator Thor won’t require any remapping because none of its parameters are used externally.
Any thoughts on this setup? Any ways you can see to improve it? Let me know what you think. . .
Learn how to create your own homemade grain sampler. This allows you to take a single sample, and affect the playback, sample start position, Repeat length, Grain Length, and Filter Frequency, among other things.
If you’ve ever used the Malstrom in your projects, you’ll undoubtedly see the benefit of grain synthesis. It’s like sound design under a microscope, as you can take a very short piece of sound and chop it up into little bits and start/stop the playback where you like. The fact that you can’t add your own grains into the Malstrom is somewhat disconcerting, but there’s a simple way you can create your own grain sampler, where you can add any sound and use that sound as a grain. This can be very effective in adding some new creative spark to your musical projects. And it opens you up to adding any sound you like and deconstructing it as you see fit. So let’s see how we can do this.
The files used for this project can be downloaded here: grain-samplers. It includes 4 Combinators that are set to play a clip of random notes on the sequencer. To try each one out, you’ll have to mute all the other Combinators via the Main mixer channel. I’m sure this is self-evident, but it never hurts to explain it here. As always, this is open source so feel free to use it in your own projects. Just please provide a link back here or a credit or kudos of some kind. After all, I do this for free. 🙂
Creating the Basic Grain Sampler
Start by creating a Combinator, and in the Combinator create an NN19, Subtractor, and Matrix in that order.
The NN19 is what we will use to contain the sample or “Grain Table.” This is our sound generating device. So starting there, initialize the device so we have a base from which to start. Bring the Polyphony down to “1,” and set the Spread Mode to “jump.” Finally, change the Pitch Bend Range to “0.” Don’t worry, I’ll explain why we made all these settings after we’ve set everything up.
Load up your favorite sample into the NN19. You only need one. Alternately, you can wait until the end of the setup to load your favorite sample. If you load the sample at the end of this procedure you can then test out the various samples and play around with them at will using the Combinator rotaries that are going to be setup in just a minute. But for now, just have something loaded so you hear some sounds.
Moving to the Subtractor, bring the polyphony down to “1,” and change the Pitch Bend Range to “0.” More importantly, change the Mod Envelope settings to the following: A=0, D=0, S=127, R=0.
On the Matrix, change the number of steps to “1,” and raise the gate to 127 on the first step.
Turning to the back of the rack, there’s really very little to cable. First, cable a CV connection between the “Mod Env” in the Modulation Ouptut section of the Subtractor to the Level input on the NN19. Also, raise the pot next to this input to 127. Second, cable a CV connection from the LFO1 on the Subtractor to the Gate input on the NN19. Third, cable a CV connection from the Gate CV on the Matrix to the Subtractor’s Sequencer Control Gate input.
The basic cabling for our Grain Sampler
Now comes the fun part: Programming the Combinator. Flip the rack around to the front and show the Combi’s programmer. Here are the settings that we have to make:
For the NN19 (Grain Sampler):
Rotary 1 > Sample Start: 0 / 127
Rotary 3 > Amp Env Attack: 0 / 75
Rotary 4 > Amp Env Release: 0 / 90
Button 2 > Filter Res: 0 / 90
Button 2 > Filter Freq: 127 / 90
Button 2 > Filter Mode: 3 / 1
Button 3 > Osc Kbd Track: 0 / 1
Button 4 > Stereo Spread: 0 / 127
Pitch.B > Osc Env Amount: -63 / 63
Mod.W > LFO Amount: 0 / 127
For the Subtractor (LFO):
Rotary 2 > LFO1 Rate: 40 / 127
Button 1 > LFO1 Wave: 0 / 2
The modulation for the NN19 Sampler (Left) and the Subtractor (Right)
Here is an example of the various things you can do with a basic grain sample:
[ti_audio media=”277″ repeat=”1″]
Explanation of the Functionality
Now for some explanation. The NN19 acts as the grain sampler and the heart of everything. This is why it’s so heavily programmed. The amplitude is controlled by the Subtractor because we set up the Mod Envelope’s Sustain to 127, and cabled the cv from the mod envelope to the level input. And the mod envelope of the subtractor remains “on” because we are sending a gate signal from the matrix. This is simple and effective, and makes our grain sampler very “light weight” by only containing 3 devices.
But don’t let this simple setup fool you. The way we programmed everything gives you a very wide degree of control over the sound — and that sound can be any sample you choose to load into the NN19. Let’s take a peek at what’s going on at the front of the Combinator.
Pitch Wheel: This is set to control the oscillator envelope amount from the NN19. This is probably one of the coolest and freakiest uses of the Pitch Wheel you could have, and is great for mangling sounds into weird and wonderful effects.
Mod Wheel: This is set to control the LFO amount on the NN19, for more strangeness, giving the sound a warped and warbled effect.
Rotary 1: Controls the Grain Index, much like the Malstrom’s “Index” function operates. What this is doing is controlling the start position of the sample on the NN19
Rotary 2: This controls the rate of the LFO from the Subtractor, or the speed of the grain playback. All the way left and you get a very slow speed, but turn up the knob and it can get extremely fast.
Rotary 3: Controls the Amp Envelope Attack of the NN19. All the way left gives you fast attack, and all the way right gives you a slow attack.
Rotary 4: Controls the Amp Envelope Release of the NN19. All the way left gives you a short release, and all the way right gives you a long release.
As for the buttons, they are all set up to provide some further sound morphing capabilities.
Button 1: Switches the LFO Type on the Subtractor. You can program this button to switch between any 2 of the 6 LFOs available on the Subtractor, depending which ones you like best.
Button 2: Controls the Filter mode of the NN19. When off, it uses the default LP12 settings, with a fully open frequency and no resonance. Turn it on, and it turns into a HP filter with the frequency somewhat open, and the resonance dialed up high.
Button 3: This is a very important button in my estimation. It controls the Keyboard Tracking of the Grain Sampler’s Oscillator. This is going to largely depend on how you want the notes in your sequencer to be played by the Grain Sampler. If you look at the project files included here, you’ll see I placed a bunch of random 1/32 notes in a clip on the sequencer. The notes are all different pitches between C2 and C4. If you leave the Key Track button off, the pitch of the notes do not affect the sound. The sound remains constant. If you turn the Key Track button on, then the pitch of the sequencer notes affect the Grain Sampler’s oscillator, and have an affect on the pitch heard. To me, this gives you a great deal of control over how you play your sequencer clips. All with a simple switch.
Button 4: This controls the Stereo Spread of the Sample playback. With this button turned off, there is no spread. With it turned on, full spread is applied across the entire stereo field. Also, since “jump” was selected on the NN19’s Spread mode, it will jump back in a random fashion between the left and right fields.
Exploring Alternate Grain Sampler Ideas
Now that we have the basic grain sampler idea laid out, there’s a few variation Combinators that are included in the project file which you can explore in greater detail. I’ll lay out some of the highlights here.
Mal Grain Sampler: This Combinator inserts a Malstrom and uses it’s “A Curve” in place of the Subtractor’s LFO. It’s then tied to the Rotary 3 on the Combi, so you can use any one of the 31 Curves to affect the gate of the Grain Sampler. The “B Curve” is also plotted to the Oscillator Pitch on the Grain Sampler, and is also plotted to the Rotary 3 on the Combinator. Button 1 on the Combinator turns the B Curve on or off. This means that when you press button 1, it creates all kinds of weird sound morphing (or pitch morphing) to the sample, based on the position of the Rotary 3 knob.
Thor Grain Sampler: This Combinator uses the Thor’s LFO in place of the Subtractor. This isn’t that big of a deal or much of a change. But what’s nice about the Thor is that you can map the Thor’s Sequencer Curve 1 to affect the Oscillator Pitch of the Grain Sampler. Turning on Button 1 on the Combinator starts Thor’s sequencer to Run and provides some Pitch shifting to the sample. The added benefit of using the Thor is that you’re not limited to using the Global parameters. Since the Thor Gate is always on, you should be able to utilize any of the Thor parameters to affect your sample sound. You just need to program them in the Modulation Bus Routing System (MBRS).
Triple Thor Grain Sampler: This Combinator layers 3 Grain Samplers together, all playing different samples. The curves on the 3 Thor’s are all different, and the Mode of the step sequencers in them are set to play randomly. This creates a lot of pitch variation when you press button 1 on the Combinator. Instead of Rotary 3 and 4 affecting the Attack and Decay of the Grain Samplers, I set them to control the level of Sample B and C respectively through a line mixer at the top of the Combi stack. This way, the sample you add into the “Sample A” NN19 is always playing at full level, while Sample B and C’s levels can be adjusted (I didn’t want to give up the functionality on either of the first two rotaries, so that’s why Sample A is always at full level. However, you can create a sequencer track for the Line mixer and adjust the level via automation in the sequencer if you like). Try adjusting the programmer settings on the first two rotaries if you want to have the various samplers playing at differing speeds and at different index points. This can create some pretty elaborate sound designs.
As a final tip, you can try automating the Rotaries for any of the Combinators to randomize things. I would also suggest you read a great article by Lewis72 on the art of Granular Synthesis on his blog. He also created a very nice grain sampler which you can download for free. If you find any other ideas out there on the web on the art of Grain Sampling within Reason and Record, please feel free to post them here in a comment. And if you find these useful or create something interesting with them, please let me know. I’d love to hear how you can use these in your own work. All my best!
A distorted guitar I created with the use of a Scream and a Thor Synth. There are also a few Stereo enhancements that were added. I needed this type of sound for one of the songs I was working on.
Play Example or Download the File: distorted-guitar.zip
[ti_audio media=”251″ repeat=”1″]
Description: This is a distorted guitar I created with the use of a Scream and a Thor Synth. There are also a few Stereo enhancements that were added. I needed this type of sound for one of the songs I was working on, and it fit perfectly in my mix. Maybe you can find a use for it as well.
Features: For the Thor, the Pitch Bend is set to +/- 7 semitones. Mod Wheel controls the Comb Filter (Filter 1) Frequency. The Thor Rotaries and Buttons aren’t mapped to anything, so you can play with those if you like. The nice part of this Combi is the fact that it uses a Scream to control distortion. On the Combi, you can control the following:
Rotary 1: Controls the amount of Distortion of the Scream (along with Parameter 2). The higher you go, the more distortion.
Rotary 2: Controls the Thor’s Comb Filter (Filter 1) Frequency. Lower = more cutoff, Higher = less cutoff.
Rotary 3: Controls the Thor’s Low Pass Ladder Filter (Filter 2) Frequency. Lower = more cutoff, Higher = less cutoff.
Rotary 4: Controls the Thor’s Amp attack and Release. Lower = faster attack/less release. Higher = slower attack/more release.
Button 1: Adds Tape Warmth from the first Scream (Bypasses the Scream or enables it)
Button 2: Turns on the first Stereo Enhancement (Widens up the Hi band greatly and Lo band a little bit). The button enables or bypasses this Stereo Imager.
Button 3: Turns on the second Stereo Enhancement (Widens both the Lo and Hi bands quite a bit). The button enables or bypasses this Stereo Imager.
Button 4: Turns the Guitar Modulation on or off. This is some modulation that was set up on the back of the second scream unit and since it’s controlled by a Matrix, you need to have the song in play/record mode to hear it. Otherwise, you won’t hear anything. So, for example, if you are simply playing the combi without setting the song in motion with the play button, the matrix won’t be triggered and you won’t hear the modulation. This basically adds a certain amount of randomness to the sound, which worked out well for one of my own songs. Otherwise, you can turn it off by pressing this button (keeping the button on).
Usage: Used as a Lead Guitar.
Other Notes: Use the pitch bend wheel to create some pretty realistic string bending (at least to my ears).
