Getting Started
Getting Started manual by Anders Nordmark The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Propellerhead Software AB. The software described herein is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to any other media expect as specifically allowed in the License Agreement.
D Table of Contents
2 1 Table of Contents 5 Installation 6 6 7 7 8 9 10 10 Welcome! About the manuals What is in the Reason package? Requirements About the Audio Hardware About MIDI Interfaces Upgrading vs.
65 Tutorial 5 - Adding a REX loop 66 66 About this tutorial Adding a REX loop 69 Tutorial 6 - Adding an arpeggio 70 70 72 About this tutorial Adding an arpeggio Automating a parameter 73 Index TABLE OF CONTENTS 3
4 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 D Installation
Welcome! Thank you for purchasing Reason! Version 4.0 is the fourth major Reason update, featuring new devices and a completely redesigned sequencer along with many other overall improvements. A strong driving force for us at “PropellerHeadQuarters” is the communication with all the people around the world that use our applications for expressing themselves. One meeting point for all of us is the song archives and message boards on our web pages.
What is in the Reason package? When you purchase Reason, the package contains the following items: D The Reason 4 DVD. This disc contains the main Reason program installer and the Reason Factory Sound Banks, two large files containing samples, patches and loops for use with Reason. These are copied to your hard disk the first time you launch Reason (see page 11 for more information). In addition, the DVD contains documentation in Adobe Acrobat format, and an installer for Adobe Acrobat Reader.
About the Audio Hardware The audio hardware is the computer equipment that converts the digital signals from Reason to analog audio signals (for connection to an amplifier, headphones, or similar). This equipment could be a standard stereo sound card, a USB audio interface, the built-in audio hardware on a Macintosh or some more advanced audio card with several inputs and outputs, digital connectors, etc.
Windows D If possible, you should use ASIO compatible audio hardware (i.e. audio hardware for which there is an ASIO driver). ASIO drivers generally provide better performance and lower latency (see page 17). D If there is no ASIO driver available, you should make sure your audio card supports DirectX. DirectX is a Microsoft protocol for handling audio and other multimedia aspects. D As a last resort, you could use audio cards that don’t support ASIO or DirectX, provided that they are Windows compatible.
MIDI Connections D Simply connect the USB cable from your keyboard to your computer. Although many USB MIDI keyboards are “plug-and-play”, some may require a driver to be installed. Consult the documentation that came with your MIDI keyboard or visit the manufacturer’s website. Drivers are usually downloadable. Or D Connect a MIDI cable from the MIDI Out on your MIDI keyboard (or other MIDI controller) to a MIDI In on your MIDI interface.
Mac OS: On the Mac, there is only a folder called “Reason” - simply drag this to the Applications folder on your hard disk. About the Sound Banks The first time you launch Reason, you will be asked to insert the Reason 4 disc to copy the Factory Sound Bank and the Orkester Sound Bank. These each consist of one big file, containing a large number of patches, samples and loops, serving as your main supply of sounds (much like the sound ROM in a synthesizer).
12 INSTALLATION
2 D Setting Up
About this Chapter This chapter describes the settings you need to make before you can start using Reason. These are necessary in order to get any sounds from the program and to be able to play and control Reason via MIDI. First run - Reason Setup Wizard If you followed the instructions correctly in the last chapter, Reason should be running, and the first dialog in the “Reason Setup Wizard” guide should be open. This only appears the very first time the program is run.
D You will also have to specify a MIDI port to use. This can be done manually. D Note that if you have additional remote control surface devices in your setup, these will have to be added in the Preferences - see page 15. The Setup Wizard will only establish a connected Master Keyboard device. If all went well, you should now have established audio and MIDI communication - the basics needed to play back audio and to direct MIDI to Reason! Reason will launch and bring up the default song.
Setting up the Audio Hardware In case this wasn’t done in the Setup Wizard, you need to establish a connection between Reason and the audio hardware. This is done by selecting a driver - a software component that acts like a link between the program and the audio hardware. Proceed as follows: 1. In the Preferences dialog, use the pop-up menu at the top to select the Audio page. 2. Pull down the Audio Card Driver pop-up menu and select one of the options.
About Latency and other Audio Settings In the audio page, you will find a number of additional settings for audio. The most important ones are Buffer Size and the corresponding readout for Output Latency. Latency is the delay between when audio is “sent” from the program and when you actually hear it. The latency in an audio system depends on the audio hardware, its drivers and their settings. If the latency is large, you will notice that the sound is delayed when you play a device from a MIDI keyboard.
Setting up MIDI In Reason, MIDI keyboards or remote control devices are called control surfaces. MIDI input from control surfaces is handled by a system called Remote. Here are some of the main features: D You can use any number of control surfaces at the same time. D The program supports a large number of control surfaces out of the box - knobs, faders and buttons on the surfaces are automatically mapped to the most useful parameters on the Reason devices.
Adding a control surface 1. Open the Preferences dialog and select the Keyboards and Control Surfaces page. 2. If your control surface is connected via USB (or if you have made a two-way MIDI connection), try clicking the Auto-detect Surfaces button. Reason scans all MIDI ports and tries to identify the connected control surfaces. Note that not all control surfaces support auto-detection. All found surfaces are listed in the Attached Surfaces list. 3.
6. An image of the selected control surface model is shown, often along with some information text - read this carefully. For some control surfaces, you need to select a specific preset to use the surface with Reason - this is noted here. 7. Use the MIDI Input pop-up to select the input port to which you have connected the surface. If in doubt, you can click the Find button and then tweak a control or play a key on the control surface to have Reason find the correct input port for you.
If your control surface model isn’t listed If you can’t find your control surface listed on the Manufacturer or Model pop-up menus when you try to add it, this means that there’s no native support for that model. However, the program supports generic keyboards and controllers. Here’s what to do: D Select “Other” on the Manufacturer pop-up menu and then select one of the three options on the Model pop-up menu.
Other functions D To edit a surface, double click it in the list (or select it and click Edit). This lets you change its name and MIDI port settings, if needed. D To delete a surface, select it in the list and click Delete. D You can turn off a surface by deactivating its “Use with Reason” checkbox. This could be useful if the surface is connected to your system but you only want to use it with another program, etc. D There is also an “Advanced Control” page in the Preferences.
3. At the middle of this page, there is a section entitled “Default Song”. You have three choices: “Empty Rack”, Built In” and “Custom”. • • • Select which one you want to use by clicking the corresponding radio button. Empty Rack - This is an empty rack. Well, almost empty, since it contains the Reason hardware interface. Built In - When this is selected, launching Reason will open a basic demo song.
24 SETTING UP
3 D Guided Tour
About this Chapter This chapter is a quick introduction to the basics in Reason, laid out as a “guided tour”, describing the different areas and devices in the program. ! Before you proceed with the tutorials, you should have connected your equipment and made settings for audio and MIDI as described in the previous chapters. On the following pages you will find a brief introduction of the program. This helps you get familiar with the different devices and their uses.
The Back If you press [Tab] or select Toggle Rack Front/Rear on the Options menu, the rack will be “turned” to show you the back. Here, the back panel of each device in the rack is shown. As you can see, connections between devices are indicated by “virtual patch cables”.
The Sequencer The sequencer is located in the area below the rack. This is where you record and edit notes, controllers, device parameter automation and pattern changes. The left part of the sequencer area is the track list, showing the names of the sequencer tracks. To the left in the list, a small image of the device the track belongs to is shown. There can never be more than one track for a specific instance of a device, but a track can have any number of “lanes” containing note and automation data.
You can also view and edit the data events contained in the clips on a track - this is done in the Edit view. In the Edit view, data is always shown for one track at a time. For instrument tracks, clip events on one selected note lane will be shown at a time (you can have multiple note lanes on an instrument track). A note lane will also contain several edit lanes, showing the recorded data in detail. There are specific edit lanes for editing notes, velocity and performance data.
The Devices The following devices are available in Reason: Reason Hardware Interface This device handles Reason’s communication with your hardware. The hardware interface contains audio output indicators with level meters. This is where you connect different devices to different outputs on your audio hardware. Reason supports up to 64 separate audio outputs.
Mixer 14:2 This is a mixer with fourteen stereo channels, four stereo effect sends and a basic two-band EQ section. By connecting the different devices to different mixer channels (and the stereo output of the mixer to the hardware interface) you can listen to all your devices at the same time, adjust levels and pan, add effects and so on - just like on a physical mixer. Line Mixer 6:2 This is a simple mixer with 6 stereo channels and one stereo effect send/return.
Thor Polysonic Synthesizer Thor is an advanced semi-modular polyphonic synthesizer based on various selected vintage synth designs. It features several different oscillator and filter-types which can be loaded into open “slots”, allowing for an incredible tonal variety. It also has an extensive modulation section snd an advanced “analogstyle” Step Sequencer.
NN-19 Digital Sampler The NN-19 allows you to load samples (Wave, AIFF, SoundFonts or REX files) and create multi-sample patches by mapping samples across the keyboard. Once you have loaded one or several samples, you can modify the sound using synth-type parameters such as a filter, envelopes and an LFO. NN-XT Digital Sampler The NN-XT - just like the above mentioned NN-19 - lets you load samples (Wave, AIFF, SoundFonts or REX files) and map these across the keyboard to create multi-sample patches.
Dr. Rex Loop Player The Dr.Rex Loop Player plays REX files - audio files created in ReCycle, another Propellerhead Software product. ReCycle is a program designed especially for working with sampled loops. By “slicing” a loop and making separate samples of each beat, ReCycle makes it possible to change the tempo of loops without affecting the pitch and to edit the loop as if it were built up of individual sounds. After loading a REX file into the Dr.
MClass Mastering effects MClass Mastering Suite Combi. The MClass Mastering effects consists of four high quality sound processors, suitable for (but not in any way restricted to) use as mastering effects, i.e. to process the final mixed output from Reason. The MClass effects can selected as a Combi (with all four effects chained), or as individual effects. The Factory Sound Bank contains MClass Combi patches with settings optimized for various mastering and sound enhancement applications.
BV512 Vocoder The BV512 is an advanced vocoder device with a variable number of filter bands and a unique 1024point FFT vocoding mode (equivalent of 512-band vocoding) for very precise and high quality vocoded speech. By connecting the BV512 to two instrument devices, you can produce anything from vocoded speech, singing or drums to weird special effects.
DDL Digital Delay Line This is a basic digital delay, useful for echoes, slapback, doubling, etc. The delay time can be set in steps based on and synchronized to the current song tempo, or in milliseconds for free-running delays. The maximum delay time is 2.0 seconds. D-11 Foldback Distortion The D-11 is a simple but highly effective distortion device, that can convert mellow synth sounds to screaming leads and basses, add grit and dirt to drum patterns or loops, etc.
UN-16 Unison The UN-16 simulates the sound of several detuned voices playing the same notes simultaneously, producing a rich chorus-like effect with the voices spread across the stereo field if you like. COMP-01 Compressor This is a combined compressor and limiter. It will affect the dynamics of the sound, by boosting low levels and attenuating loud sounds. Use it for keeping levels even (from individual devices or the whole mix), for adding punch and power to drums, etc.
The Matrix Pattern Sequencer The Matrix is a stand-alone pattern sequencer, somewhat similar to a vintage analog sequencer. A Matrix pattern can have between 1 and 32 steps, and for each step you can specify which control voltage levels should be sent out from the three separate CV outputs on the back of the device. If you like, you could view this as having three separate pattern sequencers in one. By connecting the Matrix to e.g.
40 GUIDED TOUR
4 D Tutorial 1 - Playing a Song
About this tutorial This and the following chapters are written in tutorial form to introduce you to some of the basic operations in the program. So if you are new to Reason and wish to get started quickly this is where you should start! In this first tutorial we shall go over the following: • • How to open and play back a song Basic mixer operations. ! This tutorial assumes you have made the necessary setting up for audio. If not, please refer to the “Setting Up” chapter before starting.
9. Near the top of the rack is a mixer device - make sure this is visible. You may need to scroll the view using the vertical scrollbar to the right in the rack (or the scroll wheel on your mouse, if it is equipped with one). The scrollbar. The Mixer. If you look at the mixer, you will see that each mixer channel has a “tape strip” next to the volume fader. If a device is connected to a mixer channel, the tape strip is labeled with the device name.
13. Raise the Aux send level knobs at the top of a mixer channel. Send 1 is connected to the delay, while send 2 goes to the chorus/flanger. The Aux sends. Now, let’s try tweaking some controls on an actual instrument device, to change the sound. In this example we will use the Subtractor synthesizer device, but all devices have parameters that can be adjusted on the device panels in the same way. Unless you have a very large screen, the Subtractor device isn’t visible right now.
5 D Tutorial 2 - Playing devices and selecting sound
About this tutorial In this second tutorial we will go through the following basics: • • • • How to add a mixer device and an instrument device. How to direct MIDI to an instrument device so you can play it. How to browse for and select a patch for an instrument device. How to add an effect. ! This tutorial assumes you have made the necessary setting up for MIDI and audio. If not, please refer to the “Setting Up” chapter before starting.
J You can also customize what song should open when you select “New” from the File menu. This is described on page 22. 5. In the Tool window, make sure that the “Devices” tab is selected and that all device categories are ticked (Instruments, Effects and More). Now the Devices page is shown, displaying all available Reason devices. 6. From the device list select Mixer 14:2 and then click “Create” at the bottom of the list. A mixer device is created in the rack.
D In the sequencer, the synthesizer track is automatically selected (as you just created the device), and Master Keyboard Input will be routed to this device. When a device icon to the left in the track list is shown with a red border and a keyboard symbol underneath it this indicates that the track has master keyboard input. This means that notes you play on your master keyboard will be sent to that sequencer track and to its device in the rack.
Selecting a patch Patches are loaded from the Patch browser. To select a patch, proceed as follows: 1. Click the Browse Patch (folder) button on the Subtractor panel. This opens the Patch browser dialog. By default for a new Subtractor device, the folder “Subtractor Patches” of the Reason Factory Soundbank will be shown. This folder contains a number of sub-folders with different patch categories. 2. Open one of the folders, and select a patch, but do not close the browser window.
Adding an effect Next, let’s add an effect to the synth device. Effects can be used in two basic ways: D As insert effects. This means the effect is connected between the instrument device and the mixer. You use an insert effect when an instrument device should have its own separate effect (and, typically, when you want to hear the effect sound only, no “dry” sound). D As send effects. This way you connect an effect to the Aux send and return busses on a mixer.
Now we will apply the same effect, but this time as a send effect: 1. Delete the Unison device you just created by selecting it in the rack (click somewhere on the panel to select it) and then pressing [Backspace] The effect will be deleted and the cable routing will be restored to exactly how it was before creating the effect. You can also delete devices from the context menu which is opened by right-clicking/ [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac OS) on the effect panel. 2. Select the mixer by clicking on the panel. 3.
52 TUTORIAL 2 - PLAYING DEVICES AND SELECTING SOUND
6 D Tutorial 3 - Creating a drum pattern
Creating a drum pattern In this tutorial we will describe how to create a drum pattern using the Redrum device. If you have kept the song from the previous tutorial open, you can skip the first step. 1. Select “New” from the File menu. This will open a new song, which by default is configured with a Combinator effect patch named “Default Mastering Suite”, and a mixer device. 2. Select “Redrum Drum Computer” from the Tool window’s Device page and click “Create”.
When you have selected a patch, you will note that a sample file name is displayed at the top of each drum sound channel in the drum machine. There may also be different parameter settings for the different drum sounds - all these settings are part of a Redrum patch. Drum sound channels The selected patch 5. Try out the drum sounds by clicking the audition buttons at the top of each drum sound channel. Now, let’s start building a pattern.
8. Click on the first step button (marked 1). The button lights up, indicating a drum beat. You will now hear the sound of the selected drum on the first beat of each bar. 9. Add more drum beats by clicking other step buttons. Clicking a lit step button will remove the beat for the corresponding step. J You can add beats of different strength (velocity level) by adjusting the Dynamic switch. Exactly how each sound is affected by different velocity levels depends on the settings.
7 D Tutorial 4 - Recording a bass line
About this tutorial In this tutorial we will go through the following basic procedures: • • • How to browse for a specific type of patch. How to record notes in the sequencer. How to copy a clip in the sequencer. D This tutorial assumes that you have followed the previous tutorial(s). You should have a song open, containing a mixer device and a Redrum device with the drum pattern you programmed in the previous tutorial. If you kept the same song open for all tutorials you also have a Subtractor device.
2. Double-click the “Bass” folder to open it. This folder contains 3 further sub-categories; Acoustic Bass, Electric Bass and Synth Bass. 3. Open the “Synth Bass” folder. As you can see, the browser now not only displays Subtractor (.zyp) patches, but patches for many different devices. For example, patches with the extension “.cmb” are Combinator patches, “.xwv” are Malström patches etc. 4. Move the browser window so that you can see part of the rack. 5. Select a Subtractor patch (extension “.
Recording notes in the sequencer Now let’s try adding a bass line to the Redrum pattern by recording notes in the sequencer. 1. Select the track for the synth bass device in the sequencer track list. It will automatically get Master Keyboard Input, as indicated by the keyboard symbol below the device icon. 2. Start playback on the transport panel. The Redrum drum pattern will start playing, and will repeat for as long as you are in play mode. 3.
6. Click stop on the transport until the song position is at the start of the song (1.1.1. 0). The first time you click stop, the song position cursor simply stops at the current position. The second time the cursor moves to where it was last when starting playback (which could be at the start of the song). The third time will move the cursor to the start of the song. You can also click the “L” button beside the locator position display to move the song position cursor there. 7.
About tracks, clips, lanes and recording takes A Reason device can only have one track in the sequencer. A track can have any number of lanes. As illustrated previously, a recording produces a clip which is placed on a note lane for the corresponding track. This clip will contain the notes (and any performance data like pitch bend or mod wheel) you played when recording. To record a new take of your bass line, you have three basic alternatives: D Select “Undo Record Track” from the Edit menu.
Using Quantize You can quantize your recorded notes to “tighten up” the performance. The Quantize pop-up menu is located on the Tool window - Tools page). The Quantize pop-up menu. 1. Make sure the clip containing the bass line is selected in the main sequencer window. Simply click on the clip so that you get black arrow “handles” at each end of the clip. 2. Click on the “Tools” tab in the Tools window. This page features various edit functions that can be applied to selected clips/notes.
Copying and pasting a clip in the sequencer So now you have a four bar bass line contained in a clip in the sequencer. Although the clip loops infinitely now, having the sequencer loop over just four bars is not something you usually do, as any further tracks you might add will then loop four bars as well, which is rather restrictive. The answer is to copy and paste the clip so that it repeats for a certain pre-determined length. Proceed as follows: 1.
8 D Tutorial 5 - Adding a REX loop
About this tutorial ! The following tutorial continues from the previous tutorials. In this tutorial we shall cover the following: • • How to add a Rex loop. How to adjust parameters for the whole loop as well as for individual “slices”. Adding a REX loop About REX loops In this tutorial we will add a REX loop to the existing song. REX loops are created in ReCycle, another Propellerhead application, but there are scores of ready made loops in the Factory Soundbank for you to use.
6. When you have found a loop, click OK to close the browser. The selected loop continues to play and the display in the middle of the Dr. Rex panel shows the waveform as well as the individual slices in the loop. 7. Click the Preview button again to stop the loop preview. 8. To check out the loop together with the other device sequencer data and patterns already recorded, activate both the Preview function and the sequencer Play button.
Adjusting Dr. Rex parameters You can tweak the loop in various ways using the Dr. Rex parameters. Here follows a few examples: D While playing back the loop, try adjusting the Filter Frequency parameter. By lowering the frequency the loop is shaped through a low pass filter (by default). Raising the filter resonance (Res) slider will produce a sharper filter sound. D By using the Transpose parameter you can transpose the whole loop up or down one octave (in semitone steps).
9 D Tutorial 6 - Adding an arpeggio
About this tutorial In this last tutorial we shall cover the following basic operations: D How to create arpeggio patterns using the RPG-8. D How to automate a parameter - see page 72. The following tutorial continues from the previous tutorials. Adding an arpeggio The RPG-8 Arpeggiator is a device that generates patterns (arpeggios) from notes. It needs to be connected to an instrument device as it doesn’t generate sound on its own. You set it up as follows: 1.
5. Flip the rack back and play a few chords. The notes in the chord you play are now arpeggiated for as long as you hold down the keys. The arpeggio will change directly if you release all notes and play another note or chord. If you add notes while holding down a chord, the arpeggio will continue with the added notes. The arpeggio will play in sync with song tempo by default in new RPG-8 devices. D Try changing the arpeggiator mode using the Mode knob.
Automating a parameter Automation is a big part of Reason. Any parameter change can be recorded and edited as automation events. In the following example we shall record some automation for the Subtractor device currently used together with the RPG-8, although the basic principle is the same for all devices. 1. Make sure the Subtractor track is selected and has Master Keyboard input. 2. Locate the “Filter 1 Freq” parameter on the panel. This parameter governs the filter frequency; i.e.
Index
A L Adding devices 46 Arpeggiator 70 ASIO Driver 9, 16 Audio Card Driver 16 Audio Hardware 8 Audio Output 16 Automating parameters 72 Latency 17 Load Default Sound for New Devices 48 Loops (REX) 66 B Browsing for sounds 58 C Computer Requirements 7 Control Surface (Adding) 19 D Default Song 22 Devices About 30 Creating 46 Direct Sound Driver 9, 16 Drum patterns 54 M Master Keyboard Input In Track List 48 Mode 21 MIDI Adding a keyboard 19 Connecting 9 Keyboards and control surfaces 18 MME Driver 9, 16
S Separated Mode 21 Sequencer Overview 28 Recording 60 Song Playing back 42 Selecting a Default Song 22 Sound Bank 11 Standard Mode 21 T To Track 67 Tool window 29 W Windows Multimedia Driver 9 INDEX 75
