7Reason DEEP D Iv E
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Keyboard Magazine and Propellerhead Software Present Build the Sounds Everyone is Hearing and Talking REASON About, including: – Subsonic Bass! – The “808” Kick Drum! – Electro Leads! DEEP DIVE – “Dirty Dutch” Sirens! – Minimal Techno! 7 ... and More! By Francis Prève These are the sounds of today. The sounds you can’t listen to a pop or EDM track without hearing. Some are cutting-edge, some are retro, and all are part of the REASON essential vocabulary of any electronic music producer, DJ, or tech-savvy keyboardist. Don’t have a rack of expensive analog synths and vintage drum machines? Don’t worry! Reason 7 gives you all the synth and sound-sculpting power you need to nail DEEP DIVE these sounds with absolute authenticity and with Reason’s signature vibe of virtual 7 hardware—all on a laptop you can then take to the gig. Go to keyboardmag.com/reason7deepdive to download Reason project files, device settings, and Combinator patches that let you get inside all the sounds below. » BEGINNER SOUNDS 1. The Festival Lead 2. Subsonic Bass 3. Analog String Machine 4. Retro Synth Bass 5. Dirty Dutch Sirens » INTERMEDIATE SOUNDS 6. Progressive Rock Leads 7. Jazzy ’70s Electric Piano 8. Talking Electro Lead 9. Minimal Techno Lead 10. Classic Warm Pad » ADVANCED SOUNDS 11. Vocoded Talking Drums 12. ’80s FM Bells 13. Electro Fifth Lead 14. Alligated Pads 15. “Yang” Chords 16. Acid 303 Lead 17. Morphing Trance Arpeggiations The Festival Lead Let’s start with a sound that will be familiar to the fans of the current EDM craze that’s packing festivals with thousands of crazed dance music enthusiasts—and introducing a new generation to the sound of electronic music. Many of the biggest tracks include a massive lead that’s deceptively simple to make, but commands attention in tracks that rely on its raw, detuned characteristics. Fortunately, Reason’s Thor Polysonic Synthesizer makes this particular sound a breeze to whip up yourself, thanks to its unique MultiOsc oscillator option and fat ladder filter. Festival Lead » BEGINNER Here’s how it’s done: Step 1 Once you’ve added your Thor synth to a new channel, reset the device to its default settings, so you have a blank slate to start your new sound. Step 2 Thor’s default filter settings include values for velocity and envelope control of the cutoff frequency. The simplicity of this Festival Lead doesn’t require too much dynamic control, so set the Env and Vel knobs to zero (fully counterclockwise). Step 3 Because the sound is so straightforward, the Amp Envelope settings are equally streamlined, with attack and decay set to zero, sustain at maximum, and just a tiny bit of release time (to prevent clicking on the note offs). Seasoned programmers often call this a “gate envelope.” Step 4 Once your filter and amp envelope are configured, it’s time to explore Thor’s Multi Osc. This unique oscillator generates the sound of multiple stacked and detuned oscillators, with specialized control over the waveform choice, as well as detuning mode and depth. 45 GET REASON PROJECT FILES AND DEVICE PATCHES FOR THESE SOUNDS AT keyboardmag.com/reason7deepdive Festival Lead » BEGINNER Step 5 The key settings for the Festival Lead are a sawtooth wave and “Octave” detune mode, so make sure these are selected. Step 6 Now it’s time to start transforming the sound into that classic lead. The default amount for the detuning is almost right, but let’s raise it a bit more to get a fuller, denser effect. (If you want to really see how far the Multi Osc can go, experiment with turning the knob all the way up. This effect can be very useful when automated within a track.) Step 7 Our Festival Lead is nearing the finish line. At this point, it’s time to experi- ment with different filter cutoff amounts. Since the ladder filter is based on a lowpass model, raising the cutoff increases the high frequencies. Turn this knob fully clockwise for maximum brightness. Step 8 Finally, you may wish to widen and thicken the sound further. While this can easily be done with many of Reason’s studio effects, Thor includes an integrated chorus that also does this trick nicely. Try maxing out the Wet/Dry knob to hear the effect fully. 46 GET REASON PROJECT FILES AND DEVICE PATCHES FOR THESE SOUNDS AT keyboardmag.com/reason7deepdive Subsonic Bass Whether it’s hip-hop or house, the deepest bass sounds can be quickly whipped up using the most basic of all waveforms: the sine wave. Since version 1, Reason’s Subtractor has been a go-to synth for this type of subsonic bombast. By using a single oscillator and applying a few straightforward tweaks, you can create a subsonic hum that will rattle your neighbors’ windows for blocks. Important Note: This type of bass sound can easily blow your speakers if the volume is set too high—no joke. Be sure to do your sound design on bass patches at moderate volumes so you don’t damage your monitors or your ears. Subsonic Bass » BEGINNER Here’s how it’s done: Step 1 Add a Subtractor synth to your desired channel, then reset the device’s parameters to its initialized state. Step 2 Subtractor’s default settings includes a bit of velocity modulation for the filter envelope. Since this patch doesn’t require that, turn this modulation off by setting the knob to the center position (12 o’clock). Step 3 As with the Festival Lead in the previous tutorial, this type of bass sound relies on a gate envelope, so set attack and decay to zero, sustain at maximum and a tiny bit of release. Step 4 Step 5 The primary characteristic of a sine wave Subtractor’s default waveform for oscilla- is that it contains no harmonics, only a tor 1 is a sawtooth. Switch that to our sine single frequency. Because of this, filtering wave. interferes with its behavior, so max out the cutoff frequency of Subtractors Filter 1 so it doesn’t get in the way. 45 GET REASON PROJECT FILES AND DEVICE PATCHES FOR THESE SOUNDS AT keyboardmag.com/reason7deepdive Subsonic Bass » BEGINNER Step 6 Now lower the octave parameter from 4 to 3 to move the pitch into the lower bass regions. That’s it! If you’ve set everything up correctly, you should be hearing rafter-shaking bass coming from your monitors. EXTRA CREDIT: The Roland TR-808 Kick It’s worth mentioning that sine wave bass sounds include many of the core features of the legendary Roland TR-808 kick drum sound, so here are a few modifications that will allow you to create your own TR-808 kick, which you can then customize further as you experiment with Subtractor. Step 1 Starting with your newly created sine wave bass, change the envelope set- tings from a gate envelope to something more percussive with no sustain and a longer decay and release. Step 2 To recreate the 808 attack transient—a small “tic” at the beginning of the attack—you can use Subtractor’s Mod Envelope to add an ultra-short pitch sweep at the beginning of each note. Here, we set all of the envelope param- eters to zero and the envelope amount to about 75%, then nudge the decay up a tiny bit until you hear a clicking sound at the beginning of each note. If everything is set up according to the screenshots, you should be on your way to having your very own 808 kick. POWER TIP: Since the release of the 808 kick (and all bass for that matter) can cause unpleasant low-end intermodulation when played polyphonically, you can eliminate this by setting Subtractor’s polyphony to 1, making it monophonic. 46 GET REASON PROJECT FILES AND DEVICE PATCHES FOR THESE SOUNDS AT keyboardmag.com/reason7deepdive Analog String Machine Vintage synth fans often lust after the sound of real analog strings. While many synth presets do a fine job of recreating this sound, true gear heads know that analog string machines relied on very simple home-organ technology to generate their quirky yet ethereal timbres. For this sound, we’ll go back to the essentials and recreate analog strings using the same techniques that the original instrument designers did. Analog String Machine » BEGINNER Here’s how it’s done: Step 1 Create a channel using Thor, then reset the device’s parameters to their default state. Step 2 Start by adjusting the amp envelope parameters to reflect the character of strings, with a softened attack, no decay, full sustain and a slight release. Step 3 Many string presets rely on detuned sawtooth waves to simulate the richness of the original, but that’s not how it was done back in the day. True analog string machines relied on pulse waves, so use the Analog Osc, select the pulse/square wave and thin it out by turning it up to about 80 to 90%, which will generate a very narrow pulse width—just like the real thing. Step 5 Instead of a traditional low- pass filter, we’ll use Thor’s State Variable Filter to apply high pass filtering to the string sound to achieve its trademark “thinness.” Step 4 Step 6 Staying true to the original sound, Setting up the State Variable Filter raise the oscillator by an octave to is simple. First, remove velocity and recreate high strings. envelope modulation by turning their knobs to zero. After all, classic string machines didn’t include velocity sensitive keyboards.