PC Publishing Fast Guide to Propellerhead Reason

• For PC and Mac
• Covers Reason version 2
• Quickstart tutorial
• 60 separate walk-throughs
• For every device in the rack
• Running Reason with other software.

The Fast Guide to Reason is the book Reason users have been waiting for to help them get the very best from Propellerhead's amazing electronic music studio software.

This in-depth guide takes you through every separate Reason device, including the analogue-style SubTractor synth, the amazing new Malstrom Graintable synth, the two easy-to-use samplers, the funky Dr:rex loop player, the vintage-style ReDrum drum computer, and the quick and simple sequencer.

Every control and function is explained in the kind of language you can understand, with invaluable insights as to practical and off-the-wall uses of device facilities along the way. Frequent walk-throughs of both standard and more exotic techniques are introduced at the points where you will find them most useful, and step-by-step programming tutorials help you increase your hands-on skills with Reason, as well as creating unusual and indispensable effects that will speed the creation of your music and enhance its appeal. The book is also packed with handy hints and tips. This is not a re-tread of the manual!

Contents

1. Introduction - Welcome to the Fast Guide To Reason.
2. Installation and setup - What do I need to make music with Reason? Minimum computer requirements (PC and Mac). Installing Reason. Soundcard drivers. Launching Reason for the first time. Latency. Mac virtual memory. Setting up MIDI. Configuring OMS on Macs. Mac OSX MIDI configuration. PC MIDI configuration. Reason MIDI settings. Reason and Mac OSX drivers. Saving and backing up. Reason and laptops. Reason without a MIDI keyboard. Which Windows OS?
3. Quickstart Tutorials - Create a rack. View the back of the rack. Save the rack. Create a Song. Load Dr:rex loops. Program some extra drum parts in ReDrum. Choose a bass sound and create a bassline. Add a main sequencer part. Add effects. Balance levels and change pan positions with the mixer. Experimenting with the tutorial Song. Mute and Solo tracks. Try REX loop transposing. Explore Matrix note resolution. Try real-time Matrix transposing. Understand Matrix 'gates'. Change drum kits. Play ReDrum sounds from the keyboard. Use the Shuffle facility. Try out SubTractor's controls. Change reverb type.
4. Basic Reason Operations and Features - The menus. About Songs. Creating a new Song. Loading Songs. A personal default Song. Song file formats. Optimising Songs. Sequencer tracks. Device operations. Navigating the rack. Keyboard shortcuts. About cables. Connecting and disconnecting. Context menus. Making device parameter settings. Tool Tips. About Patches and Samples. Database Folders. Missing Sounds. About ReFills. Undo. The Hardware Interface. High Quality Interpolation. Low Bandwidth. The CV and Gate control system. CV and Gate history. How it works in Reason. Other Preferences settings. Some basic FAQs.
5. The ReMix Mixer - Keyboard shortcuts. Mixer basics. Guided tour of controls. The rear panel. ReMix automatic connections. Automatic connections with a second mixer. Automatic effects connections. 'Insert' effects. Manual connections. Why override the automatic connections? Manually patching ReDrum sounds to mixer channels. More on the auxiliary send/return system. The send and return controls. How should the effects and processors be used? Mixer levels. Using ReMixes as submixers. Giving each submixer its own send effects. Solo with chained submixers - and how to make it work. Potential mute/solo problems. Summary: three ways you can connect mixers together. The final mix. Exporting (recording) a mix to disk. Exporting (recording) individual tracks to disk. Recording a mix to a mastering machine. Routing device outputs or submixes outside Reason. Mix automation and remote control. ReMix and the CV/Gate system. Mixer tremolo and auto-panning.
6. The SubTractor synth - A Brief Guided Tour. SubTractor Basics. Keyboard Shortcuts. Get going with SubTractor. Tutorial: Create a synth bass sound. The oscillators. Oscillator tuning and its significance. Using Noise. Tutorial: Create a kick and snare using Noise. Introducing modulation. Filters for sound sculpting. Creating a filter sweep. Envelope Generators for shape. Using the modulation envelope. LFOs for movement. Syncing LFOs to Song tempo. The Performance control parameters: velocity control, pitch-bend and mod wheels, key mode and portamento. Tutorial: Copying the TB303. Setting polyphony. What affects CPU usage in SubTractor? External modulation via MIDI. Patch layering with SubTractor. Tutorial: create an ethereal piano layer using the MIDI buses. The rear panel. The sequencer control Gate and CV inputs. Modulation Tutorial: rhythmic triggering of SubTractor envelopes (gated synth effect). Some fast patch-creation and editing guidelines.
7. The ReDrum Drum Computer - Keyboard shortcuts. ReDrum basics. Get Going with ReDrum. Detailed Guided Tour of controls and facilities. Using ReDrum. Changing kits and creating custom kits. Saving Kits. Saving Patterns. Copying Patterns. Bringing your own samples into ReDrum. Pattern manipulation facilities in the Edit menu. Tutorial: Program a drum pattern. Chaining drum patterns. Using ReDrum as a sound module. Recording drum parts with the main sequencer. ReDrum and General MIDI. The 'Copy Pattern to Track' feature. The 'Convert Pattern Track to Notes' feature. A potential issue. About note values and time signatures. The rear panel connections. Gate Inputs and Outputs. Advanced uses of Gate Ins and Outs: easy drum layering; ReDrum Patterns triggering synth drum voices; trigger ReDrum via its Gate Inputs. Pitch CV inputs. Using ReDrum as a simple sample mapper. The ReDrum 'synth'.
8. The NN19 Sampler - NN19 Basics. Keyboard Shortcuts. Background to sampling. Get going with NN19. Guided Tour of controls and facilities. What's the Root Key? The synthesis facilities. The Performance controls. Using NN19. Automatic sample mapping with 'Automap Samples'. Editing the Automap. Loading samples individually and mapping them manually. A keymap 'template'. Using a sampler device for 'real' Songs. Sourcing samples. Where to find free and commercial samples. Recording your own samples. Using sample CDs. Ripping audio. Converting formats. The rear panel. The CV and Gate connections.
9. The Dr:rex Loop Player - Keyboard Shortcuts. An introduction to ReCycle and REX loops. Dr:rex basics. Get going with Dr:rex. Guided Tour of controls and facilities. The synthesis controls. The rear panel. The Slice Gate output. Using Dr:rex. Saving your work. Copying loops. Using the synthesis controls on a rhythm loop. What can I do after 'To Track'? Viewing the Slice triggers in the sequencer. Building up a track in the sequencer. Automating loop transposing with a melodic loop. Re-ordering the Slice triggers. The Dr:rex 'arpeggiator'. The REX 'multisample'.
10. The Malström Graintable Synth - Keyboard Shortcuts. What is Graintable synthesis? The Malström signal path. Malström Basics. Guided Tour of controls and facilities: Oscillators, Graintables, Graintable manipulation, Oscillator routing, the Shaper, the Filters and Filter Envelope, the Modulators, the Modulator waveforms and the effects they produce, Modulator targets and controls, the Play parameters, Polyphony. The rear panel. The audio inputs and outputs. The CV and Gate connections. Using Malström. Fast editing. Graintable parameter tweaks. Using Malström efficiently. Tutorial: Program a Patch. Using the Modulator waveforms. Ways to use the audio ins and outs. Malström as a signal processor for other devices. How to get around the external filter triggering problem.
11. The NNXT Sampler - NNXT basics. Keyboard shortcuts. Get going with NNXT: load some samples and make them into a Patch. Guided tour of controls and facilities: the main panel, global editing controls, pitch bend/mod wheels and external control. The Remote Editor panel: Key Map display, the sample area, selecting multiple samples, edit focus, the keyboard area, key ranges, sample mapping, key zone operations (moving, duplicating, adding, deleting, sorting). Pitch detection pitfalls. The Tab bar. The Group area. Grouping samples. Sample parameter knobs. The synthesis parameters. The group parameter controls. Conflicting parameters. The rear panel: audio outs, gate and CV connections. Using NNXT. Create a layered Patch. Create an 'instant' layered Patch. Velocity crossfade the layers. Velocity splitting versus crossfading. Sample looping in NNXT. Some creative sampling ideas. The 'multitimbral' NNXT.
12. The Matrix Step Sequencer - Keyboard shortcuts. What's step sequencing? Matrix basics. Get going with the Matrix (program a Pattern). Guided tour of controls and facilities: the Pattern window, showing a curve CV in the display, the Steps display, the Step resolution knob, the Bank and Pattern buttons, shuffle, Pattern mute. Using the Matrix. Cutting, copying and pasting Patterns. Chaining Patterns. Other ways of creating Pattern chains. The 'Copy Pattern to Track' facility. Convert Pattern Track to Notes. Pattern manipulaton facilities in the Edit menu. What musical tasks is the Matrix good for? The rear panel. The Curve CV output. The note CV output. The Gate CV output. Some ways of using the Curve CV. Creating autopanning. Faking a sync'd LFO. Advantages of the Matrix LFO. Arpeggios with the Matrix. Real-time Matrix transposing from the keyboard.
13. The ReBirth Input Machine - RIM basics. Guided tour: meters and outputs. Linking ReBirth to Reason. Sending individual ReBirth voices to the mixer. Increasing ReBirth potential with Reason. Reason/ReBirth song management. What happens to ReBirth effects under ReWire? Giving ReBirth voices in-line effects. Using ReBirth and Reason with another ReWired application.
14. Effects - Effects basics. Get going with the effects: create some send/return effects, create an 'insert' (in-line) effect. Chaining effects. Automatic effects patching logic. Saving processor power. Effects versus processors. The RV7 reverb: mono/stereo?, reverb algorithms, RV7 controls, the CV input, reverb applications and considerations. The DDL1 digital delay: mono/stereo?, DDL1 controls, the CV inputs, quick 'jungle' drum effects, delay applications and considerations. The CF101 chorus/flanger: mono/stereo?, CF101 controls, the CV inputs, chorus and flanging applications. PH90 phaser: mono/stereo?, PH90 controls, the CV inputs, phaser applications. D11 foldback distortion: mono/stereo?, D11 controls, the CV input, distortion applications. The ECF42 envelope controlled filter: mono/stereo?, ECF42 controls, CV inputs, filter applications, adding filtering to ReDrum voices. The COMP01 compressor/limiter: mono/stereo?, COMP01 controls, compressor applications. The PEQ2 parametric EQ: mono/stereo?, PEQ2 controls, CV inputs, EQ applications, a few useful EQ frequency ranges. Effects and processing outside Reason. Effect order in chains. Copying effects settings. Making a 'preset' library. More advanced effects techniques: parallel effect processing, instant effect chain switching, 'approaching stereo' reverb. Delay ideas: highlighting single events, stereo width enhancement, creating really long delays, deluxe multitap delay, send-based delay feedback.
15. The Sequencer - Sequencer basics. Keyboard shortcuts. Some basic operations: creating a track, deleting a track, re-ordering tracks, recording into a track. Guided tour: the transport, sequencer transport shortcuts, the Arrange view, the track list, the track data display, the locators, the zoom controls, the tool bar in the Arrange view, selection and snap to grid, constraining selections, grouping data, about 'snap', quantize values and percentages. Tutorial: make a MIDI recording. More on quantizing: groove quantize, creating a user groove, REX loops for user grooves, to quantize or not to quantize. The Edit view: the lanes, the tool bar in the Edit view, viewing the controller lanes, what's controller data?, Groups in the Edit view. The Change Events window. Other functions in the Edit menu. Some typical editing examples in the Edit view: lengthening notes, moving notes, copyng notes, quantizing selected notes, drawing notes, editing note velocity, creating crecendos. Edting and creating controller data. Creating pan, mute and filter automation data. Importing and exporting MIDI files. Advanced project: faking tempo changes.
16. Automation and Remote Control - What can and can't be automated? Recording automation: on the fly tweaking, recording more automation for the same control, live tweaking of automated controls, automating other controls on the same device. Drawing automation. Where can I draw automation data? Some controller drawing info. What can I do with automation? Recording MIDI fader box moves. Remote control: computer keyboard remote, saving remote control assignments, remote control with MIDI keyboard. What can I do with a hardware controller? Setting up a MIDI hardware controller: using MIDI remote mapping, recording automation moves with MIDI remote mapping, direct controller programming, recording automation moves. Potential problems with MIDI remote mapping. Some solutions.
17. Reason with other software and instruments - What is ReWire? ReWire compatibility. General ReWire procedure: launching applications, quitting applications. Using Reason with ReWire applications: Steinberg Cubase VST, Steinberg Nuendo and Cubase SX, Emagic Logic, MOTU Digital Performer, Cakewalk Sonar. Using Reason with non-ReWire applications: Digidesign ProTools LE. Reason as sound module with external sequencers. Synchronising Reason to an external device.
18. 20 Fast tips
19. A Fast Guide to CV/Gate routings - Comprehensive CV and gate modulation routing chart.

Appendix 1: Reason web sites, sounds and software resources.

Appendix 2: Reason MIDI controller chart.

Appendix 3: Further reading.

by Debbie Poyser and Derek Johnson

(244 x 172 mm) 410 pages