There’s an old project that’s been sitting on my desk for almost a year. Ever since I discovered that ReBirth was going to be discontinued from the Propellerhead Software line of products, I decided that it might be cool to create a multisample of the modelled bassline synths in ReBirth. The project is not finished, but I finally have some time to wrap it up.

The first task was to create a ReBirth Song File that plays the entire range of notes which covers a 5 octave range. This is about an octave more than the Roland TB-303, which totals 61 individual samples. After rendering the RBS to an audio file. At first I thought it might be enough just to cut up the individual sample and load them straight into an NN-XT, but I decided to take it a step further.

I decided to further process the audio through an analog signal chain to add a some depth to the sound. After loading the audio file into Logic Pro, I bounced the track through a Revolution REDD.47 Mic Pre and compressed the audio with an old Manley Monoblock Compressor. Overkill? Probably… but after being re-digitized through the apogee, it sweetened up the virtual synth rather nicely. The result is punchy without being too bloated. The unprocessed 303 samples are bigger, but the REDD47 and Manley processing make make them slightly punchier.

As it turns out, the samples are a bit difficult to loop properly. I might go back and reprocess a new set of samples and loop them, but for the moment, they are simply straight samples. Once edited and mapped into NN-XTs, the samples were incorporated into the BF318 Combinator patch to (attempt, somewhat in vain) emulate the 303 filters. I’ve finally managed to find a working solution to a problem I encountered last year, but unfortunately, it’s still not a perfect simulation.

I put together a Reason file that incorporates two of these RB-303 combinators, the ReBirth 808 & 909 Combis from the ReFill RB-338 ReFill, and a PCF Combi fashioned from an ECF-42 and a Matrix. Along with a D-11 Distortion, Comp-01, and a custom Delay Combinator, I managed to create a reasonable facsimile of ReBirth. What surprises me the most is how much work is involved in actually programming a track using this interface. The amount of sophistication incorporated behind the ReBirth GUI became quite apparent as I put this song file together. There’s a simplicity and elegance to programming ReBirth which is not easily recreated in Reason. (click on the image to see the full size)

Anyhoo… i hope to get this thing together soon, now that I’ve managed to get the power supply cable back for my Quad. I forgot it up at RML a few weeks ago, and I’ve been working on the backup Dual. All of the combis will probably be packaged up into a ReFill, but i need to get the official OK to release such a project.

Some Previews made with the ReBirth RB-338 ReFill and the RB-303 Combis:

RB-Test_File.mp3

RB-Test_File-orion909.mp3

Finally…well over a year later, the SF Bay Area Reason Users Group managed to get together again for the annual dinner event last Saturday evening. Once again the group converged in the intriging town of Walnut Creek, California. Many thanks to Ed Bauman (EditEd4TV) for organizing the evening. It was nice to meet everyone and talk “shop”.

I was looking forward to seeing the old crew - Mike, Steven, John, Jon - however, they were unable to make it this evening. Ed, GW, and I were the only three repeats from last year, but we met up with Darin (dbooty) and Mark from the boards, and Mason, who I met the week before at RML. The only non Reason user in attendance was my friend John Hinson, but he fit in quite well with the rest of the audio-heads. I’m sorry that others missed it, but there will certainly be another get-together.

Ed suggested that we get together more often. Naturally everyone concurred, so we hope to organize something else before the end of summer. The consensus was to set something up where we could meet, bring in laptops, and play music - not just eat and drink. If any Reason User in the SF Area knows of a place where we could set up, drop Ed a line. For those who want to join in next time, Ed organizes things through the Propellerhead Software Users Forum.

I’m recovering from lecturing at the Reason Workshops this past weekend at the Asphodel Records compound, Recombinant Media Labs in San Francisco. GW Childs and I presented two classes on Reason 3.0 in the amazing surround sound/video performance venue. The sound system is a custom 16.8.2 surround system. There are 8 speakers that circle the top of the room, and a matching 8 that circle the bottom of the room. 8 bass speakers are paired along the bottom of the room, and two Low Frequency Emitters are set up on each end. It’s unbelievably loud, and the room is virtually anechoic, so every little detail is clearly audible. We had an absolute blast, but it was indeed exhausting.

I came up on Friday afternoon to load in and get everything set up for the workshops on Saturday and Sunday. I brought in my main workstation rig which consists of a Quad Tower, a Cinema Display, and the Korg Kontrol49. I didn’t bring in an audio interface, since they had a MOTU 828mkII available, and I planned to connect into the system via firewire. GW was obviously not as concerned with convience, and brought in his massive laptop and Radium controller - no where near as portable as my rig :-p

As we were getting the audio system configured, I sarcastically prodded Bryan Gibbs, the RML engineer, that a facility like this should at least have optical feeds available…He boastfully replied “We can do that!” From the 828mkII, a Digital feed from the ADAT lightpipe output was redirected to the house system into Apogee Converters. So my audio was going digital right into the converters housed with the amplifiers in the control room. The sound was awesome! I was having too much fun sending out low frequency sine waves from the Malström to find the resonance frequency of the room and make it shake.

The Beginners workshop covered basic workflow procedures like the various preference settings; adding devices to the rack; pattern devices and sequencing patterns; cabling and auto-cabling rules; transport features including metronome and loop points; ReCycle, and the Dr.REX Loop Player; Sequence recording, editing, groups and automation; and adding parallel aux effects. We had to cram things during the last 3 hours in order to cover everything planned in the outline.

During one of the breaks of the Beginners Workshop, Bryan Gibbs, the house engineer, fired up the system and replayed the multichannel audio/360° Video performance of Curtis Roads. Bryan also took everyone on a tour of the rest of the facility. They have a Vintage analog synth production room as well as a control room with a Neve VR72. This was a great way to compare the tools of the Real World with devices in Reason.

Plans for the Advanced workshop were a little more ambitious, and we did not manage to cover everything planned. We started off with various ways of using insert effects like the vocoder and Scream 4, then moved into explaining the process of Mixing and embellishing a track by inserting equalizers and compressors. I spent about 45 minutes dissecting a file provided by one of the participants and showed how it could be refined with the use of effects and careful mixing.

Before discussing a bit about mastering, Hayden Bursk demonstrated using ReWire with Ableton Live as a host application which many people found invaluable. Hayden was incredibly helpful in answering questions, and his demo of the Tone Port was definitely a highlight. The Props and Line 6 sent up some Reason 3.0 T-Shirts and Reason USB Thumb Drives that were given to those who attended.

We covered the basics of using the MClass mastering tools and demonstrated the various patches, then we went into details about setting up the gain structure for properly using the compressors and maximizers. As time was running short, we started to merge synth programming with combinator patches. People also started to field more questions about using samplers, and I had a few demos set up to demonstrate synchronizing long audio files with the tempo in Reason. Finally we ended up demonstrating how to use the Combinator to create insane modulation routings and rhythm patterns being morphed by random LFOs.

Backbeat Books also provided books that we raffled off at the end of the class. These included copies of Jim Aikin’s “Player’s Guide to Chords & Harmony”, Rikky Rooksby’s “How to Write Songs on Keyboards”, and a copy of David Battino & Kelli Richards book, “The Art of Digital Music”. David was present on Day 2 and spoke about the interviews with Propellerhead Software published in his book.

I’m guessing things went over well with Recombinant Labs, since they’ve suggested making these workshops a regular event. I love working on that sound system - i just need to develop some visuals to take advantage of the video. I’m really grateful to Propellerhead Software and Line 6 for their help with the workshop, and to everyone who came to support the workshops. Meeting other Reason Users was really cool, and the event was really nice, and If there’s enough interest, I would love to do this again in the near future.

I’ve received a number of comments over the months regarding the confusing patch names for Vintage RDK, and so I’ve updated the refill with a new set located in the subdirectory “Vintage RDK Combis Named”. The original patch set is also included for those who prefer the original naming system.

Once again, these patches require the Reason Drum Kits 2.0 Refill. There are a set of REX loops included with the archive produced with the permission of Propellerhead Software, but the concept behind Vintage RDK is for people to create their own loops or crusty old drum tracks.

The patch name still includes the numbering system that refers to the samples used. For example Albright Kit (ALL 2B7 55).cmb uses the following sample sets from RDK 2.0:

Kick (BD) = BD2_ALL Y9k20×16
Snare (SD) = SDB_ALL YBC14×4 Hi Pitched Damped
Toms ( TM) = TM7_BR_ALL Y9k(3)
HiHat (HH) = HH5_ALL 15″ZNB
Cymbals(CY) = CY5_ALL 24″A-Z Riveted

The update is available here:

Peff 029 - Vintage RDK Combis v1.1.rfl

Named Patch List

Albright Kit (ALL 2B7 55).cmb
Alma Kit(ALL 3C6 61).cmb
Baxter Kit (ALL 4E5 12).cmb
Binzie Kit (ALL 5E3 16).cmb
Caroline Kit (ALL 5F2 22).cmb
Caroline Kit B (ALL 5F2 22).cmb
Cassini Kit (ALL 131 32).cmb
Cavendish Kit (ALL 7D2 66).cmb
Dexter Kit A (ALL 135 32).cmb
Dexter Kit B (ALL 135 32).cmb
Englmeyer Kit (ALL 171 53).cmb
Farell Kit (ALL 257 56).cmb
Forgne Kit (ALL 326 52).cmb
Fyve Kit (ALL 327 52).cmb
Fyve Kit B (ALL 327 52).cmb
Garrick Kit (ALL 472 16).cmb
Garrick Kit B (ALL 472 16).cmb
Gazette Kit A (ALL 495 34).cmb
Gazette Kit B (ALL 495 34).cmb
Harris Kit (ALL 498 66).cmb
Indigo Kit (ALL 573 62).cmb
Jenny Kit (ALL 621 52).cmb
Lasser Kit A (ALL 631 52).cmb
Lasser Kit B (ALL 631 52).cmb
Lasser Kit C (ALL 631 52).cmb
Mercatur Kit A (ALL 735 32).cmb
Mercatur Kit B (ALL 735 32).cmb
Murrah Kit (ALL 735 52).cmb
Murrah Kit B (ALL 735 52).cmb
Murrah Kit C (ALL 735 52).cmb
Nagai Kit A (ALL 771 53).cmb
Nagai Kit B (ALL 771 53).cmb
Nordic Kit (ALL 771 55).cmb
Parson Kit Brushed (ALL 777 5Br).cmb
Rudolph Kit A Brushed (ALL 797 5B-br).cmb
Rudolph Kit B Brushed (ALL 797 5B-br)b.cmb

Reason Drum Kits 2.0 is required to use these Combinator Patches

Recombinant Media Labs now has registration set up for the Reason Workshops on April 29 and April 30.

http://www.recombinantmedia.net/workshop/

and if you’re not busy next weekend… the legendary Curtis Roads will be performing at the labs.

Here are more details about the upcoming Reason workshops. Registration isn’t quite ready. Either contact me or RML directly at the email/phone number below.

Recombinant Media Labs in San Francisco, CA will be offering two workshops on Propellerhead Software Reason 3.0, presented by G.W. Childs and Kurt Kurasaki. The courses are structured for all ranges of Reason users who wish to explore the possibilities of music creation in the Virtual Studio environment.

Reason Basics Saturday, April 29, 2006 1:00pm – 7:00pm • Intro to Reason • Synthesizers & Samplers • Rhythm Programming • Sequencing & Editing • Mixing & Effects

Reason Advanced Sunday, April 30, 2006 1:00pm – 7:00pm • Mixing & Mastering • Advanced Effects • Sound Design • Combinator • Remote & Rewire

The Workshops
Reason Basics is geared for novice users and explains the process of developing and shaping musical ideas into complete songs. This workshop is highly recommended for people interested in sequencers, editing, synthesizers, drum machines, and loops.

Reason Advanced is for intermediate/advanced Reason users. This workshop covers complex mixing and the use of signal processors and effects; programming synthesizer, sampler, and Combinator patches; using Reason as a production tool; and Reason as a live performance platform.

The Instructors
G.W. Childs is a veteran video game sound/voice effects designer, musician, and is a featured artist and sound designer for Propellerhead Software. He has worked on over 20 video game titles including Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2, Mercenaries, and Star Wars: Battlefront 2. Additionally, G.W. performs with the electronic/industrial acts Deathline International and Soil & Eclipse.

Kurt “Peff” Kurasaki, … well you’re visiting my site …

Recombinant Media Labs
The workshop takes place in Recombinant Media Lab’s unique, state-of-the-art audio-visual environment. Equipped with truly world-class surround audio and video systems, Recombinant Media Labs focuses on education, research, production and the presentation of new forms of audio/visual expression.
763 Brannan Street between 6th St. & 7th St. in San Francisco’s SOMA District

Participation
Enrollment fees are $150 for each day ($300 for both courses) and space is limited to 20 people. Priority is given to those who register for both workshops. Attendees are encouraged to bring their laptops and Reason 3.0

Telephone: 415 863-3068 x 20

I just finished up a selection of combinators for an upcoming article in Computer Music Magazine. The article isn’t a tutorial, but more or less a feature that describes several patching configurations, the device chain(s), and explanation of controls. The combi patches include an expanded Matrix Triggered Dr.REX players, a Pattern Filter, a Wavetable Sequence Synth, a super-charged DnB performance/split patch, and PhaTractor, a stereo subtractor patch that uses a unique EQ system to warm up the sound. Space permitting, there is also an auto-scratcher patch that relies on the Scratch REX loops on the Factory Sound Bank.

So, CM readers keep on the lookout. There are demo RNS files as well as the patches, and I inadvertently included a multiband mastering suite in one of the demo songs - this is an older version of a patch i’m currently working on.

Computer Music has made this article publicly available and you can download the PDF file from their archive:

Free CM tutorial PDFs

Specifically: the Reason Combinator Tutorial (7.5mb) and associated example files

My friend, John Hinson, has developed a new solid state amplification circuit that he has dubbed the “Shoichi” – my Japanese Middle Name. I haven’t heard it yet, but he says that it sound remarkably like tubes. This is a unique honor, and who knows…someday there will be Shoichi Amps driving world class hardware and a slew of plug-ins modeled after the circuit

John’s Design Announcement

Well, I have a bit of interesting news. Today, I was up at the new Recombinant Media Labs in San Francisco’s SOMA district. This is unique performance space with a 16 channel surround sound system along with a 10 projector video system that spans 360° around the entire room. Sorry, I forgot to bring by camera today.

Recombinant Media Labs is starting to develop educational workshops that focus on music software. In conjunction with Cycling 74, they’ve offered a Max/MSP workshop. Tomorrow, they will be holding a two day workshop on Ableton Live 5. The course is being offered by Brian Jackson, author of the Thompson Live 5 CSI CD-Rom.

I’m excited to say that GW Childs and I are planning to present a Reason workshop tentatively scheduled for April. The details have yet to be ironed out. It might be a beginner/intermediate course, or perhaps something a little more intensive. I’ll definitely make it a point to go through some of the new Reason techniques I’ve developed as well as some expanded Power Tools for Reason 3.0 stuff.

As the details unfold, I’ll post up more information. In the meantime, anyone interested in coming, please post up a comment.

XySpace is pseudo stereo spatialization combinator patch. It’s designed is to take a mono signal and position the sound around a virtual stereo room environment. A standard pan control positions the sound between the left and right channels, while a front-rear fader controls the distance away from the listener’s position.

The patch works by setting up a two different attenuation systems so that there are a total of four outputs from a mono input signal. Obviously, the four outputs correspond to front left, front right, rear left and rear right. The environment is setup as a large room, so reflections and reverb from the rear walls blend with the dry signal as the signal is positioned to the rear.

To simulate the effect of distance, a low pass filter is applied to the incoming signal to roll off high frequencies from sounds that are distance. This filter opens up as the sound is positioned closer to the front. A set of Malström comb filters are also applied to the front - rear attenuation to simulate the effect of doppler shift. As the sound moves toward the listener, the comb filter frequency decreases to induce the illusion of motion.

This patch is still somewhat in it’s infancy simply because it’s only been tested on headphones and the monitors of my workstation. The results could very easily vary depending on your set-up. The archive includes a couple of demo files that illustrate how the patch sounds and can be incorporated into various projects. The RPS XySpace example.rps has a couple of Matrix Pattern sequencers that modulate the position to constantly rotate sounds around the environment, while the XySpace Demo.rns file has controller changes recorded from a joystick control.

Many thanks to the guys on the messageboard who inspired the idea. I’m not sure how useful this is, but it’s certainly fun to play with.

Download XySpace.cmb

XySpace Parameters

Left - Right controls the stereo pan position of the incoming signal. The stereo separation is narrower for signals positioned towards the rear.

Front - Rear controls the source distance from the listener. The attenuation modulates several settings simultaneously, including a low pass filter as well as the comb-filter controls for the doppler effect.

Doppler trims the level of the comb-filter signals being combined with the dry signal. The doppler signal runs parallel with the dry signal, and the effect can be overwhelming depending on the source.

Room Decay adjusts the length of the decay time of the reverberation of the two RV-7000 reverbs used to define the expanse of the environment.

Hi Freq Shuffle Switch enables and disables the MClass Stereo Imager. Having this enabled is intended to create a proximity effect when the source signal is positioned towards the front.

Depth Filter Switch enables the the ECF-42 Low Pass Filter that rolls of high frequency signals on the front-rear signal.

Doppler Filters Switch enables the comb filtering to induce the doppler shift effect.

Rear Reflections Switch enables the second RV-7000 which is used to define the center rear wall of the environment.

I love the Akai MPC-3000. The drum grooves created with this instrument consistently yield a very musical flow that inspire beat oriented tracks. The design of legend, Roger Linn, combined with Akai’s sampling technology is still used by many to this day. This project was inspired by necessity to bring the feel of the MPC into Reason. I’m consistently asked how to use this song file, so the following tutorial explains the procedure of using Reason’s user groove feature.

Background

The MPC-3000 Groove Templates are MIDI sequences extracted from sample loops created with an Akai MPC-3000 MIDI Production Center. Originally, this project involved creating MIDI files on the MPC and transferring them to a computer for import into Reason, but the results did not quite have the same feel as loops created with the MPC. The timing does not seem to capture the groove when using imported MIDI files. The problem could be the difference in PPQ (Pulse Per Quarter Note) resolution on different sequencers, or perhaps the latency and timing of the circuitry in the sampler engine.

As an alternative solution, loops, programmed on the MPC, were recorded into a digital audio workstation. Each loop is a series of 16th note hi-hat events with a length of four measures. These loops have different quantization swing settings, which range from 50% (16th Notes) to 75% (triplets). Each loop was processed in ReCycle. Once converted to REX files, these loops were loaded into Reason via a Dr.REX Loop player, and the slice data was extracted into individual sequencer tracks. The REX files provided the ideal solution as they capture all of the timing idiosyncrasies of the MPC-3000 with the precision of digital audio rather than MIDI PPQ.

Reason User Groove Feature

If you are unfamiliar with the “User Groove” feature in Reason, try the following exercise to discover how to set a groove quantization template.

1. In an empty Reason song file, create a Dr.REX Loop player.
2. Load the ReCycle Loop, “Hse06_Strictly_130_eLAB.rx2” from the Factory Sound bank \ Dr Rex Drum Loops \ House Directory.
3. Click the “To Track” button on the Dr.REX player to export the loop slice data to the Reason Sequencer. The slice data is 2 measures and will appear grouped in 2 measure segments.
4. Position the mouse cursor over a grouped segment in the sequencer, and right-click (MacOS: Hold Control & Click) to open the contextual menu.
5. Select the “Get User Groove” item from the contextual menu list. Notice that the Quantization setting on the sequencer changes from “1/16” to “User”. This indicates that the template is stored in the song, and from this point, any quantization will conform to the template extracted from the loop slice data.
6. Create a second Dr.REX Loop Player and load the ReCycle Loop, “Ahp05_Live_087_Chronic.rx2” from the Factory Sound Bank \ Dr Rex Drum Loops \ Acoustic \ Hip Hop Directory.
7. Copy the Slice data to the Dr.REX 2 sequencer track by clicking on the “To Track” button.
8. Run the Sequence to hear the two loops play at the same time. You should notice that certain timing issues conflict when both loops play simultaneously. Stop the sequence.
9. Right-Click on the Dr.REX 2 Sequencer Track name to open the contextual menu, and select the “Quantize Notes” item. This method will quantize all events on the sequencer track.
10. Run the sequence to hear the quantization of the first loop applied to the second loop.

This is the basic procedure for setting the template (User Groove) and applying a groove quantization to other tracks. While the example describes quantizing a second loop, the process can be applied to basslines and other tracks in the song.

Auditioning the ‘Peff-MPC Grooves MIDI.rns’ File

The MPC Groove Template file is simply a Reason Song File with 26 sequencer tracks-each track having a different groove. When you open the song file, you will see all 26 tracks assigned to the Dr.REX Loop player. The following example describes simply how to audition each of the grooves.

Download Peff-MPC Grooves MIDI.rns

1. Open the file “Peff-MPC Grooves MIDI.rns”
2. Run the sequence, and you should hear a sequence of hi-hats played from one of the sequencer tracks (61%).
3. Mute the sequencer track. You should hear nothing now.
4. Unmute a different sequencer track to hear a different groove setting.
5. Continue auditioning the sequencer tracks to gain familiarity with the quantization templates.

Applying the MPC Grooves Quantization templates

To apply the groove quantization to a song, a sequencer track from the ‘MPC Grooves’ file must be copied into the sequencer of the song. This means you should first audition the grooves and find one that suits your tastes. (Refer to the previous example)

For the following example, you will need the file:

Download NoGrooveSong.rns

1. Open the Reason song file, “Peff-MPC Grooves MIDI.rns”
2. Select the sequencer track labeled “64%”
3. Right-Click (MacOS: Hold Control & Click) to open the contextual menu, and select the “Copy” item.
4. Close the ‘MPC Grooves’ song file.
5. Open the Reason song file “NoGrooveSong.rns”. Run the sequence and listen to the song with its rigid 16th note quantization. Stop the sequence and proceed.
6. Click on the sequencer track list.
7. Right-Click to open the contextual menu, and select the “Paste” item.
8. You will see the MPC “64%” track appear at the bottom of the track list. Right click on this track and select, “Get User Groove”
9. From the Edit menu, select the item “Select All”. This will select all of the sequencer tracks so that quantization will applied over the entire song.
10. Right-Click over the track list and select the “Quantize Notes” item on the contextual menu.
11. Run the sequence to hear the MPC 64% swing quantization applied to the Reason song.

You will hear a distinctive bounce in the track after applying the MPC swing quantization. It’s as simple as that. This process can be applied to your own songs, however quantization only affects notes in the Reason sequencer. Redrum and Matrix patterns are not quantized. In order to apply the MPC Groove to a pattern sequence, you must first convert the patterns using the “Copy Pattern to Track” or “Convert Pattern to Track Notes” features from the edit menu. Further explanation of these procedures can be found in the Reason Documentation included with the software.

Day 4 started off fairly slowly. I know I didn’t cover the entire show in detail, but I paced myself and in some ways saved the best for last. It was definitely nice to see the number of analog modular synth systems slowly growing. Despite all of the new software applications and plug-ins, there was definitely a resurgence of hardware. There was plenty to see between Analogue Haven’s and Big City Music’s booths, but I saved the best for last. The last day was quite leisurely, so I took my time to take a closer look at some of the more interesting things.

Propellerhead/Line 6’s Hayden presenting his demo on Reason 3.0. Hayden, wants me to redo Vintage RDK and rename the patches with proper names rather than the numbering mnemonics. This is not the first time i’ve heard this request, so it’s a likely project for the near future.

The new Dave Smith Instruments, monophonic “evolver” keyboard. It’s the little sister of the Polyevolver and can be chained up with rack and pedal versions for multiple voicing.

Magnus and Marcus check out the PolyEvolver.

And the mother of all modulars, the Buchla 200e. Don was at the show doing press stuff, but I spoke with Yasi about the possibility of getting a new chassis and power supply for my old modules.

I sometimes regret not picking up a Thunder controller, but alas, a cool new touch interface is being offered. The 222e Multidimensional Kinesthetic Input Module with a look very similar to the thunder.

At the moog booth, I had a chance to speak with Craig Anderton, who recently contacted me about a review for PTR-3. He had some very nice things to say, which really made my day. I also met with Brian Kehew, friend of John Hinson. He told me that his new book, Recording the Beatles, is coming out really soon. John Hinson has been lending his technical expertise to the details of the recording gear used at Abbey Road for Brian’s book.

This poster has been up since the show started, and visitors were invited to write a message to Bob. It’s going back to North Carolina, and will hang in the Moog offices. I posted a few detail shots on my flickr page.

Native Instruments Introduced some interesting updates to their software line, including a teaser for their new control surface and software package “KORE”. Details were sketchy, but it sounds like a wrapper system for all native instruments products. Sort of like a modular system for NI software. ‘Sources’ suggested that they plan to package the Komplete software suite included with the KORE control surface, but even this is uncertain.

Chris Petti presenting a demonstration of the basics of using Reason. He was taking requests, so I asked for a sequence of 64th notes at 180 bpm.

Producer and DJ, Arabian Prince of NWA and other affiliations, demonstrated using Reason for Hip-Hop production. The hugeness of his sound was really impressive.

AP’s Crazy desktop pattern… It’s like having a Reason Seizure.

One of the most amazing announcements was “Tronical”, a non-destructive automatic tuning system for electric guitars. Synthax Audio AG from Germany have patented a unique system of tuning electronics and servo controlled Tuner pegs. Preset tunings (open strings, intonation) can be stored and recalled in a manner of seconds. It was pretty amazing to see the tuning pegs twist the strat into tune.

Richard Devine is indeed the NI master. Towards the end of the show he put on an amazing set using Tracktor with a glitchy remix of “Feel for You” by Chaka Kahn. After the show ended we had a chance to chat about crazy synth stuff and sound design. He’s truly a workaholic and is so involved with a variety of different projects.

End of the Show Toast back at the Prop’s booth. Pictured: The Bitplant crew, Tage, Michael, and booth designer, Fredrik.

Ulrika and Johan, polishing off the last of the sparkling wine.

Tage working out the breakdown and load out logistics. “You guys work, and I’ll watch”

The crew loading up the shipping crates, for the long trip back to Stockholm.

Fortunately, the Props came in large numbers this year, and I didn’t have to lend a hand dismantling the booth like last year. Rather than wait for the crew, the Merkles, Magnus, and I planned to head off to dinner with a couple of people from FXpansion. In the end, FXpansion brought their entire staff so the evening went from a small intimate dinner with friends, to a big dinner party.