As the Reason ecosystem continues to grow with many unique control voltage rack extensions, it seems important to provide new users with a means of learning CV routing. To get things started, I’ve put together some basic tutorials. These are based on some past works and updated for Reason 7. This is a continuing series, and new tutorials will be added regularly. The lessons are embedded in the rack on Spacre panels adjacent to example device configurations, allowing for a hands-on experience for learning about each topic presented.

Reason Control Voltage Tutorial Page

Purchase Buffre Beat Repeater and get Spacre Blank Plate as a free add-on to your Reason Rack Extension inventory. Details on the Buffre/Spacre Bundle page in the Propellerhead Shop.

DIRECTRE is an audio routing utility designed to work as a hub for a live performance using Propellerhead Reason. Directre’s audio switching synchronizes to the tempo of a song. With a press of a button, a channel switch is cued to open or close at the beginning of a measure, beat, or 1/8th note. DIRECTRE can function as either a 1×8 splitter device or as an 8×1 summing bus. In addition to the quantized switch capabilities, the switch can be adjusted to fade in and fade out with a touch of a button.

Directre Information Page

My latest Reason Refill project is a multi-sampled Roland TR-606 Drumatix drum machine. This unit belongs to a friend who was having issues with the 606 not powering up. As it turns out, it wouldn’t power up with batteries, but works fine with a power adapter. The problem was that a lead to the battery compartment was loose. Naturally, it couldn’t be returned without first being sampled!

The Sounds

The 606 has seven different drum sounds: A Bass Drum, Snare Drum, Lo Tom, Hi Tom, Closed Hi Hat, Open Hi Hat, and Cymbal. Also triggering Both a Closed and Open Hi Hat simultaneously creates another muted or pedal Hi Hat. All of these sounds can be accented, which alters the dynamics and tonal character. For this library, each drum is sampled eight times, and each accented drum is sampled 24 times (8 x three different accent levels 50%, 75%, 100%). In total there are 32 samples per tone for eight different drums. While each sample sounds very close the next one, there are subtle analog variations. Overkill? maybe… but it’s worth it.

The 606 tones are programmed in Kong Drum Designer via the NN-Nano Sampler. When triggered, the NN-Nano alternates between each of the eight samples, and the result has a nice realistic feel compared to single shot samples. Normal and accent samples are mapped at different velocity layers making it easy to edit dynamics in the Reason sequencer.

Refill

The P038 - Drumatix Refill contains several standard “realistic” kits which serve as 606 emulation patches. Three kits are dedicated to different accent levels labelled “Hard Accent,” “Medium Accent,” and “Soft Accent”. These correspond to the 100%, 75% and 50% knob settings on the 606. The library also includes several manipulated patches with different tuning, decay and Kong FX settings. The demo patterns from the video above are also included and can be used as building blocks for song ideas.

Peff 038 - Drumatix Refill

Roland TR-606 Drumatix library for Reason Kong Drum Designer. Thanks to Lisa Eriksson for use of the source instrument!

When we initially thought about organizing a Reason song production contest based around the Buffre Beat Repeater Rack Extension, we had no idea that the entries would achieve such a high level of quality. The real “challenge” was in the process of deciding the winners. We appreciate the efforts of all of the participants for their dedication to perfecting their craft with Reason and Buffre. Thank You!

Full list of Winning Entries

Power Tools for Reason 2.5/3.0 by Kurt Kurasaki. Edited by Jim Aikin. Backbeat Books 2004/2005.

This material is only for Power Tools for Reason 2.5/3.0 and does not apply to more recent versions of the title, not penned by Kurt Kurasaki. Those missing the content CD-Rom can download archives from the links below. ReFills are provided for those already in possession of the CD-Rom content, who only need an archival version of the audio samples and patches.

Power Tools for Reason 3.0 CD Rom Content

CD ROM archive from Power Tools for Reason 3.0 CD containing all of the example files and selected extras

Power Tools for Reason 2.5 CD Rom Content

CD ROM archive from Power Tools for Reason 2.5 that contains example files and extras

Power Tools for Reason 3.0 ReFill

ReFill containing essential custom content included with Power Tools for Reason 3.0. This archive does not contain material associated in other ReFills on the CD Rom

Power Tools for Reason 2.5 ReFill

ReFill containing essential custom content included with Power Tools for Reason 2.5. This archive does not contain material associated in other ReFills on the CD Rom

The contest is now closed and judging has commenced! Winners shall be announced next week!”

The Buffre Song Challenge is a songwriting and music production contest of skill with Propellerhead Reason! Show us how you use the Buffre Beat Repeater Rack Extension in conjunction with the world class recording, mixing, and sound design features of Reason. The contest is now officially open, and ends at midnight December 1, 2012. Entries must use at least one instance of Buffre Beat Repeater processing an element in the track.

Balance!

The top two selections will receive Grand Prize packages of Propellerhead Balance with Reason Essentials and a license for Buffre Beat Repeater. Five Runner Up selections will win a copy of the Jason McGerr Session Refill (online download).

Current Entries

Have a listen to the current entries in the BUFFRE Song Challenge. We’ve already received some serious contenders!

Buffre ReCombinator Effects are a collection of patches that extend the live performance features of the Buffre Beat Repeater Rack Extension. The archive includes over 60 patches based on eighteen different routing architectures that include filtering, panning, pitch modulation, gating, and pattern control systems. Also included are several grain effects patches that transform incoming audio into drones and rhythmic glitch patterns.

Because most of these patches use the same key trigger as Buffre Beat Repeater, the ReCombinators are suited for live performance effects, and most have a quantization function that locks the effect start to track tempo.

Buffre ReCombinator Effects ReFill

v1.0 ReFill Download

Example File

When creating an FX combinator, Reason does not automatically create a corresponding sequencer track. Either use the Edit menu or Contextual Menu item to add a sequencer track for the live performance combinators. Consult the following example file for more details:

ReCombinatorFX.Example.reason

The PEFF Rack Extension Development Team is proud to introduce Buffre, a beat repeater effect device for Propellerhead Reason 6.5 that loops audio in sync with song tempo. Buffre is a performance effect, controllable in real-time from a MIDI keyboard or control surface, and supports Reason control voltage routings for creating modular-based stutter and glitch effects. The loop engine features several playback modes and can process audio segments from two measures down to a 4096th note.

Buffre features real-time reverse loop playback and sample rate control. Instantly add a backwards drum hit by switching to reverse mode, or adjust the pitch control to mimic the sound of a tape stop or spin up. Also, by capturing and manipulating extremely short audio loops, Buffre can synthesize granular audio textures.

Get Reason 6.5 and try Buffre

Rack Extensions require Propellerhead Reason 6.5 or Reason Essentials 1.5. Once installed, you can try Buffre and other great Rack Extensions available from the Propellerhead Shop:

Buffre Beat Repeater - Shop - Propellerhead

Available in the Propellerhead Shop

Operation Manual

Buffre Documetation is available from the following link:

Download the Buffre Operation Manual

Play with Buffre

Buffre is designed to be brutalized with combinator and control voltage modulations. We would love to hear and or see what you come up with.

Please post links on our Facebook page or tweet your links @peff

Thank You!

For a small group of friends to develop a new bit of software for an entirely new technology was no small undertaking, and we are grateful for all the support and advice we’ve had along the way. Big thanks to all the people at Propellerhead Software for helping us throughout this project. Thanks to all of the beta testers who helped us debug, and many thanks to the Reason users we’ve met over the past few months who lent their ears and feedback.

The news of Propellerhead Reason Rack Extensions is very exciting! The Reason production environment will be open to third party developers, and with Reason 6.5, users will have access to a whole new range of sonic tools from some incredible companies: Korg, Softtube, Sonic Charge, u-he, Sugarbytes, and GForce, to name a few!

This website was mentioned during the press conference in Frankfurt, and I want to confirm my involvement. In conjunction with the graphic design team, Bitplant and programer Hayden Bursk, we are working to establish a “Peff” brand of rack extensions. What makes this team unique is that we are Reason users who met because of Propellerhead, and now we have an opportunity to collaborate on something special. This is a new venture for us, and while we are the little guys on the scene, we are dedicated to making some interesting and cool devices that people will hopefully find useful.

I’ve been known to push Reason down paths where it was never designed to go, and looking towards the future, this team is dedicated to continue this tradition. There’s still a lot of work to do, but I’ll post quick updates when possible on Facebook and twitter.

facebook/peff
twitter/peff

My friends, Dave Boyle, Gary Chou, and Goh Nakamura asked me to be a part of another film / music / soundtrack project, officially titled Daylight Savings. To make matters a bit more confusing, the film is also called Surrogate Valentine 2.0 - essentially its ’s a sequel-ette to Surrogate Valentine (1), where Goh plays a struggling musician from San Francisco who is also coincidentally named, Goh.

The cast and crew of Daylight/SV2 came to my little rural community of San Juan Bautista to film some the scenes, and I was ‘recruited’ into the production staff - fetching coffee and lunch; finding extras and props; and BBQ-ing. A little situation arose when we tried to secure a location, and we had to deal with ’small town’ politics. Poor Dave was put in an uncomfortable situation which required some diplomacy, but after seeing the footage from that scene, it was absolutely worth the effort. Helping out in the production was quite good fun, and it got the people in town talking about the making of a movie.

I’m happy to announce that Daylight Savings has been accepted to the SxSW Film Festival, and makes it’s world premiere on Saturday, March 10 in Austin, Texas! Screenings continue throughout the week during the SxSW Music Festival. DS/SV2 debuts in California at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival on March 11.

Daylight Savings at SxSW

SV / SV2.0 / Daylight Savings Films Website

The Soundtrack

We’re putting together a soundtrack album, and I’m reviewing the final masters before we go to duplication. The album features Goh’s songs from both SV and SV2.0, interwoven with various music cues. Like the films, the music is quirky and weaves a strange little tale. Stylistically, the material is ‘all over the place’. There are pieces in Goh’s singer/songwriter style with an Elliot Smith / Beatles influence, but interspersed are other pieces that draw from the Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, the Police, Django Reinhardt, and we added a touch of punk elements, too… eclectic is one way to describe it!

The soundtrack was the effort of many talented people who helped raise Goh’s music to an entirely different level. I want to acknowledge and thank everyone involved:

Musicians: Tim Bulkley (drums), Brian Wright (drums), Gary Wang (bass / vocals), Kyle Forestor (bass), Gary Olson (trumpet), Cory Gray (trumpet), Art Hirahara (piano), Lucien Lamotte (bass), and Sadie Contini (guitar / vocals / arrangement)

Engineers: Bryce Gonzales, Cory Gray, Teri Hinmon, Dave Middleton, Gary Olson, and Mike Wells

Studios: Scenic Burrows (Portland, OR), Marlborough Farms (Brooklyn, NY), The Hangar (Sacramento, CA), Women’s Audio Mission (San Francisco, CA), Mike Wells Mastering (Los Angeles, CA), Shabbey Road, and my place!

Special Thanks: John Baccigaluppi, Carson Day, Gary Chou (social media guru), and Brian Kobashikawa (design)

Motion from the Music Picture

We used an extensive range of technologies for the recordings and primarily relied on Reason and Logic for the final cues and album, which is titled Motion from the Music Picture. The album features a great new track called Walk, and singles from the first film. My personal favorite is a cover of Daylight Savings, rearranged and performed by Sadie Contini. We took her guitar and really f-ed it up through a Metasonix TM-7 - it turned out ridiculously cool!

Once we have the details of duplication sussed, Goh will make an announcement: gohnakamura.com

The Grainshifter Combinator Refill is a collection sample instruments that apply a limited granular technique using a variety of control voltage modulation routings to retrigger segments of audio loaded on the Reason NN-19 sampler.

This version of the refill falls short of the expected quantity of content, but the patches are usable and easily modified with custom audio files.

Download Peff 037-Grainshifter Combinator Beta Refill

Archive includes the template for the iPad Lemur app