Peff goes KONG

December 3, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on Peff goes KONG 

Peff is back with a nice Refill for Reason 5

here’s what he has to say about it:

I thought this would be easy… Sample the Roland TR-808, load the files into the Reason 5 Kong Drum Designer… Bam… done! Nope, that definitely is not how things went down.

The primary goal was to create a set of Kong patches that effectively simulate the classic 808. This involved selectively sampling variations of each sound. For example, sampling the bass drum requires variations with different decay and tone settings. The result was 6 different tone settings, with a normal hit and accent hit at seven or eight different decay settings. This is probably overkill, but I’m approaching this from an archival perspective and wanted a lot of detail. The initial sampling resulted in over 500 individual audio files. The actual sampling part was pretty easy. I used my standard signal path for sampling: ADL D.I./Neve/UA-2192, from a Roland TR-808 bestowed to me from composer, Stuart Diamond

To address the switching between normal and accent drum hits, each combination of the drum tones required velocity switching where the normal and accent hits could be easily accessed. Initially, the switching threshold was set to a 125 velocity level. According to some testers (Thank you Ph WTF Crew!), this was too high for effective playback on pad controllers, so a second set of patches was created with more moderate velocity switching levels at 101. In the end, this required that all the patches originally programmed with velocity switching zones at 125 needed to be duplicated and modified with lower switching thresholds.

Analog Variations

The TR-808 is an analog device, and one of the characteristics of the analog charm are the inconsistencies. Certain tones like the Bass Drum and Toms/Conga are fairly consistent, but snares and other percussion tones have subtle, sometimes very noticeable variations. To emulate this characteristic, a set of Kong drum patches with alternating sample zones was created. Each time these drums are triggered, one of three or four different samples is randomly selected for playback. For example, the patch “808 Hi Hat Alternating.drum” has four closed hi-hat samples and four accented closed hi-hat samples. Each time the drum channel is triggered, the sample changes. When a string of hi-hats is sequenced to this drum channel, the variations resemble the analog nature of the device.

While most productions probably do not require the detail of this type of sound, a few Kong Kits were created around this programming method. The patch, “Classic 808 v3.kong”, has several alternating kong drum patches for the snares, hi-hats, claps, and percussion.

To further enhance this experience, several ReGroove templates are included which are extracted from programmed 808 patterns. These quantization templates render slight timing inconsistencies and when combined with the alternating drum tones, the experience of the 808 comes to life.

Hit Types

Programming sampled instruments in the Kong Drum Designer is time consuming, especially with so many details to address like the HIT TYPE feature. The NN-Nano sampler allows you to program four different sounds in the drum patch, and each sound can be accessed by selecting the HIT TYPE parameter on Kong. You will find that some patches only have one type programmed, however, many have multiple types programmed. While there are only 180 kong drum patches, some of these patches contain one to four different Hit Types.

There are certain areas where the sounds are a little rough around the edges, so some tweaking might be necessary to make the sounds fit in your productions. Provided it’s available, first try a different hit type.

At the suggestion of ph user, dioxide, the patch, “Classic Pallete 808.kong” uses the hit type feature to switch between percussion tones in the same manner as they are established on the TR-808. For example, the Toms and Conga sounds are switched, so the Low Tom and Low Conga cannot be triggered at the same time. This applies for other tones like the Hand Clap and Maracas.

Mapping

The Kong Kits are mapped to a general MIDI keyboard layout, meaning that the drum channels are designed to be triggered from a MIDI keyboard from C1 through D#2, and the upper register keys. If you prefer the pad controller layout, bring the Kong device into focus, then from the edit menu or right click contextual menu, select the item “Convert GM Mapping to Pad Mapping”.

If you prefer these mappings, it’s recommended that you save the patches into your kong patch library.

Refill Contents

The following is a description of the file organization structure of the refill:

Example Sessions – a few example files in Record 1.5 and Reason 5 file format

Kong Drum Patches – Various Kong Drum Sound patches of the standard 808 set and variations.

Kong Drum Patches (v100) – Duplicates of the 181 Kong Drum Patches with Velocity Switching Accents at 101. Velocity to amp scaling patches are straight duplicates

Kong Patches – 33 Complete Kong Kits based on the TR-808 sample set.

Kong Patches (v100) – The Kong Kits with velocity switching accents at 101. Velocity to amp scaling drum channels are straight duplicates.

NN-XT Patches – a couple of sampler patches based on granular 808 bass drums

Redrum Patches (.drp) – a few Redrum sets from the TR-808 samples

ReGroove Patches – Groove templates extracted from TR-808 ReCycle loops

REX Loops – several ReCycle Loops of TR-808 patterns

Samples – The sample archive of the straight TR-808 samples, and some processed samples including DSP, Bitcrushed, granular, and distorted 808s. Over 800 samples.

Download

Ok, I’ve bored you enough with the details… Get it now for only $8.08!!! While supplies last – limit one per household. kidding of course, this is a free download.

Download the Peff- 036 Kong 808 ReFill 146Mb zip archive

As if it needs mentioning… This refill requires Propellerhead Reason 5.0.1 or the Reason + Record 1.5.1 duo

World Percussion ReFill For Reason 5

October 2, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on World Percussion ReFill For Reason 5 

The Loop Loft has introduced World Percussion Vol 1, a new ReFill created specifically for Reason 5.

Here’s what The Loop Loft has to say about their new ReFill:

With pristinely recorded loops and samples (24-bit, 48 khz audio) ranging from West African udu drums and shakers, to North Indian frame drums, to Afro-Peruvian cajóns, the World Percussion collection provides an eclectic library of highly authentic sounds and grooves from all over the world.

Containing custom patches for The Dr Octo Rex player and Kong, this ReFill leverages the latest and greatest features found in Reason 5, putting the loops and samples at your fingertips in a way that was never before possible.  Watch the video below to see (and hear) what the World Percussion ReFill can add to your Reason library.

ReFill Specs:

  • 102 REX2 Loops
  • 14 Dr Octo Rex Patches
  • 4 Kong Patches
  • High Quality, 24-bit 48 khz Audio

REX2 Sets included:

  • 102_Groove_Cajon
  • 140_SixEight_Cajon
  • 107_Rumble_Framedrum
  • 125_Simmer_Framedrum
  • 132_Shaker
  • 117_Hall_Udu
  • 132_Intense_Udu
  • 98_Hypnotic_Udu

Pricing and Availability

World Percussion Vol 1 is available now for US $29.

Link:

KONG meets the REX

September 30, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on KONG meets the REX 

Reason 5 has started to make an impression several good demos and tutorials are popping up and people seem especially keen on the KONG, not surprised though :-)

It’s a non-linear world, people! Media has become non-linear, reading via the internet has become non-linear, and thanks to Kong’s Nurse Rex module now your loop library has become non-linear. If you loved REX loops back in Reason versions 1.0 – 4.0, you’re going to love what we’ve done with the Nurse Rex Loop Player module inside Kong. No longer will you be playing loops from start to finish… instead cut ’em up, split ’em in to slices, assign them to pads, and freak them.

NanoSequencies released for Reason 5

September 29, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on NanoSequencies released for Reason 5 

Nucleus SoundLab presents both its first loop-based product and its first Reason 5 exclusive ReFill – NanoSequences. NanoSequences is a fresh set of RX2 format loops recorded from wavesequences, electronic basslines, arpeggios and melodies. But NanoSequences is more than just great sound content – its also about the innovative way in which this content is played back.

Nucleus SoundLab isn’t content to create just another loop library and maintain the industry status quo. NanoSequences is the first in our series of MultiLoop ReFills. What MultiLoop means is that each loop is sampled at eight rootnotes and is playable from a MIDI keyboard. These eight loops are then loaded into the customized NanoSequences Combinator which utilizes the new Kong sampler. Depending on which key is played, the appropriate matching loop is triggered – free of any ugly transposition artifacts. MultiLoop ReFills are thus playable with high quality over an extremely large range of octaves and BPMs. All this adds up to make MultiLoop the the most flexible loop technology ever released for software or hardware! Regardless of what BPM or key your production is based on, you’ll find NanoSequences fits in perfectly.

The loop content in NanoSequences comes from direct from our Viral Outbreak VST instrument. Viral Outbreak is capable of some amazingly varied wavesequences that simply aren’t possible in the Reason environment. Additionally some of the content is sampled from Viral Outbreak add-ons such as VS Resurrection and SoundCell. All of these sounds together give NanoSequences a very diverse range of wavesequences. By harnessing these sequences using MultiLoop technology, you can bring their unique sound to your Reason productions.

  • 50 Loopsets comprised of 400 RX2 files.
  • 530mb+ of loop content
  • Video documentation included.
  • Extremely high-quality loops using MultiLoop technology.
  • Requires Reason 5+ either standalone or together with Record.

NanoSequences is available now. It is priced at $29 USD in downloadable format, or $34 for a Multi-Format download (includes all RX2 files separately).

More stuff on Reason 5

September 16, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on More stuff on Reason 5 

Here are two newly discovered tutorials I found the other day, enjoy

Beat Construction Volume 1 is the beginning of a new form of micro training for Propellerhead Reason 5 users producers and beatmakers all over the globe. In these beatconstruction series videos, you get to watch your favorite music instructor at work doing what he does best. HIP HOP PRODUCTION! We all love the talking, feedback and encouragement, but sometimes some just want to get right to the heart of the lessons. The Reason for this arrangement is very beneficial for both parties for as a professional producer without any restrictions can get more involved and produce high quality production tracks without breaking the flow of the must needed creativity that is necessary to produce professional quality results.

Along with this arrangement, the Propellerhead Reason 5 project files are included in each session so as to get hands on involvement in the very exact material that was used and produced by your instructor. This allows you to utilize the very exact mix, mastered sounds, samples and instruments used to create this production material. BTW: Do what you please with the Reason files, they are “Royalty Free”, so go ahead take advantage before the prices go up, because I promise you it will. So hurry and get your copy of Beatconstruction Series video tutorials for Propellerhead Reason files today!

Reason 5 is a beast for beats!

September 9, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on Reason 5 is a beast for beats! 

Yet another strong tutorial focusing on Reason 5

Reason 5 is a beast for beats! God bless Propellerhead for making us beat making heads and hip hop production heads this virtual Akai MPC station for PC users. Reason 5 and it’s powerful Kong Drum Designer is a heaven sent Beat making tool for Hip Hop Producers as well as R&B, House, Techno, Trance etc… I love The Kong Drum in Reason 5 so much that I decided to produce a track called “RAGING KONG”! I skinned it with pictures of King Kong so my production track will feel the wrath of the beast in it’s transistors. In this beat tutorial, I did not use Kong the way I would have liked because Im still trying to pry away from Redrum and the old Rex, plus, I don’t want to offend KONG, I’ll treat Kong with tender loving care it deserves. The Reason for this propellerhead endevour is to raise awareness, get you involved, train new heads and stimulate old ones, to become a subscriber man, we are about to do some grandious things here and I don’t want you to miss out. You also may be interested in going over to todaysbeats.net to download your free version of Beat Making tutorial Series “Hip Hop In Session Volume 22” for FREE!!! We’ve been getting it in since 2003 and we don’t intend to stop until 99.99% of you guys is super star producers of the GLOBE! Meanwhile, enjoy this Reason 5 – Kong Drum Designer tutorial, subscribe and let’s have some mad fun producing HITS!!!!! FOR THESE CRAZY RAPPERS!!!!!!! Remember, music sooths the savage beats, “KONG!”

KORG 808 on Reason 5

September 1, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on KORG 808 on Reason 5 

“First and foremost, this is an attempt to create a usable Roland TR-808 sample set for the Kong Drum Designer in Propellerhead Software Reason 5 / Record 1.5. From there, it’s become a sound design experiment to see how the original sounds can be manipulated using the various effects in the Kong Drum Designer device. This is a preview of some of the patch sets for the refill.

The sampling of the TR-808 is fairly extensive with over 500 individual samples. 250 variations of the dry tones and their corresponding accent tones. Multiple samples of Hand Clap and Hi Hats reveal the analog nature of the 808 as no two samples of the same tone are identical.

Some tones are processed through some hardware and DSP to create special effect palettes, but the source of all the sounds is based on the 808 hardware.

More information will be posted shortly on my website: http://www.peff.com/journal/

you can follow along with the progress on my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peff/65…

or twitter:
http://twitter.com/peff

Perhaps the first free refill for Reason 5

August 31, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on Perhaps the first free refill for Reason 5 

Josh Mobley's Reason tattoo

Josh Mobley wrote in to let us know that his ReFill Hybrid Aggression is now available as a free download, to help celebrate the release of Reason 5.

These are rex files that were originally created during the scoring sessions for the television show “Wanted” on TNT Networks. They make full use of the new Dr. Octa Rex in both Reason 5 and Record 1.5

It was originally sold through bandmateloops.com. Here is the original descrpition:

Hybrid Aggression is an epic and dramatic blend of positively skull crushing, hand-crafted beats full of distorted electro-attitude. Tension works on a subtle level throughout, but never at the expense of the groove. Hybrid Aggression utilizes cutting-edge production techniques in one very inspiring electro-oriented theme. This collection is equally suitable for rock, hip-hop or dance applications, though the possibilities are endless. (Produced by: Josh Mobley in conjunction with BandmateLoops.com).

Hybrid Aggression is available to download from Josh’s Facebook page.

More information: Josh Mobley / Hybrid Aggression

Peff explores Dr Octo Rex in Reason 5

August 27, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on Peff explores Dr Octo Rex in Reason 5 

This quick video demos using TouchOSC and Osculator to control Dr. Octo Rex in Reason 5.

Sure looks promising :-)

TouchOSC for iPad layout with loop switching controls for the Dr.OctoREX loop player in Reason 5.

Using Osculator 2.10 beta to configure feedback messages that switch off buttons in TouchOSC. Osculator could really use a ‘bang’ event to make this work perfectly.

Full feature list of the new stuff in Reason 5

August 25, 2010 · Posted in Uncategorized · Comments Off on Full feature list of the new stuff in Reason 5 

Propellerhead Reason Record Duo

– Kong Drum Designer
Analog synthesis, physical modeling, sampling, REX loops, support sound generators, effects, flexible routing, multiple hit types and more. The Kong Drum Designer is not your regular drum module. It’s the drum module focused on letting you get exactly that drum sound you’re after. Kong has 16 pads and 16 drums. Build your drum sounds based on any of the nine different drum modules. Flavor the sound with 11 support generators and effects. Program automation, create alternating groups and let Reason’s powerful sequencer control the beat. Reason 5 ships with a sound bank with a generous supply of kits for Kong across a wide variety of styles.

– Live Sampling
Remember the time when samples were something you sampled and not loaded from your hard drive? When a sampler was a machine that could record samples, not just play them back. As samplers became software instead of machines, they came to rely on external sample editing software for recording and editing the samples and the art of spur-of-the-moment creative sampling was pretty much lost. Now we are bringing it back to Reason 5 with its live sampling input. All sample players in Reason are now samplers. Just hook up a sound source to the rack’s sampling input and you are ready to start sampling. Use a mic, a turntable, an instrument or the entire Reason mix. Sampling in Reason is simple and straightforward. Hit the sample button and Reason starts sampling. Reason will detect the sample start automatically. You can sample when Reason is running too if you like – no need to stop the music. If needed, bring up the built-in sample editor to set start and end points, loop points and more. This is possible for all loaded samples by the way – not only the ones you have sampled.
As always, Reason lets you focus on music making – and sampling in this case. All samples are neatly stored in our song file and accessible in the new samples pane in the tool window. Here you can easily see what samples are loaded into what machine and delete and export samples as you wish.
Live sampling together with pitch detection of root key and automatic zone mapping makes it dead easy to sample an instrument and map the samples across the keyboard. This way you’ll create your own multi-sampled instruments for NN-XT and NN-19 in an instant.

– Neptune
Getting a vocal performance right means so much more than hitting the right notes at the right time. Sometimes you get that almost perfect performance with perfect feel and presence, but the singer might have missed a few notes. That’s when Neptune can save the day. Neptune is an advanced pitch adjuster, audio transposer and voice synth for Record 1.5.

As a pitch adjuster, Neptune will fine tune the pitch of an audio track to help getting your vocal performances just right. Neptune will fix the flat notes with an unbelievable audio quality . You can select a root key and a scale that you want the adjuster to use, or create a scale that fits your song. And, yes. By cranking the pitch adjustment settings to the max, you can get that effect sound too.

Neptune is also a natural sounding audio transposer. This is a great help if you ever needed to change the key of a song that’s already been recorded.

Perhaps the most creative-sparking function in Neptune is the voice synth. Play your MIDI keyboard and Neptune will create new harmonies from your vocal tracks in real time, or use it without the original voice to completely change the melody of the song. Endless creative options!

– Blocks
Many musicians tend to think of music in terms like intro, verse, chorus, breakdown, buildup and so on. With the new Blocks mode in Reason 5 and Record 1.5, your sequencer does too. Blocks lets you sequence your songs using a more pattern-based approach, with the segments of your song as individual building blocks to be laid out in your arrangement.
Start by creating the discrete parts of your song in blocks mode. When you are ready to start building your song, just switch back to song mode and draw in what blocks should play in the dedicated pattern lane. Use one block for the verse and one for the chorus — or build your song around a single 8-bar loop.
Blocks provide a very fast way of creating a musical structure for your song. But the options don’t end there. With the basic arrangement laid out, you can see the contents of the blocks and create variations and mute individual parts, or add further musical elements in song mode.
A typical use for Blocks is to create your backing track in blocks and then use the song mode sequencer to record vocals or instrumental performances. For music based around a single looped section, one repeated block with automation and mutes of individual tracks added in song mode makes arranging a breeze.
You never have to commit to using either mode – you are free to move back and forth between Blocks and Song mode, and any changes you make in your Blocks will instantly be manifested in all instances of that Block. Need some tambourine on that chorus? Add it, and there will be tambourine whenever the chorus block is playing.

– upgraded Dr. Octo Rex
The upgraded Dr. Octo Rex loop player loads eight REX loops into one player and lets you switch between them on the fly. This makes arranging a breeze – load the drum loops into one player, the guitars into another and use the sequencer to select what loop to play in a pattern-like fashion.
With eight loops to switch between, the new loop player also comes ready for the experimental minded. Set the player to retrig the loops on the beat, on the bar or on the 16th note. Or program the loops manually like in the original rex player.
For each of the eight loops, the new rex player also comes with an expanded set of per-slice settings. Set pan, pitch, filter frequency and level, reverse slices, use multiple outputs, create alternating groups of slices and much more.

– Automatic Self-Contain of Samples (incl from ReFills)
Make your songs self-contained by embedding samples and even ReFill sounds in your file. Reason 5’s self-contained song format makes collaborating with your friends a breeze. Even breezier than before actually.

– Record Notes on Multiple Tracks
Reason 5 and Record 1.5 lets you use multiple MIDI keyboards, pads, and controllers for playing and recording your instruments. Lock a 16-pad controller to a Kong, and use a keyboard to play your synths. Or use two keyboards on stage for controlling different Reason instruments.

– Scale Clips by Resizing
By pressing the alt or option key, Record 1.5 lets you timestretch individual clips. Now you can stretch loops to match your song’s tempo, or expand samples to eight times the length for completely new sounds.

– Mute Tool
The new Mute tool lets you click to mute and unmute clips. Use it to mute sections, or create variations in your Blocks.

– Set and move loop functions
Select a clip and press L to immediately set the loop points to the selection. Use the new Remote parameters for real-time control of the loop points from your MIDI controller.

– Tap Tempo
New in the transport panel is the Tap Tempo button.

– Improved key commands for laptop use
Reason 5 and Record 1.5 works even better on your laptop – or any keyboard missing a numeric pad. The new key commands lets you control play, loop, record and more from your keyboard.

– Hierarchical menus in Combinator programmer
A sound designer favorite, the Combinator’s programmer window is now even easier to use with hierarchical menus for fast patching.

– Additional CV inputs on Combinator
The Combinator in Reason 5 is expanded with new CV inputs on the back. The four new CV inputs can be used to control any parameter on the contained devices, providing even more options and possibilities for sound designers.

– Updated Help system (incl Help on Mac)
Reason 5 and Record 1.5 comes with a new and better built-in help system, on both Mac and Windows.

– Normalize and reverse audio clips
In Record 1.5 you can normalize and reverse your recorded audio clips.

– Bounce clip to sample
When using Reason & Record, you can now bounce audio recordings to samples, so you can use them in Reason devices such as Kong, Redrum, NN-XT and NN-19.

– Reason 5 updates
In Reason 5 there are tons of changes to bring Reason up to speed with Record. These changes include advanced multi core support, improved cable management in the rack, faster sample loading, on-screen piano keyboard, sequencer usability improvements and much much more.

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