Exclusive interview with Harald Karla – the Reason Refill maestro at Soundcells
Steelberry Clones got an exclusive talk with the critically acclaimed Reason Refill producer Harald Karla at Soundcells. Soundcells has been active for a long time in developing quality Refills for Propellerhead’s DAW Reason, many of which has been featured and reviewed on this blog. Soundcells’ Reason Refills covers most angles of electronic music – featuring everything from 8-bit / chip tune type sounds to high quality emulations of classic analog hardware synthesizers like Moog Source to the KORG MS-20, but also a vast amount of very complex ambient pads that would fit any sci-fi movie on the planet. We at Steelberry Clones are happy users ourselves of Soundcells ever growing library of Reason Refills and therefore we thought it about time to dive a little bit deeper into the minds of Soundcells by asking Harald Karla who founded the company in 2008 all those questions that make up the unique sounds of the Soundcells’ Refills. Harald Karla have worked as a successful freelance sound designer for quite some time but is now focusing on Soundcells full time.
You can visit Soundcells webshop via this link to find out more about the various Reason Refills of Soundcells or simply use the Soundcells banner in the right hand side column to explore further >>>>
You have been active making Reason Refills for a long time – where do you find your inspiration
First and foremost, Soundcells ReFills are products that meet my personal taste. And that is an inspiration and first of all motivation – not just to create a product that the market demands immediately, but to follow your own preferences. Since I prefer to be within Reason, I’m trying to do everything possible there, of course. Also this is the reason for the content of the ReFills. The more I can put in a single environment – the more energy, concentration and creativity remains for the music …
When producing the Refills you often stay true to the original analog synths, for example the MS-20, how do you go about re-creating these sounds
Well – actually that is not my intention to emulate certain classics – it’s more the intention to preserve the typical sound characteristics. “Analog Signature” for example is a ReFill, essential to sample those classics – which thus serve as a sound basis and shaping the sound of the ReFills. In this ReFill the analog sound-feeling is in the foreground, and therefore the sampling here was comparatively expensive: In order to have vibrant aesthetics of sound each individual note is played three times and recorded. The capabilities of the NNXT sampler can be heard by repeating a note played on the same sample twice in a row …
The result is a vivid sound that raises a very analog feeling. One should not forget that real analog sounds are not only created by “fluctuating” oscillators, but also generated by other components such as filters, envelopes, modulations of various kinds. And here some analog synthesizer sounds incredibly strong, which can not be done simply by multi-sampling individual notes … At this point, it simply ends the emulation. If you wanted to create the typical sound with all its inaccuracies of the original, it would ultimately imply sampling note for note – very expensive and a different topic …
The Soundcells studio
We know of you as a high-end producer of Reason Refills and more, but can you tell us a little more about your musical background
A story of many – I had a very early interest in the creation of sounds, and in the beginning I did experiment with various instruments, but very early on I ended up focusing only on electronic instruments. From the time of the summer jobs I put all my money in (initially) keyboards, then synthesizers, drum machines, mixers, effects, etc.
I have never taken any lessons. The keyboard I’ve taught myself and I have always played by ear. Over the years I have dealt extensively with many types of music and electronic sounds, later on I started to create backing tracks to produce dance music with DJs, etc. … – And then finally spent all my time in music. Basically, the years were something of a “full study,” which continues to this day … : 0)
Read the full interview here >>
SoundCells’ has released an updated version of Salad Bar – Version 6
Soundcells’ Signature Sound:
Salad Bar’s patches will cover all kinds of music styles showing you the very best Soundcells has to offer. It’s a great ReFill to get to know Soundcells’ work, introducing you to their signature dimension in designing sound.
• The modules folder contains the basic synth and NNXT patches which were used for the combinator sounds.
• 8 tracks in RNS format – inspiring with highl ‘tutorialesque’ value.
Free Reason Refill based on the Nord Modular G2X synthesizer
You may have seen that we have had a new banner from SoundCells up for a while now >>>>>>>>>
Here are some more details on this really nice free Refill 
Nordic Red is based on samples from the ever popular Nord Modular G2X synthesizer.
Besides unlimited possibilties of creating a wide range of individual sounds – from 80’s retro sounds to modern club patches, emulations of acoustic instruments to a world of sounds that never have delivered before – the main feature of this version of Nordic Red are the G2’s “self-playing” patches, called ‘Noodles’.
Contains:
– 20 combinator patches.
– 35 NNXT patches containing the basic patches which were used to build the combinators.
– 24 recordings (up to 1.30 minutes per sample) from the Nord Modular G2X, 305 MB uncompressed.
– Great for all styles of music where deep atmosphere is desired.
– All samples are included into this download in Wave format – ready to use in any other DAW.
Don’t miss out on Soundcells’ Christmas offer!
Soundcells is announcing their Christmas offer of this year!
While the last days before Christmas are knocking at our door it´s time to offer something special. Along with regular Christmas sentiments Soundcells would like to present all Reason / Record users with an almost 25% discount on their products! This is the perfect opportunity to make a present to yourself…
Soundcells releases new powerful Reason Refill – WaveDrummin
Soundcells are back with a new Refill for Propellerhead’s Reason suite:
“WaveDrummin” is not just another percussion ReFill.
By finding a whole new continent Columbus redrew the map of our planet. Now it´s your turn to do so. By making use of this ReFill you can combine enchanting and haunting rhythms coming from all continents, maybe even from other planets as well as Wavedrummin opens doors to percussive bliss that have never been opened before. At the studio in Central Europe Soundcells recorded their favorite hits and bits coming from the ever popular Wavedrum by Korg while being caught by rhythms coming from distant worlds. The result of this all has become this ReFill, a work of art, a tool that lets you draw your own restyled map of our precious planet.
Realism vs mixability
Lots of samples taken from acoustic, real percussion instruments have the tendency to sound kind of dull in your mixes. The power of their sound often gets mudded by the rest of your instruments. With this in mind Soundcells processed all DSP generated percussion coming from Korg´s Wavedrum Oriental in such a way that the sounds will always sit conveniently in your mixes. Their impact and power will never get lost. Another point that needs to be highlighted is this special stereo knob coming with lots of combinators that works wonders for the mixability of our loops. Check it out!
Genre Crossover
The sounds of this percussion library are as authentic as you wish and at the same time they can be as electronic as you wish. There is no limit to their sonic possibilities. So whether you are a dance producer druling over techno or electro beats or you are a vegetarian ethno guru spiritualist… Wavedrummin will help you getting there. Check out the demos!
WaveDrummin Contents:
• 115 combinator patches stuffed with inspiring new energy.
• 107 rex loops that range from authentically acoustic to crazy electronic stuff, 20 Kong kits, 20 NNXT patches and 7 Redrum kits.
• 210 single hits to build your own kits from.
• Recorded impact noises coming from Brushes, Rods, Sticks and Fingers to add extra realism to the loops. The combinators carry knobs to control their volumes.
• All single loops and samples are included into this download in Rex and Wave format.
By purchasing this pack you are not restricted to Reason only. However there is a lot more magic to be found within the ReFill.
A web address to link to for more info and many “WaveDrummin” only MP3s:
Offering price per unit is 19,90 ,- EUR (normal price is 24,90 ,- EUR)
New Boost from Soundcells
Boost 309 v3 Contents:
• 120 combinator patches containing deep basses, great playable keys, surprising leads and awesome pads.
Soundcells Summer Sale 2011
Soundcells announces their ReFill summer sale 2011: 20 % discount on the single ReFills, and 15 % discount on the Soundcells bundles until the end of August. Customers are always welcome to ask for a specific combination of products!
For more information please visit:
Salad Bar Version 5 – The refill that keeps getting bigger and bigger :-)
Reason Refill maestros Soundcells are at it again
Salad Bar from Soundcells showcases a magnificent collection of Reason patches brought together in this ever growing ReFill since many future patches in the upcoming ReFill range from Soundcells will be added to Salad Bar…
Every time when a new Soundcells ReFill will be released, Salad Bar will get its next update. And in this way Salad Bar versions 2, 3, 4 etc, will be created. Besides this, Soundcells will also be developing lots of unique ‘Salad Bar Only’ patches. With the coming of Greenhouse (http://www.soundcells.de/Soundcells_Greenhouse.html) it was clear that it wouldn´t take very long for Soundcells´ evergrowing Salad Bar ReFill to get its latest update. So they put 20 Greenhouse patches in there and they also added 15 exclusive Salad Bar patches (75 SB-exclusives in total now). With its 260+ combinators this ReFill becomes more and more a fully-fledged workstation. Apart from that it´s a real bargain and “must-have” for the user and an excellent ambassador for Soundcells.
Soundcells’ Signature Sound:
Salad Bar’s patches will cover all kinds of music styles showing you the very best Soundcells has to offer. It’s a great ReFill to get to know Soundcells’ work, introducing you to their signature dimension in designing sound.
Salad Bar v5 Contents:
• 262 combinator patches in 8 different folders: Atmospheres & Textures, Bass, Keys, Leads, Miscellaneous, Pads, Rhythmic, SaladBar_exclusive (currently 75 ‘Salad Bar Only’ ones).
• 261 well balanced patches for Thor, Malstroem, Subtractor, NNXT and ReDrum and also 45 rex loops.
• The modules folder contains the basic synth and NNXT patches which were used for the combinator sounds.
• 8 tracks in RNS format – inspiring with highl ‘tutorialesque’ value.
New powerful release from SoundCells – Digital Genome
In modern molecular biology, the genome is the entirety of an organism´s hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or in case of this fine ReFill it´s the AMIGA1200 encoded in Reason´s NNXT samples. The AMIGA1200 (code-named ‘Channel Z‘) with it´s 8-bit Paula chip was extremely popular among producers all over the world in the early nineties. “Digital Genome” picks up the thread where Soundcells left with “bitBUMPER deluxe” with it´s funky, housy and spacy lo-fi character! Warm, gritty, sleezy, dangerous and nostalgic are the keywords. This ReFill can be used as a full workstation since everything the old Amiga had to offer is in there: basses, keys, lead synths, warm pads and enough drums and percussion to eat your heart out. And do not forget the wonderful FX section. The 170+ Genome combinators are conveniently built up with the right button functionality. Version 2 adds 25 new combinator patches, some minor additions/changes in detail as well as great new backdrops…
New stuff from SoundCells Pads – the BIG box‘ version 2!
“Pads – the BIG box V2″ contains all patches from the three Mystic Dream Pads – 2, 4 and 5 – in ONE really big ReFill with (since version 2) 62 new combinator patches that have not been released before – and all this at a sharp “bundle”-price. All patches were revised to match perfectly together. This ReFill gives you all you need when searching for atmospheric patches, conventional pads – bright or dark, inspiring soundscapes, rhythmical pads, fx & experimental sounds and more… The variety of sonic atmospheres coming from three original ReFills makes this collection very complete so chances are big that you´ll find what you are looking for while browsing for the right pad. Version 2 is adding 30 new combinator patches, furthermore every original combinator patch has been reworked – same sound as before, but highly expanded button / knob assignment, consistent naming of the functions and new backdrops…
‘Pads – the BIG box‘ Contents:
– 447 combinator patches (62 “BIG box” only ones).
– 11 different folders: Ambient, Atmospheres, Electric Keys, Exclusive Big Box Patches, FX & Experimental, Miscellaneous, Old MDP Reminiscence, Pads Conventional, Pads Dark, Pads Light, Rhythmic.
– The modules folder contains the basic synth and NNXT patches which are used for the combinator sounds:
183 Thor patches, 156 NNXT patches, 105 Malstroem patches, 59 Subtractor patches, 38 RV7000 patches
– All patches & demo tracks coming from MDP2, MDP4 & MDP5 are included.
More info here:
CONTACT
If you want to get in contact with us:
Mail to:steelberryclones(at)
hotmail(dot)com
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FREE REASON REFILLS
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Reaper DAW
