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[dystopiaq020] Various - Dystopiaq 3	[07 Jun 2011|11:15am]
Artist: VariousTitle: Dystopiaq 3Release: dystopiaq020Date: June 7, 2011Genres: Electronic, Ambient, Synthpop, Broken-Beat, Microtonal, Trip-Hop, Breaks, IDM, Rock, Improvisation, Hip-Hop, Avant-Garde, ExperimentalDownload at Archive.org.01. Azotic Compounds Laboratory – Eclipse (3:36)02. Nick R 61 – Mulatto (4:27)03. Fature – Mindstream (5:02)04. Flaccid Redux – |<0tb (edit) (2:35)05. catchers of mad wreck – 3 palms 1 finger (4:15)06. Ambient Anonymous – Perpetual War (5:12)07. Incentive – Solecism (6:18)08. Zombie Ninja Schmoe – it’s more like a bad dream (0:38)09. Tucker the Circuit – Mission Panther 236 (4:21)10. O.B.B.B.M:\/ – Italotillian Schizochic Garmet District (7:48)11. ShakySuperFly – Lazy, Thoughtless Music (2:01)12. Scissor Shock – psychic existentialist (6:02)13. je.vi – Escape Rober Steemp (2:27)Produced and Compiled by IncentiveArtwork by je.viDystopiaq 3 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
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Remix Contest	[07 Apr 2010|02:51am]
[ **mood** | cheerful ] Your chance to have YOUR MUSIC HEARD BY MILLIONS of people around the world, and gain international recognition as a leading remix artist! Lena Katina, the star of the Russian pop sensation, t.A.T.u, launched a remix contest on Kroogi.com. You can put your spin on several t.A.T.u. songs. The winning tracks will be featured on the group’s upcoming remix compilation release. Track stems are available here: http://tatu.kroogi.com/content/show/653951 The deadline for the remix submissions is May 1, 2010. Hurry! ;) Good Luck!
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91 Free VST Effects Plugins - PC	[08 Jan 2010|10:01am]
Did we miss your favorite free plugin? Would you like to comment on any of the plugins in the list? Please leave a comment below.1. BootEQ MKII"The BootEQ mkII is an equalizer and pre-amp simulator combination which provides some nice and musical signal coloration effects."2. Density MKII"Density mkII was primarily designed to work in a typical stereo audio group mixing situation or for summing and to glue all things together in an unobtrusive way."3. NastyLF"NastyLF a offers push/pull style low-end EQ with an added saturation stage. EQ levels and frequency can be dialed in variably as well as saturation amounts and a rather modern or vintage curve behaviour."4. NastyHF"NastyHF offers a really nice and musical vintage style HF shelf with switchable narrow or rather wide curve behaviour."5. Nasty Tabletop"NASTYtableTop is an easy-to-use low-end signal saturator."6. Rescue"The Rescue plug-in is a gadget which offers envelope dependend signal amplification and saturation in a mid/side configuration. In ANALOG mode it offers some addtional signal alterations similar to hardware. It comes in two versions: Rescue and RescueAE (anniversary edition) – the latter one performs interanl oversampling and adds an output limiter function."7. TesslaSE"TesslaSE adds some gentle and pleasant saturation effects to the incoming audio."8. TesslaPRO"TesslaPro is a signal saturator with added transient control. It works entirely oversampled and provides smoothest saturation effects."9. epicVerbThe “epicVerb” reverberation device aims at both: Tight small room and ambience effect simulation well suited to modern drum and vocal productions up to large “epic” halls as known from high quality outboard gear.10. epicVerb vstpresetsC4 vstpresets with different dry/wet mixes – use this when using eV on the insert bus (files provided by susiwong)11. RescueAE preset bankThe original Rescue factory bank for RescueAE (provided by nitex)12. FerricTDS"This device simulates some dynamic effects as can be obtained with some high quality tape gear."13. Modern CompressorPower On/Off button. Gate On/Off button. Gain Reduction meter include. Post-gate control (-96 to -30 dB) Gate time control. Threshold control (0 to 48 dB). Attack time control (1 ms to 50 ms). Release time control (60, 125, 250, 500ms, 1, 2, 4sec). Ratio switch (1.5:1, 2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 16:1, 32:1 and Tank mode). Side-Chain high pass filter control (off to 300 Hz). Mix control (0 to 100 %). Gain control (0 to 30 dB).14. Modern EqualizerEQ In/Out button. Phase flip In/Out button. High-pass filter control (off, 60, 120, 180, 240, 300, 360 Hz). Low-freq control (60, 80, 100, 150, 200 Hz). Low gain control (-18 to +18 dB). Low Peak/Shelf modes button. Med-freq control (500, 1200, 1800, 2400, 3200 Hz). Med gain control (-18 to +18 dB). Med bandwidth control. High-freq control (3000, 6000, 9000, 12000, 16000 Hz). High gain control (-18 to +18 dB). High Peak/Shelf modes button. Mix-Ratio control. Output control (-18 to +18 dB).15. Modern SpacerPower On/Off button. Stereo level meters include. Pre-Delay control (off to 2 secs). Time control (off to 10 secs). Room Depth control (15 to 3000 m). Room Width control (20 to 300 m). Mix control. LS, MF, HF, HS controls for Reverb EQ. Output control (-18 to +18 dB).16. Modern ExciterPower On/Off button. Stereo level meters include. Extreme Low, High controls. Balance control. Output control (-18 to +18 dB).17. Modern De-EsserPower On/Off button. Gain Reduction meter include. Threshold, Ratio, Width, Release controls. Freq control (3000 to 9999 Hz). Output level control (-15 to +15 dB).18. Modern LimiterPower On/Off button. Gain Reduction light include. Link/Split modes switch. Input control (0 to 20 dB). Release control (30 to 2000 ms). Limit range control (0 to 96 dB). Output control (0 to -20 dB).19. Modern Lost AngelClassic LA-2A® Compressor clone. Power On/Off switch. Gain Reduction meter include. Peak control (Threshold, 0 to -48 dB). Gain control (0 to 48 dB). Attack time (Variable, 0.1 to 10 ms). Release time (Variable, 0.05 to 3 secs). Comp/Limit modes switch.20. Modern Seventh SignClassic 1176LN® Compressor clone. Power On/Off switch. GR/VU meter mode switch. Input control (Relative threshold). Threshold level (0 to -40 dB). Ratio switch (4:1, 8:1, 12:1, 20:1 and Crush). Attack time control (0.03 ms to 10 ms). Release time control (50 ms to 2 sec). Output control (0 to 40 dB).21. Modern Fire ChainerClassic Fairchild® 660 Compressor clone. Power On/Off button. Input Gain control (1 dB steps, 0 to 20 dB). Threshold control (Variable, 0 to 30 dB). Time constant selector. Attack time (0.2, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 0.4, 0.2 ms). Release time (0.3, 0.8, 2, 5 secs, auto 1, auto 2). Ratio (Variable, 1:1 to 20:1). DC Adjust control (comp to limit). Metering switch (VU, GR, Off). Output Gain control (0.5 dB steps, 0 to 20 dB).22. Modern Black DragonClassic Pultec® EQP-1A Program Equalizer clone. EQ In/Out button. 16 KHz cut In/Out button. Low shelf freq selector (20, 30, 60, 100 CPS). Low shelf boost control (0 to +16 dB). Low shelf attenuate control (0 to -20 dB). High peak freq selector (3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 16 KCS). High peak boost control (0 to +20 dB). High peak bandwidth control. High shelf attenuate control (0 to -18 dB). High shelf freq selector (5, 10, 20 KCS). Trim level control (-15 to +15 dB).23. Modern DeathcoreClassic Distressor® EL-8 Compressor clone. Power On/Off button. Gain Reduction meter include. Input level meter include (-12 dB detect). Input control (Relative threshold). Threshold level (0 to -36 dB). Ratio switch (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 20:1 and Deathcore). Side-Chain Filter modes switch (HP, LP, BP). Pre-Coloring modes switch (HP, DS, HPDS). Attack time control (0.03 ms to 10 ms). Release time control (35 ms to 3 sec). Output control (0 to 36 dB)24. Modern PremierMic preamp simulator. Signal In/Off button. Monitor On/Off button. Input control (-18 to +18 dB). Level control (Mix 0% to 200%). Transparent control. Filter control. Five preamp model selector. Harmonic control.25. Modern AmplifierPower On/Off switch. Gain Reduction meter include. Hidden OLED level meters include. Gain control (0 to 50 dB) Peak Reduction control (0 to -50 dB). Fast/Slow modes switch. Compress/Limit modes switch.26. Modern Deep PurpleSignal In/Off switch. LCD display include. High-pass filter control (20 to 200 Hz). Low-pass filter control (22 KHz to 12 KHz). 3 Band Program EQ (LF, MF, HF). Gain, Freq, Q controls. Trim level control (-18 to 18 dB).27. Modern AnaloguerAnalog tape simulator. Power On/Off switch. Standard/Monitor modes switch. Hidden OLED level meters include. Input control (0 to +18 dB). Output control (-18 to 0 dB). Color control. Level control. Filter control. Ceiling control(+6 to -6 dB).28. Modern Flash VerbProcess On/Off button. Send mode On/Off button. Input control (-6 to +6 dB). Level control (Relative reverb time). Reverb time (off to 10 secs). Room control. Room size (box to infinity). Pre-Delay time(off to 2 secs).29. MCompressor"MCompressor provides standard compression with volume maximization and has adjustable compression shape, which gives you power to set custom smoothing or even interesting sound effects."30. MEqualizer"MEqualizer is a 6-band equalizer with increadibly fast and easy controls."31. MRingModulator"MRingModulator performs standard ring-modulation effect using two oscillators."32. MAnalyzerMAnalyzer is a FFT based analyzer for audio frequency content displayed as 1/3 octave bars or FFT curve. Allows comparisons, magnitude normalization, ". "averaging...33. MPhaser"MPhaser is a traditional phasing effect plug-in."34. MLimiter"MLimiter performs smooth saturation in a standard tube-like way improving clarity of the resulting sound. It can also be used as a distortion module for guitars and other instruments."35. MWaveShaper"MWaveShaper is a traditional wave-shaping plug-in. Unlike other plug-ins it has an adjustable shape instead of a few predefined shapes."36. MAutopan"MAutopan is a traditional automatical panner with adjustable shape."37. MVibratoMVibrato is a traditional vibrato with adjustable shape.38. MTremoloMTremolo is a traditional tremolo with adjustable shape.39. MStereoExpander"MStereoExpander provides stereo field modification to improve or smaller clarity of differences between channels."40. Dasample GlaceVerb"GlaceVerb is Dasample's first attempt to implement its works on Residual Vector Modulation (RVM) in a VST plug-in. RVM is a proprietary algorithm developed to calculate the deformations, the vibrations and the acoustic response of surfaces and materials."41. T-SLEDGE"T-SLEDGE is a multi-band compressor for mastering, equipped with peak limiter, level maximizer and 4 compressors/expanders/limiters. And it is equipped with 2 kinds of dividing filter IIR/FIR. So, it also operates as a dynamics EQ."42. Classic Auto-Filter"The Classic Auto-Filter is an analog modeled four-pole filter with resonance control. It can be used for creative effects like auto-wah-wah and filter sweeps, as well as a fixed filter for equalizing purposes. The filter is selectable between low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band-reject (notch). The filter cut-off frequency can be modulated from the envelope follower and the LFO."43. Classic Chorus"Classic Chorus is a great sounding and easy to use classical Chorus VST plugin. Nice Plugin for adding Depth, Fatness and Stereo perspective to almost any Electrical Instruments or Vocal."44. Classic Compressor"Classic Compressor is a classic analog style VST Compressor Plugin with a lot of warmth and punch. Special designed to use on individual Instruments and Vocal, but also useable on your final mixes."45. Classic Delay"The Classic Delay emulates three of the most commonly used delays / echo sounds types: Tape, Analog, and Digital, but without the introduction of noise. A quality control is included where the sound of the echo machine can be adjusted to give the preferred amount of “imperfection”. The delay can be synchronised to the host, and the feedback can be reversed to give a ping-pong effect."46. Classic EQ"Classic EQ is a 7 Band Stereo Equaliser with a warm analog sound, well suited to make non-surgical tonal corrections on all instruments, vocals and final mixes. The passive and additive structure, together with unique “Warm” and “Saturation” algorithms, produces warm and pleasant sound, just like some of the most expensive vintage gear. The left and right channels can be adjusted individually or linked together."47. Classic Flanger"Take a trip back to the mid 80's with our Classic Flanger. It will give you that subtle or massive swirling effect that is used mainly for guitar, but can be used for many other instruments as well. Due to a tightly controlled feedback path, it is possible to boost the flanging effect to maximum without getting unwanted side effects."48. Classic Master Limiter"The Classic Master Limiter VST plugin is specially designed to boost the overall level of your final mixes, but is also highly useable on very dynamic instruments. With just one control on the front panel operation is as simple as it gets; just turn the Threshold down and hear how your mixes gets louder and louder. Very high compression ratios can be obtained without changing the balance of the mix."49. Classic Phaser"The Classic Phaser emulates analog phasers from the 70’s and 80’s. These vintage phasers got their characteristic sound from the analog phase shifting filters used, unlike the delay lines used in most modern digital phasers. To get a deeper and fatter phasing effect, more filter stages were cascaded. The Classic Phaser works just like an analog phaser, and with selectable filter stages from 4 to 12, it can resemble anything from phaser pedals to expensive studio phasers from that time period."50. Classic Reverb"Classic Reverb is a nice and smooth reverb that does a good job on almost any instrument. It can be adjusted to sound like most any acoustic space, ranging from a small shower to a large concert hall. With the "Hi-Damping" control, it is possible to change the sound from bright and sibilant to a more natural / warmer sound."51. Endorphin"dual-band stereo compressor"52. BLOCKFISH"BLOCKFISH is a versatile compressor with countless ways to shape the incoming audio. Unlike many other digital compressors, BLOCKFISH has 'soul'. It likes to bite, but it can be tamed easily once you've learned how to use its potential."53. SPITFISHSPITFISH is a dead-easy to use de-esser, aimed mainly at mono or stereo vocal tracks. Just like classic analog de-essers, this unit dynamically filters out harsh, annoying s-like sounds that would otherwise 'spit' in your face.54. FLOORFISHFLOORFISH is a simple expander / gate device, easy to set up and offers a broad variety of processing, ranging from slight expansion, backgound noise attenuation to extreme gating effects. What's different from similar units is the ability to scan the source and adjust the transistion curve accordingly.55. dominion"Signal modelling device that contains: envelope shaper, tube saturation emulator, exciter and at the end of audio chain is a compressor/ limiter for avoiding clipping."56. Normalizer"Normalizer – denormals eleminator. Denormalisation is an issue with some audio hosts that don’t switch off the plugin’s audio task when the song is stopped or a track contains silence (or with instruments: no key is pressed while a sound decays)."57. AmpliTube® Duo LEThis guitar-based plugin is normally not free, but comes bundled in the free version of Sonoma RiffWorks T4 (for Mac and Windows), which you can download fro the link above. Studio Devil BVC (below) is also bundled with the software.58. Studio Devil BVC (British Valve Custom)"They offer several AWESOME plugins targeted for guitar usage, some commercial,but this one is free. British Valve Custom is based on the gain structure of popular British Valve (Tube) Rock amplifiers (like the infamous Marshall tube heads) with some subtle modifications to give it slightly more gain. This amplifier model has considerable bite and attack making it perfect for classic rock and hard rock sounds. It also works great with neck pickups for blues, rock, and even metal guitar solos."59. Red Skull Distortion"The Red Skull plug-in is an aggressive high-gain distortion pedal simulator with unbelievably chunky metal tones for playing Nu Metal, Grind Core, Hard Core, Trash Metal or any genre that requires crushing sound."60. Fuzz-Stone Distortion"Fuzz-Stone is the second plugin in Freetortion Series. The Fuzz-Stone is a ‘60’s styled guitar fuzz tone pedal which simulates the Legendary Stones’ Satisfaction guitar tone."61. Fuzz-Stone[Ge] Distortion"Fuzz-Stone[Ge] is the 3rd plugin in Freetortion Series. The Fuzz-Stone[Ge] is a great Fuzz style Germanium transistor distortion simulator."62. California Sun"The California Sun is a classic guitar combo amplifier simulator with two channels (Clean and Dirty). "63. Whamdrive Distortion"Whamdrive Distortion/Pitch Shifter – This looks exactly like Digitech Whammy pedal… and sounds and reacts quite similar. Whamdrive is a VST plug-in to shift the pitch of an incoming audio signal. It allows you to pitch an incoming audio stream in realtime with an external MIDI foot controller or with the GUI controls. It Offers a cabinet simulator, like Digitech pedals."64. Tom Pong"Tom Pong is a ping pong delay VST Plugin. Windows only. A ping pong delay is a delay which alternates from one speaker to another. If the balance is set to 0.5, a stereo signal will invert itself each time the delay buffer is played back. If the balance is set to either side of 0.5, the signal bounces back and forth between the speakers. Tom Pong can be synced to the host sequencer, or delay times can be set by sample count. Feedback and output level are also adjustable."65. Wow & Flutter"A VST plug-in which emulates the playback speed imperfections of the pre-digital era."66. Echolive"I built this plug-in for a live performance at the Bazillus Club in Zurich. It features a tap tempo function which makes it easy to create echoes that fit the timing of a live band. "67. Dub Siren"Emulates the sounds of those selfmade siren units used by Dub and Reggae Sound Systems like Jah Shaka, Aba Shanti and countless others."68. Tape Delay"On user request I made the tape delay from the DUB SIREN available as a separate plug-in."69. Analogic Delay"This plug-in mimicks the tape delay in Logic Audio. I created it on request from a friend who switched to another sequencer software after Logic's discontinuation on the PC platform."70. Bionic Delay"This enhanced version of the Analogic Delay gives you separate control over the delay times on left and right channel. suitable for ping pong delays and drifting delays."71. Echomania"Besides being a CPU hog this plug-in goes further than most (all?) real tape delay machines. It's capable of stereo delays, ping pong delays, multitap delays and complex delay textures."72. ADT - Artificial Double Tracking "The ADT technique was developed at Abbey Road Studios by engineers recording the Beatles in the 1960s. To free John Lennon from having to sing everything twice for real double tracking they came up with an artificial replacement: they sent the original signal to another tape machine and re-recorded it. Due to the physical distance between record and playback heads the new signal was delayed. The length of the delay depends on the tape speed (the slower the tape is running the longer it takes for the signal to travel from the record to the playback head). However, due to the machine's (small amounts of) Wow and Flutter the delay time was not fixed but varied slightly, giving an additional chorus-like effect."73. Poor Plate - Stereo Plate Reverb "Plate reverbs have been among the first devices for artificial reverberation. The first digital reverb units by EMT and Lexicon tried to model plate reverbs instead of real spaces. The Poor Plate is a Plug-In for all those people who can neither afford a real plate nor one of the classic digital units."74. RIAA - Phono Equalization "This Plug-In provides normal and inverse RIAA equalization. It thus can be used for record playback or vinyl cutting purposes. Another nice trick is to use it to simulate certain 'vinyl sound effects' by applying the inverse RIAA curve to your signal and after running it through a compressor converting it back to flat."75. NoAmp! Free"NoAmp! is based on a famous stomp box that made life easier for many guitar players and gained much popularity for its sound quality, versatility and ease of use."76. Drumz Strip"Simple Drum Player unit: twelve sample channels / outs with independent control over level, pan, mute and sample trigger."77. X-Cita"Analog style exciter for mastering purposes, inspired on the BBE Maximizer models. Its warm sound and simplicity of using makes this exciter very suitable to add some subtle brightness in the high frequencies, and also make the lows more dense. Apart from the mastering stage, you'll find that it can also make a good work on individual tracks."78. Elottronix XL"VST plugin which emulates the famous Robert Fripp's effect called "Frippertronics": two Revox B-77 making a continuous loop. This enhanced version adds many new features: 80 seconds maximum delay, Delay and LFO Pan now syncable to host, Biquad X filters, Tape noise generator..."79. Sun Ra"Ambient texture generator. It's based on a dual synthesis engine ( 1substractive oscillator + 2 wave players), completed with several randomization options and a battery of built-in effects. It also features a good set of 24 presets."80. Baxxpander"Vintage style saturation/bass expander unit, presented as VST effect. We think this plugin is specially good to add warmth and saturation to drums and basses, and with vocal tracks that need a little punch. It uses very little CPU, and includes 8 factory presets."81. Cosmogirl II"New version of the old Cosmodelia's synth of the same name. We have designed a fresh GUI, 64 new presets and automation of all parameters. It's a 2 oscillator analog style synth, specially geared to the creation of spatial FXs, ambient textures and experimental music."82. Elottronix"VST processor which emulates the famous Robert Fripp's effect called "Frippertronics": Two Revox B-77 making a continuous loop (2-8 seconds delay)."83. Naive LPF"Naive LPF is a resonant low/high-pass filter plug-in VST effect for Windows with a very convincing, classic sound. Naive LPF features a separate envelope follower for each of 6 channels and full automation, MIDI CC and even joystick control of all parameters."84. DIG - Dual Integrated Gain"New DIG 2.0 features matched only by high priced proprietary rivals. Never before have you been given this much flexibility in tone and gain control at a price impossible to beast. Its free!"85. Cakewalk SFZ+"Now free on the Cakewalk store."86. Cakewalk Square INow free on the Cakewalk store.87. Cakewalk AudioFX 1Now free on the Cakewalk store.88. Cakewalk AudioFX 2Now free on the Cakewalk store.89. Cakewalk AudioFX 3Now free on the Cakewalk store.90. Rough Rider Compressor"Rough Rider is a modern compressor with a bit of "vintage" style bite and a uniquely warm sound. Perfect for adding compression effects to your drum buss, it also sounds great with synth bass, clean guitar, and backing vocals. Definitely not an all-purpose compressor, Rough Rider is at its best when used to add pump to rhythmic tracks. Of course, you can use it however you'd like. The Compressor Police aren't gonna come to your house and give you a citation. Slap it on a track and crank some knobs."91. SPL Free Ranger"The EQ Ranger plug-ins are based upon the EQ modules for the SPL RackPack series. They combine the amazing sound of passive fliters with extremely efficient operation. The Free Ranger is based upon the Full Ranger-EQ but is limited to four useful bands. Scroll to the bottom of the page to request a download.
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Understanding Synthesis in Propellerhead Reason 4	[29 Jan 2009|03:19pm]
As of version 4, Reason features three different synthesizers: The Subtractor - An analogue synthesizer that features 99 voice polyphony based on subtractive synthesis with two oscillators.The Malström - A graintable synthesizer that uses a complex synthesis method called granular resynthesis.The Thor - A semi-modular, polyphonic synthesizer that features six oscillators and four filters, along with a step sequencer. Let’s talk a bit more in depth about the type of synthesis involved in each of these. Subtractive synthesis: The oscillators generate a waveform from scratch, and then the sound is run through various audio filters. The filters then use a cut-off frequency to subtract various harmonic content from the sound, hence the title “subtractive.”Granular synthesis takes a sample of a piece of audio, and slices up the original waveform into tiny pieces, and then modifies them using the Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release (hereafter referred to as ADSR). It can also replay the pieces in a different order.Graintable synthesis: This is an interesting one, as graintable synthesis is a cross between granular synthesis and wavetable synthesis. The basic principle behind graintable synthesis is a sample sound that is processed, resulting in a set of periodic waveforms that can be manipulated by the synthesizer. It combines the best of granular and wavetable synthesis functionality, so in a graintable synthesizer, functionality from either or both can be used.Wavetable synthesis is essentially generating a waveform using an oscillator, similar to the Subtractor, and then modifying that waveform. The Malström gives us the best of both those worlds. At the other end of this, the Thor synthesizer lets you basically do whatever you want. This is truly a beast, though it may not seem that way at first. Thor provides six open filter and oscillator spots, so you can load three different filters and three different oscillators at the same time. This is one of the main reasons that the Thor synthesizer provides all new sounds and functionality in Reason 4. The release of this synthesizer was a big event in the scope of Reason 4 and synthesis development. One last thing before we take a look at each individual synthesizer. I mentioned Attack/Decay/Sustain/Release (ADSR) above, but I didn’t explain it, so I will do that here. ADSR is a fundamental component of synthesis. Attack: How quickly the sound reaches its full volume.Decay: How quickly the sound drops back down to the sustain volume level.Sustain: The constant volume that the sound reaches after decay.Release: How quickly the sound fades to silence. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time to look at each individual synthesizer in Reason. The Subtractor As mentioned before, the Subtractor is an analog subtractive synthesizer. It generates waveforms using oscillators, and then filters are applied to change the harmonic elements. Looking at the Subtractor, let’s start on the left. First, there are the usual controls, such as portamento (how the sound slides from one note to another), polyphony, and legato. Below that, there is the modulation wheel and pitch bend, both of which are commonly used in automation. To the right, there is an external modulation section, allowing the modulation wheel to be assigned to various parameters. The Subtractor has two oscillators, each capable of generating 32 waveforms. Oscillator 1 is always on, and Oscillator 2 can be toggled on or off using the button next to it. The mix knob next to the two oscillators controls the mix between the two. When the knob is at the left, the only sound in the mix comes from Oscillator 1, and when it’s at hard right it plays only Oscillator 2. Anywhere between is a mix of the two. You can toy with the Phase knob with each oscillator. This will generate another wave of the same form, and offset it by the phase you set. Think back to physics class, when you had two waves that collided, and they would either amplify each other, or they would subtract from each other. You can then change the mode by clicking the button, which will tell the waves how to interact (X multiplies, - subtracts, and O means no phase modulation). There is a noise generator, along with FM synthesis, and a feature for ring modulation. Then, in the filter section, which is a combination of a multi-mode filter and a second linkable low-pass filter. There are also three envelope generators, to control modulation, filters, and amplitude. Next, we have the LFO section, followed by the play parameters that make the sound’s velocity dependent. Also, just a neat fact for our all our trivia gurus out there: try spinning the screws on the Subtractor (use your mouse like you are trying to turn a knob). The Subtractor is the only device in Reason with working screws. So if you take anything away from this tutorial, be sure to remember that! But seriously, onto the Malström we go! The Malström As I said before, Malström combines granular and wavetable synthesis. Some things here will seem familiar from the Subtractor, but there are other concepts here that are entirely new. As usual, let’s take a walk around the Malström. First off, we have the global settings area, same as with any instrument in Reason. This section contains the polyphony, portamento, legato, and modulation and pitch bend wheels. Now, I’ve talked about Legato in passing, but haven’t really explained what it is. Legato essentially means that, if you change notes, there will be no silence. If you turn legato on, and play a note, and then play another note quickly, there won’t be a gap of silence. Instead, you’ll hear the second note as simply an extension of the first. Legato is commonly used in string instruments, vocals, and synthesizer leads. Next up, we have Oscillators A and B, both of which can be toggled on or off using the buttons.You can select a graintable by clicking the up or down arrow next to the name, or right clicking on it. The index slider is what controls playback, as in, which grain to play first. The motion knob then tells us how fast to play through the grains in the graintable. There is a neat trick that you can use to hear all the grains in your graintable. Turn the motion knob to -64, all the way to the left, and then slide the index from side to side. Because the motion is set to -64, it will only play through the first grain. By changing the index, you’re changing which grain plays first, allowing you to hear each individual grain in the graintable. Each oscillator also has an ADSR envelope, a volume control, and a shift knob (which chooses which harmonics to emphasize in the sound). There is also an octave knob, which selects which octave to play the sound in, and a semi and cent knob to help shift the oscillator. There are two modulators in Malström that function as the LFOs, but also have a specific section for graintable synthesis. Mod A modulates the rate, index and shift functions. Mod B modulates the rate, motion, volume and filter. Using the switch, you can choose which oscillator (A, B, or both) the modulator affects. What you might notice is that some knobs in Malström don’t seem to have any effect on the sound. This is because of the way that Malström routes the sounds. Similar to the Thor below, there is a path to how the sound travels through the components of the synthesizer. If you follow the arrows and lines, you’ll notice that Oscillator A and Oscillator B are routed.Oscillator A travels into the shaper, and then into Filter A. Oscillator B travels into Filter B.These routes can be changed, using the various buttons to turn each path on or off. This may seem kind of confusing at first, but after a few seconds of toying with it, it becomes much clearer. The filter knob in Modulator B won’t work on an initialized patch. You have to route Oscillator A through the Shaper (although you can turn the shaper off if you don’t want to hear the effect) and Filter A in order for it to have any effect. There is one last feature of the Malström, which is the small output section. Obviously, the volume controls the volume output level, but the spread knob needs some explaining. The spread knob moves Oscillator A more to the left, and Oscillator B more to the right. The Shaper deserves an extra mention, as it is possibly one of the most destructive forces in the Malström. The Shaper can take a mediocre initial Malström sound, and turn into into a beast. The Shaper wasn’t meant to be the defining piece of the Malström, but if you go overboard with it, it can completely dominate your sound. Sometimes this is useful, but often it is a little too destructive for most practical purposes, so keep it under control. The Thor The Thor is an absolute beast. It boasts three changeable oscillator slots, and three changeable filter slots. It also has a mixer for mixing the output from each of the oscillators. It comes with an arpeggiator and a step sequencer. If you think of Reason as a rack of synthesizers, then using Thor gives you a rack of synthesizers inside a rack of synthesizers. It’s truly incredible. Go to Create > Thor Polysonic Synthesizer. Click the Show Programmer button. I’ll pause so you can pick your jaw up off the keyboard. If you look at the image following this paragraph, things won’t be as ridiculous, as I’ve set all programmable options to Bypass. On our left, we have the three programmable oscillator slots. If you click the gray down arrow in the top left of each space, you can choose an oscillator for each space. The options we have to choose from are: AnalogWavetablePhase ModulationFM PairMulti-OscillatorNoise Each of these various oscillators brings different functionality and a different sound to the synthesizer. The analog oscillator is probably the most common, featuring the four major waveforms (saw, square, triangle, sine). There are more options available to us in the Thor than in the Subtractor (which also uses analog oscillators). The wavetable oscillator brings 32 wavetable settings. Once a setting is selected, the position knob allows you to control which section of the wavetable is used. This is similar to the Malström (which combines wavetable and granular synthesis). The phase modulation oscillator starts with a default wave that is then blended by up to two waveforms (First and Second). Once you choose a wave for First, you can adjust the phase modulation knob and hear the default sine wave slowly change into the wave of your choice. The FM (Frequency Modulation) pair oscillator uses a modulator and a carrier to control sound. The carrier creates the main oscillator sound, while the modulator controls harmonics. If you leave the FM knob turned to 0, you will hear a sine wave, as the sine wave is the default for FM synthesis. The multi-oscillator essentially emulates several oscillators all playing at the same time. However, there are controls to allow you to detune the sound, and also control the octave and toy with the way the sound plays back. The noise oscillator is primarily used to add a grunge feel to sounds, as it generates various forms of noise that can be controlled using the mode knob. Each of the different settings produces a different type of noise. What you then see is a bunch of arrows pointing all over the place. If any of you have ever taken a circuits class, think of this synthesizer as an electrical circuit (because it essentially is). Oscillators 1 and 2 both get routed into the mixer, and the balance between the two sounds is mixed and controlled using the rotary dial titled Balance 1-2. The resulting output of that mix is then mixed with Oscillator 3 and controlled using the two sliders called 1+2 and 3. Next, the output from there is routed to either Filter 1 or Filter 2. The red buttons allow you to choose which signals actually get passed through the filters. There are various filter choices available to us: Low Pass LadderState VariableComb FilterFormant Filter From there, the output heads on over to the next section, where an LFO and three envelopes are applied (or not applied if you deselect Gate Trig), and the resulting output is then passed to Filter 3. Once in Filter 3, the various other effects are applied, such as Delay, Chorus, LFO2 and whatever filter you select for Filter 3. Hopefully that helps make a little more sense to you. I know not everything is covered, but if you start worrying about the details before the basics, it quickly gets overwhelming. But wait, there’s more! There’s still an arpeggiator, a step sequencer, and a modulation matrix.I’ll break down the basics of each of these now: The modulation matrix allows you to choose a source, destination and amount in order to program the way you want the modulation of the synthesizer to happen. For the sake of not sounding like a signals and systems professor, I’m going to leave this relatively alone, as for the most part, this will be done for you by Reason. If you ever get curious, click the down arrow next to the source, and see what is available to you. At the very bottom of the Thor is the step sequencer and arpeggiator. They are combined into one, so the Thor can generate patterns and/or notes. If you adjust the slider from OFF to Repeat and click Run, and begin to choose between the various settings, you can enable arpeggiation for a rhythmic feel. Application Now, theory is all good and fun, but aren’t we really after the real use of these synthesizers? Of course we are, so now let’s take a look at the application. In the name of generalizing things, I’m going to try to break down the realm of synthesizer patches into several types: LeadsPadsBassesGlitch In general (but not always), each of the synthesizers in Reason has a strength, a particular type of sound that it’s very good at. Obviously, you can use any synthesizer for almost any application, but these guidelines will help if you’re struggling to create a sound. The Subtractor is widely used for basses, and very flat leads. The Subtractor is excellent at generating waveforms, which is about all you need for a bass, or for a straight sine wave lead.The Malström is much more widely used for pads and for glitch effects. The filters and the way that the sounds are synthesized make it much easier for these sorts of things. Whereas in Subtractor turning knobs yields more subtle changes, changing a knob in Malström can completely destroy the sound (using the noise filter mode on the shaper is one such example).The Thor is still relatively new, but it has proved its usefulness in all sorts of sounds, but it is less commonly used for glitch and bass than it is for leads and pads. Now, remember, this is generalized. I’ve heard some wicked bass patches from the Malström, and I’ve heard some great pads from the Subtractor. But if you are having trouble creating the sound you want, make sure you’re using the correct synthesizer for the task. Just for kicks, I’m going to show you a quick application of the Thor synthesizer. I toyed around with the Low Pass Ladder Filter in the Filter #3 slot, and changed the Drive to 63 and the Res to 77, and then saved it as Epic Poly_Whisper. This gave the synthesizer a “whispery” quality to it, as it is now more resonant and less direct. You can find it in the Play Pack for this tutorial. Now, play the melody I have shown below: Right click on the Thor icon in the sequencer, and go to Parameter Automation, and choose Mod Wheel. Grab your pen tool, draw a new group, then double click the pen tool, and draw a line looking like this: We now have a very trance-esque synthesizer line with automation on the modulation. This sort of technique is used very often in electronic music. I’m going to go ahead and add in a Subtractor and a Malström line. I’m going to use “WarmPad” for the Subtractor and “SoundOnSound” for the Malström. Nothing all that exciting, but I want you to see a practical use of each. The Subtractor: The Malström: All three: Wrap-Up We’ve covered some of the scientific explanations of synthesis, and we’ve looked at the various synthesizers in Reason. As I’m sure you already figured out, there’s a near endless amount of things that you can do with synthesizers, far more than I could cover in 10 tutorials. However, this tutorial should have given you the foundation and fundamentals to be able to use Reason’s synthesizers to their potential. As always, I’ll be checking comments frequently and will try answer any questions and concerns you might have. Happy producing!
hit me with your best riff