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I've been thinking about this over the last while and thought I might post here for some input.
I realise Ableton would be more suitable for what I would like to achieve but thought there might be a way in Reason.

I'd like to perform live with Reason, record loops and build up tracks on the fly.
So far..no problem, set up the tracks, set up a sequencer loop and go. (The beauty of Reason is that you can arm (record) and move between tracks without having to stop playback.)
The problem is, I have a long evolving backing track that I'd like to play along with.
I can import the audio to play through on a track but then when I record the various loops live, they won't loop.
If I do set up a loop, only that portion of the backing track will play.

I tried importing the backing track to a Rex player (Rex seems to have no length restriction as long as you remove most of the slice markers) but the situation is the same, ie if the sequencer loops, the rex player also goes back to the start.
Unchecking the button "Follow Loop Playback" I thought might set the Rex free from the main loop but unfortunately not!

I looked at the Repeat Looper extension which does independent looping but bizarrely doesn't seem able to time sync to the main sequencer so will drift out of time pretty quickly if playing to a metronomic beat.

Does anyone have a possible workaround for this that I might be missing? Thanks!

You could trigger the long audio from an NNXT. The trig just needs to be before the loop start and the audio needs to be synced beforehand with the right tempo.
Maybe the Rex Player in Kong behaves differently.

There's no way of doing this in Reason. Both the Rex player and NNXT are locked to the sequencer and are affected by loop points so audio will not play straight through. I believe only Ableton and maybe Bitwig can have loops independent of the sequencer.

electrofux wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

You could trigger the long audio from an NNXT. The trig just needs to be before the loop start and the audio needs to be synced beforehand with the right tempo.
Maybe the Rex Player in Kong behaves differently.

That is a brilliant work around.

QVprod wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

There's no way of doing this in Reason. Both the Rex player and NNXT are locked to the sequencer and are affected by loop points so audio will not play straight through. I believe only Ableton and maybe Bitwig can have loops independent of the sequencer.

Even if the note on lies outside the loop?

Edit: Indeed doesnt work. But the below trick works.

Ok what you need is the following:

Make a Matrix with 1 Step and tie the step (click on the red tie light and adjust the gate of the step to maximium).
Connect it to the NN19 holding your long audio file.
Hit play.
It should play endlessly (or better as long as your file is) regardless of the Song Pointer or Loop Position.

Also works with Dr. Rex. More complicated though.

Put a Rex, a Matrix and CV8x4 cv generator in a combinator.
The Matrix again has one step tied.
Connect Matrix Gate Out to Combinator Gate In and the first rotary of CV8x4 to the Note CV in of the Combinator and set it to 26.
Press play.

The trick is to generate an endless trigger gate signal by tieing the Matrix step. It behaves as if you have keyboard attached to your NN19 or REX and you hold down a key forever.
Only problem is, if you ever happen to hit stop, you need to start your song from the start again.

electrofux wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

QVprod wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

There's no way of doing this in Reason. Both the Rex player and NNXT are locked to the sequencer and are affected by loop points so audio will not play straight through. I believe only Ableton and maybe Bitwig can have loops independent of the sequencer.

Even if the note on lies outside the loop?

Edit: Indeed doesnt work. But the below trick works.

It does work, you just need to put the release on full on the NNXT.

snapperdub wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

electrofux wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

Even if the note on lies outside the loop?

Edit: Indeed doesnt work. But the below trick works.

It does work, you just need to put the release on full on the NNXT.

Ah ok, there was my error. Knew i had this working somewhen. Though it shows maximum release at 200s which might not be enough.

ochenK's repeat looper might have some usefulness here

The Global Controls release at the top of the NNXT lets you play much longer samples. I've just played a 12 min sample just fine.

Good to know. Tried it earlier. The release is what I missed

Thanks for the responses. I had tried it with the sampler with the release on full but it runs out much quicker than I need.
I'm off now to experiment with the Matrix and the sampler from the earlier suggestion...

electrofux wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

Ok what you need is the following:

Make a Matrix with 1 Step and tie the step (click on the red tie light and adjust the gate of the step to maximium).
Connect it to the NN19 holding your long audio file.
Hit play.
It should play endlessly (or better as long as your file is) regardless of the Song Pointer or Loop Position.

Fantastic! This works a treat. I didn't try the Rex version but there's no need as the Sampler version does exactly what I'm looking for.
So basically the Matrix is telling the Sampler that the trigger key is held down for the duration of the sample.
The loop and which track is activated for recording has no effect on the sample continuing to play through.
This way I can record clips from different devices on the fly.
Thanks for that, electrofux, this really helps me out.

snapperdub wrote: ↑

20 Oct 2017

The Global Controls release at the top of the NNXT lets you play much longer samples. I've just played a 12 min sample just fine.

You're absolutely right, this works as well. I had only tried it with the sample level release on full.
This way is slightly more prone to error as you first have to arm the sampler, then trigger the note at exactly the right down beat if you want to stay on the grid.
Not a huge deal but with the Matrix triggering at least there's a little less to go wrong!

If i would do it, i would probably go with the 1tiedstep Matrix solution as it works with both NNXT and DR Rex, is completely length independant and the trigger doesnt need to be placed before the loop (though i am not sure if that is still needed with the release option). You can even mess with the Song Position pointer and the loop goes on playing.
Also with the release that long doesnt it still gradually lose volume?

electrofux wrote: ↑

21 Oct 2017

If i would do it, i would probably go with the 1tiedstep Matrix solution as it works with both NNXT and DR Rex, is completely length independant and the trigger doesnt need to be placed before the loop (though i am not sure if that is still needed with the release option). You can even mess with the Song Position pointer and the loop goes on playing.
Also with the release that long doesnt it still gradually lose volume?

I agree that is the most elegant solution.
Using the other way I think if the release is on full on the sample amp env and on the global amp env then it doesn't seem to fade out. I bounced a 12 min tune and the waveform looked ok and I couldn't perceive a slow fade out hearing it.
Anybody know for sure what exactly happens with the release?
But you are right it would still need triggering outside the loop.
The matrix solution wins.
Cheers