Sound trigger when hit key

[treysuttle]

Hi,

I'm new to Reason (and loving it!) and working with synths in general. I have an issue that is bugging me and not exactly sure how to phrase it, so google searches didn't work.

When I'm working with the instruments, e.g. Europa, sometimes when I hit a key on my controller it will not trigger a sound. It seems somewhat random. I know it's a setting in the instrument because it happens when I use different controllers. It also seems to happen when I'm holding one key and want to simultaneously hit another, e.g. I'm holding a C in the bass and then want to riff in the treble, sometimes the treble keys will trigger a sound and sometimes they will not.

I've played around with keymode in the instruments but that doesn't seem to really help. So I'm experimenting in the dark but would like to know the specifics - where in an instrument do I look if I want to set it such that it's always the case that when I hit a key on my controller it will trigger the sound even if I already have a note playing on the controller?

I understand this may not be possible with some settings - perhaps relative to envelope, etc. but if not I would be extremely appreciative if anyone could tell me why it would be the case that a setting would make it such that sometimes keys will not trigger a sound.

Sorry if all that is a little convoluted as I'm wrestling with how to express the issue, but I am thankful for any insight on this issue as currently it is being very difficult for me to play what I'm hearing in my head when keys seem to randomly not work.

Thank you!!

[WongoTheSane]

This looks like a combination of a legato setting and a short decay time in some patches.

legato.PNG (12.74 KiB) Viewed 228 times

When a patch is monophonic, i.e. it only plays one note at a time, there are two possible settings: Legato and Retrig. With the latter, the envelope is retriggered every time you hit a key. But with the former, it's not: if the two notes overlap, even by a little, the second one will not retrigger the envelope. It can barely be heard if the envelope has a long decay time, or a full sustain (the pitch will simply change when hitting the second note), but if the decay is short, or the filter closes quickly and completely, like for pluck sounds for instance, the second note will happen at a point when the amp is at its lowest point, or the filter is closed completely, or both. It will be played internally, but not heard.

In this case, you may want to either lift your fingers briefly between each note (playing like you were plucking the keys, so to speak), or set the patch to Retrig.

[treysuttle]

Thanks! I believe this is exactly the issue - after making my post I further noticed that I see the key when hit registering on the meter but not producing sound. I know exactly what to look at now and the settings to focus my experimenting on. Thank you.