Neutron vs. Mutable Instruments Clouds

[jonheal]

Recently, I stumbled upon the Future Music Modular Monthly video series. One of the items demonstrated by Mylar Melodies was Mutable Instruments' Clouds. Another post on RreasonTalk mentioned the similarity of Clouds to Neutron. I've had Neutron for a while and completely did not understand it so it has been sitting gathering virtual dust. But after watching the video about Clouds, I loaded up Neutron and experimented and they do indeed share a lot of similar functionality.

But I am having trouble duplicating the functionality of smoothly scrubbing through a held sample in Neutron the way Mylar melodies demonstrated with Clouds. I've tried adjusting all of the parameters, but I can't seem to get a smooth scrub without a lot of noise and distortion getting added to the signal. Not that the noise is a bad thing.

Maybe this is where the similarity between the two ends?

[jonheal]

I'm getting some smooth and creepy stuff, now. Very nice! I'm not sure what I was doing (or not doing) before ...

Good price differential, too! $35 vs. $359. I mean if I had the money, I would definitely get Clouds, but I'm afraid it will have to wait until I cash in my wife's life insurance policy.

[dvdrtldg]

Neutron is a weird device - I've been using it since it first appeared in the shop, and it continues to surprise. Definitely one of those less-is-more REs, rewards a light touch

[yeahright31]

I've been using it since it first appeared in the shop, I agree with dvdrtldg it continues to surprise us who use it. Although the way I use Neutron is more just to find odd sounds through the grains, then save short recordings as loops and drag them into NNXT for fun.
I have that Future Music Modular Monthly video series too and I wanted Clouds as well, so I know how that feel...Then again if I had a spare $359 I could get a stack of refills or a few Rack Extensions maybe even put that as a down payment for a 2nd Boss RC 505, love looper machines too.

[Faastwalker]

Always loved Neutron. Was an instant buy after TRYing for 10 minutes when it first appeared due it's granular mangling abilities. But it keeps coming back up with new & interesting uses. First there was Selig's reverb patches & It's been recently re-explored in one or two thread on ReasonTalk. Really interesting to now hear it being compared to the fascinating looking Clouds module.

[Arrant]

I have both Neutron and Clouds, they are not very similar IMO. Neutron is mostly used for weird reverb/shimmer effects while Clouds can be used for all sorts of things.
If you have any specific questions I will try to answer

[jonheal]

Maybe this Fritz thing is along similar lines?

http://reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=7 ... 26#p277742

[max|waves]

My personal use of Neutron using Ammo as basic sound source.
Very nice old school sci-fi efx machine!

Neutron Machine.reason.png (607.82 KiB) Viewed 1509 times

[jonheal]

My personal use of Neutron using Ammo as basic sound source.
Very nice old school sci-fi efx machine!

Mr. max|waves,

I have been spending all of my time trying to make weird sounds, as well. I have been using a setup very similar to yours: Subtractor feeding into an Echo. I, too, have also thrown the Neutron into this mix and I also use the Maximizer as a brick wall limiter. I have found that twiddling strange sounds often makes some extremely loud sounds which must have their peaks pounded back into submission.

[max|waves]

Mr. max|waves,

I have been spending all of my time trying to make weird sounds, as well. I have been using a setup very similar to yours: Subtractor feeding into an Echo. I, too, have also thrown the Neutron into this mix and I also use the Maximizer as a brick wall limiter. I have found that twiddling strange sounds often makes some extremely loud sounds which must have their peaks pounded back into submission.

Sub -> Echo -> Neutron... nice idea! I'll try it!

In my setup Echo is at the end, just to give more space and vintage feel.
And yes, very useful is the Maximizer, because the Neutron's dynamic behaviour is often unpredictable.
Next step for me is use two sound sources with different waveforms to have more frequency space and harmonics