New to Reason - which RE's and/or instruments for most fun, depth and useful experimentation?

[gkillmaster]

I'm just now getting into Reason and really love their players and instruments. So far I've gotten Algoritm and Complex-1 (which I love)
Would love to now which other instruments or REs I can look at that are powerful and provide for a lot of experimentation and more unusual sounds for sound design. My music is kind of a cross between industrial and Martin Denny so the more unusual the better.

Thanks for any advice on what to look at first.

Greg K.

[pushedbutton]

I'd suggest you spend a while getting to grips with Thor, it's a very flexible bit of kit that's easy to understand.

[gkillmaster]

I'd suggest you spend a while getting to grips with Thor, it's a very flexible bit of kit that's easy to understand.

Thanks, I do have experience with other music making platforms like Bitwig and Reaktor. I do appreciate the advice cause I hadn't thought about looking into Thor but I think I will now. Maelstrom is really interesting too from what I've been hearing.

[turn2on]

Using VCV Rack 2 Pro as VST))) Already prepared Combinator 2 pack for it.

Yes.. why not?) Modular world into Reason rack.
So, all of us - Reason users, from time to time find something interesting in old classic devices, and various 3rd part REs.
Experimentation in Reason rack - is about regular discovering something new and re-discovering something old.

[MrFigg]

I'm just now getting into Reason and really love their players and instruments. So far I've gotten Algoritm and Complex-1 (which I love)
Would love to now which other instruments or REs I can look at that are powerful and provide for a lot of experimentation and more unusual sounds for sound design. My music is kind of a cross between industrial and Martin Denny so the more unusual the better.

Thanks for any advice on what to look at first.

Greg K.

You want the Ekss Gristleizer.
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... trializer/

[crimsonwarlock]

Europa, Grain and Parsec are pretty deep and very powerful as well, and Friktion is something entirely different from everything else.

[gkillmaster]

Using VCV Rack 2 Pro as VST))) Already prepared Combinator 2 pack for it.

Yes.. why not?) Modular world into Reason rack.
So, all of us - Reason users, from time to time find something interesting in old classic devices, and various 3rd part REs.
Experimentation in Reason rack - is about regular discovering something new and re-discovering something old.

Thanks! I really appreciate this. It's a possibility for sure. Nice to know about the Combinator pack.

[gkillmaster]

I'm just now getting into Reason and really love their players and instruments. So far I've gotten Algoritm and Complex-1 (which I love)
Would love to now which other instruments or REs I can look at that are powerful and provide for a lot of experimentation and more unusual sounds for sound design. My music is kind of a cross between industrial and Martin Denny so the more unusual the better.

Thanks for any advice on what to look at first.

Greg K.

You want the Ekss Gristleizer.
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... trializer/

Wow! fantastic! Kind of thing I was hoping to find. Thanks so much! Checking it out now.

[Iapetus 9]

Nostromo. Throw it in the rack and roll the dice. Wild sounds galore.

[gkillmaster]

Nostromo. Throw it in the rack and roll the dice. Wild sounds galore.

Thanks! Will check it out! EDIT: Just checked out the video and it does look amazing. There's so much motion in the Spectrum Table scanning stuff!

[huggermugger]

I like granular synthesis for the more sound-designy sounds. Grain is fine, but to me feels like a conventional subtractive synth with an unusual oscillator. My preference for granular is Proton. More interesting control (albeit an interface that takes a little learning), and a vast collection of presets.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... celerator/

[avasopht]

Don't forget Maelstrom ... ... ... it's got sound textures for days!

[huggermugger]

Described as a 'distortion synth', Iridium has a unique sound and a simple UI. I like the grind and grunge that it produces.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... ion-synth/

[gkillmaster]

I like granular synthesis for the more sound-designy sounds. Grain is fine, but to me feels like a conventional subtractive synth with an unusual oscillator. My preference for granular is Proton. More interesting control (albeit an interface that takes a little learning), and a vast collection of presets.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... celerator/

Thanks! Looks great.

[gkillmaster]

Don't forget Maelstrom ... ... ... it's got sound textures for days!

Thanks. Yeh, I've heard it's great. I think someone said it was designed by the Sonic Charge guy who I greatly respect. Very interested in checking it out!

[Iapetus 9]

Don't forget Torsion Texture Lab. Granular sampler, destroyer of worlds. Perfect for those Martin Denny/Einstürzende Neubauten moments

[gkillmaster]

Don't forget Torsion Texture Lab. Granular sampler, destroyer of worlds. Perfect for those Martin Denny/Einstürzende Neubauten moments

Ha! Thanks. Didn't know about this one. Looking now...

[crimsonwarlock]

Described as a 'distortion synth', Iridium has a unique sound and a simple UI. I like the grind and grunge that it produces.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... ion-synth/

Keep an eye on sales, Skrock tends to give away some of their synths during sales. I got this one for free that way

[dvdrtldg]

My music is kind of a cross between industrial and Martin Denny

I am interested and would like to hear more, please send me all your brochures

Lots of good suggestions here but I would recommend one FX unit that often gets overlooked: Sunder Amplitude Splitter

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... -splitter/

Does what it says on the box: splits the signal into amplitude bands (rather than frequency bands), hi middle and low. Each band can be sent out to its own separate channel and treated with other FX, plus it has plenty of its own parameter modulation possibilities. Deceptively simple concept but it's full of surprises, and you can get some wild sounds going, particularly with beats, drum loops & other dynamic sources

Also two extremely cool (and free) VST synths you might not have discovered: Sinnah and Noisetar https://nusofting.com/plugins/sinnah/ https://nusofting.com/plugins/noisetar-freeware-synth/ - I won't bother crapping on about them, just check them out on the website. They're quite unusual and great for experimental sound design

Noise Engineering have some great REs for industrial type stuff, I particularly like their "reverb tail generator" Desmodus https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... /desmodus/ and their berserk distortion unit Ruina https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... ion/ruina/ . Noise Engineering also have some nice free synths, check the shop

Finally check out Blamsoft VK-2 which is a giant roaring analog beast of a synth. Flip it around, start hooking oscillators up to each other, instant Merzbow

Could go on all day but that'll do for now. Please enjoy my own weirdoid Martin Denny stylings

[Auryn]

It's a pity nobody recommended Zvork's Oberon synthesizer yet. If your music tends towards industrial, there isn't any synth that does metallic timbres quite like Oberon does them. It's also a synth that rewards experimentation.

I made a refill for it a couple of years ago, I'll just drop the demo's here, they give a pretty good impression:

[MrFigg]

It's a pity nobody recommended Zvork's Oberon synthesizer yet. If your music tends towards industrial, there isn't any synth that does metallic timbres quite like Oberon does them. It's also a synth that rewards experimentation.

I made a refill for it a couple of years ago, I'll just drop the demo's here, they give a pretty good impression:

Agree. I bought Oberon in a sale just because I had GAS and it really is one of the good ones.

[gkillmaster]

Described as a 'distortion synth', Iridium has a unique sound and a simple UI. I like the grind and grunge that it produces.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... ion-synth/

Thanks for the heads up on this one! Doesn't seem like the sound examples do it justice but I'll trial it for sure.

[gkillmaster]

It's a pity nobody recommended Zvork's Oberon synthesizer yet. If your music tends towards industrial, there isn't any synth that does metallic timbres quite like Oberon does them. It's also a synth that rewards experimentation.

I made a refill for it a couple of years ago, I'll just drop the demo's here, they give a pretty good impression:

Thanks a lot. This does seem like a good one. Going to trial this. I have gotten great results messing with drawing my own waveforms in Virsyn IOS apps.

[gkillmaster]

I'm surprised there isn't more mention of Aggregate Music System. Seems really deep and complex. I'm so curious about it. Going to give it a trail run today. Hope I can grasp it enough to get an idea whether it's useful.

[ekss]

If you’re getting the industrializer you might want to check out the multi fx bundle:

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/bund ... fx-bundle/

If you’re looking for synths you might enjoy these:

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... nthesizer/

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/bund ... th-bundle/


Most of my REs are focused on experimental electronics, lofi, retro and undergound styles, if you want to save the trial period for later you can see most of them in jam/demo videos at my YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/user/ekss1983