Reill Advice

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Mr. Watts
Posts: 136
Joined: 05 Sep 2017

17 Sep 2018

So I've been pondering with the idea of making a (free) refill based on my Akai AX-73 synthesizer. Just wanted some advice on how you all think I should go about it.

1) Should all of my samples be in stereo? I have many bass and lead sounds that I wish to include in the refill but am unsure as to whether I should sample them in stereo or mono.
2) Should I sample the sounds dry on the synth and add effects after? The AX-73 has an onboard chorus effect that sounds quite nice but is a bit noisy. There will be a slightly audible high pitch sound in some of the samples if the chorus is not disabled before sampling.
3) Should I use NN-19 or NN-XT?

Going for 50 patches: 10 Bass, 10 Lead, 10 Poly, 10 Pluck, 10 FX with matching combinator patches for each.

Any advice is greatly appreciate.

Thanks! :reason:
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bitley
Posts: 1673
Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Location: sweden
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22 Sep 2018

Perhaps you should go for the VX90 appearance as it's the rack model of the synth. It's also got a higher reputation than the AX.

http://www.vintagesynth.com/akai/vx90.php

As for the other questions it's always good if you know what you want since decisions like that are quite personal. One thing is certain and that's looping mono samples is a thousand times easier. But making perfect loops is never an easy task.

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Boombastix
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Posts: 1929
Joined: 18 May 2018
Location: Bay Area, CA

22 Sep 2018

I'd recommend not to sample the chorus for polyphonic sounds. The chorus rate will vary as they are pitched up/down and it will be a mess, unless you sample every key for a humongous library. With chorus you need longer samples + stereo to get good loops. But then it will be a Gb hog library. You can use it for monophonic sounds though if you do not let each sample cover too much of a range and sample, maybe 6 samples / octave.

Since we are blessed with Chenille in Reason, I would suggest you use that as your chorus for polyphonic sounds, in a combinator. It is a VERY VERY good BBD like chorus. And yes, I have a Roland Dim D to compare with. I know not everyone has it, but it does what some VST choruses does for ½ of the cost, and it is still superior. This way you get really good quality patches. You can of course also do budget patches, same as the ones with Chenille, but with the stock chorus. If you reach out to JiggeryPokery, maybe he can even help you tweak an AKAI patch for the Chenille for you to use. I would try that.
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Mr. Watts
Posts: 136
Joined: 05 Sep 2017

27 Sep 2018

To Bitley: Thanks that is actually a good idea. From what I've been able to gather they're basically the same thing except the vx 90 is rackmount, which I do agree would be better suited for the Reason rack. I will probably end up just doing leads and bass in mono and everything else in stereo.

To Boombastix: Thanks for your detailed response. I wasn't sure if I should use any REs in the refill but it seems quite a few Reason users have Chenille. I will most likely use this chorus for these sounds since I happen to have it as well.

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