Video tutorial for routing multi-out VSTs in Reason (Kontakt 5 with Studio Drummer)

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Edouardo
Posts: 18
Joined: 30 May 2015
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01 Jun 2017

Hi Guys,

Like many of you, I have started to explore Reason’s ultra exciting new feature: VST Support.
I remember what I felt when I heard the news a few weeks ago: it felt like Party!!!!

Yesterday, finally, I had time for some action and jumped into this new creative unknown. So I started to check if some of things I wanted to do worked well.

One of them was to be able to have every output of a virtual instrument in Kontakt routed to an individual channel in Reason’s Mixer.

In other words, if I have drums with 7 outs (Kick, Snare, HiHat, Room Mike, Mono and Stereo Overheads), how do I get each of these to be routed in individual slices of Reason’s SSL Mixer?

Well, I explored, and it worked !!!! I was so excited that I made a video about it in the evening to share this with you. The video is also a great tool for those of you guys who are not familiar with Kontakt in order to get grips on how its internal and external routing works. That is why I am sharing it with you.



Video Description
0:00 - 1:36 : Introduction and objective of the tutorial
1:37 - 4:30: Slide presenting the structure of the audio connections between the various software (STUDIO DRUMMER --> KONTAKT --> REASON’s VST SUPPORT MODULE --> REASON's MIXER)
4:31 -15:03: Action! Step by step tutorial on how to set up drums from a multi-output VST plugin source so that each sound source ends up having its own Reason mixer channel.

VST plugins used:
Native Instruments Kontakt 5
Native Instruments Studio Drummer (Komplete)

DAW used: Propellerheads Reason 9.5

Enjoy!

Edouard Andre Reny, Music producer at http://www.synaptic-machines.com
Reason Tutorial Producer: https://youtu.be/_oMa1Q44CRA
Music Producer & Composer - http://www.synaptic-machines.com/
Music Catalog: https://soundcloud.com/synaptic-machines

:reason: :PUF_balance: :record: :re: :refill: :D :D :D

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Redster
Posts: 156
Joined: 29 Mar 2016

01 Jun 2017

Thanks Edouardo that was pretty cool - good video production, well laid out and easy to understand. As a long term Reason user it was very useful to see how Kontakt 5 interfaces with the VST device. Looks like an equal amount of faffing about that using a refill multi-NNXT drum kit offers ;)

Can you confirm what happens when you change the drum kit preset in Kontakt?

Does Kontakt maintain the internal mixer routing or do you have to re-route to the internal mixer again and then restart the plug-in? Or does it just keep the routing you previously set up?

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Edouardo
Posts: 18
Joined: 30 May 2015
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03 Jun 2017

Hi Redster,

Thank you for the kind words :-)

Interesting question, I checked it out. Look at the following pic, A,B,C and D are different operations I carried out and observed what would be happening to the internal routing in Kontakt.
Kontakt1.jpg
Kontakt1.jpg (598.43 KiB) Viewed 4567 times
If you change the drum Kit (operation A): It will reset the internal routing between the mixer of the instrument and Kontakt's output mixer. it is very easy to reassign in the setting tab of each of the instrument's mixer channel: Kontakt’s mixer remains configured, so you can just select the corresponding output strip of Kontakt’s mixer from a drop down menu and assign it to the corresponding channel of the instrument's mixer.
Kontakt2.jpg
Kontakt2.jpg (87.63 KiB) Viewed 4567 times
If you change the instrument mixer template (operation B): No change in routing

Groove change (operation C): No change in routing

If you change the instrument (operation D), by clicking and dragging it on top of the first one, it is like operation A: The mixer of the instrument will reset, but it is easier to reassign because the mixer of Kontakt remains configured.

This answers your question ?

Musically,

Edouardo
Reason Tutorial Producer: https://youtu.be/_oMa1Q44CRA
Music Producer & Composer - http://www.synaptic-machines.com/
Music Catalog: https://soundcloud.com/synaptic-machines

:reason: :PUF_balance: :record: :re: :refill: :D :D :D

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Edouardo
Posts: 18
Joined: 30 May 2015
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07 Jun 2017

Oh, When thinking about it this morning, I realized I forgot to add something:

When you change instrument (option D), i.e. by dragging and dropping a drum kit from another instrument (for example in the pic above Modern Drummer instead of studio drummer), the mike arrangement might change for this specific instrument. Therefore, you might need to modify a little your Kontakt Output mixer to adjust it to the new mike config.

Same idea, if you are using a totally different instrument, like a set of brass instruments or strings.
Reason Tutorial Producer: https://youtu.be/_oMa1Q44CRA
Music Producer & Composer - http://www.synaptic-machines.com/
Music Catalog: https://soundcloud.com/synaptic-machines

:reason: :PUF_balance: :record: :re: :refill: :D :D :D

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Redster
Posts: 156
Joined: 29 Mar 2016

07 Jun 2017

Thank you Edouardo.

Actually it was your video that swung me into buying Kontakt in the first place. When looking at my upgrade options from Kontakt 1.0 (its been that long since I used VSTs seriously) I found that I could upgrade to Komplete 11 for very cheap in this months sale because I also owned Guitar Rig 5 so based on your video I went ahead :) Thanks for the information.

Its actually less of a pain to use Kontakt drum kits in Reason than Reason Refill kits, because you don't have to re-route all the cabling out of the kit when changing combinators; the VST unit keeps the cabling in place. Which is an unexpected bonus.

With Reaktor, Massive, and all the other Komplete units I don't think I'll ever need another VST, in fact, its a bit overwhelming :) I am working on studying Studio Drummer at the moment because that will have the most direct impact on my current music setup.

Thanks again for the original video and the extra information.

Red

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Edouardo
Posts: 18
Joined: 30 May 2015
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09 Jun 2017

Wow Red, I should request from NI for a % on their sales :lol: :lol: :lol: !

I only had the time to explore Reason with Kontakt: July / August (and a little in January / February) are my music composition months usually, I usually roll out a bunch of tracks for sale in September / October. That’s to say that Reason’s unexpected update really came at a perfect time: June to explore, July to go full gear!

So now I can’t wait to try other things like Massive or Reaktor, and other Kontakt instruments (especially the orchestral ones). Some cool music moments await me!

Komplete is huge, a little overwhelming sometimes actually, but definitely very inspiring. Some cool moments await you too. Enjoy!
Reason Tutorial Producer: https://youtu.be/_oMa1Q44CRA
Music Producer & Composer - http://www.synaptic-machines.com/
Music Catalog: https://soundcloud.com/synaptic-machines

:reason: :PUF_balance: :record: :re: :refill: :D :D :D

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