Reason's "Hidden" Effects

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Stock Music Musician
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04 May 2019

Hey guys, wanted to share something that may be obvious for some of you, but I think a lot of us have ignored. There are a lot of effects hidden around Reason that initially seem like they can only be used in one way - for example the Rattler in Kong. However, there's usually a way to use patching to get it so that you can apply these effects to any instrument.

Also, a lot of the effects tend to do more than just what their name implies. For example, the Pulveriser is also a really cool tremolo or compressor. Or filter. Or all three.

Here's an in-depth look at most of Reason's hidden effects.


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esselfortium
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04 May 2019

One hidden effect I'm fond of is using the CF-101 Chorus/Flanger as a vibrato or pitch-destabilizer. Set feedback to 0, turn on Send mode, and make sure both the inputs and outputs are a stereo pair. Then use the LFO (or feed it any CV modulation you want) to control the pitch wobble.
Sarah Mancuso
My music: Future Human

botnotbot
Posts: 290
Joined: 26 Oct 2017

04 May 2019

esselfortium wrote:
04 May 2019
One hidden effect I'm fond of is using the CF-101 Chorus/Flanger as a vibrato or pitch-destabilizer. Set feedback to 0, turn on Send mode, and make sure both the inputs and outputs are a stereo pair. Then use the LFO (or feed it any CV modulation you want) to control the pitch wobble.
Nice tip! Going to try this out :D

Stock Music Musician
Posts: 45
Joined: 03 Jul 2016
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04 May 2019

botnotbot wrote:
04 May 2019
esselfortium wrote:
04 May 2019
One hidden effect I'm fond of is using the CF-101 Chorus/Flanger as a vibrato or pitch-destabilizer. Set feedback to 0, turn on Send mode, and make sure both the inputs and outputs are a stereo pair. Then use the LFO (or feed it any CV modulation you want) to control the pitch wobble.
Nice tip! Going to try this out :D
Me too! That's awesome!

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Loque
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Posts: 11170
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

04 May 2019

I like that video. Here are a few things that i regular use and are missing:

The Echo
* Limiter, Overdrive, Tube and so on
* Frequency (pitch) Modulation
* Auto-Bending

The Pulverizer:
* Has a FM and AM input on the backside ^^

Malström
* Wave-Shaper
* And some kind of stereo spread (not the best, but yea, it is there...)
* Comb Filters
* AM

Thor
* chorus and delay are really good
* The filters including comb and Formant
* Bunch of audio modulation...

And a few others:
* Alligator as a band splitter
* Often ppl forget how many modes the Scream4 has including a LoFi and RM which sound very good
* Neptune as a pitch shifter
* Radical Pianos resonator
* BV512 as a frequency shifter (ok, sounds quite bad, but its there and make some happy accidents...)
* Neptunes pitch shifter (yea, well, same as BV512 :-D)
* All the many RV7000MKII reverb, delay, spring, convolution,... modes. Such a little device with so much power inside. Happy accidents with the spring reverb and modulation...
Reason12, Win10

Stock Music Musician
Posts: 45
Joined: 03 Jul 2016
Contact:

04 May 2019

Loque wrote:
04 May 2019
I like that video. Here are a few things that i regular use and are missing:

The Echo
* Limiter, Overdrive, Tube and so on
* Frequency (pitch) Modulation
* Auto-Bending

The Pulverizer:
* Has a FM and AM input on the backside ^^

Malström
* Wave-Shaper
* And some kind of stereo spread (not the best, but yea, it is there...)
* Comb Filters
* AM

Thor
* chorus and delay are really good
* The filters including comb and Formant
* Bunch of audio modulation...

And a few others:
* Alligator as a band splitter
* Often ppl forget how many modes the Scream4 has including a LoFi and RM which sound very good
* Neptune as a pitch shifter
* Radical Pianos resonator
* BV512 as a frequency shifter (ok, sounds quite bad, but its there and make some happy accidents...)
* Neptunes pitch shifter (yea, well, same as BV512 :-D)
* All the many RV7000MKII reverb, delay, spring, convolution,... modes. Such a little device with so much power inside. Happy accidents with the spring reverb and modulation...
Great points! Would you mind if I made a follow up video pointing these all out? I'd give you credit, of course - if theres' a link or something you'd like shared?

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Loque
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Posts: 11170
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

04 May 2019

Stock Music Musician wrote:
04 May 2019
Loque wrote:
04 May 2019
I like that video. Here are a few things that i regular use and are missing:

The Echo
* Limiter, Overdrive, Tube and so on
* Frequency (pitch) Modulation
* Auto-Bending

The Pulverizer:
* Has a FM and AM input on the backside ^^

Malström
* Wave-Shaper
* And some kind of stereo spread (not the best, but yea, it is there...)
* Comb Filters
* AM

Thor
* chorus and delay are really good
* The filters including comb and Formant
* Bunch of audio modulation...

And a few others:
* Alligator as a band splitter
* Often ppl forget how many modes the Scream4 has including a LoFi and RM which sound very good
* Neptune as a pitch shifter
* Radical Pianos resonator
* BV512 as a frequency shifter (ok, sounds quite bad, but its there and make some happy accidents...)
* Neptunes pitch shifter (yea, well, same as BV512 :-D)
* All the many RV7000MKII reverb, delay, spring, convolution,... modes. Such a little device with so much power inside. Happy accidents with the spring reverb and modulation...
Great points! Would you mind if I made a follow up video pointing these all out? I'd give you credit, of course - if theres' a link or something you'd like shared?
Just do it. Maybe to my soundcloud so ppl can hear my crap :-D
https://soundcloud.com/loqueinthesky
Reason12, Win10

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

04 May 2019

someone mentioned Scream...one thing I think it does that might be easily overlooked is its ability to do a really meaty, aggressive envelope wah.

there’s a pretty good example on the synth bass at the end of this otherwise not very good tune (first song I ever did in Reason, and it shows 😂) starts at ~4:52
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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Loque
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04 May 2019

guitfnky wrote:
04 May 2019
someone mentioned Scream...one thing I think it does that might be easily overlooked is its ability to do a really meaty, aggressive envelope wah.
Indeed. The envelope-follower is often overlooked - on front and on the back. I like Pulverizers envelope follower a bit more, because you can tweak Attack/Release and ofc you can use Pulverizer as a auto-wah too.
Reason12, Win10

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guitfnky
Posts: 4408
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

04 May 2019

Loque wrote:
04 May 2019
guitfnky wrote:
04 May 2019
someone mentioned Scream...one thing I think it does that might be easily overlooked is its ability to do a really meaty, aggressive envelope wah.
Indeed. The envelope-follower is often overlooked - on front and on the back. I like Pulverizers envelope follower a bit more, because you can tweak Attack/Release and ofc you can use Pulverizer as a auto-wah too.
yeah, envelope and auto-wahs are really easy to overuse and can make things sound tacky if you’re not careful, but in the right circumstances, they can have really cool results. both these devices are great for it, when warranted.
I write good music for good people

https://slowrobot.bandcamp.com/

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esselfortium
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04 May 2019

FYI, the spread control in Malstrom just controls the panning of its two oscillators. It's not doing any sort of stereo-imaging magic.
Sarah Mancuso
My music: Future Human

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Loque
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Joined: 28 Dec 2015

04 May 2019

Maybe it fits to the thread...i just noticed a blog entry from PH which stated the FX of Kong to be used to generate sounds...
https://www.propellerheads.com/blog/sou ... -in-reason

Well, i took the challange and experimented a bit and i like it...All sounds except the hypno-acid-lead-line in the front and a low base under everything (the front up bass in the end is Kong). I was kinda supresied to create cool reverbs without using a reverb :-D
Here is the result of a quicky, it is just a test and again, only fx used:


The only sad thing is, that you cannot control all parameters of the Kong fx :(
Reason12, Win10

Lokey
Posts: 96
Joined: 05 May 2019

05 May 2019

Loque wrote:
04 May 2019

* BV512 as a frequency shifter (ok, sounds quite bad, but its there and make some happy accidents...)
I like how it works on 4 bands mode
fl mobile

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Loque
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Posts: 11170
Joined: 28 Dec 2015

10 May 2019

Still experimenting with the Kong FX and i really like the Rattler and the Ring Modulator. Wish they were available as separate effects and i could automate all parameters. Here is something for you to play with. I used Europa as a sound generator, but you can chose also Kong ofc...
Dirty Dry Resonator.zip
(7.1 KiB) Downloaded 53 times
Reason12, Win10

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adfielding
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11 May 2019

I've been using the Pulverizer as a drum trigger for years now. If you're working with live drum tracks and you want to trigger samples, route your kick/snare/whatever channel into Pulverizer and hook the follower out into the gate input of whatever you want to trigger. Adjust the threshold & release to taste and, bam, drum sample trigger. Works like a charm.

Also! Using a pair of line mixers to create a dry/wet effect using the pan pots. I've attached a template that does this (and I use it a lot!) - connect the split outputs from the "SPLIT" Spider splitter into whatever you want to use, and route the left output from the device you're using into the left side of the second channel on the "OUT L" line mixer. Hook the right channel into the left side of the second channel on the "OUT R" line mixer. Use the dry/wet knob on the combi as you'd expect. Works a treat :)

edit: the pan pot combi idea isn't mine, I stole it from Peff's "Power Tools For Reason 2.5" book and put it in a Combinator.
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Crossfade Template.zip
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