Drum Programming – Reason101

47 – Beyond Kong Pad Banks

In this tutorial, I’m going to dispel the myth that Kong can’t contain multiple pad banks — that is, multiple kits. Here I’ll show you two ways to extend Kong by either Layering multiple Kong devices, or switching between multiple kits (from one kit to another). Method 1 uses the Combinator buttons to trigger 4 different kits (which can be layered). And Method 2 uses a Kong pad to trigger 4 different Kong banks, making it self-contained in a single Kong device.

It’s come up on more than one occasion that Kong does not have the ability to provide multiple pad banks; that is, multiple Kits inside the same Kong. This is a feature that most other MPC controllers have: usually providing 4 entire kits from which you can select. In this tutorial, I’m going to dispel the myth that Kong can’t do this, and in turn I’m going to show you two different ways you can trigger multiple “banks” or kits for Kong. Method 1 uses the Combinator buttons to trigger 4 different kits (which you can also Layer on top of each other, and also adjust the master volume for each kit independently using the Combinator Rotaries). On the other hand, Method 2 uses a Kong pad to trigger 4 different Kong banks, and is therefore, a self-contained method where everything can be switched within Kong.

The project files can be downloaded here: beyond-kong-pad-banks. There are two Combinators included in a .rns file which is zipped up. These files outline the two different approaches discussed below.

Method 1: Kong 4-bank Kit (Layered)

This is not my favorite way to create banks, simply because you need to use the Combinator controls to determine which bank is being played, and it takes two clicks to a) turn off one bank and b) turn on the other. However, the advantage is that you can layer these banks on top of each other and adjust the volume for all 4 banks. Something you can’t do with the other method. Also, if you need to switch banks instantaneously, your best bet is to program the switch in the sequencer, otherwise you’ll have a slight lag which even the best two fingers pressing on both buttons at once won’t be able to do at precisely the same moment. Automation to the rescue.

Ok, so here’s the low-down. You create a Combinator with a 6:2 Line mixer. Then create four Kong devices underneath the line mixer so they are automatically routed to the mixer’s first four channels. Then load up your favorite drum kits into all four Kong devices.

Once the kits are in place, you open up the Combinator programmer, and for each Kong device, enter the following:

Kong 1 – Button 1 > Receive Notes : 0 / 1

Kong 2 – Button 2 > Receive Notes : 0 / 1

Kong 3 – Button 3 > Receive Notes : 0 / 1

Kong 4 – Button 4 > Receive Notes : 0 / 1

That takes care of the Buttons. For the Rotaries, we’re going to use the Line Mixer to provide level adjustments for each bank, so select the 6:2 Line Mixer in the Combinator programmer and enter the following:

Rotary 1 > Channel 1 Level : 0 / 100

Rotary 2 > Channel 2 Level : 0 / 100

Rotary 3 > Channel 3 Level : 0 / 100

Rotary 4 > Channel 4 Level : 0 / 100

That’s pretty much all there is to it. Now you use the buttons to switch between banks; turning them on or off. You use the rotaries to adjust the level of each bank. Notice that you can layer the banks on top of each other, depending which buttons on the Combinator are active.

Method 2: Kong 4-bank Kit (Self-Contained)

Now for a somewhat different, and possibly more robust, way to create 4 Kong banks. The upside to this method is that you can control everything from the Kong pads directly. You don’t need to use separate Combinator controls. The downside (if indeed this is a downside) is that you cannot layer the pad banks. Each bank is either on or off. And in my mind at least, this seems to work the way most Pad Controllers and MPC devices work. And another downside is that you have to give up one pad to act as the “Pad Bank Switcher.”

Keep in mind that even though this method does not layer the pad banks, there’s nothing to prevent you from building up layers using the NN-Nano drum type inside the Kong kit itself. It’s for this reason that I call this method much more flexible, because you can both switch between pad banks with one pad press and at the same time use layered drums inside the kits you are building. It’s the best of both worlds.

This method employs multiple Kong devices that are chained to each other via Gate CV connections. So first, create your Combinator, and then a 14:2 Line Mixer. Hold down your Shift key and create a Kong device underneath the Line Mixer. This Kong is going to be used as the Main “Player” but will not require any audio to be sent to the Mixer. Everything this Kong does is CV-based, to trigger the other Kong devices.

The next step is to chain all the Kongs together. So starting with the first Kong, send the Gate Out CV from each pad to the Gate In from the corresponding pad in the second Kong. Do this for Pads 1-15, and when finished route Kong 2 to Kong 3 in the same manner, and finally Kong 3 to Kong 4.

Now create a Thor device underneath the Main Kong (hold the “Shift” key down so nothing is routed). This Thor is merely used for CV purposes, so initialize everything, and turn on the “Step Seq” button in the “Global” area of Thor (top panel). Inside the step sequencer, change the Run Mode to “Step” and turn the Edit knob to “Curve 1.” Enter the following: 4 steps, with the first step CV value of 100, and the other three steps to CV value 0 (zero). Here’s what it looks like:

Curve 1 setup in the first Thor's Step Sequencer

Now change the Edit knob to “Curve 2” and enter the following: 4 steps, with the second step CV value of 100, and the first, third, and fourth steps to CV value 0 (zero). Here’s what it looks like:

Curve 2 setup in the first Thor's Step Sequencer

Enter the following in the Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS):

S.Curve 1 : 100 > CV Out1

S.Curve 2 : 100 > CV Out2

Flip the rack around to the back and send CV Out 1 to the Mixer Channel 1 Level CV input, and turn the trim knob all the way up to 127. Then send CV Out 2 to the Mixer Channel 2 Level CV input, and turn its trim knob all the way up to 127.

Flip the rack back to the front, select the Thor and duplicate the device. Inside this new Thor, you will have to make changes to the MBRS for the Curve 1 and Curve 2 values. Curve 1 will be set to 100 on the third step and Curve 2 will be set to 100 on the fourth step (with all other steps set to zero). This setup is shown below:

Curve 1 setup in the second Thor's Step Sequencer

Curve 2 setup in the second Thor's Step Sequencer

Flip the rack around to the back and send CV Out 1 to the Mixer Channel 3 Level CV input, and turn the trim knob all the way up to 127. Then send CV Out 2 to the Mixer Channel 4 Level CV input, and turn its trim knob all the way up to 127.

Under the Thor devices, hold the Shift key down and create a Spider CV Merger/Splitter. Then send the Main Kong’s CV Gate Out on Pad 16 into the Split A input on the Splitter. Send one split CV cable into the first Thor’s “Gate In (Trig)” CV input and another split into the second Thor’s “Gate In (Trig) CV input. Pad 16 on Kong will now switch between all the other Kong devices, and though they all play at the same time, only one will be heard, based on the Curve values you set up in the two Thor devices (which are used to control the level of the main mixer).

The back of the rack showing the CV routing from the Main Kong and two Thor devices

So what do you think of these setups? Personally, I think it’s nice to have everything self-contained inside the Main Kong device so that you can trigger any pad bank you like without ever having to leave your pad controller. Note also that you are not limited to 4 banks. You can setup as many as you like using this technique. You just need to increase the step values in the Thors, and duplicate the Thor device to create more inputs. It’s an easy way to extend the Kong functionality. Good luck!

29 – Synth Drums from Scratch

The subject of today’s tutorial is how to create your own standard drum sounds via synthesis. Here, I’m going to show you a few techniques to bring these drums to life, with little more than a Thor, Malstrom, or Subtractor synth, and some supporting modules. This is a great alternative to using Drum samples or relying on sample CDs for your drum sounds, though those are both great alternatives that should not be overlooked.

Often times we don’t have access to a real drum kit and it’s not feasible to get real true-to-life drum samples to use in your own work. Or you may just want the sound of a synthetic drum as opposed to the real thing. One option is to purchase some sample CDs. Another is to create your own drum sounds from scratch, using the synths provided in Reason. That’s the subject of today’s tutorial. Here, I’m going to show you a few techniques to bring some standard drums to life, with little more than a Thor, Malstrom, or Subtractor synth, and some supporting modules.

I should start by saying that with the addition of Kong in Reason 5, creating drums has never been easier. Load up a physical drum or a synth drum module and you’re more than halfway there. However, for those that don’t have Reason 5 yet, then this tutorial is for you. Everything below is created using the Reason 4 devices. This goes to show you that you don’t necessarily need Kong to create interesting drum sounds. So let’s get started.

You can download the project files here: Synth Drums from Scratch. This is a zip file that contains 3 Combinators and 1 Thor patch outlining the different drum sounds from the tutorials below. The Combinator parameters will affect the sound of each drum. I’ve tried to tailor them so that you can get a very wide variety of drum sounds out of each Combinator. Have fun with the various buttons and rotaries to get the sound you want out of them.

The Bass Drum

The first drum we’ll emulate is a Kick or Bass drum. This is probably one of the easier drums to emulate because it has that very bassy deep and punchy feel to it. The hardest part about programming this kind of drum I think is in the Compression, which most every Kick drum should have. How it is compressed is really a matter of taste, but getting just the right sound you want is probably going to rely on the way you compress it. A close second in terms of seasoning your Bass Drum is using EQ to accentuate the correct frequency or frequencies. Here’s how I would go about creating a Kick Drum using Thor.

The Tom Drum

The second drum type we’ll create is a Tom Tom drum. This time, I’ll use a Malstrom with a TubeSlap Oscillator to emulate it. This oscillator is great for sounds like these, and can produce just the formant sound that is needed with a typical Tom drum. Of course, you can emulate all of these different drums using any of the synths. This is just one way to recreate the sound. You could instead, try using a Thor oscillator with a Formant filter to get the Tom Drum sound you’re after. Be sure to explore more on your own to find the sounds that truly inspire you.

The Snare Drum

The third type of drum I’ll recreate is a Snare drum. For this, I’ll use a subtractor with two Oscillators and a Bandpass filter. Then we’ll use a Noise Oscillator in Thor to add that extra tail that a Snare drum can have. To wrap it all up, we’ll combine them both and set up a little programming to the rotaries in order to get a little more out of our Snare sounds. Using these parameters we can create a variety of Snares, instead of a single type of sound. See how it’s done:

The Hi Hat

Finally, there is the tried and true Hi Hat sound, both open and closed. To emulate this one, we’ll use a Thor FM pair and Noise oscillator going through two State Variable filters set to High Pass and Notch mode in Thor. I’ll emulate the open and closed Hi Hat and tie it to a Thor button. This way, you can access both the closed and open state of the drum with the click of a button (and from within the same Thor synth, which makes it very CPU friendly). Of course, if you want to separate them, you can duplicate the Thor device and use one Thor for the “Open” Hi Hat position and one Thor for the “Closed” Hi Hat position. It’s all up to you and very flexible.

So there you have it. Four basic drums created with the three different synths in Reason 4. If you have any other drum sounds that you would like to contribute or tips for drum creation, please feel free to share with us. Until next time, have fun working your own magic in Reason and Record!

27 – Kong Drum Creation A to Z

Like the title says, I’m going to provide you with a 45-minute video / blog tutorial on how to create an entire Kong 16-Pad design, using nothing more than a Rex file and some imagination. This is the A to Z of Kong drum design. And lots of tips along the way. Don’t miss it!

Like the title says, I’m going to provide you with a 45-minute video / blog tutorial on how to create an entire Kong 16-Patch design, using nothing more than a Rex file and some imagination.

Those familiar with the methods for my tutorials know that I usually provide the project files along with the technique. Nope. Not this time. Instead, I’m providing the rex file I used to create most of these drums. That way you can try it out yourself and follow along with the tutorial. Give a man a fish, they say, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he’ll never go hungry. So here’s the single Rex in a zip file: trails-rex

This method starts off with a Combinator, then two 6:2 Mixers, a spider audio/merger, and the obvious Kong Drum Designer. Then I go into how to set up the drums one at a time, starting with the Kick Drum. Using the Nurse Rex player, you load the rex file (and this can be any rex file, and start copying/pasting the rex loop one at a time into the first 8 pads. That gives you enough room to work creating all the drums you need, such as the Kick, a few toms, some snares, an open and closed hi hat, and even a reverse drum, and some other more off-the wall sounds.

After you do this, I’ll show you how you can set up the top 4 pads in Kong to trigger other devices (in this case Thor, but you can trigger any other device in Reason that accepts a Gate trigger, which is just about everything).

Finally, I go into programming the Combinator and adding some extra global Effects to play around with the tone and reverb of your drums as a whole. So check out the videos below for a complete tutorial on how to mess around with Kong and create some kick butt drums!

So that’s how you do it, or at least one of a million ways in which you can design a few drums in a Kong patch. What’s your favorite new Kong trick, and do you have any other suggestions or ideas? Please share them and let us all know.

Until next time, happy reasoning!

11 – Creative ReDrums (Part 3)

In this Tutorial, I’m going to show you a few other innovative things you can do with a Redrum device and a little imagination. First, we’ll build upon the drum kit we created in Part 2, and then branch out to show how you can chain your drums together and layer them to give a richer thicker sound. Finally, I’ll point out a few other quick and easy tricks, just to get your inspiration flowing.

In the first Part of this series, I showed you how to punch up your factory soundbank drums, and in the second, I showed you how you can create your own synth drum kit and trigger each drum via the Redrum device. In this Tutorial, I’m going to show you a few other innovative things you can do with a Redrum device and a little imagination. First, we’ll build upon the drum kit we created in Part 2, and then branch out to show how you can chain your drums together and layer them to give a richer thicker sound. Finally, I’ll point out a few other quick and easy tricks, just to get your inspiration flowing.

You can download the project files here: creative-redrums-3 The file contains two rns files with each of the Combinator setups outlined below.

Expanding on the “Electro Drums Combinator”

If you haven’t already, read Part 2 in the Redrum tutorials. After you’ve done that, you can start by downloading the Combinator I created or you can start with a Combinator that you’ve created yourself, because I know you want to stamp your name on your own sounds right?

If you’ve done everything according to spec, you’ll have a pretty expansive drum kit which is filtered through a Vocoder. Now we’re going to change a few of the routings and Combinator mod matrix settings in order to put a new spin on that drum setup.
Open up the Combinator and create a 6:2 Line Mixer at the top of the stack. Reroute the Vocoder Carrier outputs to the second channel of the Line Mixer. This is going to be our “Wet” signal. At the same time, connect the Left and Right Audio Out cables from the Line Mixer, and feed them into the Compressor’s Left and Right Audio inputs. Then connect the Left and Right Audio outputs from the Maximizer into the Left and Right Audio inputs on the Combinator (From Devices). So the signal path goes from the dry signal through the Vocoder, then into the Main Line Mixer, then into the Mastering devices, and finally out of the Combinator.
Next, we’re going to add a “Dry” drum submix which can in turn be mixed in with the wet submix. To do this and also to have full control, we’ll need to create a whole new secondary mix. The easiest way to do this is to duplicate the 14:2 Drum Submixer, and holding Shift down, create 10 Audio Merger/Splitters underneath. Flip the rack around and connect each of the Synth Drum outputs (the Thors) into the Splitter inputs. Then use one split to go to the Wet Drum Submix channels, and a second split to go to the Dry submix channels. This is a bit of a process but it’s an important one as you’ll see in a minute.
Routings from the back of the two Submixers
Now route the entire “Dry” Submix (Left and Right outputs) to the first channel in the main Line Mixer (Left and Right inputs). Flip the rack around and click the “Show Programmer” button on the Combinator. In the Modulation Matrix, remove the “Master Level” settings we previously mapped to Rotary 4. Instead, select the “Main Line Mixer” on the left, and enter the following settings:
Rotary 4 > Channel 1 Level: 0 / 127
Now when Rotary 4 is fully left, the signal is fully wet. When the Rotary is fully right, the dry signal is mixed in with the wet signal. Furthermore, if you want to fine-tune the levels of either the Wet or the Dry drums individually, you can set that up using the levels on either submixer, giving you total control over both your wet and dry drums’ attenuation. If you want to automate the process, create a sequencer track for both the Dry and Wet Submixer and go ahead and automate the levels to your heart’s content.
Rack devices in the Combinator above the main synth drums

Note: In the Combinator I created inside the Project files, I also added an “Instant Glitch” and “Bass Boost” button which can be used to give the drums a completely new feel. I wouldn’t use them together, but separately they can open up a whole new way to play this patch. Also, there’s some other modifications I made to the original drums. I added a Vocoder Bypass switch on button 4, so if you are bypassing the Vocoder, there’s no need to mix in the dry signal, as the signal is already completely dry. So if bypassing the Vocoder, keep Rotary 4 fully left. Otherwise you’ll be doubling the dry signal which may not be desired. And lastly, I mapped Rotary 1 to the Stereo Width, so turn it fully left to create a pseudo-mono effect, and fully right to widen up the stereo field.

The front Combinator Controls

Chaining 2 or More Redrums Together

Another thing you can do with Redrums that can amplify and expand your drum programming is to Layer your drums by chaining them together. Whether you use Redrum patches for your drum sounds, or create a sample-based drum kit and have the Redrums trigger the synths, you can still create layered drum Combinators very easily. Here’s one method to do this.

First create a Combinator and holding Shift down, create the following devices in sequence: M Class Compressor, M Class Equilizer, M Class Stereo Imager, M Class Maximizer, RV 7000 Reverb, 14:2 Line Mixer, 3 Redrums, and 2 DDL-1 Delay units.
Flip to the back of the rack, and Connect the Left and Right Mixer outputs to the Compressor’s Left and Right Inputs. Then chain the Compressor to the Equilizer to the Stereo Imager to the Maximizer to the RV 7000 and then out to the Left and Right Combinator inputs (From Devices). That essentially sets up the Drum Mastering.
Routing for the Mastering in the Combinator
Connect the Left and Right Outputs from the first Redrum to the first channel on the Mixer. Connect the second Redrum’s Left and Right Output through the first DDL-1 unit and then to the second channnel on the Mixer. Connect the third Redrum’s Left and Right Outputs through the second DDL-1 unit and then to the third channel on the Mixer. This sets up our Redrum Audio channels.
Lastly, send the Gate Out CV for the first Redrum’s first channel to the Gate In CV on the second Redrum’s first channel. Then send the Gate Out CV on the Second Redrum’s first channel to the Gate In CV on the third Redrum’s first channel. Repeat this process for all 10 Redrums’ channels. This way, the first Redrum acts as the “Master” Gate triggering the other two “Slave” Redrums in Parallel (actually this is in series, but the effect is that all three Redrums trigger at exactly the same time, which is why we’ve inserted a Delay unit between the last two Redrums and the Mixer).
CV routing between the "Master" (Gate Out) and "Slave" (Gate In) Redrum
Flip the rack around to the front. Bypass all the M Class devices as well as the Reverb and Delay devices for now. Add patches into the three Redrum devices so that you have different drum kits in all three. Then disable the pattern section on the two Redrum Slaves (last two Redrums). Add a pattern into the Redrum Master (the first Redrum — simply select the device, and click Ctrl+R to get a random pattern entered). Then press the Play button and you’ll hear all three Drum kits working the same pattern at the same time. This is your basic setup.
Next, turn On the Delay units and enter some step sequence that sounds good for the second and third drum kits. This is a matter of taste, but if you look at my Combinator file, you’ll see I have the second Redrum’s delay set to 3 steps and the third Redrum set to 6 steps. I also adjusted the levels and Panning of all three drum kits in the Mixer so that it didn’t shatter my speakers and start giving me that beautifully annoying red clip light (Note that I also added a Scream 4 unit between the third drum kit and its associated Delay line. That’s because the drums from the third drum kit sounded a little lacking). By delaying two of the three drum kits you end up with a much fuller sound. However, this can be a bit of overkill as well. If you like, try tuning the Dry/Wet knobs on the delays so that the delay is a little more subtle. Again, it’s all a matter of personal taste.
Finally, adjust your Compression, EQ, Stereo Imaging, and Maximizing using the M Class Devices. What’s more, you should experiment by using separate M-Class devices for each of the Redrum kits and adjust them independantly. In this way, you can have a greater degree of control over the final sound. In fact, if you want to go all out, you should create four sets of M Class devices; 1 for each of the drum kits, and one for an overall mixdown of the three drums together. This can help to really bring the drum mixes together.

The whole idea here is to choose drum kits that work well together and don’t clash. They should compliment each other. Some ways to ensure they are complimentary is to choose drum patches in the same or similar vein (all Dub kits or all Electronic kits). Another way is to EQ each drum kit so that it has its own place in terms of frequency. A third way is to pan them and mix their stereo width so that they also have their own space within the stereo field. This, of course is beyond the scope of the tutorial, but it’s all a matter of your own personal taste. Keep experimenting!

If you look at the Combinator Mod Matrix, you’ll see that I’ve mapped the second rotary to the pitch of all 30 drums in the 3 Redrum devices. This is a great way to quickly change the pitch of all the drums in the Combinator. The downside is that since you use 10 routings per device in the Mod Matrix, you lose the ability to map anything else from the Redrum devices to the Combinator. So I’ve opted to show you how to map the pitch to the rotary instead of mapping the pattern sequencer to a Rotary control. However, if you want to automate the Pattern Sequencer from the first Redrum, simply create a sequencer track for the Redrum, then automate your patterns directly in Reason or Record’s main sequencer. A few more clicks, but it’s still fairly easy to program.

Where do you go from here?

This is definitely not the end-all-be-all when it comes to the Redrum. There’s a lot more you can explore, such as mapping some of the other parameters to the Rotaries, for example the drum level knobs, or the main Resolution knob. You can also automate pretty much every element of the Redrums in the main Sequencer. In addition, you can layer your own synth sounds on top of each other to create some pretty massive synth drum kits. Hopefully this at least gives you a few new ideas when it comes to programming your drums. I know after 3 tutorials on the subject I’m done working on the Redrum for a while. Time to get back to working on some synths again.

So do you find these setups useful? Do you have any setups that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them. Feel free to comment and let me know. And thanks for taking the time to read these tutorials. Your feedback and comments are very much appreciated.