16 – Multiband Anything: Freq. FX

Usually we think of Multiband being reserved for Compression, but why not divide any type of effect, sound, or multiple effects and sounds into different bands using the BV512 Vocoder / Equalizer supplied with Reason. Doing so, you can divide effects and sounds into 32 distinct frequency bands, and that, my friend, can open the doors to a whole wealth of possibilities.

Usually we think of Multiband being reserved for Compression, but why not divide any type of effect, sound, or multiple effects and sounds into different bands using the BV512 Vocoder / Equalizer supplied with Reason. Doing so, you can divide effects and sounds into 32 distinct frequency bands, and that, my friend, can open the doors to a whole wealth of possibilities.

You can download the project files here: multiband-anything This is a zip file which contains an .rns file with 6 Effects Combinators to showcase how you can use the BV512 in Equalizer mode to split different effects to different frequencies in order to process your sound. All the Combinators process the same matrix pattern which is sequencing a Thor synth. Each combinator then outputs the sound to a separate channel on the main 14:2 Mixer. To hear the various effects, mute/solo the specific channels on this mixer.

Starting off Small: Understanding the BV512 Digital Vocoder

The BV512 is a Digital Vocoder which can be used as an EQ device as well. When set in EQ mode, you can select 4, 8, 16, 32, and 512 bands of EQ separation. You’ll have to understand that the 512 bands is an FFT (Fast Fourier Transfer) mode, which for all practical purposes will color your sound and will cause a slight delay in the realm of 20 ms. when processing audio through it. There will only be 32 bands displayed, but each of those 32 bands will actually control a higher amount of bands (512 / 32 = 16 bands each). So for this tutorial and for processing purposes I’m going to stay away from the FFT (512) setting, and instead focus on 32 bands or less (a much more manageable number for the following types of effects).

Just because I’m staying away from using the FFT (512) setting doesn’t mean it’s not useful. Try it out in your own patches, because you never know where you’re going to find that signature sound that makes your brain melt. And in certain situations, I really like the color of the FFT (512) setting.

A Basic Multiband Delay

At it’s simplest, here’s a method to split out a different delay to affect different frequency bands. First, the video. Then the instructions below:

First, Create a Combinator. Then inside, while holding down the Shift key, create a 14:2 Mixer, Spider Audio Merger/Splitter, BV512 Vocoder, and DDL-1 Digital Delay device, in that order.

Set the Vocoder’s Band Count to 16 Bands, and switch from Vocoder mode to “Equalizer” mode.

Hit to tab key to flip the rack around  and route the L/R master outs of the Mixer to the L/R “From Devices” of the Combinator. Then route the Combinator’s L/R “To Devices” into the Spider Audio’s main L/R Splitter inputs. Send one pair of L/R split outputs to the Vocoder’s L/R Carrier inputs. Then send the Vocoder’s L/R Carrier outputs to the Delay’s L/R inputs. Finally, send the Delay’s L/R outputs to the Mixer’s L/R channel 1 inputs.

This image shows a single instance of the Vocoder and Delay hooked up to a Channel in the 14:2 Mixer.
This image shows a single instance of the Vocoder and Delay hooked up to a Channel in the 14:2 Mixer.

Hit the tab key again to flip the rack around to the front. Hold the Shift key (if using Reason), or hold the Ctrl key (if using Record), and select both the Vocoder and the Delay devices. Then right-click and select “Duplicate Devices and Tracks.” Do this two more times to create 4 sets of Vocoder/Delay devices.

On the first BV512 (the low range), set bands 5-16 to zero. On the second BV512 (The low-mid range), set bands 1-4 and 9-16 to zero. On the third BV512 (the mid-high range), set bands 1-8 and 13-16 to zero. On the fourth and final BV512 (the high range), set bands 1-12 to zero.

The four BV512 devices with their Frequency bands divided, and 4 associated delay units
The four BV512 devices with their Frequency bands divided, and 4 associated delay units

Set the first Delay unit at the top (the low range) to 1 step, set the second one (low-mid range) to 3 steps, the third one (mid-high range) to 5 steps, and the fourth one (the high range) to 7 steps. This way, each frequency will produce a different delay.

Again, press tab to flip to the back of the rack. Send the other 3 L/R splits from the Audio Splitter into each of the other 3 Vocoder’s L/R carrier Inputs. Then send each of the Delay’s L/R audio outputs to their own Channels on the mixer, so that Channels 1-4 are taken by the Delay Devices outputs.

Now all that’s left is to save the Combinator, and load up your favorite sound to pipe into this effect. To do so, open any instrument and route it’s L/R audio output into the Delay Combinator’s L/R “Combi Input.” Play the sound on your controller keyboard or set up a matrix pattern to sequence the instrument and you’ll hear a different delay for each of the four sets of bands. In other words, the frequency of the sounds you put into the combinator will determine which delay affects the sound. Different frequencies will get different delays applied. Then the sum of all these delayed sounds are mixed into the Mixer, and sent back out the Combinator.

If you give this some thought, you’ll realize that you can apply any number of effects chains to any of the 32-frequency bands of the BV512 to split up effects according to frequency. Furthermore, you can apply this multi-band technique not only to audio and effects, but also to Filters, LFOs and Envelopes which affect the audio. Let’s take a deeper look into how this is done by creating a multiband filter.

MultiBand Filtering: The next step

Now to get a little more complex. Let’s try Filtering our audio based on the Frequency of the incoming signal, and then providing a way to adjust the filter applied to each set of bands. Using our above technique, this becomes child’s play.

Building on the last Delay device we created, select all the DDL-1 Delay units and delete them all.

Then under the first Vocoder, hold Shift down and create a Thor device. Bring all the levels of Thor down to zero (what I call truly initializing Thor). Bring the range on the pitch wheel down to zero, bring polyphony down to zero, bypass all the oscillators and filters, bring all the levels down to zero, and turn all the green buttons off. Leave only the Global envelope Gate Trigger button on, and leave the Global Evelope ADSR envelope in its default position. This way, the envelope can affect Filter 3, which we’ll turn on a little later.

Thor fully initialized, except for the Global Envelope Gate Trig and Tempo Synch Buttons
Thor fully initialized, except for the Global Envelope Gate Trig and Tempo Synch Buttons

Now that Thor is much more initialized, go into the MBRS (Modulation Bus Routing Section) and set up the following modulations:

Audio In1: 100 > Filt3 L.In

Audio In2: 100 > Filt3 R.In

Routings in Thor's Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS)
Routings in Thor's Modulation Bus Routing Section (MBRS)

Next, duplicate the Thor device 3 times, and place each new Thor under each of the other Vocoders.

Flip the rack around and Move the L/R Carrier output on each Vocoder to the L /R Audio outputs of each corresponding Thor device (1 Mono/Left and 2 Right output on each Thor). Then route new cables from the L/R Carrier output on each Vocoder to the L/R Audio inputs of each corresponding Thor device (Audio In 1 and Audio In 2, respectively on each Thor).

The Back of the Rack showing the Routings for the topmost BV512 device and Thor device
The Back of the Rack showing the Routings for the topmost BV512 device and Thor device

Flip the rack around to the front again, and open up the Combinator’s Programmer. It’s time to add in our Filters and make them adjustable for each set of BV512 bands. For each Thor device, add the following modulations:

Button 1 > Filter 3 Type: 0 / 2

Button 2 > Filter 3 Comb Preset: 0 / 1

Mod Wheel > Filter 3 Res: 0 / 100

Now for each Thor, assign the Filter 3 Frequency to it’s corresponding Rotary as follows:

Thor 1: Rotary 1 > Filter 3 Freq: 1 / 127

Thor 2: Rotary 2 > Filter 3 Freq: 1 / 127

Thor 3: Rotary 3 > Filter 3 Freq: 1 / 127

Thor 4: Rotary 4 > Filter 3 Freq: 1 / 127

The Combinator's Mod Matrix settings for the first Thor
The Combinator's Mod Matrix settings for the first Thor

Now when you plug an instrument into this Combinator, you can selectively adjust the filtering of the various frequencies of the sound using the 4 Rotaries of the Combinator. Rotary 1 will affect the low range, Rotary 2 and 3 will affect the mid range, and Rotary 4 will affect the high end.

Where do you go from here

Included in the project files are a set of 6 effects unit that utilize the Equalizer mode of the BV512 to divide the audio source into separate bands and apply effects to each of those bands. Here’s a brief explanation of each:

4 x 16-Band Delay FX: This Combinator uses the Vocoder in 16-band mode to create 4 splits of the audio source going through 4 different delay units. This combinator is the same one created at the beginning of this tutorial, except that there’s an additional delay created under each Vocoder in order to split the delays left and right (for a wider stereo separation). Each rotary controls the delay time for each left/right delay pair. And the buttons underneath each rotary will change the rotary between Steps / MS delay count. A very important feature of this Combinator is the Mod Wheel, which is used as a global Dry/Wet knob for the delay. In its default low-end position, there is no delay. Push the Mod Wheel all the way up and you’ll push the delay fully wet.

8 x 32-Band Delay FX: This combinator is exactly the same as the above 4-way delay, however this uses the Vocoder’s 32-band setting, and splits the signal into 8 different delay units (affecting 4 bands each). Since there’s only 4 rotaries and buttons, you can’t control each delay individually as you can with the previous Combinator. So I opted to put the global dry/wet delay knob on Rotary 1, and put a global steps/ms switcher on Button 1. The only real effect button 1 has is if you want to quickly edit all the delays and have them in MS mode instead, you simply press the button, then go into each delay to edit the delay time.

2-Band Phased Delay FX: This Combinator really was more of an experiment than anything else. The one interesting feature here is that the Vocoder Bands are curved so they blend into each other, rather than have an abrupt frequency change. You can see this on the Vocoder Band area.

Mixed-Band Reverb FX: This combinator uses the Vocoder bands as a notch and Bandpass frequency filter to send your audio through two very different Reverb effects. This goes to show you that there are a lot of possibilities when you start bending different frequencies on the BV512. Use the first Rotary to adjust the Dry/Wet Reverb signal affecting the low and high range of frequencies. Use Rotary 2 to adjust the Dry/Wet Reverb signal affecting the middle range of frequencies. I put a tight small room reverb on the  low & high frequencies and a long hall reverb on the middle range of frequencies to show how drastically you can affect the ambience of your sound by toying with the different frequency ranges.

SuperSpreader FX: This is one way you can get some severe (and almost irritating) amount of stereo separation from a single sound source. I had to add a bunch of ECF-42 envelope filters in order to tame the sound somewhat. You can program this up if it’s to your taste. One thing that I wanted to point out here is that you can use Rotary 1 to invert the Frequencies, thereby flipping them around in real-time or in automation if you want to program the knob in the sequencer. Check out the Modulation Routing inside the Combinator to see how this is done. One drawback is that you can only affect 10 bands at once for any given vocoder, which limits you to using a set amount of band counts. But I’m sure there’s a way to push this limit using CV. Any takers want to give this a shot?

MultiBand Filter FX: Finally, you have the multiband filter FX Combinator which was featured in this tutorial, so I won’t go into too much detail here. Just note that I added a Delay and Chorus on Buttons 3 and 4 if you want to give those a try.

I can almost see the next question on your mind. If we can do all this with the BV512 in Equalizer mode, then what’s to prevent us from applying these same techniques using the MClass Equalizer? The truth is nothing! In fact, you can tailor the MClass Equalizer to a much finer degree than the Vocoder. However, the Vocoder can be a great way to test out quick ideas in a visually intuitive way. And as I hope I’ve shown here, you can still find this device highly flexible and usable. But that being said, there’s nothing stopping you from separating your signals using the MClass EQ, and even combining this with the MClass Stereo Imager to create some very unique Effects Combinators. If you have any ideas or come up with some brilliant effect unit out of this tutorial, please share, comment, and let us know about it.

Mono, Poly and Stereo

This article will explore Monophonic versus Stereo and Monophonic versus Polyphonic. Two very different concepts, but both very important concepts. This is also a good opportunity to discuss the Effects devices and go over the suggested audio routing options for each.

This article will explore Monophonic versus Stereo and Monophonic versus Polyphonic. Two very different concepts, but both very important concepts with which everyone needs to get to grips. The reason I’m going to explain them both in one article is because they have similar terminology (they both share the term “Monophonic”). This can lead to some confusion. This is also a good opportunity to discuss the Effects devices and go over the suggested audio routing options for each. 

When I originally put together my Reason wishlist and posted it here on my blog, I made the fatal mistake of saying that I wanted the Matrix to be “Stereo.” I actually meant to say I wanted the matrix to be “Polyphonic.” Oh gasp! I know. The horror. So just in case anyone else is confused by these terms, let’s see if we can set the record straight. 

First, there are two concepts: 

  1. Monophonic versus Stereophonic: This refers to channels in an audio system. Monophonic is 1 channel (or any single-channel system). Stereophonic is a two-channel system (left and right audio channels) which are reproduced by 2 speakers (left and right).
  2. Monophonic versus Polyphonic: This refers to the number of voices that a Synthesizer can play at one time. Monophonic means the synth can play a single voice (single note). Polyphonic means the synthesizer can play multiple voices (2 or more notes). In Thor, you can have 32 voice polyphony, meaning you can have 32 notes playing simultaneously. In addition, Thor has Release Polyphony and can also have 32 notes sustain after you lift your finger off the key, or after the note’s end in the sequencer (in the case of midi).

There is also the term “Monophony” which refers to the melody line of the song. It is a song which contains only a melody line without an accompanying Harmony. So strictly speaking, if you have two notes played at once, each one octave apart, the song can still be considered “Monophonic.” Confused yet? I’ll let Wikipedia explain this concept of Monophony

A few other notes: 

  • In Reason, as in the real-world, CV relates to Monophonic and Polyphonic voices of a synthesizer. While Monophonic and Stereophonic channels in an audio system are audio-specific. The RPG-8 Arpeggiator and Matrix are termed “Monophonic” which means they can only control one voice of a synth at a time. If you want to create a “faux” Polyphony, you must first duplicate the RPG-8 or Matrix as well as the sound sources they are controlling, and then send the output of both these sound sources to their own audio channels; either mono or stereo, it doesn’t matter. You now have two-voice polyphony.
  • The above points out also that you can have a Monophonic synth that has a Stereophonic “audio” output OR you could have a Polyphonic synth with a Monophonic “audio” output. Plus, you can take a Stereophonic signal and make it Monophonic (panning both channels to center), but if you take a polyphonic CV and make it mono (sending it to a mono synth) you will just drop all the notes beyond the first or last one (just like playing a chord on a mono synth).

Effects Devices in Reason, and Reason’s Routing Suggestions

According to the literature in Reason and Record, there are specific ways in which the Effect devices should be connected. I’m going to plagiarize for a moment and take an excerpt directly from the help file. This excerpt explains the way Monophonic and Stereophonic signals are processed by the effects devices in Reason, and shed light on those little tiny diagrams on the back of the FX devices (come on, give me a show of hands. How many of you knew those diagrams were there to begin with? And how many knew what they meant?). 

FX Routing Legend and Descriptions
FX Routing Legend and Descriptions

 So looking at the diagrams, we can see the following connections can be made by the Reason devices: 

RV7000 Digital Reverb: 

Mono In / Stereo Out 

Stereo In / Stereo Out 

Scream 4 Distortion: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

BV512 Vocoder: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

RV7 Digital Reverb: 

Mono In / Stereo Out 

Stereo In / Summed Stereo Out 

DDL-1 Digital Delay: 

Mono In / Stereo Out 

Stereo In / Summed Stereo Out 

D-11 Foldback Distortion: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

ECF-42 Envelope Controlled Filter: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

CF-101 Chorus/Flanger: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

Mono In / Stereo Out 

PH-90 Phaser: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

Mono In / Stereo Out 

UN-16 Unison: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

Mono In / Stereo Out 

COMP-01 Compressor: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

PEQ-2 2-Band Parametric EQ: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

MClass Equilizer: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

MClass Stereo Imager: 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

MClass Compressor: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

MClass Maximizer: 

Mono In / Mono Out 

Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out 

Phew! Now that’s quite a lot of information to take in. However, when you look at it, you can pretty much break it down into a few key points which are easier to remember: 

  • All devices can be connected in Mono In/Mono Out except the MClass Stereo Imager (makes sense right? Because you can’t separate a mono signal or make it wider/narrower. It’s already mono, so you can’t make it more mono. You also can’t magically turn a mono signal into a true stereo signal). So forget using it for anything other than Dual Mono In/Dual Mono Out.
  • Every FX device except the Delay and Reverb devices can be connected in Dual Mono In / Dual Mono Out.
  • The RV7000 device is the ONLY device in Reason which is true stereo (Stereo In / Stereo Out). The RV7 and DDL-1 are the next best thing with a Stereo In / Summed Stereo Out.
  • The Devices that can be used as Mono In / Stereo Out are: RV 7000, RV-7, DDL-1, CF-101, PH-90, and UN-16.
  • Every device can be used as an Insert effect, however not every device should be used as a Send effect. Effects that should not be used as Sends fall under 2 categories: 1. Dynamics Processors (all MClass devices, COMP-01 and PEQ-2), and 2. Distortion Units (the Scream 4, and D-11).

This last point is not really related to the issue of Mono/Stereo, but is an important consideration when connecting devices in your tracks and is another point that shouldn’t be overlooked. 

One other thing I wanted to point out. If you get a chance, you really should check out Hydlide24’s great video on different ways to create Stereo separation in Reason. There’s so much great information in this video, I thought this would be a relevant place for it. He tends to move a little fast through the video, but you can always pause and go over it a few times to follow along. Check out some of his other videos if you get a chance as well. 

Hopefully this information is accurate. I’m human and prone to many mistakes. If there is an error, please help me point it out and make sure it’s accurate. I’ll ensure I get it corrected. And if you have anything to add, I welcome your advice and opinions.