61 – Generative Ideas (pt. 2)

Continuing our story about creating some random generative musical ideas in Reason, I’m going to take the Random Sequencers we built previously and find some usefulness for them. So hold on to your hat. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Continuing our story about creating some random generative musical ideas in Reason, I’m going to take the Random Sequencers we built previously and find some usefulness for them. So hold on to your hat. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.

You can download the project files here: Generative-Ideas-Part2. The files highlight the ideas I’m covering here. Note that some of the files work for Reason 4 and some work for Reason 5. C’est la vie.

Random Glitch Box

The Front panel settings on the "Glitch Box" Combinator
The Front panel settings on the "Glitch Box" Combinator

The first and probably best use I can find for these random generators is as a glitch box. Surprise surprise. This one really is a no-brainer. Just fire up the 128-step sequencer, duplicate the devices, and with a little reworking we have two separate randomizations: one for the notes and the other for the gate. Then load up a sample that spans the length of the keyboard, and this will be our “Grain Sample” which will be played via the sequencer Combinator. You can put the sample player inside the Combinator and just rewire the sound source CV / Gate inputs into your device of choice. Here, I’m going to use an NN19 for the sample.

 

The front of the Sampler glitch Box. It's almost like a Grain sampler, when you use the sequencer this way.
The front of the Sampler glitch Box. It's almost like a Grain sampler, when you use the sequencer this way.

 

The back of the Sampler. You could also randomize the "Sample Start Time" if you wanted to go further with this idea.
The back of the Sampler. You could also randomize the "Sample Start Time" if you wanted to go further with this idea.

 

Random FX

Remember that gargantuan “Key Flux FX Processor” I built oh so long ago? Well how about we fire up that bad boy and take it for the ride of its life. Using the same sequencer as above, we’ll plug it into the FX processor, and let it process any of your sounds. Just sit back and watch it cycle through all the various effects randomly. I think I could sit here for hours just listening to it doing its thing.

Crafting Some Useful Leads

Though this might not make any earth-shatteringly great lead tracks, you can make your sequencer more musical by implementing the following idea. First, take the 64-step sequencer, and change the notes around so that each of the four “Thor Sequencers” are 2-steps long. Then put the first two notes of your key (here we’ll use the key of C Major to keep it simple) into the first sequencer, the next two in the second sequencer, and so on. You will end up with this configuration:

Thor Sequencer 1: Step 1 = C3; Step 2 = D3

Thor Sequencer 2: Step 1 = E3; Step 2 = F3

Thor Sequencer 3: Step 1 = G3; Step 2 = A3

Thor Sequencer 4: Step 1 = B3; Step 2 = C4

Next, we’ll map the other steps so that we can add more of specific notes from the same key. In my patch I put more C, E, and G notes in the empty steps on the first Thor sequencer, and more of the D, F, A, B notes in the empty steps of the second Thor sequencer. I then added some sharps and flats into the third Thor sequencer, and additional suspended notes (and Octave shifts — i.e.: C4 notes) into the fourth Thor sequencer.

The steps in the first "Thor Step Sequencer" showing a C3-E3-G3-C4 pattern.
The steps in the first "Thor Step Sequencer" showing a C3-E3-G3-C4 pattern.

Finally, in the Combinator Modulation Routing section, I mapped the Sequencer > Step Length parameter of all four thors to Rotary 3 & 4, and Button 3 & 4 respectively. The min / max values on all were 2 / 16. This way, we can use the Rotaries and Buttons to add in further steps to increase the “weight” of them into the Random sequencer. For instance, if you turn up Rotary 1, you will introduce more C, E, and G notes. This has the effect of weighting those notes more than other notes in the key. In other words, the sequencer will “pick up” and “play” those notes more than the others.

The front of the Combinator, showing the Rotaries / Buttons. Note the Step Count is mapped to Rotary 3 to add more weight to C-E-G notes.
The front of the Combinator, showing the Rotaries / Buttons. Note the Step Count is mapped to Rotary 3 to add more weight to C-E-G notes.

Of course if the Combinator had more Rotary assignments, you could weight each key separately using 8 rotaries. But that’s just not the case. But if you look at my Kongtrol articles from a few weeks back, you could very easily build it using Kong (wink wink, nudge nudge).

The patch I built only uses 1 octave range, but there’s nothing stopping you from building this across multiple octaves, up to 128 steps, using my random sequencer here. Or you can use the Transpose feature to raise it to two octaves. Or you could use the RPG-8 to force octave switches, but then you’re going to be inputting values into the “Main Sequencer” in Reason, and I’m trying to stay away from doing that.

Modulation, Modulation, Modulation

Another interesting use of the random sequencer is when you start to get into modulation. With a random setup, you can use the CV output to modulate parameters on any of the Reason devices, even ones that don’t have a CV input (using the Combinator Rotaries as the CV pass-through). Included in the file is a “Mods” patch which show you how to create a random EQ generator and also use the same random sequence to affect some parameters to the Thor sound source directly (via CV1). The Thor’s CV1 is then mapped to the “Amp Pan” and “Osc 3 Position” parameters. Note that in order to get the EQ Frequency modulated, you need to send the random sequence CV to a Combinator rotary first. Then in the Combinator’s Modulation Routing section, you can map the rotary to affect the EQ Frequency. In the patch I’m providing, I set the Min / Max values to 600 / 100, which provided some nice movement to the sound.

The front of the Combinator showing the Thor sound source and EQ, Both of which are modulated with the Thor Random Step Sequencer.
The front of the Combinator showing the Thor sound source and EQ, Both of which are modulated with the Thor Random Step Sequencer.

 

The back panel showing the Note CV sent to the Spider and then sent to Rotary 1 and the Thor sound source CV 1 input.
The back panel showing the Note CV sent to the Spider and then sent to Rotary 1 and the Thor sound source CV 1 input.

 

The front panel of the Combinator with the Programmer displayed. Note that the EQ Parameter 1 Frequency is mapped to Rotary 1. This way a parameter without a CV input can be controlled via CV using the Rotary as a pass-through.
The front panel of the Combinator with the Programmer displayed. Note that the EQ Parameter 1 Frequency is mapped to Rotary 1. This way a parameter without a CV input can be controlled via CV using the Rotary as a pass-through.

In a nutshell, if you open this patch, you can press play on the transport, which starts the sound. No modulation is affecting the EQ, Pan, or Osc 3 Position parameters yet. In order to turn on these modulations, press button 1 (Run / Reset). You will then hear the modulations taking effect. To select the amount of modulation applied, use Rotary 1. To affect the Synced Rate of the modulations, use Rotary 2.

Note: in this kind of setup, I only used the “Note CV” value from the random sequencer. The gate CV value was not needed or used. I also removed the CV visualization DDL-1 devices, so that the patch would be accessible for both Reason 4 and Reason 5 users. Note also that the CV values are inverted through the Spider so that Rotary 1 will gain more modulation when turned to the right. If the signal wasn’t inverted, turning the Rotary to the right would produce less modulation, which is counter-intuitive in my book.

Where do you go from here?

These are just a few ideas I had when I was playing around with the Random Sequencer I created. As I went from having the first initial “problem,” I ended up with several interesting sequencer patches and ideas. This just proves that if you have a single thought or problem, and you can solve it, you can end up going in a lot of different directions which lead to even more ideas and creative projects. So I guess my point is this. Find as many “problems” as you can, and then work toward solving them. Because that just might be the creative spark you need to start an imaginative wildfire.

One other place you could take this is to build an entire “generative” song, in which all parts of it are randomized. In this case, if you used the Thor sequencer here, you would end up with a song that is never the same way twice, and one which bypasses the Main Reason sequencer entirely. As a creative project, that would be quite an undertaking. But if you want creative ideas, there they are.

Another creative “generative” idea is to blend multiple LFOs together, so that you end up with a lot of variety. You could then take a third LFO and use that to apply to one of the two LFO’s rate or amount parameter. There’s all kinds of ways you can layer LFOs to come up with some pretty intricate modulation sources. But I think I’ll save that one for another article at a later date. For now, I’m pretty much done looking at Thor’s sequencer for a while. And it’s Music Making Month, so it’s time to actually make some music right?

PS: If you come across any other ideas related to this idea of “Generative” or “Random” music, please share them. I’d love to hear and take a look at what you’re working on. All my best for now.

Reese Bass & Trance Lead

This time, I was trying out various Reese Bass ideas and other trance lead ideas after watching Hydlide do a few interesting tutorial videos on putting together a trance lead. So I thought I would try out creating some trancey sounds in a Combinator which everyone can use if they wish.

Download the RNS file and two Combinators (in a single zip file) here: trance-leads.

Description: This time, I was trying out various Reese Bass ideas and other trance lead ideas after watching Hydlide do a few interesting tutorial videos on putting together a trance lead. So I thought I would try out creating some trancey sounds in a Combinator which everyone can use if they wish.

Features: The Combinators are pretty simple. Mostly, they use saw waveforms which are detuned. Add in a few special effects and you have some highly customizable sounds. The Reese’s Pieces Combinator was created with a Reese Bass sound in mind, so it’s better if you use this in the lower registers of your keyboard. The Trance Lead Combinator is pretty much what it says on the tin: a Trance Lead. Here are a rundown of each Combinator’s controls:

Reese’s Pieces

Reese's Pieces - Just one of my takes on a Reese Bass
Reese's Pieces - Just one of my takes on a Reese Bass

Here’s how the patch was put together:

Pitch Bend: The pitch bend adjusts the Pitch up or down by 7 semitones.

Mod Wheel: The mod wheel is assigned to the Malstrom only. Index is increased, Shift is reduced, and the Filter is increased.

Rotary 1: Filter Frequency – This affects the Thor’s Filter 1 Frequency and allows you to play with the full frequency range. This knob is also tied to the ECF filter frequency which affects the sound coming out of the Malstrom in the same way. Essentially you can create a filter sweep with this Rotary.

Rotary 2: Resonance – This gives you a limited, but useful range affecting the Thor and Malstrom Resonance kn0bs.

Rotary 3: Unison – This Rotary affects the impact of the Unison affecting the Thor Oscillators. Fully left, and there is no Unison (fully dry), while turning the knob fully right provides you with a full Unison detuned sound (fully wet).

Rotary 4: + Shift – This changes the Shift of the two Malstrom Oscillators (A and B) from 0 to +63. You just have to try this out to hear for yourself. It’s a very interesting and quirky application to the sound. But I personally like playing around with this rotary.

Button 1: Twist 1 – This turns on the Thor Shaper. It provides a slightly overloaded or overdriven sound on top of all three sawtooth waves in Thor. It’s not overly heavy though, so it’s pretty safe to use. However, depending on how your Frequency and Resonance are set, this will affect how much you will hear the Shaper affect the sound.

Button 2: Twist 2 – This turns on the Malstrom Shaper. It provides an overdriven sound effect. This is much higher pitched or brighter than the Thor Shaper, so it provides a more distinctive sound. However, depending on how your Frequency and Resonance are set, this will affect how much you will hear the Shaper affect the sound.

Button 3: Reverb – Adds in a strong reverb sound, which I find is pretty common in these types of patches.

Button 4: Unassigned

Usage: You can use this any way you like. But mainly it can provide a very bass-heavy sound (my take on a Reese Synth Bass sound).

Trance Lead

A simple Trance Lead Combinator
My take on a simple Trance Lead with lots of parameters to tweak.

Pitch Bend: The pitch bend adjusts the Pitch up or down by 7 semitones.

Mod Wheel: Unassigned

Rotary 1: Bass Increase – As the name suggests, the bass is increased by increasing the Filter Frequency of Thor’s Filter 2.

Rotary 2: Motion – This affects the Motion of the Malstrom Oscillators A and B from -64 to +30.

Rotary 3: Reverb – Adds Reverb to the overall sound coming out of the Combinator. This is a Dry/Wet Reverb knob going from 0 to 70.

Rotary 4: Filter Sweep: This affects the frequency of all the Oscillators. Use this rotary to create a simple filter sweep for build-ups in your songs.

Button 1: FX 1 – Each of the buttons adds a specific effect which you may or may not like. I added these in as an afterthought just to provide more flexibility with the Combinator. Play around and experiment with them to see if they enhance the sound for you. Button 1 here Changes the Modulator A to Index from 0 to -64.

Button 2: FX 2 – Changes Thor’s Oscillator 1 Octave from 3 to 4. Also changes the Malstrom’s Oscillator B Octave from 4 to 5.

Button 3: FX 3 – Changes the Malstrom’s Modulator A to Shift from 0 to 22 and Modulator B to Motion from 0 to -10

Button 4: FX 4 – Changes the Malstrom’s Modulator B to Filter from 0 to -64

Usage: You can use this any way you like, but mainly it provides a basic trance lead sound.

Other Notes: For both Combinators, you can really change this sound around quite a bit just by playing with all the parameters. So you’ll have to experiment to find something that suits your taste. In addition, you can use the Frequency rotary to create a frequency sweep or build-up in your tunes.

As always, please let me know what you think or let me know if and how you use this in your own projects. Happy Reasoning!

Thor Bells, Pads & Oddities

Here are a few various Thor patches I’ve come up with in the past week. There’s 6 in total, with Bells, Leads, and Pad sounds. Some are eerie, some industrial, and the Bell sound is like a kid with a toy. Just some various sounds you’re free to use.

Download the zip file here: 6-thor-patches

Description: These are a few various Thor patches I’ve come up with in the past week. I was going to provide a few Thor patches to Robb’s excellent site: Reason Patch-A-Day (and yes, that’s a different Robb — you can tell because of the second “b”). However, I came up with more than I expected and so here are a few “extras” if you will.

There’s six patches in this zip:

  1. (Lead) Tightrope Bounce
  2. (Lead) Trance Trauma
  3. Throaty and Bouncy
  4. Footsteps Behind you in the Night
  5. Marauders
  6. Modular Bells

They are basic Thor patches. Feel free to use them in your own projects, and if you do, please let me know so I can post a link to your work here. Also let me know what you think. Comments and discussion are always welcome! And keep checking in here, because there’s much more in store and coming your way soon.

All my best!