User Guide for Propellerhead Reason Software, Free Instruction Manual

Looking for:

Propellerhead reason 5 manual free 

Click here to DOWNLOAD

     

Propellerhead reason 5 manual free. Reason 5 Operation Manual

 

User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses.

Media Type Media Type. Year Year. Collection Collection. Creator Creator. Language Language. Cancel Delete.

Delete from my manuals? Sign In OR. Don't have an account? Sign up! Restore password. Upload manual. To adjust a value or select a preset in single steps, click on the up or down arrow button. By clicking and holding the mouse button depressed in the actual alpha-numeric display and selecting from the list that appears. This allows you to make coarse adjustments very quickly or to immediately change to a preset anywhere in the list. This type of control is used to select, e.

This item is available only when the Blocks Track is on. Selecting this item will convert all Block Automation Clips on the Block Track to regular clips on the respective tracks and lanes in the song. This function is available if the track list has focus and one or several note lanes on the selected track have ReGroove Mixer channels assigned.

Commit to Groove will move all notes on all note lanes on the selected track to their grooved positions and then reset the groove settings to No Channel for the note lanes. In other words, this makes the groove permanent - the track will play back exactly as before, but you can now view and edit the grooved notes. The parameter automation dialog allows you to add or remove automation lanes for the selected sequencer track.

The Alter Pattern function modifies existing patterns. Note that there must be something in the pattern for the function to work on - using an Alter function on an empty pattern will not do anything. In the numerical segment displays on the sequencer Transport Panel and in the sequencer Inspector, values can be edited in a number of different ways.

The editing principle is exactly the same for the Transport Panel and Inspector displays, which is shown in the two examples below. Alter Drum This function modifies existing patterns for the selected drum sound in Redrum.

Note that there must be something in the pattern for that channel for the function to work - using an Alter function on an empty pattern will not do anything.

The segment displays of the Transport Panel can be edited as shown in the following Tempo display examples. This inverts the pattern, so that active steps become rests and vice versa.

For this to work, you must have recorded chords or notes on the RPG-8 track and set the locators so that an arpeggio is generated when you start playback from the left locator. Arpeggio Notes to Track will create a note clip between the locators on the selected track, containing the generated arpeggio notes.

You can then mute the original note clip s on the RPG-8 track and edit the rendered arpeggio notes as usual. Click on the left display segment to select the whole BPM value. Then, press [Enter] on the computer keyboard.

Create Track for A rack device can have one sequencer track or no sequencer track. Instrument devices are by default created together with a sequencer track, while effect devices, mixers etc.

If a device without sequencer track is selected, this menu item is called Create Track for [device name]. Select it to create an empty sequencer track for the device. If the selected device has a sequencer track already, this menu item is called Delete Track for [device name]. Go To Track for With a device selected in the rack, select Go To Track for [device name] to bring the corresponding sequencer track for the device into view.

The other segment displays on the Transport Panel can be edited in the same way as described above. This function inserts an empty area between the locators in the main sequencer. All events after the left locator are moved to the right to make room for the inserted area. See Inserting bars for more information. This function removes all material between the locators in the main sequencer. All events after the right locator are moved to the left to fill out the gap after the removed section.

See Removing bars for more information. If you copied a Redrum pattern, you may want to turn off the Enable Pattern Section before playing back the new track data. Inspector segment displays The segment displays in the Inspector can be edited as shown in the following Position display examples.

Otherwise, both the main sequencer and the pattern sequencer will play the drum sounds, simultaneously. If you copied a Matrix pattern, you may want to disconnect the Matrix or even remove it , to avoid having both the Matrix and the sequencer notes playing at the same time.

If you have automated pattern changes for your pattern device, you can render all patterns to notes in one go, using the Convert Pattern Track to Notes menu item instead. See Convert Pattern Automation to Notes. Then, type in a number and press [Enter].

Then, press [Enter]. The Shift Drum functions move the notes for the selected instrument one step to the left or right.

These menu items are used for the Matrix. Double-click in the display. Then, type in the desired value and press [Enter]. The other segment displays in the sequencer Inspector can be edited in the same way as described above.

This menu item is used for the Thor synthesizer. It will assign random values to the pattern sequencer steps, but only for the property selected with the Edit knob. For example, if Note is the edited property, only the note pitches will be randomized; leaving velocity values, lengths, durations and curves intact.

Tool Tips If you hover with the mouse over a control on a device panel and wait a moment, a tool tip appears. The tool tip shows the name of the parameter associated with that control and its current value. This helps you fine-tune settings, set several parameters to the same value, etc. The Randomize Pattern function create random patterns. These can often be great starting points and help you get new ideas. The Randomize Drum functions creates random patterns for the selected drum sound channel in the Redrum drum machine.

Context menus are tailored to contain only menu items that are relevant to the current circumstances. Using the various context menus allows you to work more quickly and more efficiently with Reason.

Instead of manually setting up a crossfade, you can let NN-XT do it for you. Proceed as follows: 1. Set up the zones so that their velocity ranges overlap, as desired. Select the zones. This has the effect that as you play velocity values up to 80, this zone will gradually fade in.

With velocity values above 80, it will play at full level. To bring up a context menu, right-click Win or [Ctrl]-click Mac on the desired object, section or area in Reason. You can select as many zones as you wish, not just one pair of overlapping zones. Select Create Velocity Crossfades. NN-XT will analyze the overlapping zones and automatically set up what it deems to be appropriate fade in and fade out values for the zones. Note the following important points: D.

Copy Loop to Track This menu item is used for the Dr. Octo Rex loop player device. To be able to make your REX loop start at the same time as other sequencer or pattern data, you convert the slices in the loop to note clips in the sequencer: 1. Select the sequencer track for the Dr. Octo Rex device. Set the locators to encompass the section you want to fill with REX clips. You may want to make sure that this area doesnt contain any note clips already, to avoid overlapping clips.

Select desired Loop Slot in the Dr. Octo Rex player. Pull down the Edit menu and select Copy Loop to Track. If you are using a Mac with a two button mouse, you may want to set this up so that clicking the right mouse button generates a [Ctrl]-click. This way, you can right-click to bring up context menus. The contents of the context menus depend on where you click. These are the primary types of context menus you will encounter in Reason:.

Now, the program will create a note for each slice, positioned according to the timing of the slices. The notes will be laid out in semitone steps, with the first note on C1, the second on C 1 and so on, with one semitone for each slice.

If the range between the locators is longer than the loop length, the loop notes will be repeated to fill out the loop.

Now you can reorder, overdub onto, and otherwise edit the note data on the edit lanes in the sequencer. If you click on an automatable control a mixer parameter, a device parameter, a fader, etc.

Copy Pattern to Track This menu item is used for the Redrum drum machine and Matrix pattern sequencer. It converts the selected pattern to notes on a sequencer track. Select a sequencer track. When working with a Redrum, you want to select the track for the Redrum device.

For the Matrix, you would typically select the track for the Matrix target device the instrument device to which the Matrix is connected. This is because the Matrix itself produces no sound, so the notes wont do any good on the Matrix track. Set the locators to the desired range or length. If the range set is longer than the pattern s , the data will be repeated to fit the range.

Select the pattern device. Pull down the Edit menu and select Copy Pattern to Track. Note clips will be created between the left and right locators, according to the selected pattern. The NN-XT features a pitch detection function to help you set the root keys of loaded samples. This is useful if you for example load a sample that you havent recorded yourself, and you dont have any information about its original pitch.

Device context menus If you click anywhere on a device in the Rack but not on a parameter or display , the context menu will contain the following items:. The samples in all the selected zones will now be analyzed, and the detected root keys will automatically be set for you. Note that for this to work properly, the samples must have some form of perceivable pitch. If it is sampled speech, or a snare drum for example, it probably doesnt have any discernible pitch.

This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. The automap function can be used as a quick way of creating a key map, or as a good starting point for further adjustments of a key map. Automap works under the assumption that you intend to create a key map for a complete instrument, for example a number of samples of a piano, all at different pitches.

Now you have three options: The Mixer device panel context menu Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete and Duplicate Device and Track items, allowing you to rearrange and manage the devices in the rack. Commands for managing Device Groups. A duplicate of the Create menu, allowing you to create new devices.

A Go To submenu, listing all devices connected to the current device. The zones will be sorted in the display from top to bottom - lowest key first according to the root keys. Selecting a device from the Go To submenu scrolls the rack to bring that device into view. Auto-routing and Disconnect functions.

The key ranges are set up so that the split between two zones is exactly in the middle between the zones root notes. If two zones have the same root key they will be assigned the same key range. This allows you to automatically route connect or disconnect a selected device in a logical way. Combine and Uncombine are used when you want to use the selected device in, or exclude it from, a Combinator setup. A Browse Instruments item which lets you browse for sounds for a selected Instrument device.

This item is available only for Instrument devices. Additional device-specific items. It will map the selected zones chromatically one zone per semitone from C2 and up. This is useful if you are mapping non-pitched material e. Before you select Automap Zones Chromatically, you may want to adjust the order of the zones, since this determines which zone is mapped to which key.

These affect the currently selected pattern in the device. If the device uses patches, there will be functions for managing patches.

Depending on the device there may also be various device-specific functions available. For example, the drum machine device has functions for manipulating the pattern for the selected drum sound only, etc. The Go To Track for The Lock Control Surface to this Device lets you lock a connected control surface to the selected device. This is used for automatically setting up velocity crossfades for smooth transitions between overlapping zones. To set up crossfades, you adjust the fade out and fade in values for the overlapping zones.

This means that this zone will play at full level with velocity values below 40, With higher velocity values, it will gradually fade out. Rack background context menu 2. Make sure the zone that contains the settings you want to copy has edit focus by clicking on it. If you click in an empty area of the rack, the context menu will contain the following items: All the selected zones will now get the exact same parameter settings.

Observe that this only applies to the synth parameters LFOs, envelopes etc. Sample parameters root key, velocity range etc. This option lets you automatically sort the selected zones within a Group in descending order according to their key ranges. When you invoke this option, the selected zones will be sorted from top to bottom in the display starting with the one with the lowest range. If two or more zones have the same key range, they are instead sorted by velocity range.

This option lets you automatically sort the selected zones within a Group in descending order according to their set low or high velocity values. When you invoke this option, the selected zones will be sorted from top to bottom starting with the one with the highest Lo Vel value. If two or more zones have the same velocity range, they are instead sorted by key range. If you click in the Sequencer, the context menus will contain items related to editing tracks, clips and events.

The available items will differ depending on in which section or lane you click Track List, note lane, etc. For example, the sequencer context menus contain functions for inserting or removing bars, deleting tracks, changing or deleting note and automation events.

It lets you put any number of selected zones together in a group. Grouping zones is good for two things: D. For example if you have created a layered sound consisting of piano and strings, you could put all string samples in one group and all piano samples in one group. Then you can quickly select all piano samples and make an adjustment to them by trimming a parameter.

For example, you may want to set a group to legato and monophonic mode and add some portamento so that you can play a part where you slide between notes. Select the zones you want to group together. The zones dont have to be contiguous in order to be grouped. Regardless of their original positions in the samples column, they will all be put together in succession. Select Group Selected Zones. The zones are grouped. Note that there is always at least one group, since the zones you create are always grouped together by default.

All instrument sounds have an inherent pitch. When playing a sample of such a sound on the keyboard, the keys you play must correspond to that pitch. For example, you may have recorded a piano playing the key C3.

When you map this onto the NN-XT key map, you must set things up so that the sampler plays back the sample at original pitch when you press the key C3, and this is done by adjusting the root note.

Undo and Redo Virtually all actions in Reason can be undone. This includes creation, deletion and reordering of devices in the rack, parameter value adjustments, recording and editing in the sequencer etc. You can undo up to 30 actions. When you select this, any changes you have made on a loaded sample using the sample parameters root key, loop settings, etc.

It is used for adding an empty zone to the key map. An empty zone can be resized, moved and edited in the same way as zones that contain samples. After you have added an empty zone, you can assign a sample to it. Copy Zones The action to be undone is indicated next to the Undo command on the Edit menu. For example, if your latest action was to delete some device s from the rack, the Edit menu will display Undo Delete Devices and Tracks. It copies the selected zone s , and all of its settings - including references to any sample it may contain - and places it in the clipboard buffer.

You can then select Paste Zones to create a new zone that is an exact replica of the copied zone s. Similarly, the action to be redone is shown on the Edit menu. To redo the last undone action undo the undo operation , select Redo from the Edit menu, or hold down [Ctrl] Win or [Cmd] Mac and press [Y]. If you have used the Copy Zones command, with any number of selected zones, you can create exact duplicates of these by using the Paste Zones command. The pasted zones will then be added below any existing zones in the key map.

The concept of multiple undos may require an explanation: You can undo up to 30 actions, or in other words, Reason has an Undo History with up to thirty steps. Lets say you have performed the following actions:.

It lets you duplicate any number of already existing zones containing samples or empty. Adjusted the Attack parameter of the synth device. Changed the panning for the synth device in the Mixer. Adjusted the playback tempo on the Transport Panel. The selected zones will now be copied and automatically inserted below the last one in the key map display. The duplicated zones will contain references to the same samples as the original zones.

They will also have the exact same key ranges and parameter settings. After these five actions, the Undo History will look as follows: 5. Adjust tempo 4. Change pan 3. Adjust Attack 2. Create Synth Device 1. Create Mixer Device.

Selecting this option will remove both the selected zones, and any samples they may contain. This option will automatically select all zones in a key map. It lets you easily copy parameter settings from one zone to any number of other zones. Proceed as follows:. By this we mean the zone with the settings you wish to copy, and the zone s to which you want to copy the settings.

Mapping Samples Without Root Key or Tuning Information: Some samples may not have any information about root key or tuning stored in the file nor indicated in the file name. If this is the case, you can still make use of the Automap function: 1. Select all samples that belong together and load them in one go, using the sample browser. One of the samples will be loaded to a key zone spanning the whole range, and the rest will reside in the sample memory.

Manually set the root key, and adjust the tune knob if the sample needs pitch fine-tuning. If you now select Redo, the most recently undone action will be redone. In this case, your panning adjustment will be performed again and added to the Undo History again :. Without any information stored in the file, or if the file name doesnt indicate the root key, you will have to use your ears for this step.

Play the sample across different areas of the keyboard and listen to where it sounds the most natural. As long as you are in the general area of the correct root key, the result should be o. You can always adjust this later. Select the next sample using the Sample knob, and repeat the previous step. Proceed like this until you have set a root key for all the samples. Select Automap Samples from the edit menu. At this point, you still have the option to Redo the tempo change. But if you instead perform another action e.

To remove a sample from a Redrum drum machine, select its drum sound channel and then select Delete Sample from the Edit menu. To remove a sample from an NN19 Samplers memory, select the zone it belongs to, and then select Delete Sample from the Edit menu. The sample is removed from the zone and from sample memory. The zone still remains though. To delete a zone, you must use the option Delete Zones.

When you select it, all samples that are not assigned to a key zone are deleted from sampler memory. This way you can make sure that you are not wasting any sample memory for samples that are not actually used. It splits the currently selected key zone in the middle. The new zone is the upper half of the split, and is empty. The dividing point has a handle above it. It deletes the currently selected key zone from the key map.

Navigate to a location containing any of the sample formats listed above, select one and click Open. If the zone contained a sample prior to loading, this will be replaced, both in the zone and in the sample memory, unless the sample was also used by another key zone.

If you loaded several samples, one of the samples the sample that was selected furthest down in the Browser list will be loaded into the key zone, and the other samples will be loaded into the sample memory.

Make sure the Remote Editor panel is folded out, by clicking the small arrow in the bottom left corner. If a zone is selected when you browse for samples, the sample will be loaded into that zone, replacing any previous sample. This menu item applies to the NN19 Sampler. If you have a number of samples that belong together but havent been mapped to key zones, you can use the Automap Samples function. This is used in the following way:. Each sample will be placed correctly according to its root note, and will be tuned according to the information in the sample file.

The root key will always be in the middle of each zone, with the zone extending both down and up in relation to the root position. Hence, no key zone high or low limits have to be manually set! About this chapter Clear Pattern This menu item clears empties the current pattern on the selected pattern device Redrum or Matrix. The On-screen Piano Keys window enables you to play instrument devices using either your mouse or computer keyboard.

This provides a simple and convenient way to input notes or chords when using the program without an attached MIDI master keyboard. Browse Patches This menu item allows you to select a new Patch for a device. The menu item reflects which device is selected - in other words, you must select the device for the corresponding Browse Patches item to appear on the Edit menu. When you select the menu item, the Browser dialog appears, allowing you to locate and select the patch, on disk or within a ReFill.

When you select a patch, the devices parameters will be set according to the values stored in the patch, and the name of the patch will be shown in the patch name display. As with any change you make, this operation can be undone. Any parameter adjustments you make on the device panel after selecting a patch will not affect the actual patch file for this you need to re-save the patch.

Octo Rex devices contain references to samples. Just like patches, samples can be independent files on the hard disk or elements within a ReFill or a SoundFont. However, if sample files have been moved or renamed after a patch was saved, the sample file references in the patch will not be accurate.

If this is the case when you select a patch, the program will tell you so. You can then choose to either manually locate the missing files, to have the program search for them in all stored locations and ReFills or to proceed without the missing sounds.

Like the Tool window, the On-Screen Piano Key window floats on top of other windows, remaining visible most of the time. Mouse Mode is for entering notes with the mouse, and Computer Keys Mode for using the computer keyboard to enter notes. The two modes are described separately below.

This menu item is used to add a loop to the selected Dr. Octo Rex Loop Slot. Browse Samples The following sample formats can be loaded: Wave. This means that the Piano Keys will trigger the device associated with the track that has Master Keyboard Input. This is an open standard format for wavetable synthesized audio, developed by E-mu systems and Creative Technologies. REX file slices. When the On-screen Piano Keys window is in Mouse mode, you can resize it by clicking and dragging the window frame according to standard procedures.

REX files are music loops created in the ReCycle program. This program slices up loops into multiple samples. These samples - or slices - can be loaded into the devices mentioned. This is especially useful in Mouse mode, since you can adapt the window to show the desired note range.

The Keyboard Navigator This is present in both modes and shows the total key range. The green area indicates the key range available in the On-screen Piano Keys window.

This function should be used if you want to rearrange devices or sequencer tracks according to the order of the current selection.

For example, if you want to rearrange the rack devices according to the current sequencer track order, you can select all sequencer tracks and then choose Sort Selected Device Groups to rearrange the rack devices.

Keyboard Navigator. Auto-routing is normally performed when:. However, if a device is already in the rack, you can force it to be auto-routed by selecting it and then select this menu item. Keys that produce sound are indicated by a gray strip above the keyboard in the Keyboard Navigator. This is useful when playing a patch where only certain keys or key ranges produce sound, e.

For more information about auto-routing rules, see Automatic routing. Available notes for the currently selected instrument. By selecting several devices in the rack and selecting Combine, a Combinator device will be created containing the selected devices.

By selecting the Combinator or one or several devices contained in a Combinator and then selecting Uncombine will remove the devices from the Combinator and into the rack.

In case the whole Combinator is selected, this will be removed and the devices it contains will be moved into the rack. The current octave number is always shown for the leftmost key - by default the [A] key on the computer keyboard. Sometimes it is useful to start with a clean slate when creating a synth sound, a drum kit or a sampler patch. This is done by selecting Initialize Patch from the device context menu or Edit menu. This sets all parameters to standard values.

Octo Rex, Redrum or Kong devices will also remove samples from the device, allowing you to start from scratch. Moves the current pattern in the selected Redrum or Matrix to the clipboard. The pattern is then cleared. Copies the current pattern in the selected Redrum or Matrix to the clipboard.

To enter notes, simply click on the keyboard with your mouse. Copies the pattern on the clipboard to the current pattern location in the selected Redrum or Matrix device. This overwrites the current pattern with the one on the clipboard. Note that this can be used to transfer patterns between different Reason songs. The keys are velocity sensitive. The higher up on the key you click, the lower the velocity and vice versa.

If you copy and paste several devices, the connections between these are preserved. If you hold down [Shift] when you paste a device, Reason will attempt to auto-route it. For example, [Shift]-pasting an instrument device typically connects it to the first free mixer input s above it in the rack. You can also paste the device s and track s into another song, including all sequencer data and device settings.

If you have deleted the original tracks, or if you paste into another Reason song document, the clip will be pasted at the song position on the selected track if the track type is the same as the original.

Otherwise new tracks will be created. If the clip is a note clip, a new Combinator track will be created. Notes or automation points will be pasted at the song position on the selected track if the track types are compatible. Individual Kong Drum patches can be copied and pasted from one selected pad to another. The keyboard octave range can be set using the arrow buttons at each side of the navigator keyboard.

If you delete a sequencer track with this menu item then called Delete Tracks and Devices , its device is also deleted. Each C key is labeled with the octave number. You can also simply drag the green key range area to where you want.

It will snap to octave ranges. Resizing horizontally extends or diminishes the key range. By resizing the window vertically you change the key size for the keyboard, as well as the key range. If Auto-group Devices and Tracks is selected in the Options menu, an alert appears asking you if you want to delete only the selected device or the entire Device Group - see About Device Groups.

Delete Tracks This deletes the currently selected sequencer track s without removing the corresponding rack device s. If you press [Shift] when entering notes, the notes will sustain, just like when using a sustain pedal. The duplicated items will appear below the selected device and track, respectively.

The Repeat function will continuously repeat the last clicked note as quarter notes with a quarter note pause in between at the current tempo. This feature can be useful when tweaking synth parameters or browsing for patches. The result depends on which area rack, track list, etc. This is indicated by a thin frame around an area in the document window. You can use this menu item to quickly apply a command to all items you are working on, for example deleting all devices in the rack select Select All Devices and then press [Delete] or for Quantizing all notes in an open clip select Select All and then click the Quantize button in the Tool window.

See About selecting all devices in a Device Group. When Computer Keys Mode is selected, the On-screen Piano Keys window shows a graphic partial representation of a computer keyboard. The window cannot be resized in this mode. The Computer Keys keyboard range is fixed to 18 notes from C to F , although the octave range will give you access to any notes within the ten octaves shown in the navigator.

You can also click on the keys with your mouse to trigger notes. The numerical keys in the top row are not used to enter notes but to set velocity, see Velocity. The default layout of the Computer Keys logically reflects the layout of a piano keyboards black and white keys. Virtually any actions in Reason can be undone. The first leftmost key represents C and so on up to F an octave above. By default, the [A]-key will play the first C, the [W]-key a C and so on, according to piano keyboard standards.

If you wish, you can customize the note to key assignment in the Preferences - Language and Computer Keyboard page see On-screen Piano Keys in Preferences.