.1032 Commercial Sneak Peek: Rob Anselmi's Pureffects, Part 4

The exclusive patches from Rob Anselmi's new Pureffects ReFill keep coming with four new Scream distortion patches. These four patches make up just a fraction of the 108 total Scream patches included in the refill, but should give you an idea of what's on tap as you dig deeper into Pureffects and its hundreds of effects.

• Pureffects - (General) Hammer Head ( Scream )
  
• Pureffects - (General) Hi Fuzz ( Scream )
  
• Pureffects - (General) Overdrive Enhancer ( Scream )
  
• Pureffects - (Pads) Ultra Modulator ( Scream )
  

My virtual chat with Rob takes a short detour from his design philosophies as a refill designer as we take a moment to talk about Reason in general and which effects he thinks are being overlooked by Reason users.

Q.  Given your entire refill is based around effects, what Reason effect do you think is widely underutilized by the Reason community? What's the "secret weapon" that no one seems to be talking about?

A. I think that would depend mostly on when people picked up Reason. For those that started using Reason 1 and up, there probably is no secret weapon. However, if you started out using Reason 4, for example, you may not have paid much attention to the half-rack devices. And they shouldn't be overlooked. There's a lot of power in those little buggers. For example, you can stereo-ize any mono signal using the Unison device. This is useful if you want to process an audio signal through the M Class Stereo effect, for example. Or you can use it to beef up your Subtractor patches. A small unassuming device that seems very basic, but could be very powerful.

I also think that as Reason grows and more devices are added, there are more possibilities for some devices to go by the wayside. The device that I personally use the least amount is the half rack compressor (Comp-01). I think that since we have the M Class Compressor, Master Bus Compressor, Mixer Channel Strip Compressor, and Pulveriser, there's very little need to use the Comp-01. However, I'm sure others can find a usefulness for this device. I've just never missed it with all the other possibilities.

It also depends on what people have an affinity for. Lately, I've been heavily drawn to highly textured deep rich sounds, ambient pads, and the like. So I find my secret weapons of choice to be Thor along with the RV7000, Scream, Pulveriser, or DDL devices. I also like the Tape Echo and Ring Modulators in Kong. But honestly, I try not to discriminate. All the devices in Reason have their place and their purpose. And I love trying to push the software to its limits. It's a never-ending journey and to this day, even after 8 years, I still find new capabilities and ideas inside Reason, without having to venture outside into other DAWs or VSTs.

And now we will soon have Rack Extensions, which will add more possibilities, and that should prove very interesting indeed.

Don't forget you can learn more about the Pureffects ReFill, as well as download a demo, by visiting the Pureffects site.