Friday, April 20, 2012

.1033 Commercial Sneak Peek: Rob Anselmi's Pureffects, Part 5

Here are the last few patches from Rob Anselmi's Pureffects ReFill, a collection of Alligator patches.

I think Alligator is my biggest blindspot in Reason's ever growing arsenal of devices, but Rob shows of its capabilities expertly with this handful of patches. As with everything that gets posted here on Reason Patch A Day, don't be afraid to experiment. His patch At The Maw, for example, yields some pretty interesting results with percussion loops, despite being labeled a "bass" patch.


  • Pureffects - (Bass) Another Wobbler ( Alligator )
  • Pureffects - (Bass) At The Maw ( Alligator )
  • Pureffects - (General) Be Good Johnny 1980 ( Alligator )


In addition, our interview series also comes to an end with Rob some offering his advice to sound designers looking at creating their own refills and a peek at what Rob is working on for the future, now that he has the Pureffects ReFill finished.


Q. What process do you go through when creating a ReFill such as Pureffects? What advice can you offer any other sound designers?

A. There are two main things I would advise budding ReFill designers. First is make your ReFill for the musician, not for yourself. This means thinking about the musician and how they will use your ReFill. Have a good organization structure and folder structure with proper names that best explain your ReFill. Proper labels. Mixer at the top of any Combinators, proper organization under your Combinators, even levels across the ReFills. I go into this in depth in some of my “Creating Better Patches” series on my blog. But it all boils down to thinking of your users first and foremost.

Second, I would say try your best to learn all you can about how Reason, Audio, CV, Synthesis, and Sampling works. Sound design is part craft, part science, and part art. Suck up the knowledge like a sponge and read as much as you can on the subject. Then practice, practice, and practice some more. Find your own voice and your own sounds, and you’ll have the makings of a great ReFill.

Q.  What's next?  You just released two new CDs, a new refill, and you continue to write for your blog.  What's the next thing we can expect from you?

A. Well, I’m currently working on two new ReFill projects, which I’m hoping to get out before the end of the year. I don’t want to get too deep into the details, but I have a feeling they will be unlike any other ReFills out there. One project has to do with a micro-focus on a specific area of Reason, and another has to do with a micro focus on a specific kind of sound and genre. As always, I try to provide as many possibilities in my ReFills as I can. I want users to have as much flexibility and ideas inside my ReFills so that anyone doing any style of music can use the ReFills in some ways in their music. Or at the very least, as long as they have some new creative ideas to work with, they can take my ReFill as a springboard for their own sound design ideas.

Anyway, I know that’s rather vague, but I don’t want to spoil the surprise. One thing I can say for sure is that it won’t be an effects ReFill. Though an update to “Pureffects: is on the ideas list for future projects.

As for other plans, I’d like to try to reach 101 tutorials before the end of the year. That deadline might be a little tight, but I would be very happy to hit that mark and start thinking of a new avenue for www.reason101.net – not to say I won’t still write the occasional tutorial. But I would like to see about taking on an alternate or additional creative direction once I’ve done 101 tutorials.

And then there’s the music. I enjoy releasing my own music and try to come up with a new EP or Full album of music at least once a year. And so I’m hoping I can get back into doing some more music before the year is out. And then there are the other 20 or so ideas I have for the future, but those will have to wait until next year. It’s always a process of whittling down all the ideas into a priority list. You pick the best ideas you have and work on those first, then move on to the next. All the while, the ideas change, more get added, some get removed, and some move up or down in the list of priorities. Maybe I’ll stop when all the ideas are completed. But something tells me that it’s a never-ending journey, and if so, I rather like it that way. Otherwise, what’s the point?


Thank you, Rob, for your generosity of time in answering my many questions and thank you for giving Reason Patch A Day readers a few, exclusive looks at what you have in store for them in your latest project.

Readers wanting to learn more about the Pureffects ReFill are encouraged to visit Rob's refill site for a demo refill, video, and links to purchase. Readers should also be sure to check out Rob's informative blog, Reason 101, for tutorials and in-depth looks at what Reason can do.

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