Have you taken a look at the new Generations Refill provided over on Reason 101? If you haven't, you should definitely check it out.
I'm usually the first person to be skeptical about new refills. Refills, like this site if I'm going to be completely honest, are a collection of sounds and ideas that suit someone else's music or someone else's ideas. Refills are generally instrument patches and effects that fit someone else's notion of what is clever or what sounds good, and so even when I find one I like, I usually only find a few patches that are useful to me among hundreds of patches that I would rather not be bothered with or required to sift through. So, what makes the Generations Refill different?
Do you remember how you felt when you finally understood how Reason worked and how flexible it was? You realized that the cabling wasn't the gimmick so many people claimed it was and the various devices suddenly made sense. You understood that within Reason, you were only limited by your own creativity. Well, the Generations Refill is a lot like that, but in place of Reason's existing devices and Factory Sound Bank provided samples and Combinators, Rob at Reason 101 has provided a series of Combinators that are meant to be used in the same way that Reason's devices are intended to be used, cabled together in clever ways, to achieve intriguing and sometimes surprising sonic results.
I should explain that a bit more. Rather than provide you with, say, a UN-16 Unison that can be used in a variety of ways, the Generations Refill provides Combinators that fill those same roles, routed with other Combinators saved within song files, so that you're essentially given Combinators filled with other Combinators, resulting in routing and effect options that go far beyond what is usually provided in a refill.
Interestingly, this isn't a one size fits all proposition. The Generations Refill provides a number of setups that will be immediately useful to you. In addition, it provides many useful instrument patches and effect Combinators, allowing you to build your own setups and processing, by creating new routing with tools he has provided. Basically, the Generations Refill is a massive toy box and comes with permission to play.
I've been lucky enough to have seen "sneak previews" of this refill as Rob has built it and I've been impressed and intrigued by his approach. Seeing it as a complete package is even more impressive. While many refills provide you with basic sounds and ideas, the Generations Refill provides you with tools, powerful ones. Simply put, the Generations Refill will be useful to Reason experts and newbies alike and I really can't say enough good things about it. Well done, Rob!
