Reader Nikolai Bonamente (formerly known as 1.44 MB) and I were trading a few emails recently and he let it slip that he's been sticking a PAD sound or two in most of his recent songs. He said:
Just thought I'd let you know your "spicknel" pad is getting an outing in my latest track "Afgan Hound" up on the cloud and "mugwump" is included on the track "times draggin" just below it.
And...
I've just been playing with adding another bassline and string section to "Taratop" and realized it features "Torpidity" really quite prominently!
Nikoali knows how much I enjoy hearing what other people have done with the patches here and was letting me know about his recent tracks as a courtesy, not a quest to get yet another mention here on Reason Patch A Day, but I can't think of any reason not to post his new tracks. This is a blog about making music, after all, so there's always a reason to listen to something new.
The new year must have everyone feeling more creative. We got a Bragware Report a week ago with TheFatControlleR's Dylan & The Seven Drones, then posted the new track Forgiven from Martin Kremser, and while I was literally preparing the post for Martin's song I received an email from Nait Phoenix telling me he just finished up a new song using a couple of old Reason Patch A Day sounds.
If anyone has any comments or constructive criticism for Nait_Phoenix regarding his new track, I urge you to go to his Soundclick page and let him know what you think. Thanks for sharing, Nait! I look forward to hearing whatever else you come up with in the future.
I recently got an email from reader Martin Kremser, letting me know he used a couple of Reason Patch A Day patches on one of his new songs: Forgiven. Martin let me know he used Ba-ba-ba-bass and Iatrogenic on his latest techno song. If the results don't get you moving, you might have to see a doctor.
Provide any constructive criticism you might have by leaving a comment on Martin's Soundcloud page.
Thanks for let us know what you've been up to, Martin!
If you have a track of your own that you'd like to highlight on the blog, please send me an email with a link to your track and a description, so I can post it here. I'm always eager to hear what's being done with the patches shared here, so I'd love to hear from you.
Threads cycle pretty quickly on the Propellerhead User Forum, but a few weeks ago Ben from 3 Floor Sound was nice enough to draw a little attention to my new archive refill by pointing folks in my direction. Thank you, Ben!
The thread was short and short-lived, but was the internet equivilent of getting a bear hug, with a few people thanking me for my work on the blog and posting about their excitement in getting the refills. Thank you all for showing interest in what I've been doing!
One of the highlights of the thread, however, was a song that FatControlleR put together using patches from the Vol 1 Refill. His efforts can be found in the thread or heard here:
As I mentioned to FatControlleR privately, it's always a treat to hear what other people have done with the sounds I've created. Sometimes they sound the same, other things I can't recognize them at all. Thanks for sharing, FatControlleR! It was a lot of fun for me to hear what you've done with my patches.
Probably the most rewarding feedback I receive from Reason Patch A Day is when readers send me emails to share what they've created with the patches posted here. Recently, French artist Ceo1 sent me an email to share a new track that he created using only patches that had been posted during the blog's first few months, back in 2008.
Ceo1 explains:
I like from time to time to write songs under rules (like with only one refill bank, only with a piano, etc.). Often, having rules enables me to focus more on the feel of the piece, rather than wandering through my 10,000 refills (note : I don't actually have 10,000 refills, but you catch my drift).
So, I did it like this with your instruments: I tried them all and felt what could inspire me and started from there to develop a theme. I hit a wall with the 2008 instruments, because even though I find them very neat sounding and inspiring to me, they were a bit similar. Don't get me wrong, I love them, but I felt they were in the same category of dark pads or something like that (besides the Paper Towel Tube, of course).
In the end I like what I've done with it, but I'm pretty sure that I can do something maybe better with your other sounds, which I have to try, and that's a whole lot more!
You may remember the name of long time reader Nikolai Bonamente, formerly 1.44MB, who has shared a number of songs here on Reason Patch A Day, stretching back to his two tracks that were a part of the original PAD Challenge in August of 2010.
I've had the pleasure of exchanging more than a few emails with Nikolai over the last year and have been following him on Soundcloud as well. I've been impressed with his ability to crank out the tunes. He seems to turn them out faster than I can listen to them, but I thought I'd highlight one of his more recent tunes, a song called Abandoned Orchard that he posted a couple of months ago.
Abandoned Orchard uses the Rectification patch and might be my favorite track Nikolai has produced. He describes it by saying:
With Abandoned orchard I started off with the bass - playing with it's distortion was very pleasing to my ear - I'd had a few bars lying around for while and then along came the strings which seemed like a really good fit.
Thank you both, Ceo1 and Nikolai Bonamente, for sharing your tracks with me and the readers here on Reason Patch A Day. If anyone has any constructive comments or criticism to offer, please leave them on either Ceo1 or Nikoali's Soundcloud pages, or feel free to leave them a note here in the comments.
If you have a track of your own that you'd like to highlight on the blog, please send me an email with a link to your track and a description, so I can post it here. I'm always eager to hear what's being done with the patches shared here, so I'd love to hear from you.
I've mentioned it on this blog and to a few of you privately, but I've been feeling stuck for a long time. I've created a few tracks in the last couple of years, but the ones I have created have either left me feeling a little cold or have been oddly similar to previous tracks, despite my best efforts to move into fresh territory.
Given my stagnation, it was a real pleasure to put together a new track this weekend, a "ambient dub" song I'm calling Hematoma.
As is usually the case with the tracks I create, nearly every sound you hear in the track comes from a patch that has been posted here on Reason Patch A Day. The only major exception are four drum samples I used from the free sample pack from the excellent Wave Alchemy - Tech House and Minimal sample kit. There are also a couple of patches that have not been posted here, but are available in the Reason Patch A Day Archive Refill.
Remember, if you post a track using any of the patches found here, I want to hear about it. Please send me a message at patchaday (at) earthlink (dot) net and I'll post links to your music here on Reason Patch A Day.
I just got a new email from 1.44MB informing me that he has a new track up on Soundcloud that uses several patches from Reason Patch A Day. The song is called "attention deficit" and can be found on his Soundcloud page or can be listened to using the embedded player below:
As 1.44MB explained, his new track uses "the Piston patch from last week, and the Effect Combinators Campfire, Heft and Rough Around The Edges. As before, any constructive criticism or comments you have about the track are welcome, so jump over to 1.44MB's Soundcloud page and let him know what you think. You can also leave comments here.
I like the track quite a bit, which isn't too surprising, given my weakness for 80s era Tangerine Dream. The bass and atmospheric sounds at around the 2:10 mark definitely has that old school Tangerine Dream sound, as does the synthesizer that comes in around 3:15. Nicely done, 1.44MB!
Have a track of your own that uses patches or sounds from Reason Patch A Day? Let me know by sending me an email and I'll feature your track here on the blog. I can be reached at patchaday (at) earthlink (dot) net.
Lewis.72 just sent me his entry for the PAD Challenge. It took a little longer than a week, but I think it was worth the wait. He writes:
It uses 5 patches from Reason Patch a Day:
Sleepless+HerschelGap - I love this pad and it's the backbone for the track. Homemade4 - this Subtractor patch is doubling up an upright jazz bass patch from the FSB for depth. Solar Bells Callisto and Solar Bells Umbriel - these two patches are the arp sounds. work great together - like chocolate and peanut butter. Stereo Delay - a great effect being used on the arp sounds above.
The sample in the song, of a woman repeating "15728" was taken from The Conet Project, a web resource of so-called "Numbers Stations" on shortwave radios.
The rhythm and percussion patches come from the Reason Factory Sound Bank. I recently rediscovered the "Machines" folder and have been digging the set-up patches. "Needle Groovah" and "Synthi Drum Machine" are two of my favorites and lay down the beat. I changed up the patterns a bit, but they're similar to stock. "Jenkinson Drum Machine" is there to give it a bit of glitchy goodness. Didn't do anything to the pattern, but set it up to run randomly and played with the "loop edits" button to drop the pattern in and out.
I have one of my own patches in the song as well. "Copy Machine". This is one of my favorite effects patches, great for stutters or in this case, transitions. It's available on my blog.
I've used samples from The Conet Project in some of my own songs. Its well worth checking out if you're looking for something a little different to add to your tracks.
I thought I had all of Lewis.72's Combinators, but this one slipped past me, so I was glad to have it pointed out. Thanks, Lewis!
Here's a late entry to the PAD Challenge from reader Jeremy, a funky kind of track that he humbly describes by saying:
I'm not sure if this is legal or not submission wise, but I don't have Record (need more money!), so the vocals were done in Reaper and the stems ran through Recycle and thereafter Dr R.
I'm not very good about talking about my music and I don't know genres and such it seems, so if anything is to be said about it..
Not goofy at all, Jeremy. Thanks for submitting it, even if you did miss the deadline by a day. I think I've said this before, but this is definitely a case of the more being the merrier, so I'm glad to have your submission.
I got this contribution from DJ Mad Wax yesterday, but unfortunately was too caught up in meetings at my son's school, to do anything with it until now. Sorry about the delay in getting this up, Wax!
Inspired by a chance encounter in Berlin, DJ Mad Wax has this to say about his Ostbahnoff "That's a Great Color Combination" track:
Programmed Drums: Goldbaby's Tape 808 and 909 refills Drum Loop: Computer Muzik magazine Reason Patch-a-Day: Thor, Snickers of Shadows; Combi Effect: Airport Music; Maelstron, Fugitive; Maelstrom, Catharis; Subtractor, Rubberband; Additional: various effects from the Filter Research Refill; various use of patching and standard Reason effect devices
Note: I'm mostly deaf, and this was mixed on headphones as my studio is not set up yet. If its too heavy on a frequency, blame the DJ Magic Mike albums and my bass system when I was a teen, or blame my DJ booth years :)
Thanks: to Robbneu for inspiration and the awesome blog.
Read about what DJ Mad Wax is up to at City of Bass.
Thanks Wax! And, thanks to Hydlide, 1.44MB, Chris Stallone, and V2057 for your time and effort in this short challenge. It's been a lot of fun and the results have been really inspiring to me. Thanks for participating.
If you were working on a track, and I think there still might be a couple of you committed to turning one in, you can still get it in to me. Missing the deadline isn't a problem, so send it over and we'll get it posted up here with the rest.
Just got another PAD Challenge song from V2057. He describes his new track, Tarnac 9, saying:
I've been in a frenzy to finish this. Been working on it since wednesday, and its no where done but I wanted to send it out anyway. I used some of your combinators, but I honestly can't remember which ones and there was a lot of heavy tweaking going on. I really appreciate your dedication to Reason/Record, it keeps me motivated as well to work on songs. This song is titled Tarnac 9, under my artist label Lost Integrity.
As is the case with 1.44MB and Chris Stallone, V2057 provided me with an MP3 of his song, which I uploaded to the Patch A Day Soundcloud. I, in no way, claim any ownership of his work and all rights belong to V2057.
Like 1.44MB, Chris Stallone shames me by turning in two songs in the time I took me to only complete one. He has only a few comments about his new songs, but those comments are provided below:
"sunrise" i made in the week and spent more time on (various patches. yours, hydilde, L72 & my own)
"space clouds" is only hours old and i only used your patches although i tweaked alot of them
i dont think i completely finished them but i'd send them anyway
As is the case with the submissions from Hydlide and 1.44MB, feedback is welcome and appreciated, but please keep the comments constructive and in the spirit of this challenge.
I received these two tracks from 1.44MB last night and instantly felt inadequate. I started the challenge and only came up with one song, while 1.44MB managed to crank out a couple during his lunch break! Sigh. Good job, 1.44MB!
Of his songs for the Challenge, 1.44MB says:
Burn area is pretty similar to a lot of stuff I make whereas Vathi is much more upbeat. I'd like to be more upbeat more of the time but I feel I (my tracks) sound cheesy when I try. So, cheesy or not, I want to push Vathi out there for comments to see how I might be able to tweak it to sound a little cooler?!. Apart from your latest subtractor drumkit (which isn't really used with enough variation here) Vathi doesn't include much PAD input hence I've included Burn Area which is 100% PAD...... and in the spirit of the challenge only took 2 lunch times to lash up!
Please note that 1.44MB provided me with MP3s of his songs which I uploaded to the Patch A Day Soundcloud. I, in no way, claim any ownership of his work and all rights belong to 1.44MB.
Hydlide was the first person to get his entry to me, sending in Drones2 yesterday, stating:
I started on friday with one 'experiment', it failed... however, I did make this huge pad from the ground up. So I re-used that in a new production where I made a new rack, took the pad again and worked with that as a basis.
There's some heavy stuff going on in this track, and everything was build from the ground up. I mostly used the subtractors as the main synthesis, added some samples left and right to fill up the transitions and went heavy on the drums (thats what I very often do these days).
I used one section of your patch a day blog, which was (ironically) a loop (Renoise DrRex post). I couldn't find the right angle making it sound electro beat like as I originally planned (hence the first experiment kind of failed on me).
But then again, genre doesn't matter.. so, i threw in a combi of ambience, house and progressive all together. I don't even know if there's a genre that is related to this style. But then again, I often blend certain styles together and go from there.
Please leave any contructive criticism or thoughts you might have about Hydlide's track in the comments. Also, be sure to check out Hydlide's website The Sound of Reason. He has an incredible number of tools and tutorials for Reason available at this site and on YouTube, so go take a look.
I started the PAD Challenge a week ago today and although the official deadline isn't until tomorrow at noon, I thought I would post my contribution to the PAD Challenge, a song called Breaching The Heliopause. Predictably, at least to me, Breaching The Heliopause is a little darker in its vibe, falling short of the traditional house or trance sound I was aiming for, but I'm still pretty pleased with the results.
Breaching The Heliopause was created using Record + Reason. As was the case with the other songs I posted to Soundcloud and referenced here, Breaching The Heliopause was created using only instrument and effect patches that I built, most of which have been shared here on PAD. In case you're curious about the patches I used in the song, below are complete lists with links for each patch and post that I used.
There are a few additional patches that I used in Breaching The Heliopause that haven't yet been posted here. My Tinnitus synth sound was processed using the Combinator "A Little Darker," which was included in the Reason Patch A Day Archive Refill, but hasn't been posted separately yet. Also, I used a few DrumBox Drum Machine patches that I created, but haven't had time to post here. You'll be seeing those shortly.
I don't think this would have been possible without Ruurd's help this week. So, thanks again Ruurd!
I'm really looking forward to hearing what everyone else comes up with. Expect more song posts highlighting reader PAD Challenge songs, as they start coming in.
Here's another ambient track I made, this time using Record, and patches that are available for download here on Reason Patch A Day. It is similar in a few ways to Separation, which I also posted via Soundcloud, but maybe not as polished. I feel like, at least in a few places, Descent becomes monotonous. I might need to revisit this one and finalize it.
Can I feature one of your tracks here? As I've said, in numerous posts, I'd like to hear what you've done with any of the patches provided on this blog. Send me a Soundcloud link to your track or email me your MP3 or RNS file and I'll post it here. My only requirement for featuring a reader track is that you have used a patch or sound from this blog somewhere in your track.
Here's a more recent track, made up almost exclusively from patches that can be downloaded here. Called "Separation," its more of the usual ambient stuff I work on, but much more recent than that last track I shared.
As I said, with the exception of just one patch, Separation uses sounds that can be found here on the Reason Patch A Day blog. A list of each patch, linked to its post, is provided below:
The process for getting your tracks featured here on Reason Patch A Day are pretty simple. Send me a Soundlick link to your track or email me your MP3 or RNS file and I'll post it here. The only requirement is that you use a patch or sound from this blog somewhere in your track. You don't need to use as many patches as I did, obviously, but I'd love to hear what you've done with the patches shared here and I think some of the other readers would to, so let me know what you've come up with.
I've been promising and hinting at this for a while now, but I finally set up a SoundCloud account for Reason Patch-A-Day. And, to borrow an old and tired phrase, since I would ask you to do anything I wouldn't do, I've uploaded one of my own songs.
The song is fairly old and so not all of the patches used in it have been posted here on Patch A Day, but half of them have been shared here before. You'll find Bug Chorus, Charon Bells, Thin Metal Sings, Titan Bells, Bug Hiccup, and Naiad Bells all within the song and on this blog.
Surprisingly, I haven't posted Soft Protest, Cough Tone, Snare Boost, Enoch Mod, Elusive Pad or Bass Bellows, the other patches I used when putting together this song. Enoch Mod is a modification to the Enoch patch provided, I think, in one of the Flatpack demos, so I don't think I'll be posting it here (that's a little too close to outright theft for my tastes), but the others may appear here in future posts if I can find them.
So, do you have any songs you would like to share? Send me an email at patchaday (at) earthlink (dot) net with your MP3 or RNS and I'll drop it into SoundCloud. Your songs aren't required to feature only Patch A Day patches, but please be sure to let me know which patches you did use, so I can mention it in the post and possibly link to those patches in your song write-up.
