Soundcloud Song: Separation

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.

Separation by Reason Patch A Day

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:

Instrument Patchs: Cautious Steps (not posted yet), Humicolous, Lustral, Memory, Orange Nectar, Solar Bells - Uranus, The Stillness Following Rain, Then, Sleep Overtakes Them

Effect Patches: Airport Music, Ambience, Borealis, Borealis2, Elusive, Softer Tones, SubWide

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.

Reason Patch-A-Day Is On SoundCloud!

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.

13.6˚S 131.7˚E  by  Reason Patch A Day

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.

The Patch-A-Day FAQ (Redux)

Well, I'm back. Thank you for your patience while I took a little time off from the blog and patch design. It felt a little weird having a "vacation," but it's good to be back, and I'm really looking forward to trying out some new things in Reason.

How many of you, after finding this blog, went back through all the old posts? Did you ever take the time to read my very first post: The Patch-A-Day FAQ? It's been a long while since I looked at it myself, so during my break, I went back and read through the FAQ, trying to determine if I've deviated very far from my original intent. I was surprised to learn that while I've posted quite a few more Combinators than I thought I would, the blog has stayed pretty close to my early vision for it. I suppose that's either a good or bad thing depending on how you feel about my original goals, but I've been pleased with the output so far.

I'm reprinting the FAQ below for those of you who haven't seen it yet.

What Is "Patch-A-Day?"

At its most basic level "Patch-A-Day" is a challenge, to myself, to create a new Reason patch every day. I've been trying to wrap my brain around synthesis for a long time and creating a new patch, every day, seemed like a good tool to finally hammer home the concepts I've been learning and force myself to actually work through crafting some sounds. After a couple of weeks of creating new sounds and effects for Reason, I decided to share them, rather than just keep them to myself. Hopefully, some of these patches will be useful to you.

What Will I Find On "Patch-A-Day?"

I expect that the majority of the patches you find here will be instrument patches, so expect a lot of Subtractor, Malstrom and Thor patches, with the occasional NN-XT patch from time to time. A lot of people talk about the death of the Subtractor, claiming there really isn't any need for it now that we have Malstrom and Thor, but even given these new, shiny, terrific synthesizers and what they're capable of, Subtractor remains my "go to" synth when I'm drawing up a new track. I think, with a little care, it can sound every bit as good as its CPU hungry commrades, so you're going to find a lot of Subtractor patches posted here. The old girl still has some life in her.

What you won't find are a lot of complex combinator patches, with layered synths backed up by forty or more effect units. While these types of patches usually sound extraordinary, my focus is going to be fairly "raw." It will be up to you to complicate things with your own effects and routing. I'll just be providing the basic building blocks for a sound.

Most of the combis I build for personal use are effect units that I'll slap on top of an intrument to get an interesting sound. I'll probably post some of them, as I come up with them, but the focus will be on raw instruments.

Why Not Just Release A Refill?

I still might, but for now, I'm going to be more productive getting out a new patch every day, than I am "saving up" patches for some nebulous date in the future that may or may not arrive. In three months, six months, or a year from now, I might package them all together, but for now, the blog format is the best way for me to get these out.

Can I Participate?

Yes! The patches provided here are all "bragware." If you use one of them in a project, I hope you'll let me know. I'd love to hear about it, and if possible, listen to what you've done. Provide a link and I'll post it on the blog for others to hear. If you tweak one of the patches or build one into a combinator, send me your updated patch and I'll post it here, giving you credit. There's no reason why I couldn't post reader patches, as well, so if you have something you want to share, send it over.

Please do not use my patches in your own refills or repost on other sites. Give credit where it's due. I certainly plan to, if any of my fellow Reason users participate.

Let's see where this next year takes us.

Reason Patch A Day Is One Year Old!

The Reason Patch A Day blog started one year ago today, and while there have been a few missed days here and there, not to mention the occasional gaps due to holidays and work, over 400 patches have been posted in the last year.

It's been an interesting year for me. I've learned a lot about how to coax sounds from Reason's instruments, learned a little about blogging, and generally had a great time interacting with all of you in the comments sections and via email. So, thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to make Reason Patch A Day one of your daily (or frequent) internet destinations.

To celebrate this anniversary, I'll be taking a short break from the blog to work through some tutorials and try to gain back some of my energy regarding patch and sound design. I'll probably spend some time sampling some strange noises, as well, so there's no telling what I'll come back with when I resume posting next week.

Do you have any tracks you've put together using one of the patches here? It's always been my intention to share the musical creations people have made, using these tools, but so far no one has stepped up with anything to share. So, let's start the second year of Reason Patch A Day right. Send me your tracks (MP3s or RNS files) at patchaday (at) earthlink (dot) net and I'll get them posted here. If you send a MP3, please be sure to let me know what patches you used. I'll probably set up a Soundcloud account to host everyone's tracks.

Again, thanks for dropping by and spending your time here at Reason Patch A Day. I'll see you next week.

Korg nanoKey Review

As you might have seen in my "nanoRack" posts, I recently picked up a Korg nanoKey, and after a couple of weeks of using it, I thought I'd pass along some thoughts regarding its use.

The nanoPad, which I reviewed several months ago, had 12 pads which was more than enough to cover Redrum's 10 channels. Given that the nanoKey is just a portable two octave keyboard, there are no Reason-specific advantages or limitations to using the nanoKey. It "fits" all of Reason's instruments just fine, so its effectiveness really comes down to how it works as a keyboard, so this review will concern itself primarily with that, rather than any specific issues with regards to using it with Reason.

While the nanoSeries saw a lot of positive buzz when it was first announced, the nanoKey was largely seen as a disappointment when it was released. The keys are responsive and pressure-sensitive, but as you probably already know, have more in common with laptop keys than any musical keyboard, making them a little awkward. If you're used to hammering out a few notes using a "virtual keyboard" like the one in Logic (and now Record, Propellerhead Software's newest app), the nanoKey will probably feel comfortable, even spacious, but if you're more used to a traditional keyboard, or possibly even a mini-keyboard like an Oxygen 8, you'll find the nanoKey a bit lacking.

The the left of the keyboard are six buttons which control Pitch Bend (up and down), Mod Wheel, CC Mode, and two buttons to toggle up and down in Octave. These keys feel like the keyboard keys, so again you have that laptop keyboard feel, but don't appear to be pressure or velocity sensitive. The Mod Wheel button, for example, is either on or off, with no variations between, making its use rather limited. The same thing is true of Pitch Up and Pitch Down, so while its nice to have those options, they're not very practical in "real world" use. Using Korg's Kontrol Editor you could certainly shorten the range of these keys, so that your Mod Wheel goes from 0% to only 40%, instead of 0% to 100%, for example, but because you seem to be limited to either on or off, your "performance range" will be limited to whatever presets you design for your gear.

Of course, having said all of that, even with access to a few other keyboards at home, I tend to use the nanoKey quite a bit, as its simply more convenient. I think I've mentioned it before, but my "studio" is also my home office, so there's usually a bit of setup time involved with getting out gear for music making, especially if I've moved away from the office to the kitchen table or patio. The nanoKey effectively removes that barrier for me, as its small enough to just pull out and use, without hunting for the wall warts and USB cables needed to get my Oxygen 8 or Yamaha keyboard setup and ready to go. No, it's not as nice as even my first generation Oxygen 8, especially if I'm hoping to add a little more human performance to my playing via the mod or pitch bend wheels, but its immediate, which tends to suit my needs when getting down an idea quickly.

One point of interest is that the nanoKey is by far the thinnest piece in the nano series of controllers, about half of the thickness of the nanoKontrol, and slightly thinner than the nanoPad. The differences don't seem like much when you look at them, but even as slight as they are, the nanoKey feels like the most portable of the three units. I packed my nanoKey in my bag today, along with my laptop and my usual work stuff, while out running errands and it took up very little room, so little, in fact, that it might find a permanent place in my bag during my long commutes.

So, do I recommend the nanoKey? I do, but with some caveats. If you want something portable and fast to set up, the nanoKey can't be beat. Korg is marketing the entire nanoSeries for use on the train or bus, in-between classes, or wherever else their cartoon spokesman needs to make music, and it suits that grab-and-go mentality very well. Its the very definition of "quick and dirty." What you get in exchange for that portability and size is unnatural key action and almost useless pitch and mod capabilities. If that's a deal-breaker for you, and I would guess that for a great number of you it is, you should look elsewhere.

Note: The nanoKey uses the same USB driver as the nanoPad and nanoKontrol, so if you already own one of the nanoSeries devices, your drivers will already be installed and you should only be required to add it as a new device in Reason.

Reason Resource: Download Stompp's New FreeFill

In the last poll, many of you expressed an interest in seeing more links and resources from around the web. I guess I just assume that all of you are reading the same blogs I am, so anything I stumble across on, say Synthtopia, you've already seen. I'll try to change that and post links to resources I found interesting, even if they are just stolen from other blogs (with credit, of course).

If you don't read the Propellerhead Users Forum, you may have missed Stompp's announcement for his September '09 FreeFill. I highly recommend you take a look at Stompp's latest creation, so download it by clicking here.

I recently went through a refill purging on my computer, but Stompp's refills always make the cut. His sound designs are nearly always clever, lush, and best of all, useful. I can't say enough good things about what he can do from within Reason. I also noticed some of his patches were in the recent Record+Reason FX refill, so take a look at those, as well.

Check out the announcement thread on the Propellerhead Users Forum for more information or to let Stompp know what you think of his latest free release.

Book Review: Homemade Electronic Music

For Father's Day (a commercial-driven psuedo-holiday in June, for those of you outside of the US) my wife, who is patient, kind, and keenly in-tune with the nerdy man she married, got me the book "Homemade Electronic Music," written by Nicolas Collins. I've always been intrigued by kits and simple circuits and have been breathing in the occasional solder fumes since I was ten years old, so the book is a great fit for me, and I've really enjoyed looking through it, reading the occasional project, and building mental parts lists.

If you took my advice and picked up the Get LoFi Fuzz Kit, this book is the next obvious step. It is aimed at beginners, with a fair number of pages dedicated to building your soldering skills, but quickly ramps up to simple, but intriguing circuits, built either on breadboard or generic circuit boards. Unlike a project-driven manual, "Homemade Electronic Music" encourages experimentation and seems to be written with the expectation that you will take what you've learned and keep adapting it, modifying your projects to make them your own, and coming up with sounds and ideas that are unique to your own needs and workflow.

I know, my praise for this book is being laid on a little thick, but it really is a great little book, written with a relaxed, conversational tone, and as a gateway into circuit-bending and design, I don't think you're going to be able to find a better book. I haven't set up an Amazon affiliate account, so it doesn't do me any good to provide links to them, but if you want to get your own copy you can find it here.

I've had the book for a few months, but aside from some electromagnetic eavesdropping with a telephone coil, as described in one of the early chapters, I haven't had a chance to really tackle any of its projects. Once I finally get a parts list together, I hope to start spending more time with it, so you might be seeing some new samples here on Patch A Day.