PAD Challenge: Drones2, By Hydlide

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.

Drones2 by Hydlide

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.

Soundcloud Song: The PAD Challenge Results

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 by Reason Patch A Day

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.

Instrument/Combinator Patches:

• 2 AM
  
• Blister
  
• DB-1 Kick
  
• DB-1 Tom 2
  
• Famous Aces: Udet Bass
  
• Fever Dream
  
• Gen-air-ick + Lustral
  
• Homemade Bass 3
  
• Noise
  
• Noise_Pad
  
• Revenant
  
• Ruby
  
• The Snickers of Shadows
  
• Space Static 4
  
• Tinnitus
  

Effect Combinators:

• Borealis
  
• Heft_Mono
  
• Latent Period
  
• Long Echo
  
• Shimmering
  
• Simple Mastering
  
• Stereo Delay
  
• Subtle Wide
  
• Ugly Boy
  
• Vapor Trails
  

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.

The PAD Challenge: Official Rules

A few days ago I posted my intention to use this week of reader contributed patches to give myself a chance to work on some new music. I decided to open up that challenge to all of you and have already gotten a couple of comments from people interested in joining in.

The Challenge, however, was a little vague so I thought I'd put up a quick post to explain the rules for this little challenge.

Deadline: Friday, April 9th, 12:00 p.m. (Noon)

Genre Restrictions: None. I decided to concentrate my efforts working outside of my usual genre, so I'll be working on a dance track. You're free to bang out anything you like, but if you want to be challenged, try putting together a song in a style you don't normally work in.

Software Restrictions: As this is a Reason-centric blog, I'm hoping that anyone who joins in with this challenge uses either Reason or Record to sequence their work. This may be very important for "phase two" of the challenge, so if you can, please stick to Reason or Record.

Please email me a link to your completed song by noon on Friday, April 9th. You can also email me a MP3 or RNS/Record to be posted on the Reason Patch A Day Soundcloud. Obviously, I'm not interesting in laying any claims to your music. As has been the case from day one here at PAD, the patches here are "bragware," so this is a perfect opportunity for you to brag a little about what you've come up with.

Email me at patchaday (at) earthlink (dot) net. If you have any comments or links you'd like me to post with your completed track, please send those as well.

As I said in the comments the other day, "keep in mind... the goal is to complete a track in a week. It doesn't necessarily have to be polished or good. I certainly don't expect mine to be, so you don't have to be the next Deadmau5 to play along."

So far, it looks like readers Hydlide and BenDarkFox have signed up to take this challenge with me. Lewis.72 expressed some interest, as well, but might not be able to fit the challenge into his schedule.

There are only five days remaining! Have you started working on your new track yet?

Update: DJ Mad Wax, Chris Stallone, V2057, and DBA are joining in on the Challenge! That makes seven entries! Anyone else?

The PAD Challenge!

Most of what I do in Reason, and now Record, could best be defined as "ambient." The few songs I've posted on Soundcloud, using patches from Patch A Day, certainly fit that mold, but as much as I like making music to fall asleep to (humor fully intended), I have other musical interests as well. I really dig trip-hop, which is a genre that has probably already seen its day, and I really like a lot of the minimal house and deep house music I've been downloading from various netlabels. The problem is that as much as I enjoy these other genres, I'm terrible at creating songs in them. Everything sounds dated or flat and I eventually just give up, crawling back to the comforting drones and sparse soundscapes of ambient music... but, not this week!

Thanks to the patches I received from Ruurd, and a few offers I've received from other readers, I feel like I'm getting a little break from the blog so I can focus on making music. So, just as Patch A Day is the result of a challenge I made to myself over a year and a half ago, I'm going to challenge myself again. One week from today, I'll post a new dance track for your comments.

I don't expect it to be good, but rather than get halfway into it and then give up like I usually do, I'm going to finish this one. I'm hoping all of you will hold me to this deadline, because if I don't have anyone to be accountable to, I probably won't do it.

So, anyone care to join me? It's just one song. You can do it! Sign up in the comments and start working on a new track. Next week we can all share what we've come up with and offer each other feedback.

You have one week!

Ned Rush's video: Thor Patch I Made

Resonant Filter is a great blog to check for the latest and greatest videos about music production, but I just watched this myself, thanks to my YouTube "subscription" to Ned Rush's videos, and thought I would put it up for the rest of you, if you haven't seen it already. It's a great display of the kind of interesting sounds you can coax from Thor.

52 Reason and Record Tips - Week 3 & 4

I'm getting behind on watching these videos and certainly getting behind on posting them. If you haven't been keeping up to date on James Bernard's tip videos yourself, you can view Week 3 (Part Two - Advanced Dub Step Wobble Bass Sound Design) and Week 4 (Unlocking the Secrets of CV & Gate) below:





Definitely worth a few minutes of your time!

The Reason Patch A Day Archive Refill, Vol. 1

I started Reason Patch A Day over a year and a half ago, which doesn't seem like very long when you look at it from the perspective of a lump sum, but somehow feels a lot longer. The result has been interesting, with literally hundreds of new patches, as well as a shocking number of visitors, since those first few pad patches were posted on September 25, 2008.

I've resisted doing anything to "monetize" the site. I've done this for a couple of reasons. First, I can't see that adding ads to the site would really generating much money. You're a niche audience; dedicated, but niche, and its hard to sell to a relatively small group. And second, Patch A Day has always been an experiment for me, a challenge for myself, and I've tried to share that challenge and its results because I think there are other people out there, like me, that are interested in patch design, but not always successful at it. Some of the patches here have been good, others complete dogs, and while I hope you've come across a few that you've found very helpful, I've never really thought that every single patch posted here was worth a fee.

So, where am I going with this long-winded explanation? The basic set-up of Patch A Day won't be changing. If you drop by every day, you'll still find a patch waiting for you, completely free, just as you've been able to do for the past year and a half. But, if you're a recent reader and haven't gone back through the archives to download all of the patches... and if you're lazy... I'm now offering the Reason Patch A Day Archive Refill Vol. 1. However, unlike the site, the refill will not be free.

Here's how it works....

1. The Patch A Day Archive Refill contains all of the patches posted here on PAD, with the exception of reader contribution patches. The few readers that were kind enough to submit patches to the site didn't agree to this, so I wouldn't feel right including their patches in this refill.
   
2. The Patch A Day Archive Refill costs as much as you want to donate to the site (with a minimum of $1). Drop me a payment I'll use the Paypal information I receive to email you the refill file. There's not going to be a Reason Patch A Day store and it might take me several hours to get the refill to you, so don't expect a traditional "buying" experience. After all, you're not really buying anything (it's already all posted here for free), you're just providing a well-appreciated tip.
   
3. Readers who have contributed a patch to Reason Patch A Day will be getting this refill as thanks for their contributions to the site's success. You're free to toss in a donation if you like, but please accept this tiny token as yet another thank you from me for your help with the site.
   

The Reason Patch A Day Archive Refill contains....

• 70 Bass Patches
  
• 49 Effect Combinators
  
• 20 Instrument Combinators
  
• 15 Effect Patches
  
• 177 Pad Patches
  
• 72 Percussion Patches
  
• 130 Synth Patches
  
• 12 Sampler Patches
  
• 4 Yamaha Drum Machine Kits (with additional variations)
  
• Misc samples
  

In addition to the patches you've already seen, there are just a few extra patches that haven't been shared here, as well as a sneak peak at a new patch series/project that I'll be unveiling within the next week. In addition, while the patches provided in the refill are basically the same as the ones posted here on PAD, I have made a few usability tweaks to some of them, primarily with regards to their combinator controls.

That's it. You might be asking yourself, "What's to stop me from going back through the archives and turning these patches into a refill myself?" The answer is... nothing. Go ahead! Don't sell it or claim it as your own, that's not allowed, but you're free to make your own refill just like you've always been able to do. You're not missing much by not getting the Refill.

So, if you want to donate a few dollars and get completely caught up on Reason Patch A Day, just click the link below. Its not very often when you get something in return for dropping a few bucks in a tip jar.

Donations can be made using the sidebar "Donate" button! Check the upper right side of the block to toss a few dollars in to support the site!

Special thanks for Lewis.72 and DJ Mad Wax for their help in testing the refill and making sure all of it works! Thanks, guys! The refill is definitely better because of your thoughtful help.