Additive Synthesis in Reason

This tutorial will show you how you can create an additive synthesizer using a combinator in Reason. Additive synthesis is one of the less common forms of synthesis in use today, but it can be used to create some great sounds. Furthermore, following this tutorial is a great way to improve your understanding of some of the fundamental principals of sound and synthesis in general. Step 1 The first step is to understand what we are trying to achieve in this exercise. If this seems overly complicated or confusing don’t be put off, the actual exercise is relatively simple, and should make things clear as you follow it through. Additive synthesis is a method for building up complex tones from simple ones. Most sounds we hear in the real world, for example a piano or a guitar are not just simple, linear wave shapes like a sawtooth or a square. They are in fact made up of many complex overtones, all at different frequencies and layered up over a ‘base’ or ‘fundamental frequency. A sine wave is a wave shape that has very few harmonics or overtones, and is essentially only the fundamental frequency of whatever note or frequency it is pitched to play. By layering up many sine waves we can artificially create the effect of a complex harmonic tone, with complete control over each individual overtone or harmonic in the sound. Step 2 Now we are ready to begin. The first thing we need to do is to build a combinator patch which will allow us to generate a large number of sine waves at once, from a single key press or MIDI note trigger. For this we will need a combinator. After creating a combinator in your Reason file, create a full size (14:2) mixer inside the combinator, and then create a subtractor synthesizer. Step 3 We now need to program the Subtractor to generate a simple sine wave. Firstly initialize the patch on the Subtractor. Once this is done change the wave shape on Oscillator 1 to a sine wave shape. Open the filter all the way and turn the volume all the way down. Turn the velocity>filter freq knob to the neutral position. Your patch should now look like this: Step 4 We will need a lot more than one sine wave generator to create a complex tone, so now create an additional seven subtractors inside the combinator. Once you have done this right click on the top one (the one where we edited the patch to generate a sine wave) and select ‘copy patch’. Now paste this patch onto each of the other Subtractors by right clicking on each in turn and choosing ‘paste patch’. You will now have a combinator with 8 Subtractors inside it, each with the same simple sine wave patch. Step 5 Our basic template is now complete. You should now save the combinator patch at this point so that you can easily return to this stage and start experimenting with different additive synthesis sounds. We can now et into the meat of the exercise and begin generating our tones. For the first tone I am going to create a soft organ/keyboard type tone. Step 6 Find the Subtractor that is at the very top of the pile. On this subtractor turn up the volume all the way. Play a note on your MIDI keyboard. You should hear a very simple sine wave tone. If you do not have a MIDI keyboard you will find it useful at this stage to create a simple loop in the sequencer window, so that one note repeats itself – you will be able to use this to hear the changes you make to the sound without having to click on the on screen keyboard. This simple sine tone is going to be the base note for our sound, or the fundamental frequency. Download audio file (Audio Example 1.mp3) Step 7 On the next Subtractor down turn the octave for Oscillator 1 up from 4 to 5. Now increase the volume up to about 85. You should now hear a higher tone joining your original tone when a note is played. Download audio file (Audio Example 2.mp3) Step 8 On the third Subtractor down turn the octave control for Oscillators 1 up to 5, and the semitone control up to 7. Now turn the volume up all the way. This will sound like an extra note has been added to the sound, at an interval of a 7th. This is not what we want as we are trying to create the impression of one tone, rather than two or more. Lower the volume back down. When you get down to about 55 you should hear that the sound generated by this Subtractor starts to sound like a part of the overall tone rather than a note in its own right. Download audio file (Audio Example 3.mp3) Step 9 On the fourth subtractor turn the octave up to 6, but leave the semitone control at zero. Again, turn up the volume so that you can hear this new layer to the tone but not so much that it stands out as a separate tone in it’s own right. Somewhere between 50 and 60 should be about right. Download audio file (Audio Example 4.mp3) Step 10 On the fifth Subtractor in the pile turn the octave to 6 and the semitone to 7 – now bring the volume up like you have with the other devices. As we go further up the frequency spectrum and the overtone we add become higher and higher you will find that you don’t need to turn them up as loud as the lower pitched tones. This time leave the volume at about 40. Download audio file (Audio Example 5.mp3) Step 11 For the sixth Subtractor we are going to put the octave up to 7 and leave the semitone alone. Remember that when we only change the octave control the tone we are adding is effectively the same note as our fundamental frequency, so you can sometimes get away with having these overtones louder than other, more discordant overtones. We are starting to get into the really high frequencies now, and the overtones we are adding at this stage will add some real brightness to the tone. I have decided to have quite a bright sounding organ tone, so I have left the volume for this Subtractor at 50, but you may wish to choose your own setting. Download audio file (Audio Example 6.mp3) Step 12 This time we are going to push the octave up to 7 and the semitone to 7 again. This is another very bright overtone, so you can adjust the volume of it according to your taste. I have left it at 38. Download audio file (Audio Example 7.mp3) Step 13 So far all of our overtones have been either the same note as our fundamental frequency, at different octaves or at an interval of a 7th, at different octaves. These intervals are nice and musical, and make for a pleasant sound, using other, more unusual intervals as our overtones can create more interesting and unusual sounds, but can sound out of key unless you are careful. As you get higher and higher up the frequency spectrum our ears find it harder to distinguish between different notes, and we can get more adventurous with our choice of interval without worrying so much about sounding out of key. As an example we are going to tune this last Subtractor to a more unusual interval. Turn the Oscillator 1 octave on the last Subtractor up to 9. Now turn the semitone control up to 1. We are now adding an overtone which is effectively just 1 semitone apart from our fundamental, only at a much higher octave. In many cases playing 2 notes next to each other sounds wrong, but as we are playing so high up this final overtone just adds more brightness, as long as it is not too loud. In this example I have chosen to set the volume at 38. Download audio file (Audio Example 8.mp3) You should now have a basic organ type tone, which you can play like any other instrument or combinator patch in Reason. This concludes Part 1 of the tutorial. In the next part we will look at how some modulation can make our patch sound more realistic, and how further modulation of the individual overtones can create different sounds, with almost limitless possibilities.

Quick Tip: Tempo Control Automation in Session View in Ableton Live August 24, 2010 at 9:22 PM Like all DAWs, Ableton Live allow users to automate the tempo and signature of a given set. Unlike other DAWs, Ableton Live incorporate the session view where tempo changes can be automated there as well by renaming the Scene names accordingly. We are going to examine various ways of achieving this and also another way of automating tempo between two values by using external software. Automating Tempo by Renaming Scenes Till now, we know that by properly renaming Scenes in Ableton Live we can cause the tempo to jump to our desired value. Scenes can be renamed by clicking on a particular Scene in Session View, then hit CTRL(CMD for Mac)+R then type in the new name. Scene names can be both descriptive and functional; if Live detects a viable tempo and/or time signature as part of a scene name, the project will automatically adjust to these parameters when the scene is launched. To assign a tempo to a scene, select the scene and rename it with a viable tempo (e.g., “96 BPM”). Any tempo can be used, as long as it is within the range allowed by Live’s Tempo control (20-999 BPM). To assign a time signature to a scene, rename the scene with a meter in the form of “x/y” (e.g., “4/4″). Any time signature can be used, provided it has a numerator between 1 and 99 and a denominator with a beat value of 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16. Tempo and time signature changes can coexist within a single scene name, and can appear in any position as long as they are separated from each other by at least one character. For example, “2/4+102 BPM”, “112 BPM;7/8″ and “110 BPM Verse 3/4″ are all scene names that will cause simultaneous meter and tempo changes. The renamed Scene above, when launched, will cause the master TEMPO to jump to 108BPM with a signature change of 2/4. Using Dummy Clips to Gradually Automate Tempo Control The “problem” with this method is that the master tempo jumps to the required BPM. What if our live set incorporated a slow gradual tempo change? We know that we can easily achieve that in Arrangement View but there seems no way to do that in Session View. We need to make use of dummy clips and external software. Dummy clips are essentially empty midi clips that contain modulation information for other parameters in our Live set. The extra software we are going to be using is a free software called MIDI YOKE. MIDI YOKE is a MIDI Patch Cable driver. It’s a Windows multimedia driver that allows you to connect the MIDI output from one program to the MIDI input of a different program. Mac users already have this functionality in the form of the IAC driver. Once downloaded and installed head over to Live’s preferences in the Midi Sync tab. Under Midi Ports activate Remote for the Input In From MIDI Yoke: 1 port. Activate Track for the Output: Out to Midi Yoke: 1 port. Exit Preferences. Create a midi track and set it’s output type to Out To MIDI Yoke: 1. Leave Output Channel to 1. Midi Yoke allows you to utilize all 16 midi channels if so desired. Double click on an empty clip slot to create a dummy clip. On the Clip View hit the E icon to show the Envelopes Box. Leave the Loop switch activated. From the Envelope Editor’s first drop down box(Device Chooser), select Midi Ctr and from the second(Control Chooser) select a parameter controller. In my case, I chose 50. Set the Loop Length to the bars, beats and sixteenths that you want your automation to last. In my case, I set it to 4 bars. Now, please, pay attention as it may seem a little bit tricky. On the red line representing the envelope’s control automation, create two breakpoints one at the beginning and one at the end setting the first one to 0 and the second one to 127. Launch the dummy clip by hitting the Clip Launch Button, then press SPACE bar to stop. Activate Midi Map Mode, click the tempo at the right of the TAP button(make sure to click the left side of the number where the Coarse value of the tempo is located) and click space bar again to launch the dummy clip. Hit the space bar once more to stop the clip. On the Midi Mapping at the left, you can see that the CC 50 controller number has been assigned to the master Song Tempo. Change the min and Max values to 60 and 187 values respectively or any other values whose difference is 127(for instance 100 and 187). Obviously the range you choose should cover the values you are planning to use to complete your automation. Exit Midi Map Mode. The reason we set our range as such is that it will allow us to have whole number increments on the Master Tempo instead of decimal ones. As you know, the breakpoint envelope values range from 0 to 127 so setting a min and max Song Tempo values whose difference is 127 while on Midi Map Mode, allows us to work in single unit increments of the song tempo. Now, let’s say we wanted to execute a gradual tempo from 100 to 120 BPM. All we needed to do is subtract the value of min value of 60 from both values and adjust our breakpoints accordingly. Remember that you always subtract the min value you have set while on midi Map Mode, so if your range had a minimum value other than 60, this value should be used for subtraction. Now you can deactivate the Loop switch for the dummy clip, launch it and see the song temp gradually increasing from 100 to 120 BPM in the duration of 4 bars! This way, whenever you want an automation change like that in your live set, you can create similar dummy clips and launch them either on their own or as part of a Scene launch. Let me know if you have any questions and thanks for your time!

Making the Beat: Afro-Cuban Drums – Audio Premium August 24, 2010 at 5:06 AM In this week’s Audio Premium content, Mike Elliott continues his in-depth series on creating drum beats. This week we explore how to create Afro-Cuban drum patterns in your DAW. Welcome to the second drum based tutorial in the series that will show you what the beats are and how to make them sound good. In this tutorial we are going to cover drums in the Afro-Cuban style. Afro-Cuban music is one of the two main categorizations of Latin music; the other being Brazilian. The drums are one of the key components in this style of music and knowing which beat to insert is crucial. If you ever wondered what the difference was between a rumba and son clave, or just want to add some Afro-Cuban flavor, this tutorial will enlighten you in all regards. Since our previous discussion involved how to construct various beats from smaller elements, this tutorial will do so as well; albeit in a slightly different way. So my friends, lets mambo! Here’s the kind of music you’ll be able to create once you harness the knowledge inside: Download audio file (example.mp3) Table of Contents 1. Setting Up What You Need What to Use 2. Learn the Dance What the Steps Mean Pick a Clave any Clave Review 3. Bell Beat Baby Palito and Cascara Mambo Songo Review 4. Add the Flair Bombo Toms Reinstating the Clave Review 5. Sound Color The Kick The Snare The Cymbals Toms Review 6. Fills, Fills, Fills The Accent Lead In Patchwork Review Afro-Cuban in Review