Koshdukai's Music(al) Reason(ing)

...in a "as is" edition. Yup, more than a year was enough for me to figure that I had to release this as it is and don't bother to make a proper song demoing every little feature with the detail I wanted, nor making a .pdf document explaining the use and custom changes anyone could make to every device I had. So... here it is "as is" and I hope those that kept requesting this either through mail, comments or YouTube messages can now enjoy this... finally! :) K001FX - Koshdukai's FX Machines 001 microReFill "as is" Edition So, what's in the "package" uh ? Besides the Effect devices you see in the picture, you can also find in there 3 very small .rns songs that try to do some simple demoing of 3 of the devices. Nothing fancy, just some REX files with the device as an insert FX. You'll find that ReGRAINZeR V.0.9 now allows you to engage a Fake Pitch-shift-like playable mode, by turning Rotary 3 full clockwi...

Just added this little CV tool in the free download section (on the right): "K's Basics - Random access to a CV values list" It's basically a way to access through CV indexing, a list of 3x32 "cells" of CV values (well, one of the list is within the Note range of CV values, but this example is enough to demo the concept). So, if you're ever in need of generating a specific sequence of CV values controlled by another CV source, this is one way to do it :) It's like having random or sequential access (in whatever direction you want) to a specific custom list of CV or note values, by using a CV controlled "cursor" (just connect the CV "cursor" source to the Rotary 1 CV input and tweak the Combinator modulation programmer Min/Max values to your needs). This device was enough for something I was testing, but I'm sure it can be optimized with some thought and more time. It won't work well in a real-time fast switching situation,...

A "CV Delay" is quite easy to do once you have a way to convert CV to Audio and Audio to CV (you can use the CV2Audio2CV for that). A simple way to achieve this with up to 4 independent CV signals, is to use Thor's Audio outputs connected to 4 DDL-1's and back again through Thor's Audio inputs: (click to zoom) So, to test all 4 CV delayed signals, I'll use BV512's CV inputs to graphically show what's going on: (click to zoom) Now, let's check the front and see if the CV Delay is working... (click to zoom) ...and there you have it, a working 4x CV Delay:) Next post I'll talk about some of the devices and the way I usually use them for CV display (more like CV debugging, really). I'll talk about the use of the DDL-1, MClass Equalizer, RV7000, BV512, Thor and PEQ-2 as possible CV debugging tools. After that, the obvious way to do a rudimentary CV Scope using a stack of 4 CV Delay units :) ...as you can guess from the above pictures, it's ...

I guess it's common knowledge that Thor is much more than a very powerful synth :) Besides being a very powerful versatile multi-filter+effects device, it's also a very capable CV machine, capable of very cool and useful CV processing and generation. I have many basic patches at hand that I use as basic building blocks to build more complex combinators. Some I've already mentioned here, but many others I keep to myself because there are already equivalent devices made by others before me, or some are so basic (although useful) that I think it would be kind of weird to mention them here. Recent events lead me to change this idea a bit. I'm beginning to realize that what some may consider as basic knowledge, it may be news to others, so why not make some quick posts about it ? So, this post will quickly show a very useful use of Thor's modulation matrix and input'n'outputs at the back. This little patch deals with CV to Audio and Audio to CV: (click to zoom) S...

While watching Jack Conte's "The Electro-Harmonix Riddle" demo video, I thought... " uh.... I can do that with Reason " ...and KFX FiltaPowa was born =) FiltaPowa works great with live input, either through the ASIO4ALL's ReWuschel trick or through Record 1.0 ;) Some specs for KFX FiltaPowa: Filter selection between LP 12, BP 12 and LP 24 Filter amount set by Attack/Decay envelope, Mod.Wheel or Sequencer Curve values Sustain temporarily changed from middle setting by Pitch Wheel Envelope triggering through audio with adjustable Sensitivity (incl. Soft Knee) Optional Sequenced triggering of the Envelope (that's what the Matrix is there for)

...and that's basically the "side project" that's been taking all my spare time, since my last post :D ReGRAINZeR works great with it too, btw :) More news... oh, I've been also working on GatoRbox V.0.3, an ASR (Attack, Sustain, Release) controlled gate effect box (Combinator) device that's working great. V.0.2 only worked as standalone through internal variable Rate sequencing patterns, but V.0.3 will work also through external trigger of the sequence or event steps. Rate will also be controllable externally. All this to make it a compatible slave companion effect when controlled by ReGRAINZeR V.0.7 (ReGRAINZeR already includes a miniGatoR by default, not capable of ASR effects) hmmm... ah, made some more GlitchLoopBox variants, 1X and 4X versions, with delta rate variation of the rate set by Rotary through Mod Wheel, with Stereo divergence controlled by the Pitch Wheel (so Left/Right get slight speed rate differences, making a cool stereo effect). Current ...

I've decided to release a little demo .RPS file with the latest version of ReGRAINZeR and wait a while to see what happens :) About this little demo: It uses 2 demo units. One applied to a drum REX dual loop Combinator, and the other to a guitar REX also dual loop Combinator. Both units are using the C1 to B1 MIDI keyboard octave keys. Key mappings are shown on the help screen, on the right of the device. On that screen, P stands for Pitch Wheel, M for Mod.Wheel and R1 for Rotary 1. Gate effect (stutter) is activated by pressing D1# or through Aftertouch, if that option is turned on. Speed is controlled by the Mod.Wheel. External Control CV Output is not implemented on V.0.6.x After listening to the example performance made with both units, you can (should) mute or delete the performance clips and play a bit with each of the ReGRAINZeR demo units. You could also copy any devices+tracks of a song of yours and paste it within this demo song, and after some rack rewiring at the back, ...

As promised , here's the video explaining how to get live audio input in Reason :D (the unofficial way, of course, because the only official and proper way would be through Record !) WARNING : If you're a ReBirth user, and you still need to use it ReWired to Reason, do not install ReWuschel! (better make this clear) This is really old news, but I still keep bumping into Reason users that don't know this is possible or how easy it is to do. This little trick is really only useful to those that don't own a DAW or those wanting to use Reason effects in a live situation, including the advantage of playing side-by-side with a saved song and an included track with the recorded automation of all the effects tweaking and mix levels automatically applied to the live feed in a live performance. Then, I also take the opportunity in the video to show the LiveLoopBox I talked about in earlier posts :) There are two versions: GlitchLoopBox simply allows to change on the fly the ...

Ok, so, after finishing V.0.5beta, solving the little issue with Velocity, I'm now changing some simple things on the control front. Substituting the Rotary 3 & 4 functions "+AUDIO source Level" & "Volume" with a more standard "Gain" & "Dry / Wet" mix knobs. I was also hoping to implement in V.0.6beta a Master/Slave chaining option by leaving a well marked CV output pair at the back (Note+Gate), so one could chain various ReGRAINeRs, spawning various instances through the keyboard map while controlling all the slaves through the Master one (the 1st, the only one in need of a controlling sequencer track for selected input) but there's a problem with RPG-8's MIDI-CV convertion... it's implementation is incomplete, so this makes this idea impossible to implement with Reason 4 at least :( I've even tried using Thor's flexible routing to send captured Gate signals through a CV out, but its still MonoCV so... still n...

Still solving an issue I'm not comfortable with. The current version is Velocity sensitive, so to work properly, the user must press the keyboard keys with enough velocity to make sure it sustains the loop properly and also cuts completely the audio source. This will be optional in the final version, because I also found it cool to have it for further expressiveness, controlling the Wet/Dry mix through Velocity. So, Button 4 will switch Keyboard Sensitiveness ("Keyb.Sense") ON, being OFF by default. This setting already disables Aftertouch gate control when OFF (the default), because sometimes that option gets in the way of the performance. I already have a working solution, but it's bulky and will add some unexpected complexity to an already complex device, so I'm still trying to figure out a more elegant way to do it. I woke up with 2 ideas to test. The 1st one looked great on a draft combinator, but failed miserably when applied to the real thing. This fail wa...

Just finished another device, useful for live performances, human-beatbox style or live one-man acoustic or acapella performances with on-the-fly minimalistic rhythm and bass lines. (please check the videos below to get the idea) LiveLoopBox has 4 live sampling audio loops of up to 2secs each (adjustable in steps synced to Reason tempo). You can stack a bunch of'em to get more loop slots for the same audio source by splitting it through some Audio Spiders and then control the group through Remote, as you always can with Reason :) It works by constantly sampling the audio source and maintaining the loop as soon as its triggered. "Wait ?!? Live audio input with Reason ???" :P Well, you can use Reason with live input right now, through ASIO4ALL's ReWuschel (Windows only) or... you can wait for Record :D Anyway, I may come up with other uses for it, in a more traditional sequenced Reason song, which I'm sure will be the main scenario where the device must prove its u...

Well, I have this guideline I try to more or less stick with: If it's something I did mainly with, for or through freeware, its my duty (and I'm glad) to give it back to the community for free. I guess this is the best way to thank the ones before me that made something for free that I could use, and keep the thing rolling :) If I had to buy or pay for something, then I try to jump in the bandwagon and give a run of my dedicated time and effort for the money, as the ones before me also did. I try to make available for free, things that may help to make a point, prove a concept or help fellow Reason users / forum members to understand something, some concepts or some cool ideas that I have no time to develop, planting the seed for someone to take it and further develop it. Things like these pre-Reason4 oldies: So, to answer your question: I'm planning to release ReGRAINZeR (along with other devices I'm still trying to develop) in a future ReFill, sold (hopefully) through...

While browsing the "Feature Suggestions" forum, I saw descathach 's "ReLive" post and decided to explore what could be done about it. So, I'm now playing with REXTrigga (formerly named, incorrectly, as LoopTrigga) a 14 Dr.REX Combinator device, each with it's loop triggering through C2 to C#3. I stopped at 14 loops simply based on using up all 14 channels of a reMIX 14:2 and for what I was trying to do, 14 is more than enough, though its very easy to add more :) Now, to find a place to put this thing for easy downloading... Ah, I guess this one will work. BTW, this is a perfect example of why I kept asking for a Transpose setting for the Combinator :) Related Propellerheads.se Forum posts: ReLive Combinator needs Transpose for each Key Mapping range!!!

Finished uploading the 2nd video showing ReGRAINZeR V.0.2beta (still named ReLOOPeR in the video). Still no word from Turbotito :( ... it would help if I had his email contact instead of relying on PropSW Forum's and YouTube's PrvMsgs :/ I'm tempted to just release the videos and simply obey to any take down notice I might receive afterwards, although that's so not the way I like to do things -.-' ...but, it's a demo song included with every Reason 4 sold, so I guess it would be ok to use it as an example to demo a Reason device, wouldn't it ? Anyway, while waiting, I made some changes to what the F1# to A1# black keys do. Now they have 2 modes as a group: 1/8T loop mode or free wild'n'weird glitch-like mode, since most of the action they did is now made with A1 and B1 white keys. This also freed Combinator's Button 4, maybe I'll use it now to turn off the option of Aftertouch gate effect triggering. So, now, the current version is ReGRAINZeR...

Shot some more videos, with another screen setup, now taking advantage of YouTube's 16:9 HD support, while now trying a firewire digital camera to shoot the actual MIDI keyboard controller being used as I did with the 1st video... but there's still some video latency :( ...guess it's because I had to turn the video graphics acceleration off so the desktop capture software can pick it up. Ah well... I'll choose one of the videos and upload it anyway :) I found something already named Relooper through Google, so I'm renaming the device ReGRAINZeR (naming's getting better'n'better, uh? right... -.-') I still tried using ReGRAINeR but Google found something like that too, some film effect thing. So, after this, I made some changes to (the now named) ReGRAINZeR device. Previously (up to V.0.2beta) I was using all the keys, from C1 to C2 (transposeable), but then I thought of ways to use several instances of the ReGRAINZeR, each mapped to its own octave,...

Just tried using a NN-19 loaded with a plain wave, with a Matrix controlling the note length, and the curve automating the Sample Start + Manual knob... eh, cool effect :D I'm going to try the same with a REX loaded on a NN-XT to see what can be done. More on this (much) later... :) Related Propellerheads.se Forum post: I would expect to see such an OSC available as an option

I've been searching the web for some free desktop video capturing software, so I can make some videos showing ReLOOPeR in action (and future devices, tutorials and stuff). Found some, testing a couple, let's see if I can make it work :) Related Propellerheads.se Forum post: LOL! I know... I don't mind...

Ok, so everything went well and now I'm the proud user of a Virus TI Atomizer (yeah right!) pseudo-emulator, done with and for Reason 4 :D I'm going to play with it for a couple of days to see what more can I add to it, and after that, post a couple of demo videos, showing the thing working and what it can do :) What it can't do (when compared to what I've seen in some Atomizer video demos) is: It can't reverse playback the loops... still couldn't think of a way to do this in real-time with Reason 4, so for now, I'm considering it er... impossible :( It won't be possible to perfectly note-pitch-shift the real-time loops :/ ...although I'm still thinking of a way to simulate this effect with the shorter/higher rate loops, getting a note scaled pseudo-pitch-shifting effect. I already did some tests and it's kinda possible to do an almost note-scaled pitch, but still not perfect, and it's late and I'm tired -.-' At this time, ReLOOPeR a...