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November 2014 - After the very well
received review of Reason 8.0 especially for
the DUB Community, the Dubroom continues to
explore and review Propellerhead's flagship.
In "Action Rack Extension",
Messian Dread mixes eight audio tracks into
a heavy DUB using all six FX outputs on
Reason's console. A report in sight and
sound.
The best
way to explore Reason, obviously, is to
create riddims and make a Dubs from them.
This is exactly what has been going on these
last weeks over here in the Dubroom. At a
later stage, more about creating riddims
with Reason. For now, just the report that
creating riddims is a true joy and Reason
has a positive role in the inspiration.
Reason runs
in 64bit on a machine with 8 Gigs of RAM and
Intel processors of the newest kind. The
software was loaded with drum computers,
sound modules, loop players and of course
the Neptune voice synthesizer. As soon as
Reason hit the ceiling, the riddim was
rendered to hard disk in the form of eight
multi-tracks or stems. Unfortunately
these multi-tracks cannot be shared as that
would go beyond the Dubroom's license, but
the result can be witnessed in the form of a
You Tube video you can watch later on in
this report.
In fact,
making a DUB from an audio multi-track is
the authentic and original way of making
DUB. This is how the music came into
existence, as the Jamaican studio bands
played one riddim after the other into the
multi-track recorder and the DUB engineer
turned everything into that music we all
love to play so much. This is exactly how
the DUB for this report was made.
Reason was
set up with eight audio channels, one for
sound FX, and six console input channels for
all six auxiliary outputs. Yes, six
different effect devices are used in this
particular set up. Their output goes to
console input channels. Over here, we don't
deal with returns but you can read about
these things elsewhere in the studio.
 Next
to different RV7000's for delays and
reverbs, The Echo was put in there as well as two
Audiomatic devices. The Audiomatic is a Rack
Extension, Propellerhead Reason's very own
plug-in format. It ships for free with
Reason 8.0, just like the excellent bass amp
responsible for the warm and deep bass sound
in this mix.
Another
Rack Extension used is the T2 Phaser (review).
You can download and use the device in your
Reason rack for free for 30 days or decide
to buy it. It's only about 15 euros and
worth much more than that. In fact, for DUB
created only with Reason the T2 is
obligatory.
Rack
extensions work like any other device you
can load in Reason's rack. Connect them,
make a sequencer track and start recording
your automation.
The T2 and
the Audiomatic Rack extensions turn out to
integrate fully in a DUB environment. The
Echo on top of that gives that extra touch
but at this time, the device is not fully
tested so there is much more potential than
the stuff you can hear in the mix created
for this report.
After an
initial sound check on the correctly
connected set up, finally the DUB could be
mixed. An exciting moment. This would show
how much is true concerning Propellerhead's
claims about workflow in Reason 8.0. Will
there be hick-up's when the loop points are
changed? Will everything be in sync in the
first place? How about latency when you use
the on-board soundcards with an ASIO4ALL
driver?
Everything
went extremely smooth. Six different effects
that take up their processing power, not to
speak about the console itself and the eight
different audio tracks can all be handled in
virtual real-time. There's no experienceable
latency, as the Reason sequencer records and
plays the mixing automation.
The Dub?
Check it out:
Both the
Audiomatic and the T2 get their fair chance,
especially in the second half of the mix
when the two effects follow up on each
other. The Audiomatic turns out to be
crucial in deforming both the bass and the
drums. Especially when combined with other
effects (reverb), this little big thing can
drive your mix to a next dimension. The T2
(reviewed here)
is a very, very decent phaser that works
excellently as well.
The RV7000's and the manual delay do
their thing. A ping-pong delay, a reverse
reverb and a more or less standard hall
effect for the RV7000 devices. The Echo is tweaked at a
certain point showcasing some of it's
potential, but there has to be some deeper
exploring of the delay.
Even though
not so much effort was put in the actual
riddim, the result is a very reasonable Dub
mix. Mixing the Dub is a true pleasure, and
Reason's workflow plays a part in it,
definitely. The technique behind the
automation and everything is very high in
quality and low in causing problems.
One Love,
Messian Dread
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