The Synthesizer

Today we're going explore using an instrument known as a Synthesizer. What is a Synthesizer?

"A synthesizer, or "synth", is an electronic musical instrument that uses filters and tone generators to create waveforms which are then processed to generate sound. Modern synthesizers can closely reproduce the sound of some instruments, but many keyboard players use them for their characteristic sound. They are sometimes referred to as "sound" or "music" synthesizers." - Wikipedia. (Click HERE to read the full article.)


Different types of synthesizers include the Theremin and the Moog. The Theremin (Invented by Leon Theremin) is considered to be the original electrical musical instrument. The Moog (Invented by Robert Moog) is considered to be the most groundbreaking electric instrument.

Chances are that you've heard synthesizer sounds used in all popular music from soul to electro. Here are a couple of examples.

The Dramatics - Do What You Want Be What You Are


Daft Punk - Around the World

In Reason there are a few synthesizers that can be used. There is the Subtractor Analog Synthesizer, the Malstrom Graintable Synthesizer, the Thor Polysonic Synthesizer, and the Combinator (which isn't exactly a synthesizer, but combines instruments that can include synthesizers).

Here are some images and descriptions of each instrument (Provided by Propellerhead).

Subtractor Analog Synthesizer - Similar in layout of the analog flagships of the early 80s, the Subtractor is an easy way to create anything from warm pads to rumbling bass. It's two oscillators can produce well known basic waveforms like square, sawtooth, triangle and sine plus an additional waveforms based on samples.

The layout is simple to grasp with all the controls conveniently visible on the panel, but there is still no lack of possibilities. With dual filters, three envelope generators and two LFOs, the Subtractor can produce just about any sound you want it to.

All the Subtractor's parameters are fully automatable, meaning that it's easy to record and edit any parameter changes on the Subtractor.

The Malstrom Graintable Synthesizer - Malström creates its otherworldly sounds using Graintable technology. Never heard of it? Neither had we, we had to invent it. This technology is a cross between granular synthesis and good old wavetable synthesis. And the result? You'll just have to hear it to believe it.

The Malström Graintable synthesizer features all imaginable filtering and modulation options, and a couple of unimaginable ones too; Try some real-time waveform stretching, some spectral modulation, or some awesome wavetable sweeping.

Malström comes with a wide range of meaty and exotic Graintables, letting you create anything from lush pads to scary squeals, from the pretty to the gritty. And that's just the sounds coming from Malström itself; try using this monster's audio inputs to filter other Reason devices, and let some of Malström's magic rub off on your drums or sampled vocals. With a device like this, no one can accuse your sound of being ordinary.

Thor Polysonic Synthesizer - Thor sounds like no synthesizer you've ever heard before - and every single one of them. Where other synths use one specific form of synthesis and one single filter, the Thor polysonic synthesizer features six different oscillator types and four unique filters. What does this give you? Simply the most powerful synth ever created; an unstoppable monster of a sound generator that utilizes synthesizer technology from the last 40 years.

Combinator - The Combinator is a device which can be used to take numerous sounds from instruments and combine them to create one unique sound.

Don't feel scared to use these instruments, they ALL have presets and they ALL are customizable.

Let's see how we can incorporate a synthesizer instrument into our music production.

1. Open Reason

2. Create a Mixer 14:2

3. Set your tempo between 70-100bpm.

4. Set your L to 1 and your R to 5.

Turn your "Loop On/Off" to On.

5. Create a Redrum Drum Computer. Create a 32 or 64 step drum pattern that uses at least 4 drum sounds (snare, bass drum, hi hat, percussion). Each sound should be on its own pattern and you will copy each pattern to the track.

6. Create a Dr. REX Loop Player. Pick a Dr. REX Percussion Loop. Do NOT put it "To Track"! Instead, use the keyboard to try and create an original percussion pattern with the loop. If you have any rhythm errors, remember that you can quantize the recorded pattern.

7. Create an NN19 or NNXT instrument. Load in a piano or guitar patch of your choice and try to create a melody that uses 3 chords from the C Major scale. If you have any rhythm errors, remember that you can quantize the recorded pattern.

8. Create a synthesizer instrument. If you create a Subtractor or Malstrom, then load in a monosynth of your choice.


If you create a Thor, then load in a Lead Synth of your choice.



With this instrument try to create a melody that uses the C Major scale.

What we have learned so far...

I would like review with you some of the important elements in composing a song.  Specifically the Tempo, Instruments, Key Signature, Arrangement, and Lyrics.



Tempo

• How Fast or Slow your song is
• BPM: Beats Per Minute
• Beats and Bars (Time Signature)

Instruments

• Percussion: 
• Drums: Bass, Snare, HiHat
• Melodic: 
• Bass line
• Chords
• Melody and Harmony

Key Signature

• The Key tells what notes are used in the song
• Major vs Minor Keys
• Scales are all the notes in the Key
• Chord Progressions

Song Structure and Arrangement (coming soon)

Lyrics (coming soon)




You are learning to be a one lady band!  Here is a great example of someone being a one man band using a loop pedal.  Just like the loops we make in reason, he is creating 4 bar loops to build a full song.





Here are examples of important elements in song composition.

DRUM GROOVE:


BASS LINE:


Chords:


CHORD PROGRESSION:

Recreating Patterns + Layering Drums

Drum layering is a very important skill in todays modern music. Why? Music producers have been layering drums and finding new ways to process them in order to create their own unique signature sound. Examples include Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Timbaland and the Neptunes. These are 5 different producers with unique drums that they created. For an example, let's listen to an instrumental from Pete Rock.



Notice anything in particular about the drums on this song? They are the combination of a drum break and individual drum sounds playing on top of them to re-create the pattern. In today's exercise we will work on this method of drum programming. It will also help you get a better idea of how to recreate drum patterns that you may hear in different genres of music. Let's get started.

1. Open Reason

2. Create a Mixer 14:2

3. Set your tempo between 75-100.

4. Create a Dr. REX Loop Player. Load in a Dr. REX Drum loop of your choice (I personally recommend Drum N Bass, RnB HipHop and Abstract HipHop).

5. Set your L to 1 and your R to 5 & turn you. Put your Dr. REX Loop "To Track".

6. Turn your "Loop On/Off" to On.

7. Create a ReDrum Drum Computer.

8. Try to recreate the pattern of your Dr. Rex loop using Redrum sounds. Each individual Redrum sound should have its own pattern. Copy each pattern to the track. Experiment using more than 1 snare or bass drum (example: 2 different bass drums that have the same pattern).

9. When you are finished let Corina or Ian know.

Bass line

One of the most important elements in building a song is an instrument called the BASS.

The Bass is a low sounding instrument that is played one note at a time.  It is slow and rhythmic and one of the fundamental aspects to building a song.  Here are a few examples of some great bass lines:

Minor Scale and Chords

Last class I had you record a 1-4-5 Chord progression in the key of C Major.  Lets review how we were able to do that.

First we learned the formula for the Major Scale using whole and half steps.  Starting with C and using the formula to figure out the rest of the keys in the scale.

Formula for a Major scale:
1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1/2

Once we learned the notes in the scale we were able to find the 1st, 4th and 5th note in the scale.  In the key of C Major that would be C, F and G.


Today we are going to learn about Minor Keys.  Just like with the Major Scale there is a formula that goes with the Minor scale as well. 

Using what we know about Whole steps and Half Steps we can figure out a Minor scale by using the following formula.

Formula for minor scale:
1 - 1/2 - 1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1 - 1


So lets figure out the notes of the c minor scale.

Now that we know the notes of the C Minor Scale we can figure out the 1-4-5 chord progression.   First lets number each note in the scale:
C -  D - Eb - F  - G - Ab - Bb - C
1 -  2  -  3  - 4  - 5  -  6  -  7  -  1

To play a chord you play every other note in the scale.
This is what a c minor 1 chord looks like:

 
The c minor 1-4-5 chord progression would look like this:

 For you Assignment today I would like to hear you use these chords in a 4 bar loop in Reason.



1. Create a Mixer
2. Create a Redrum
3. Make a 32 or 64 step drum beat
4. Copy pattern to track for 4 bars (L on 1 and R on 5)


5. Create an NN19 Sampler 
6. Load a Piano, Organ, Strings or Guitar Sound
7. Practice playing c minor, f minor and g minor chords
8. Now Record 4 bars using these chords
9. Edit and quantize your recording to make it as clean as possible
10. Save as (yourname)_cminor

Chords and Melodies in the Major Scale

 Last class I showed you how to play a Major Scale.  Today I would like to show you how to play Chords and Melodies using the Major Scale.
Short video on scales, chords and melodies:

A C Major Scale Consists of all the White Keys on the Keyboard. Starting with C and ending with C one octave higher

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

The C Major Chord is the 1st, 3rd and 5th of the scale

So If C is the 1st of the scale what would be the 3rd and the 5th???

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

When chords are played in a certain order in your song, it is called a Chord Progression.  A common Chord Progression is called 1-4-5

This means that you are playing a Triad(three notes) starting on the 1st, 4th and 5th of the scale.

Lets look at what that really means....

here is the C Major Scale

C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

what is the 1st note of the scale?

C is the 1st

now count up from C, what is the 4th and 5th?

C       D       E       F      G       A      B      C

1st    2nd   3rd   4th   5th    6th   7th   1st......etc

Here is what a 1-4-5 chord progression looks like in the Key of C

1=      C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

4=     C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C

5=     C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C-D

 

Pattern Recreation: Kanye West - Runaway

Today we're going to have a Redrum practice exercise. These exercises are used to test your knowledge of the Redrum as well as your ability to recreate a drum beat simply by hearing it. Today we're going to have a listen to the instrumental of the latest Kanye West single, Runaway. The beat of this song features a drum break and a simple keyboard melody. We wont focus on the melody, just the drum programming. Let's have a listen to the song.







Think about the following questions...

• What types of drum sounds are used in this beat?
• How many bars are in the drum loop?
• Do you notice the use of Dynamics/Velocity in the drums?

Now that you have taken the time to think about these questions, let's start working on recreating this drum pattern.

1. Open Reason

2. Create a Mixer 14:2

3. Set your tempo to 85bpm

4. Create a Redrum Drum Computer

5. Listen to the instrumental and try to figure out the pattern. Once you are ready try to recreate the pattern using a Snare Drum, Bass Drum and Hi Hat.

6. Set your L to 1 and your R to 3. Copy your pattern to the track.



*HINT* The pattern is 32 steps.

Double-Time

We have been progressing well with our drum programming. We're now at a point where we know how to pick our sounds, where to place the sounds to have a proper rhythm, how to copy our patterns to track and how to create up to a 4 bar drum pattern. Now it's time to introduce a new alternative method of programming drums. This is a method that you've heard in many songs. Whether you're listening to hip-hop, r&b, pop or alternative music there are many times where you will hear a style of drumming commonly referred to as double time. First, let's hear some examples. The following are songs that are either completely double time or have a break down in which there are double time drums.







As you can see the average double time beat is noticeable via the fast hi-hats or percussion, sometimes fast bass drums, and sometimes a slow snare pattern with few seemingly fast accent hits. Today we're going to make drum patterns using this method in Reason. Let's get started!

1. Open Reason

2. Create a Mixer 14:2

3. Set your tempo between 60-79.

4. Create a ReDrum. For this exercise we're going to make a 64 step pattern.

5. Now here's where things get different. Do you see the RESOLUTION switch? Change your Resolution from 1/16 to 1/32.

6. For Sound 1 load in a clap or a snare. Place it on Box 9. Go to EDIT STEPS and place it on box 9 for all of this pattern. Do NOT copy it to track.

7. For Sound 2 load in a Bass Drum. Place it on the 1 and click around for a few other boxes that you think sound good.



8. For Sound 3, load in a Hi-Hat. Place it on any boxes that you want.


9. For Sound 4 load in a Percussion Hi or Other. Place it on any boxes that you want.

*Reminder* This is a 64 step pattern! Don't forget to use the EDIT STEPS feature.

What are some things you notice about this pattern? An interesting thing to note is that when you create a double time beat it is basically doubling your tempo. So 60 becomes 120, 75 becomes 150, etc. If you tried to do a double time beat at 90bpm you would really be having a tempo of 180bpm. Some would consider that too fast.


Now that you've done this demonstration, Create a new 64 step double time beat that has each sound on its own pattern. When you are finished with this pattern, create a Dr. REX Loop Player and load in a Dr. REX Percussion Loop. Use the keyboard to try and create an original percussion pattern. Now create an NN19 and try to create an original melody using the Major Scale.

Major Scale

What is a Scale? According to Wikipedia....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_scale


When working with the language of music, songs are written in different KEYs. The key a song is written in tells you what group of notes are being used. Each Key has a corresponding scale that plays the sequence of notes in that key.
We will be learning about two different categories of Keys, Major and minor Keys. 

Lets listen to some songs in Major vs minor keys.
minor classical example


 Major classical Example




 Is this song in a Major or minor Key?


here is a tricky one... major or minor?



Lets start with the Key of C Major. The group of notes are C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and back to C.  In other words, the Key of C is all the white keys on the piano.  

Other keys have Sharps or flats(black keys), example: the key of F Major is
F, G, A, Bb, C, D, E, and back to F.  
If you listen to the Major scales they all sound like the same melody but they start on a different note.  This is because the scale follows a specific formula which we are going to learn and practice today.



To learn this formula, we must first understand what Whole and Half steps are.

Whole and Half steps describe the distance between two notes. A half step is the shortest distance between two notes. Example: A half step above C is C#.   A Half Step above E is F.



A Whole Step is the next interval. To take a whole step on a keyboard you must skip one key. 
So, A whole step above C is D. A whole step above E is F#.


Now that we know The difference between whole an half step we can use the Major Scale formula. 
1 represents a whole step and 1/2 represents a half step.

Major Scale Formula:

1 - 1 - 1/2 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1/2

Lets practice!

Assignment:

1. Create a New Reason Document.

2. Create a Mixer 14:2

3. Create an NN19

4. From the NN19 Piano Folder,  Load up the Bright Piano sound.

5. Set the Tempo to 80bpm and Turn the Click track on

6. Set the Loop Markers for a 4 bar loop with the L on 1 and R on 5.

7. Record the C Major scale CDEFGABC_CBAGFEDC

Follow the Click track so that there is one note for each Click.

8. Once you have your best recording, Quantize your recorded scale

To quantize you need to go to the edit view and highlight your notes. 

 

Then go to the tool window and Apply the quantize.

9. Save you Work as (yourname)_CMajorScale