Wednesday, July 22

Reason Tip - Rex Files



Dr Rex is an often overlooked instrument in Propellerhead's Reason Software. At first glance it looks like a mere sample player, but it's the things you can do with it that are the most interesting. One of my favorite tricks with Dr Rex and Rex files in general is to take one file's pattern, another file's sound, and combine them. Now when doing this the main thing you need to look at is the number of slices in the patterns. Are they similar? You don't want to play the sound from a file with 8 slices on a pattern with 16, obviously. You also want to be aware of the kick and snare placement. Do they match? The easiest way to check these things out is to find the pattern you like, copy it to track and press play; while the sample is playing browse for your new sound file (with auto-play disabled in browser).

For the audio example, I took a free loop I downloaded at Ryan Gruss.com and matched it up with a Rex file from the Reason Factory Soundbank. The first 4 bars is the Gruss loop, followed by the 4 bars of Drb30 from RFSB, and the final four are those two added together.




And speaking of Gruss Loops, if you love Rex Files as much as me, you really should sign up for Gruss Packs!

ryangruss.com - loop pack demo from Ryan Gruss on Vimeo.

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