Today, we began looking at the Subtractor synthesizer in Reason. This is a two-oscillator synth whose capabilities fall somewhere between Logic's ES-1 and ES-2. I really like the way the Subtractor is laid out—its clean visual design hides a surprising amount of flexibility and power.

[Chapter 6 in the User's Guide to Propellerhead Reason (Poyser & Johnson) has a wealth of useful info for you.]

As with any subtractive synthesizer, the oscillator offers a choice of harmonically-rich waveforms. In the case of the Subtractor, you have a choice of 32 different waveforms, ranging from standard fare (sawtooth, square & triangle) to more exotic waveforms. [See the Waveform List.] The oscillators offer Phase Offset Modulation (POM) which lets you animate the oscillators by creating a variety of phase cancellation effects. Keybaord tracking can be turned off to create percussion or sound effects. The two oscillators can be used together for either Frequency Modulation (FM) and/or Ring Modulation effects.

Additionally, there is a noise waveform generator. Use the Color control to vary between Pink and White noise. The Noise generator is useful for adding a little "chiff" to the beginning of a sound; use the Decay knob to set its duration. Click the red box next to the word "NOISE" to enable it.

There are two filters available. Filter 1 has a choice of five types, controls for (cutoff) Frequency, Resonance and Keyboard tracking. This filter has a dedicated Filter Envelope generator, and various parameters can be modified by the Modulation Wheel, External MIDI control or Keyboard Velocity. Filter 2 is a low-pass filter with variable control of Frequency and Resonance; it can be disabled (to lighten the processing load on the CPU) or linked to Filter 1. In addition, its (cutoff) Frequency can be controlled by Velocity and LFO 2.

There is an signal-controllable Amplifier with a dedicated Amplitude Envelope generator. The amplifier is also controllable by an External MIDI controller or LFO 2.

In addition to the filter and amplitude envelope generators mentioned above, there is a separate Modulation Envelope generator that can be routed to several oscillator parameters, as well as Filter 2's cutoff.

The keyboard outputs the Pitch signal (derived from MIDI note number) which is routed to the Oscillators, as well as the LFO 2 Rate and filter 1 Cutoff via adjustment knobs. Variable-range Pitch Bend is also routed to the oscillators' pitch inputs.

There is considerable flexibility in the control routings. Keyboard Velocity has nine simulataneous routings available. The Modulation Wheel can be routed to any of five destinations. Reason also supports an External MIDI controller [Channel Aftertouch, Expression (CC#11) or Breath Controller (CC#2)] that has four simulataneous routing destinations.



We also spoke in non-specific way about viewing a synth's generators, processors and controllers as separate components, each with their own with Audio Inputs/Output and Control Input/Outputs. For example, an oscillator would look like this:

A filter receives Audio In, sends Audio Out and has control parameters for Cutoff, Resonance and Keyboard Tracking. These parameters can be externally controlled by Mod Wheels, Envelope Generators and LFO's. What would the Subtractor's Filter 1 look like if its Control Inputs were graphed? Grab a sheet of paper and try it:



Lastly, we looked at how Reason integrates with Pro Tools. Normally, when Reason loads, it "owns" the M-Box. By this I mean that it communicates directly to the M-Box via something called Digi CoreAudio Manager. CoreAudio is a technology, developed by Apple to allow programs to communicate with hardware devices. The problem is, when you try to load Pro Tools while the Digi CoreAudio Manager is already in use by another program, Pro Tools will tell you that the M-Box is unavailable. Fortunately, Reason can use a protocol called "ReWire" to transfer digital audio data to another program.

In short, you will need to exit Reason and any other programs that access the M-Box (iTunes, Logic, QuickTime) before launching Pro Tools. After that, the procedure is fairly simple:

  1. Launch Pro Tools.
  2. Open the session in which you want to include Reason Tracks.
  3. Add a stereo Aux Input for Reason's Mixer Main Outs.
  4. Insert Instruments > Reason on the Aux Input. This will launch Reason.
  5. Verify that the inserted ReWire plug-in indicates the correct channel from Reason (Main Mix L-R outputs).
  6. Open your song file from Reason.
  7. Set your tempo in Pro Tools: When Pro Tools plays, Reason plays also.

If you look at the Interface in Reason, you will see that it is outputting audio via ReWire, not to the M-Box. You may assign Reason's audio channels to any of the 64 ReWire channels by patching them directly from the module to the interface. Just remember to set up a corresponding Aux Input in Pro Tools (Steps 3–5, above).

The procedure for running Reason and Logic is similar:

  1. Quit all audio programs.
  2. Launch Logic Pro.
  3. Open up the MIDI Environment and create a new object (New > Internal > ReWire).
  4. Name the object "Reason."
  5. Click on an Audio or Instrument track's name and reassign the track to Reason > Mix L
  6. On a second track, reassign the it to Reason > Mix R
  7. Pan the Tracks.



I would like you to create some patches for the advanced subtractive synthesizers: The ES-1, ES-2 and the SubTractor.

Assignment: create a minimum of four interesting patches that you would actually use in your own music for each of the three synths (twelve patches total). Due next class, February 27th.

TIP: In addition to the tutorials in the Poyser & Johnson, the Dance Music Manual (Snoman) has a good chapter on Programming Theory. The section from pp. 140–175 has several examples of commonly used patches. Use these as a springboard for developing the patches for this assignment.