Dr. REX_pt.3

Welcome back! Right now we’re going to continue working with the Dr. REX, but we will be using it in a different way. Instead of using To Track to put our loops into the Sequencer, we will be playing the sounds from the loops live, using our Oxygen 8 keyboards.

The Oxygen 8 is what’s called a MIDI keyboard. MIDI keyboards don’t make sounds by themselves, but they connect to other software or hardware and let you play the sounds that are already inside.

These keyboards connect to the computer using USB cables, so the first thing you will need to do is plug them into your computer. Once they are connected, you should be able open Reason and hear sounds when you press the keys, but there might be some problems. If you can’t hear anything, please raise your hand and tell your instructor, but BE PATIENT!!! He/she might have to help other students, so wait your turn!

Once your keyboard is connected and working right, you can see how the keys work with the Dr. REX…

Dr. REX loops are actually made up of a bunch of slices. Each slice is a little piece of the whole loop. If you look closely at the display in the middle of the Dr. REX, you can see where each slice happens.

Each slice gets its own key on the keyboard, so if you play all the keys in order, from left to right, you will hear the whole loop played back, piece by piece.

BUT, another cool thing you can do is to find certain slices that sound good to you and make your own original beat by playing them with the keyboard. You can play them in any order that you like and make something completely different from how the original loop sounded. Let’s give it a shot…

Please do the following:

1. Open Reason and start a new session.
2. Set Tempo to 95 BPM

For this exercise, let's make a 32 step beat…

3. Create a Redrum
4. In Sound 1 on the Redrum, load a Clap and put it on 5 and 13.
5. In Sound 2 on the Redrum, load a Bass Drum and put it on 1, and a few other boxes (except 5 and 13).
6. In Sound 3 on the Redrum, load a Hi Hat and put it on boxes that sound good.
7. In Sound 4 on the Redrum, load a Percussion sound and put it anywhere.

Now, we want to Edit Steps 17-32…

8. Change the steps of the Redrum from 16 to 32.

9. Move the Edit Steps from 1-16 to 17-32.

10. Repeat steps 6 through 9.

Once you've finished making your pattern, it's time to Copy Pattern To Track…

11. Right-click on the green area of the Redrum and select Copy Pattern to Track.
12. Click on the Pattern button on the Redrum so that they don't play at the same time.
13. Move your Right Loop marker (the little R) to bar 3. (You might need to zoom in to see the numbers).

Now we want to create a Dr. Rex Instrument Loop…

14. Go to the Create menu and create a Dr. Rex Loop Player.

15. Click on the Browse Patch button in the upper left hand corner of the Dr. Rex.

16. Choose one of your favorite Instrumental Loops.

Now, we're going to play the loop using the keyboard. Hear how when you play the keyboard it plays the different slices?

17. Important! Before you start playing, find the button on the Oxygen 8 called Octave. Press the down arrow button once so that the display screen reads "-1".
    
18. Push Play and try making a new melody using the keyboard.
19. When you come up with a melody that you like, push the red Record button. Wait for the cursor to get back to the L and start playing!

19. When you are done, push Stop.
20. If you don’t like what you recorded, you can delete it and try again. Keep doing it until you get it right!
21. SAVE your beat to your folder as: your name_KeyboardREX1