The ReGroove Mixer

Open the ReGroove Mixer by clicking the Groove button to the left on the Transport Panel.

The ReGroove mixer is divided into two sections. On the left are the Global parameters, and on the right are the Channel parameters.

Global parameters

These parameters operate globally, rather than channel-by-channel.

Channel Banks

The ReGroove mixer consists of 32 channels, grouped into 4 banks (labeled A through D). Click a Channel Bank button to see and edit its corresponding bank of 8 channels.

Anchor Point

Normally, all groove patterns start at Bar 1 and repeat themselves throughout a song. For example, a 4-bar groove pattern will begin at Bar 1 and repeat its pattern every four bars. Many times, however, songs begin with blank measures, pickup measure or, perhaps, a short introduction. In these cases, you probably don't want the groove pattern to begin at Bar 1, but at some later bar. This is the purpose of the anchor point - it tells Reason at which measure it should begin applying the groove settings.

For example, assume you have a song with a 1-bar pickup. Because the song really begins on bar 2, that's where you want your groove to begin. Setting the anchor point to 2 insures that the groove patterns all begin at measure 2.

Note: There is one exception to the rule that grooves start playing at their anchor point and repeat indefinitely throughout the song-and that's when they encounter a time-signature change. Grooves always restart at any measure containing a time signature change.

You can use this knowledge if, for example, you have a song section with an odd number of bars-inserting a time signature change will force all your grooves to restart at that measure.

Global Shuffle

This knob adjusts Reason's global shuffle amount, and is used by any devices that employ patterns, such as the Dual Arpeggiator Player device, Redrum's internal sequencer, the Matrix pattern sequencer, and the RPG-8 arpeggiator. It also defines the shuffle value for any ReGroove channel for which the Global Shuffle option is activated.

Setting the Global Shuffle to a value of 50% results in a “straight” beat, with no swing applied. Setting the Global Shuffle to a value of 66% results in a perfect sixteenth-note triplet shuffle. Values between 50% and 66% have a less pronounced swing feel, and values greater than 66% are more exaggerated.

•	If you are quantizing notes and/or audio Slices to “Shuffle” in the “Quantize” section in the Tool Window, these are quantized to the current Global Shuffle value.

Channel parameters

These parameters operate on a per-channel basis. Each of ReGroove's 32 channels (arranged in 4 banks of eight) contains an identical set of parameters.

On Button

This is an On/Bypass button for the channel. When the button is lit, the groove channel is active and any note lane assigned to this groove channel will be affected. When the button is not lit, the channel is disabled and any note lanes assigned to this groove channel will play back straight, without being “grooved.”

This can be used for comparing the groove with the original, ungrooved beat. You can also do this for individual note lanes, by turning off the “Enabled” item on the Groove Select pop-up menu in the track list - see “Applying grooves to your music”.

Edit Button

Click this button to open Reason's floating Tool Window, and show the Groove tab, where you can view and edit additional “Groove Settings” for each channel.

Each ReGroove channel has its own groove settings, so clicking the Edit button in different channels will fill the Tool Window with groove settings specific to that channel.

Channel Number

This is a non-editable channel number label. Channels are numbered 1-8 and are grouped into 4 banks (A-D). Channel numbers are named accordingly. For example, A2 is the second channel in Bank A, and B5 is the fifth channel in Bank B.

Groove Patch Name

This shows the name of the groove patch currently loaded into the channel. If no groove patch is loaded, then no name appears. Click this area to bring up a list of the patches in the current folder, just as with patch displays on devices in the Reason rack.

To remove a groove patch assignment and reset the channel to its default values, right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the Groove Patch name, or anywhere on the ReGroove panel background, and select “Initialize Channel” from the context menu.

Groove Patch Browser

This allows you to load groove patches and to step between them, just like device patches in the Reason rack. ReGroove patches have a .grov extension. See “ReGroove patches in the Factory Sounds bank”, later in this chapter, to learn more about the types of groove patches included with Reason.

Slide

Use this knob to slide notes forward or backward in time. Musicians will frequently add energy and urgency to a track by “rushing” a particular beat or instrument a little. Similarly, they may “drag” a note a little in order to create a more laid back, shuffle-like feel. The Slide knob has a range of ±120 ticks, which allows you to slide notes up to a thirty-second note in either direction. Setting negative values makes notes play earlier in time (rushing the feel). Setting positive values makes notes play later in time (lagging the feel).

For example, if you wanted to create a slightly “in the pocket” groove, you could create a snare lane and assign it to a ReGroove channel with a small amount of positive slide. This would delay the snare track slightly, giving your music a relaxed, laid back feel.

If you have a track that you want to rush (set to a negative slide value), you should put an empty bar at the beginning of your sequence, making sure to set the Anchor Point to “2” (see “Anchor Point”). This insures that any notes assigned to Bar 1/Beat 1 will indeed play ahead of the beat (since you created an empty measure into which the early note can shift).

Shuffle

At its most basic level, this knob adds a sixteenth note “swing” feel to the ReGroove channel. A value of 50% results in a straight (no shuffle) feel, and a value of 66% creates a perfect triplet feel.

You can also use this knob to “de-shuffle” a beat by dialing in values below 50%. For example, if you had a recording that was played with a perfect triplet feel, setting the Shuffle value to 34% will make the beat straight again!

Groove Amount

Use this fader to adjust how intensely the selected groove patch will modify your notes. At 0%, the groove patch will have no effect. At 100%, the groove patch will have its maximum effect. Obviously, values between these extremes will produce some amount of groove effect, but less than maximum.

As discussed in “Groove Settings”, later in this chapter, several additional parameters are associated with groove patches and how they modify your notes. Specifically, the Groove Settings section of the Tool Window contains four “impact” settings (timing, velocity, note length, and randomness), and the Groove Amount fader acts like a “master” fader that scales these four parameters proportionally.

Pre-Align

Enabling this button causes any incoming notes to be quantized to a rigid, sixteenth note grid prior to having any additional groove modifications applied to them. This quantization, which occurs in real time and is non-destructive, is an easy way to align all incoming notes to a “straight” grid, so that any shuffle, slide, or groove modifications have the expected effect on the notes.

Global Shuffle

Enabling this button causes the ReGroove channel to use the “Global Shuffle” setting, rather than the channel's own shuffle setting. The channel's Shuffle knob will have no effect when a channel uses global shuffle. Using global shuffle is a good way to synchronize notes in a particular channel with those in pattern-based devices, such as Redrum’s internal sequencer, the Matrix pattern sequencer, and the RPG-8 arpeggiator, all of which get their shuffle values from the Global Shuffle value.

Copy, Paste and Initialize ReGroove channels

To copy one ReGroove channel configuration into another:

1.	Decide which ReGroove channel you want to copy from, then right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) on the Groove Patch Name (or anywhere else in that channel, except directly on a parameter).

A context menu appears.

2.	Select “Copy Channel” from the context menu.

3.	Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) on the destination channel's Groove Patch Name, then select “Paste Channel” from the context menu.

Reason copies all the ReGroove channel settings to this channel.

To initialize a ReGroove channel:

1.	Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) on the Groove Patch Name (or anywhere else in that channel, except directly on a parameter) to open a context menu.

2.	Select “Initialize Channel” from the context menu.

Reason resets all channel parameters to their default values.