Redrum features ten drum sound channels that can each be loaded with a Wave or AIFF sample or a sample from a SoundFont bank. Although they are basically similar, there are three “types” of drum sound channels, with slightly different features. This makes some channels more suitable for certain types of drum sounds, but you are of course free to configure your drum kits as you like.
On the following pages, all parameters will be listed. If a parameter is available for certain drum sound channels only, this will be stated.
At the top of each drum sound channel, you will find a Mute (M) and a Solo (S) button. Muting a channel silences its output, while Soloing a channel mutes all other channels. Several channels can be muted or soloed at the same time.
This is a great way to bring drum sounds in and out of the mix when playing Reason Essentials live. You can also record the drum channel Mutes in the main sequencer, just like any other controller (see “Recording parameter automation”).
On the back panel of Redrum you will note two audio connections labeled “Send Out” 1 and 2. When you create a Redrum device, these will by default be auto-routed to the first two “Chaining Aux” inputs on the Mixer device (provided that these inputs aren’t already in use).
The Level knob sets the volume for the channel. However, the volume can also be affected by velocity (as set with the Dynamic value, or as played via MIDI). How much the volume should be affected by velocity is set with the “Vel” knob.
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In Decay mode (switch down), the sound will decay (gradually fade out) after being triggered. The decay time is determined by the Length setting.
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In this mode, it doesn’t matter for how long a drum note is held (if played back from the main sequencer or via MIDI) - the sound will play the same length for short notes as for long notes. This is the traditional “drum machine” mode.
Furthermore, if a sound set to Gate mode is played from the main sequencer, from a CV/Gate device or via MIDI, the sound will be cut off when the note ends or after the set Length, depending on which comes first. Or in other words, the sound plays for as long as you hold the note, but the Length setting serves as the maximum length for the sound.
There are several uses for the Gate mode:
There are several uses for the Gate mode:
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For when you play the Redrum from the sequencer or via MIDI, with sounds for which the length is important (e.g. when using the Redrum as a sound effects module).
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Audio samples sometimes contain a “loop”, which is set by editing the audio in a sample editor. This loop repeats a part of the sample to produce sustain as long as you hold down a note. Drum samples usually don’t contain loops, but who is to say that Redrum should only play drum samples?
Note that if a sample contains a loop, and Length is set to maximum, the sound will have infinite sustain, in other words it will never become silent, even if you stop playback. Decreasing the Length setting solves this problem. |
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When the pitch is set to any other value than 0, the LED above the knob lights up to indicate that the sample isn’t played back at its original pitch.
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By setting the Bend knob to a positive or negative value, you specify the start pitch of the sound (relative to the Pitch setting). The pitch of the sound will then be bent to the main Pitch value. Thus, selecting a positive Bend value will cause the pitch to start higher and bend down to the original Pitch, and vice versa.
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The Tone knob determines the brightness of the drum sound. Raising this parameter results in a brighter sound. The Vel knob determines whether the sound should become brighter (positive Vel value) or darker (negative Vel value) with higher velocity.
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The Start parameter allows you to adjust the start point of the sample. The higher the Start value, the further the start point is moved “into” the sample. If you set the Start Velocity knob to a positive amount, the sample start point is moved forward with higher velocities. A negative Start Velocity amount inverts this relationship.
By raising the Start value a bit and setting Start Velocity to a negative value, you can create rather realistic velocity control over some drum sounds. This is because the very first transients in the drum sound will only be heard when you play hard notes.
If this button is activated, the sounds loaded into drum channels 8 and 9 will be exclusive. In other words, if a sound is played in channel 8 it will be silenced the moment a sound is triggered in channel 9, and vice versa.
When this is activated, the sample playback is calculated using a more advanced interpolation algorithm. This results in better audio quality, especially for drum samples with a lot of high frequency content.