A patch contains settings for a specific device. Patches can be either separate files on your hard disk or files embedded in a ReFill (see “About ReFills” for info about ReFills). The devices that use patches in Reason Essentials are: Subtractor, NN-XT, Dr. Octo Rex, Redrum, Line 6 Guitar and Bass Amps, RV7000, Scream 4 and the Combinator. The Mix Channel, Master Section and Audio Track devices use Insert FX patches saved as Combinator patches. All other Reason Essentials devices use either presets or can only be programmed using the device panel parameters and saved with the Song.
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NN-XT sampler patches contain information about what samples are used, their settings (key mapping, tuning, etc.) and the parameter settings on the device panel.
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It is important to note that the sampler patch doesn’t contain the actual samples - only information about which sample files are used.
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Dr. Octo Rex patches contain information about what REX files are loaded in each slot, their settings as well as the parameter settings on the device panel.
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It is important to note that the Dr. Octo Rex patch doesn’t contain the actual REX files - only information about which REX files are used.
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Redrum Drum Computer patches contain a complete “drum kit”, that is, information about what drum samples are used, together with the parameter settings for each drum sound.
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Again, the actual samples are not included in the patch, only references to files. Also note that Redrum patches are separated from Redrum patterns - loading a new patch will not affect the patterns currently in the device.
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Line 6 Guitar and Bass Amp patches contain information about the parameter settings on the device panel, as well as information about used Amp and Cabinet models.
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The Combinator (Combi) patch format saves all settings and file references for each device in the Combi, along with the Combinator’s own settings; key/velocity zones, modulation routing etc.
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Note that patches for devices included in a Combi are not saved individually - e.g. if a Combi includes a Subtractor, and you have tweaked its settings, these settings will be saved with the Combi patch, but will not be saved as a separate Subtractor patch unless you do so from within the Combinator - see “Saving patches”.
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On the “General” tab in Preferences, there is an option (on by default) to load a default patch when creating a device. For some devices, there are a number of patches that exist outside category folders in the main Sound Bank folder for the device. These will be available on the browse list (see “About browse lists”) directly after creating the device, which allows you check out a few sounds for a device without opening the browser.
Immediately after you have created a new device, the device automatically gets “browse focus”. This means that the Browser is temporarily “locked” to the device and displays patches for the device you just created. Browse focus for a device is indicated by orange side bars in the rack and on the sequencer track - and that the patch section on the device is colored in orange. In the Browser an orange label at the top shows that it now shows patches only for the highlighted device in the rack:
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Use the up/down arrow keys, or click the Load Previous/Load Next triangle buttons at the bottom of the Browser, to select a patch in the Browser and automatically load it in the device that has browse focus.
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Click a patch in the Browser to select it, then click the Load button at the bottom of the Browser, or press [Enter] (not on the numeric key pad).
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Drag a patch from the Browser - or from the Windows Explorer (Win) or Finder (Mac) - and drop it on the device panel (or drop it on the device icon in the Sequencer Track List).
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If you drop patches for other devices (of the same device type (Instruments or Effects)), the existing device will be replaced by the new device. You can also drag and drop patches onto devices that don’t support patches. In these situations, the new device replaces the current one and the dropped patch is automatically loaded in the new device.
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Note that Instrument devices can only be replaced by other Instrument devices. The same goes for Effect devices. Utility devices cannot be replaced using the “drag and drop” method!
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This is useful mainly if a device doesn’t already have browse focus. Clicking the Browse Patch button sets browse focus to the device. Then, you can select and load patches as described above.
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On the panels of the Redrum, NN-XT and Dr. Octo Rex devices, there are also other Patch buttons, used for loading samples or REX files. Make sure you click on the button in the Patch section (next to the patch name display)!
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This is useful mainly if a device doesn’t already have browse focus. Selecting Browse Patches sets browse focus to the device. Then, you can select and load patches as described above.
Note that the Edit menu reflects which device is selected - in other words, you must select the device for the corresponding Browse Patches item to appear on the Edit menu.
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Once you have loaded a patch, you can step between all the patches in the same folder by using the “Select Patch” buttons on the device panel:
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This allows you to quickly load another patch, without having to step through the patches one by one. You can also choose to set browse focus to the device by selecting “Open Browser...” from this pop-up menu.
When you load a patch in any of the ways described above, the device’s parameters will be set according to the values stored in the patch, and the name of the patch will be shown in the Patch Name display.
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Any parameter adjustments you make on the device panel after loading a patch will not affect the actual patch file. For this to happen, you need to save the patch - see “Saving patches”.
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A soon as you have loaded a new patch into a device that has browse focus, the Revert button becomes available at the bottom of the browser list:
The Revert function makes it possible to get back to the patch which was originally in the device - before you started loading new patches. This is very handy if you should change your mind and want your original patch back in your device. The Revert function also works if you have loaded patches for other device types, so called cross-browsing (see “Cross-browsing patch files”).
As described above, patches for the Redrum, NN-XT and Dr. Octo Rex contain references to samples or REX files. Just like patches, samples can be independent files on the hard disk or elements within a ReFill. However, if sample files have been moved or renamed after a patch was saved, the sample file references in the patch will not be accurate.
If this is the case when you select a patch, the program will tell you so. You can then choose to either manually locate the missing files, to have the program search for them, or to proceed without the missing sounds. For details, see “Handling Missing Sounds”.
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Proceeding without locating or replacing the missing samples will result in silent drum channels, key zones or loop slots (for the Redrum, NN-XT and Dr. Octo Rex respectively).
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Combinator patches created in the full version of Reason may contain device types that are not available in Reason Essentials. Such Combinator patches cannot be loaded in Reason Essentials. The patch files will be visible in the Explorer (Win) or Finder (Mac) but won't be visible in the Reason Essentials patch browser.
Apart from when creating and loading patches into a device, browse focus can be set anytime you like. This is very useful if you're working in the sequencer where there are no browse buttons. Or if you want to set browse focus to a non-patch device and replace it with something else.
In this example we select a Redrum track in the sequencer. As soon as the track (or device) is selected, the Browser shows the track/device name on a gray background in the Browse Focus field:
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If you are using two Browsers, the one in the Song window and the other in the detached rack window, browse focus can only be set in one of the Browsers at a time.
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When you save a Reason Essentials song, all settings for all devices are automatically included in the song file - there is no need to save the patches separately.
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It’s important to realize that it’s the actual settings that are saved in the Song - not references to patches on disk. The next time you open the song, all devices will be set as they were when you saved it (regardless of whether you have removed or edited any patches on disk).
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Note that device samples are not stored with the Song by default. This means that if you edit any Redrum or NN-XT samples in an external application and then open a Song containing devices that use these samples, the sound will be different. It’s possible, however, to store actual device samples together with the Song using the “Self-Contain” feature. See “About Self-Contained Songs”.
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Even though the device settings are stored with the song, you may want to save any settings you have made for a device as a separate patch file. This allows you to use the patch in other songs, and lets you try out other patches in your song without the risk of losing your original sound. A patch is saved as follows:
File extensions are automatically added by Reason Essentials when you save. Under Mac OS X, file extensions are not needed but it may be a good idea to keep them if you want the saved files to be usable under Windows.
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If you have selected a patch, modified it and want to save it with the modifications, you could either save a separate, modified version of the patch (with a new name) or simply overwrite the old patch file on disk.
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Note that you can save a patch under the same name and location without having the save dialog appear by holding down [Alt](Win) or [Option](Mac) and clicking the “Save Patch” button on the device panel. Be aware that this overwrites the original patch!
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Note also that you cannot save into a ReFill! This means that if you have opened a patch from within a ReFill, modified it and want to save it, you need to save it as a separate file in a new location (outside the ReFill). Preferably, you should also rename the modified patch file, to avoid confusion.
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A quick way to copy device parameter settings between devices of the same type is to use the “Copy Patch” and “Paste Patch” functions. The result is exactly the same as if you had saved a patch from one device and opened it on another device of the same type - this is just a quicker method.
The settings of the source device (including Redrum and NN-XT sample references and Dr. Octo Rex REX loop references) are applied to the destination device.
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Note that this operation simply copies the settings from one device to another. Adjusting the settings on one of the devices will not affect the other; neither will the settings affect any patch file on disk.
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You can copy Insert FX settings from Main Mixer channels and paste these as Combinator effect patches - or vice versa. To copy a Main Mixer channel Insert FX setting and paste into a Combinator device, follow the steps below:
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To copy an effect patch in a Combinator device and paste it as an Insert FX in a channel strip in the Main Mixer, proceed as follows:
The Combinator devices with their settings and connections are pasted into the Insert FX section of the selected Mix Channel/Audio Track device.
Sometimes it is useful to start with a “clean slate” when creating a synth sound, a drum kit or a sampler patch. This is achieved by selecting “Reset Device” from the Edit menu or from the device context menu. This resets all parameters to “default” values. Initializing NN-XT, Dr. Octo Rex or Redrum devices will also remove all sample/REX file references, allowing you to start from scratch.