Redrum Drum Computer

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If you are new to the world of sequencing and programming drums, the Redrum is a great way for you to get in the game. The Redrum allows you to store up to 32 different drum patterns that can be programmed to play up to 10 drum samples, and best of all it is very user friendly.

Loading Patches

Now load a drum kit into Redrum in order to dive into pattern programming.

Once the patch is loaded, you can see that various samples that make up the kit are loaded into each of the 10 drum channels.

Programming Patterns

With the drum kit loaded, you can now get down to the task of programming a pattern into Redrum. This is actually a lot easier than it sounds; you can make a simple drum beat in a matter of minutes.

The Drum Pads

When programming these drum patterns, you will use the 16 white pads on the front panel to program the triggers that will play the drum samples.

NOTE

When you start the playback of a Reason song that has pattern devices loaded, the Run button will automatically engage. If for some reason you don't want the pattern device to run automatically when you start the song's playback, you must disable the Pattern section of the device.

NOTE

Whenever you want to program a particular drum sample in the loop, you must first select the drum channel in which the sample is loaded.

NOTE

You may notice that the pads are grouped into four; each group will count as one quarter note. As there are four groups, you can assume that the loop is one bar. These are the default settings, which, of course, you can change. Later in this chapter I will explain how to change the length and beat structure of the loop.

Changing the Feel of the Beat

You've created a simple drum pattern. It might occur to you that, while this beat has perfect timing, it sounds a tad robotic and is missing some of that human feel. One of the reasons for this is that all the samples being played have the same level (velocity). Try giving the pattern a little of that human touch by altering the dynamic levels of the samples. To do this, you need to program the trigger pads to play the samples at different velocities.

To demonstrate , change the hi-hat's velocity.

NOTE

If you accidentally click on a pad that you did not want to click on, or if you decide you wish to remove a trigger from the loop, you can simply click on the pad again to remove the trigger on that beat.

Changing the Steps

Each trigger pad represents one step in the pattern. You can alter the number of steps that are available to program. By doing so, you will effectively change the length of the pattern for example, from one bar to two bars.

NOTE

Because you programmed only a one-bar pattern, when you extend the length to two bars, the second bar will not be heard , since there is nothing yet programmed on it.

NOTE

The maximum value of steps is 64, and the minimum value is 1.

Changing Step Size

Each step has been set by default to be a sixteenth note long. But you have the ability to change the step size to give you more control of your pattern.

Flam

The flam feature lets you trigger a double shot of a sample, meaning the sample is played twice extremely close together to create an interesting effect.

NOTE

If the flam is active, when you activate any pad to trigger a sample, flam will automatically be placed on that beat. Clicking on the red light above a pad allows you to add flam to a pad that has already been set to trigger a sample. So if you do not wish to apply flam to your program, then make sure that flam is not activated before programming the pads.

Shuffle

Earlier you saw how using varying levels helps when trying to create a human feel to the pattern. With the shuffle feature, Redrum will slightly alter the timing (adding a small amount of delay) of all the sixteenth notes that are between the eighth notes in the pattern to further enhance the human feel, since most drummers don't play in perfect time.

Now try the shuffle. In this pattern, the pads have a step size of sixteen; this would make pads 3, 7, 11, and 16 the eighth notes. Pads 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 are the sixteenth notes, and in this pattern these pads are not triggering any samples; therefore you would not be able to hear the effects of the shuffle. For this you'll need to add more notes to the pattern. (Before continuing, turn the flam function off.)

NOTE

When adjusting the shuffle amount from the transport panel, all pattern devices loaded in the rack that have shuffle enabled will be affected.

Step Editing

If you count the number of trigger pads on the front of the Redrum, you'll find that there are only 16 pads, but as mentioned earlier you can have up to 64 steps to program. To program the steps beyond 16, you need to tell Redrum which steps you wish to edit. This is done with the Edit Steps selector.

NOTE

The pad numbers will not change when you change the Edit Steps value. The pads will always remain labeled as steps 116, so please double-check the Edit Step switch to confirm you are editing the correct steps prior to performing any programming.

Drum Channels

Redrum is made up of 10 channels that hold the drum samples that will be triggered. Each channel has various parameters that are used to control the sound of the sample loaded on that channel. Here are a few of the common controls.

Mute, Solo, and Preview

Sample Parameters

Getting Familiar with Patterns and Pattern Banks

The Redrum has four banks labeled A-D; each bank can store up to eight presets. When programming patterns, you will not be actually saving them, because you must select a pattern bank and preset before programming a pattern. All the programming you perform will be stored in that preset.

Copying a Pattern from One Bank to Another

In some situations you may want to copy the programmed pattern from one preset to another. One good example of when you may want to do this is if you have a basic drum beat that you want to add to, but you also want to keep the original beat. By copying the pattern to another preset number or to a preset in another bank, you can then add to it without altering the original.

NOTE

Each of Reason's pattern devices uses the same layout and design for storing its patternseach has four banks with eight patterns per bank.

Global Parameters

There are a few parameters that you can adjust to control the Redrum as a whole.

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