Published: 2016-10-12

1. There's a doctor in the house and this mad surgeon has 8 scalpels! Octo Rex and he's going to 'doctor-up' your tracks with the ability to slice and dice 8 (count ‘em) REX files at the same time to create the coolest rhythmic mashup ever!
2. Octo REX Loop Player – This update of the Dr.Rex device plays back samples created by the ReCycle (program) in the.rex and.rx2 formats. These formats allow manipulating a sample's tempo without affecting its pitch. Imagine a sample of a drum loop. The loop is 140 bpm and a track is 120 bpm.

Imagine 8 Rex files simultaneously slicing and dicing, mixing and mashing to make the most amazing rhythmic masterpieces. Octo Rex and the expertise of Reason Master, Mo Volans, and the unimaginable has become reality. App Features:. 108 minutes of video training. Super clear explanations. Offline Playback (no internet connection needed). Easy to navigate Course.

Dr Octo Rex Tutorial

Beat mangling with the Dr OctoRex is made easy.. There is one nice feature called 'ALT' which does this. When done right, the loops will never sound the same as the original! That is what we are going to talk about. But before we be discussing the 'ALT', we'll define some alternative methods next to 'ALT'..

Copy Loop to Track

Inside the Dr OctoRex there is this awesome button called 'Copy loop to Track'. With this button the complete slided up sequence of a Rex file is being thrown on the reason sequencer. Simply put, this method is my prefered method in stead of using a 'Run Button'. The main benefits: Flexibilty and Control!

Full Reason control while using the Copy Loop to Track button

The method is self explanitory. Load a loop first, disable the 'Enable Loop Playback' button, and press 'Copy Loop To Track'.

At this point our loop will look like this in a sequencer window. The nice thing about Reason is that it has the single loop in a single 'bar'. So at this point we can slice it up, join it together and make changes..

But first, lets start with the first setup before we continue:

Shuffle the Loop

The example file I just presented is a pretty straight forward loop. The thing that makes it interesting at this point is the amount of shizzling bling bling effects attached to it. These effects may make things confusing.. only excuse I have right now is that I sometimes want to throw in some 'impressive' set ups from time to time.

Now, the basic key element is the sequencer. If you zoom in a bit (press Edit mode), you get to the thing that is called the Edit Mode of the Song.

The right segment show 3 different segments. The Sequence, the velocity changes and the notes to slot (the current loop). At first the Sequence are all the independant slices of the current Rex file. A normal sequence always goes upwards. First slice 1 is triggered, then slice 2 is triggered and so on. The duration (note length) depends on the slice length and duration.

While the sequence is fixed in this order it does not mean we always have to play it this way! If we want we can choose to change the order, we can change the length and duration, we can change the velocity.. we can do whatever we want. Remember the first paragraph of this article? Flexibility and full control!

The Re-arranged sequence using the original Rex Loop. Creating something new from something that exists

At this point the loop has changed into something new. Rather then being an straigt chemical beat, it just turned in to a nice offbeat-drum and bass type of thing.

The advantage at this point is that there is full control on how the sequence is ordered. The downside however, it can be somewhat time consuming (if you are new to this method) to set it all up.

The ALT function

This brings us to the ALT method. Inside the Rex Slice Edit mode there is one button called 'ALT'. This has nothing to do with the 'ALT' key on your keyboard.

Alt stands for Alternate, or Alternative (I have no idea.. I am just making stuff up). The Alt functions with the following method:

- First we group slices in an ALT group (max is 4 different groups)
- When slices of the same group are triggered, Reason chooses a slice from that group to trigger

So in a way, this is like 'Randomize Rex Loop'.. but with the control that we can select the slices that are grouped together and those will randomly play when they get triggered. Makes sense?

The work flow to make this workable we need to define which slices are grouped together:

With the current loop there aren't many different slices to choose from so to make it random, I will just pick some alt settings here. Last, we need to press the copy Loop to Track button over a longer time frame (for instance 17 bars would do nicely)

The bar will still be the exact same size (compared to the original), difference here is that the sequence becomes a tiny bit more random. So in a way, it is similar as doing the manual approach, difference is Reason does it for us!

By playing back the complete 'random' sequence we can pick out bits and pieces we like, slice it, edit it, join it and make it a new sequence again.

Reasoning Loop Happy with Rex Octo

Dr OctoRex in Reason is a new device which found its introduction in Propellerhead Reason 5. The Dr OctoRex works similar as the Dr Rex, with a few differences.

- 8 different Rex files can be loaded up in Reason, providing an ideal method for backing tracks
- Slide edit mode is introduced
- Reverse Slices
- Enable playback

The dr octorex in reason 5. The dr rex loop player gets an updated version since Reason 5

While we could write down every bits and bobs about the Rex player as we did with our other article about the Dr Rex, we will mainly focus on the differences and how we could approach the different work flow. Most of the stuff is self explaining however.

In a nutshell we have the following options:

- Load up loops
- 8 different banks to load loops into
- A pattern Edit lane (which works similar as the pattern lane from the Redrum of Matrix Pattern Step sequencer)
- Trig modes
- Pitch change
- Mod wheel controls
- Velocity settings
- a Low Frequency Oscillator for modulation
- Filter envelope
- Amplitude Envelope
- A slice editor

One minor note which might be added, to create (own made) Dr OctoRex loops one would need Re-Cycle to slice up a loop and convert it to Rex format. The slice editor only allows you to modify existing rex loops (and is not there to create new ones). Gta iv cheats ps3.

With all this written down, you may see some of the similarities that came with the Dr Rex. Most of the settings, such as pitch, mod-wheel, filter envelope, amplitude envelope etc are settings we won't cover in this article.

Enable Loop Playback and the DrOctoRex

A setting which is different (and also a bit tricky) is the Enable playback mode. By default this setting is turned on. The reason why I am saying that this is a tricky knob is because most people will most likely start to ask themselves 'how do I stop the Dr OctoRex from playing'. The answer is simple:

By turning off the Enable Loop Playback we are stopping the Dr OctoRex from auto playing. In this case we can either choose to trigger the Dr OctoRex by using either the Sequencer (copy loop to track), or trigger the device by using a midi keyboard.

This is usually the prefered method to work with the dr OctoRex since it allows more control (by using for instance the Velocity settings). However, when you want to use patterns, you will need to have 'Enable Loop playback' to be turned on.

Patterns using the dr OctoRex

The use of patterns is another method to create an unique loop using up to 8 different loops for the same Dr OctoRex. However, the difference here is that you are limiting yourself with those 8 different sequences. Which in some cases it is enough for a backing track. While using it as a full on drum-track source one could use (or should eventually) use the sequencer instead since the sequencer allows way more control. And once it comes to creativity and such, one should not really limit themselves with 8 patterns only.

To enable the patterns, there are multiple ways to get there:

- select the sequence track of the dr octro rex, right click there and click on 'create pattern lane'.
- select the sequence track of the dr octro rex, click on the edit menu and select 'Create pattern lane'.
- right click on any knob for the different patterns (1 till 8) and click on edit automation.

Creating a pattern lane using the sequence window.

Create the pattern lane using edit automation using the Dr OctoRex.

With both methods you will receive a new note lane called 'the pattern lane'. In here you can draw in the 8 different patterns and throw them in a new sequence. You can use the pencil tool (press W in the sequencer to select the pencil tool) and draw in segments where pattern 1 plays, where pattern 2 plays and so on. In most cases, patterns is a quick and easy way to setup a backing track for your songs (this can be a repeating guitar loop with different intervals, thus different patterns are used, or this can be drum loops with different type of riffs and percussion sets etc).

However, as I have mentioned before, patterns is a quick method to drop in sequences, yet they often could be marked as stiff and repeating tracks. If you really want to do some Dr OctoRex tracking you might want to start using a full scale sequencer to get the job done.

Download Reason 5 RNS example file: Dr OctoRex Patterns

Pattern to Track

While using the option of Copy Pattern to Track, you could get a similar track done. The Main difference here lies that you don't have the option to select a pattern (1 till 8) but in this case you are using the edit automation lane on an option called 'Notes to Slot'. To get a similar thing as patterns, one thing you could do is copy each different track to the sequencer lane. The steps to do this will be as followed:

- Click on show Programmer (this is a little arrow located at the left bottom corner of the Dr OctoRex)
- Select track one from the loop slot section
- Select on the sequencer a loop section like bar 1 till bar 5 (this depends on how much bars your loop contains)
- Click on Copy Pattern To Track
- Select track two on the loop slot section
- Select a different loop section (for instance bar 5 till bar 9)
- Click on Copy Pattern to Track

Repeat this cycle until all 8 tracks are posted on the sequencer lane.

Turn off the 'Enable Loop playback'.

In the end you will get something similar as the following:

Each block contains a similar thing as a single pattern. Which would be exactly the same thing as drawing in pattern 1 till pattern 8. So.. at this point it is fair to ask the question:
- Isn't drawing in patterns faster?
- What is the point in doing this at all?
To answer the very first question, the answer would be: Yes.. drawing in patterns works faster then the above mentioned method. This leads us with question B.. The point would be that we can alternate the individual patterns by changing the notes in a different sequence. That is one. As you might know (or maybe not know) is that a Rex file is a slices loop file. Each slice contains a part of that specific loop you are triggering in a sequence. By altering the sequence, you get a different loop. Thus we can do this using the sequencer. We just alter the sequence from slice 1,2,3,4,5,6 to something like slice 1,2,1,4,3,6 (as an example) and we would get a new loop in return. In this case we can create alternate loops from the same single pattern without having to re-slice everything again using Recycle.

Slicing the Rex file manually using the sequencer window

in this picture you can see that slice 1 till 8 are playing in their original order in the first part, yet play a different sequence in the second part. This results into a different drum pattern in this case.

Download Reason 5 RNS example file: Dr OctoRex Patterns

Slice Edit mode in the Dr OctoRex

Moving on ahead with one of the primary unique features in the dr octorex is the slice edit mode. Or let me start of with the non slice edit mode. With in the programmer of the Dr OctoRex you will notice a few things in there. On the left side you have a segment which shows a wave form and it shows the different slices.

Underneath the waveform you will notice a few knobs such as: Slice, Pitch, Pan, Level,Decay, Rev, F.Freq, Alt and Output.

In the original Dr Rex you would normally use the slice knob to select a slice from the Dr Rex. And then start making adjustments in the Pan, Level, Filter Frequency and so on. The slice knob in its current state still does a similar thing, but you may already know at this point that Rev (reverse), Alt and Output are new in this case.

Using the Slice knob in combination with other settings (as mentioned) would be one method to edit the settings. The slice edit mode would normally do a similar thing, difference is you can edit one setting over all the different slices in one go.

It is vital to understand that each slice has a setting for Pitch, Pan, Level, Decay and so on.

Default slice edit setup in the Dr OctoRex

Dr Octo Rex Loops Free

Activating the Slice Edit mode

When you activate the slice edit mode, you will see a 'bar' like graph which represent the value of the setting that you are changing. By default this setting would be the 'pitch'.

Below the bar like graph you will see the same settings you have in the rotaries, but in this case without the slice knob. Since we are editing all the slices in one go, it makes sense that there is no slice setting there. Now we have the ability to edit the settings Pitch, Pan, Level,Decay, Rev, F.Freq, Alt and Output.

By selecting for instance the f.Freq. We can edit how the filter frequency would go on every single slice. By adjusting this, we won't be needing any additional automation to change the filter frequency. These settings are triggered on the slice (thus not on the device filter frequency which would alter all slices at the same time).

Gta 5 free download for pc without license key. Download Reason 5 Rns file: Slice Edit mode on Filter frequency
Download Reason 5 Rns file: Slice Edit mode on Filter Glitch setup

Reverse Slides

Dr Octo Rex Loops Player Trap Melody Refill

You might ask yourself why is Reverse such a hot item. To be honest, I don't know.. since it has been there in the NN-XT for quite some time (since Reason 2.5). However with Reason 5 Rex slices got their own Reverse mode inside the Rex files (even while it was already there..). But anyways, I am about to write a paragraph about setting up Reverse Slides.

You select a slice, turn Rev on on those specific slices you want to reverse. Another method would be using the Slice edit mode and select Rev there. Reverse comes in 2 flavors: On or Off. Meaning.. Off is normal playback while On is reversed play back of that slice.

There isn't much more to say about it

Download Reason 5 Rns file: Slice Edit mode on Filter frequency

If you are experienced enough and got bored of all the default patterns and loops.. you might eventually try to setup a drum loop mesh up as followed:

Download Reason 5 Rns file: Drum loop mesh up