Propellerhead's Reason 4.0 comes pre-loaded with a wide variety of quality audio samples to choose from.

Most of these audio samples are mapped to saved presets which allow you to use them powerfully in Reason's samplers such as the NNXT advanced sampler. But what about bringing outside audio into Reason -- vocal parts for remixing, custom made beats, or samples for adding your own creative textures? Well, that's where the true power and flexibility of using Rex files comes in and we create those files by using Propellerhead's Recycle. First, let's define a Rex File. A Rex file is very similar to a standard wave file except that it contains timing information recorded as slices in the file meta data.

These slices allow audio files to be stretched with any new timing information without changing the pitch or using those degrading time compression expansion algorithms. Rex files are easily imported into Reason's Dr Rex player or NNXT sampler. Any easy way to create these Rex Files is by using a program called Recycle. Recycle only costs around a hundred dollars and it has a very intuitive user interface that is not married to any hardware. When you launch the application, it immediately prompts you to select an audio file or loop. Once you a select an audio file , you'll get a window that looks like this:

By using the slider in the upper left hand corner, Recycle can automatically create beat markers which will be embedded into the file. Once you enter the number of bars, Recycle will automatically determine the tempo for you. Audio can be easily cropped for editing and unlimited custom slices can be placed and created according to your specifications. Once you have all your slices in place you are ready to go; simply "save as" in Recycle and the file name is the actual Rex File. There is no file organization system to worry about and your original sample is left untouched.

Once you are done with your Rex File, you can easily load it into Reason's Dr Rex . Once your Rex file is loaded, you can press the too track button on your Dr Rex and all the slices will be created as MIDI information to your sequencer in Reason. These MIDI files can be copied to other tracks and created as bass lines or synthesizers which opens up all kinds of new work-flow possibilities. There are many creative possibilities for making Rex Files and bringing them into Reason. The Reason in the Real World class explores this and many more uses for Reason in your production. Reason is the perfect complement to Pro Tools when it comes to music production, sound design, remixing, custom vocal effects, and beat production. Don't forget that it's a smart idea to Recycle; it will save you a lot of time and resources when it comes to custom audio creation in your creative environment. Michael Wynne