Friday, March 18, 2011

Guitar Amp Simulation in Reason 5

Yes, Reason really can do guitar amp/cabinet simulation


by Craig Anderton

Because Reason doesn’t accept external plug-ins, you can’t use conventional guitar amp simulation software within Reason. However, Reason is sufficiently flexible that you can construct a guitar amp/cabinet simulator using only two of its available processing modules - here's how.

1. Go to the Create menu, and select Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player.


2. Click on the Dr. Octo Rex folder button (Browse Patch), then choose a dry guitar as a signal source for testing the amp sim we’re about to create. A good choice is the ElGt_Faith_G_085.rx2 guitar loop. To find it, navigate to the Reason Factory Sound Bank, then go Dr. Rex Instrument Loops > Guitar Loops > Telecaster Rhythm 085 BPM.


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3. Make sure Enable Loop Playback is on.


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4. Go Create > Scream 4 Distortion, then go Create > MClass Equalizer.


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5. Hit Tab, then verify the patching on the back: The Dr. Octo Rex outs go to Scream 4, and its outs go to the MClass Equalizer. The MClass Equalizer outs go to your mixer or output.


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6. Hit Tab again to return to the front panel. Click on the Dr. Octo Rex “Run” button so you can hear the loop play.


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7. Guitar cabinets don’t have much highs over 5kHz. Enable the MClass EQ high shelf, set Frequency to around 5kHz, and to add a little resonance, set Q around 1. Set Gain to minimum. This rolls off the highs and produces a little “bump” around 2kHz.


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8. In Scream 4, enable “Body.” Types A, B, and C are different guitar cabinet types; Scale chooses the size, with clockwise settings giving smaller cabs. For now, set Type = C, Reso and Auto = 0, and Scale between 100 and 127. Note that in the Body section, the Auto parameter adds an envelope follower effect. While it doesn’t contribute to a more realistic guitar amp sound, it can provide some cool effects if you’re not concerned about “authenticity.”


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9. In Scream 4, enable “Damage” and choose the type of distortion characteristics you want. The Damage Control parameter has a huge effect on the sound, so experiment; the settings shown in the screen shot give a strong overdrive sound, but also try the Distortion, Fuzz, and Tube algorithms—varying P1 and P2 to optimize—for more distorted effects.

After choosing your distortion algorithm, re-visit step 8. Changing the Type, Scale, and Reso parameters let you “customize” your cabinet for the chosen type of distortion.

And that’s all there is to it - aside from tweaking it to optimize the sound to your liking. Enjoy your amp sim!

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