Reason Tutorial – Chiptune Synth in Thor

AikiGhost — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:14:58 +0000

Here is another short reason tutorial related to making 8 bit chiptune sounding patches. This time were going to use the Thor polysonic synth found in reason 4.

The most important aspect of this synth is the use of the step sequencer at the bottom of the Thor, to get something that sounds vaguely authentic you will need to play with the note settings of the step sequencer till you get the right sound. Keep this in mind as you play with this patch.

Ok so lets start at the top. Copy the polyphony, oscillator, envelope and delay settings you can see in the 3 graphics below. They don’t have to be incredibly accurate to sound good. After you finished making the patch you can tweak to taste.

chip tune synth poly settings

chiptune synth osc & envelope settings

chiptune synth delay settings

Ok so now on to the meat of how you get that authentic chiptune sound. Its all down to the rapid arpeggios of notes that are played by the thors step sequencer. In the example I’ve used I only used the first 4 steps of the step sequencer just for speeds sake, if you want use 8 or all 16 notes.

chiptune synth step sequncer settings

So first set steps =4

set run mode to “repeat”

now make sure “sync” is on, and that rate is set to 1/64

Now this is the clever bit, in the modulation matrix set up the following routings:

midi gate > 100% > Step Sequencer Trig

midi note > 100% > Step Sequencer Transpose

You’ll note I’ve also assigned the thors two controller knobs to filter and Oscillator balance you can do the same or simply play with these settings manually.

Now if you play keys you will now notice that a 64th note arpeggio that follows your key presses is occurring, it wont quite sound right yet as all the notes in the arpeggio are currently set to c3.

Lets remedy that. Make sure note octave is set to 2. and set each step to the following note vales.

Step 1 = D3

Step 2= C3

Step 3 = G2

Step 4 = D#3

The arpeggio should sound something like this now.

An that’s pretty much it. Play with your own filter settings and step sequencer note set-ups and you should be able to create a variety of new chiptune style patches.

8 Bit Chiptune Synth Reason Tutorial

AikiGhost — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:42:03 +0000

In recent years there has been a resurgence in interest in old school, 8 Bit video game style sounds both in “chiptune” music and as another sound style in more general dance and indie music. In this reason tutorial I will show you how to emulate this style of sound using the Thor synth found in reason 4.

The 2 main elements we will be using to emulate the chiptune sound are

Very quick arpeggiation of note pitch
Subtle bit reduction/Clipping

Ok so firstly we will need a Thor, so right click on your rack and create one. Now choose an analogue style oscillator for Osc 1 and it to square wave. Now select a Low Pass Filter (24db Type 1) for Filter 1 setting the Frequency to about half way (850Hz or so) and the Resonance to zero. Now set the Envelope amount for the filter to about 100. The next thing we need to do is add some digital artefacts to the signal chain, we do this by turning the shaper on setting it to “Hard Clip” and setting the amount to about 20.

Osc 1, Filter 1 & Shaper Settings

Set the following parameters on the Filter Envelope. A = 0, D = 4.3 seconds, S = -35 dB, R = 3.5 seconds. And then the following on the Amp Envelope. A = 0, D= 4.3seconds, S= -10 dB, R = 1 second.

We will be using LFO 1 and 2 to simulate arpeggiation in this patch so first set both LFO 1 & 2 to the Square wave waveform and the tempo rate to about half way (around 2.40 Hz), this may seem a bit slow but there is a reason for this which will become clear soon.

Lfo 1/2 & Envelope Settings

The next thing we will be doing will be using the modulation matrix to send both LFO1 & 2 to oscillator 1s pitch. We do this by setting the first modulation source = LFO 1, the amount to about 80% and the destination to Osc 1 Pitch. Now we set the second modulation source = LFO 2, the amount to about -50% and again set the destination to Osc 1 Pitch.

We now have something that sounds like this.

Not the 8 bit chiptune sound you are really after.

But wait a minute didn’t I say something earlier about speeding up the LFOs? Yes indeed we now need to do some more assignment in the modulation matrix. Ok so set the third modulation source = Modifiers, Rotary 1, the amount to 100% and the destination to LFO 1 rate, now set the fourth (and final for this patch) modulation source = Modifiers, Rotary 2, the amount to 100% and the destination to LFO 2 rate.

The Modulation matrix settings

Now play with the two rotary controls on the Thor during playback and you should be able to get a plethora of different crazy 8 bit style sounds just by tweaking the two knobs. Here is an example of the final type of sound you should be getting.

Play With These and see what you get!

Obviously you can experiment further with, extra oscillators, different Oscillator types, adding a Scream 4 set on “bit reduction” to the output of the Thor and so on but as always I like to leave a little something for you to play with. Go forth and experiment.

Reason Tutorials » 8 Bit & Lo Fi

Reason Tutorial – Chiptune Synth in Thor

8 Bit Chiptune Synth Reason Tutorial