Quick Tour of ReCycle

#How ReCycle Works

There are many things you can do with ReCycle. But the most common application is to slice a loop for tempo changes or editing. These are the basic steps (details follow later in this chapter):

Use the Open dialog to locate and open the loop audio file.

The program now analyses the loop and detects the individual “hits” or “sounds” in it. It then displays the loop in the waveform display.

The second step is to work with the Sensitivity slider and the tools to set up a number of slices.

Each slice represents an individual sound in the loop. Slices are displayed as vertical lines across the waveform.

The slices are now used for setting up loop points using the left and right locators. Play back the audio to check that the loop is correct.

The loop settings are used by ReCycle to calculate the tempo of the sampled loop, among other things.

Once you have set the loop points, you can enter the length of the loop in Bars/Beats, and change the Time Signature if required.

Finish by pressing [Return], and the original tempo will be calculated and displayed on the toolbar according to the settings made.

Now you can enter Preview mode, and change the tempo and pitch independently, add processing and much more.

Everything you do in Preview mode will be present in the resulting REX2 file - what you hear is what you get.

Once you have tweaked the loop to your liking in Preview mode it’s time to put the loop to use.

#Using the Loop in another Program

Save the Loop.

This operation produces a REX2 file (file extension “.rx2”), which is the native file format used by ReCycle. REX2 files contain both the audio data of the loop, the slice information and the original (calculated) tempo.

Launch the program (Reason for example) and import the REX2 file into e.g. a Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player device.

The slices will now appear in their correct order and positions, and you will be able to change tempo and manipulate the slices.

On the following pages you will find a quick tutorial. After this are handling instructions for all different aspects of the program. In the chapter “Example Applications” you will find more practical examples of what you can do with ReCycle.

#Importing REX2 files in Reason

REX2 files can be imported to various device types in Reason, such as the Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player, NN19, NN-XT, ReDrum and Nurse Rex module in Kong. You can also import REX2 files to audio tracks in Reason. Since the REX2 files contain tempo data, Reason will automatically stretch the REX2 file audio to the current sequencer tempo. In other words, you never have to match the Reason sequencer tempo to the REX2 file tempo - it will be done automatically during import.

#Importing REX2 files using drag & drop

A very nice feature in ReCycle is that you could drag a loop from the ReCycle window and drop on e.g. a Dr Octo Rex, NN-XT, Kong or NN19 device in Reason, to automatically import the loop to that device.

Click the icon at the bottom left in the ReCycle window, then drag and drop on e.g. a Dr. Octo Rex device in the Reason rack:

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Dropping into the Reason Rack automatically creates a Dr. Octo Rex device and loads the REX2 file.

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Dropping into the Reason Sequencer automatically creates an Audio Track with the REX2 file loaded in an Audio Clip.

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You can also drop the REX2 file in a folder in Finder/Windows File Explorer on your computer.

#Using ReCycle - Step By Step

Launch ReCycle.

The Open dialog appears.

Locate the file called “Drum Tools Demo.aif” in the ReCycle folder in the Music > Reason Studios > Demo Songs folder on your computer.

Select the file and click Open.

A dialog appears, which asks you to type in the number of Bars of the audio file. In this example, type in ”1” and click OK.

The Drum Tools Demo loop.

In the window, click the Play button.

You should now hear the entire loop, from start to end, repeating until you click the Stop button. As you can hear, the Drum Tools Demo loop has “double” downbeats, it starts on a downbeat, and ends on a downbeat, which means that two downbeats are played in succession when the file is looped. We shall fix this shortly - but for now let’s proceed.

Drag the Sensitivity slider to the right, until its value is between 70 and 80 and a number of lines appear.

We call those lines and their triangle symbols “slices” since they indicate that the sound has now been cut up into slices.

The Sensitivity Slider and some slices.

Drag the (R)ight Locator until the loop is exactly 1 bar long.

The left locator should be positioned at the start of the loop, on the first slice marker, and the right locator should positioned on the last slice marker. This last slice contains the “extra” downbeat (see step 4), but as the Right Locator position governs when the loop should jump back to the Left Locator, this second downbeat won’t be played, and the loop will now be exactly 1 bar. The last part of the loop (the last downbeat) is now masked and silent:

The Right Locator moved slightly to the left to skip the last downbeat.

With playback turned off, move the pointer over the waveform view.

The pointer changes to a speaker symbol.

Click with the Speaker pointer on the slices in the waveform view.

You will hear each individual sound in the loop. The slice you clicked last is indicated by the Play Position Pointer above it - this slice is called the Current Slice. You can also drag the pointer over the slices with the mouse button pressed to audition the sounds in the loop.

Click on the Preview Toggle button.

Preview mode is now activated.

Now you can make various settings to the loop, and hear the results in real-time. Preview mode lets you hear exactly how the loop will sound after being saved as a file:

By adjusting the Tempo knob or typing in a new tempo directly in the Tempo field, you can change the tempo of the loop.

If you intend to play back the loop as a REX2 file in a sequencer, the loop will follow the tempo setting of the sequencer, regardless of this setting!

By adjusting the Pitch knob you can change the pitch of the loop.

There is a Gate function which can be used to remove all sound in a loop that falls below a set threshold.

This is described in “Gate Sensitivity”.

In addition there are three effect processors; Envelope, EQ and Transient shaper, that allow you to further tweak the sound of the loop before exporting/saving it as a file.

The processors are described in the chapter “Processing Audio”.

So, now we have everything we need, a perfect loop, a tempo, possibly some audio processing parameters, and a good set of slices. You could at this point simply save the sliced-up loop as a REX2 file and import this file into a compatible program.

#Exporting to File

Besides creating REX2 files for use in audio sequencers, ReCycle can be used to simply change the inherent properties of a file, like the tempo and/or the pitch for example. You can then export the loop (as one sample - not as separate slices) and use it in any audio application or software sampler.

A typical example would be a situation where you have found a perfect loop you wish to use in a song you have recorded. The problem is that the tempo of the loop is wrong, and you don’t wish to change the tempo of the song to accommodate the loop, Let’s further assume that you're working on the song in a DAW that doesn't support REX2 files.

The simple answer is if the loop you want to use can be opened in ReCycle, you don’t have a problem! Proceed as follows:

Open the file in ReCycle and use the normal techniques to add an appropriate amount of slices, set the number of Bars and Beats etc. (to calculate the original tempo) and then enter Preview mode.

Note that even though you will export the file as one sample, you still have to slice the file!

In Preview mode, simply type in the Tempo to match the song tempo, and/or change the pitch to fit the song.

Naturally, you can also add equalization, or any of the other Effects or processing functions if you like.

Activate “Export as One Sample” on the Process menu.

Use the Export File dialog (see “Exporting Files”) to save the file in it’s original format.

The resultant file will now match the songs tempo and/or pitch perfectly!

Congratulations! You just tried out some of the basic capabilities of your new program! Of course, there’s a lot more to learn and discover. Please proceed to the following chapters to find out about all the capabilities of this amazing program!