Urbandarkness.com

Objective: To recreate the sound of an old airraid siren from scratch, using a Reason 4.0 Combinator patch.
Duration: About 15 minutes.
Difficulty Rating: Easy

Step 1: Creating the Combinator

Open Reason and right click to create a Mixer 14:2.
Right click and create a Combinator.
The Combinator will allow you to save the patch for future use in tracks.

Step 2: Creating the synth

Right click inside the Combinator and create a Malström Graintable Synthesizer.
Right click the Malström and press Initialize Patch to clear any sounds that may have loaded.

Step 3: Drawing the note

In the Sequencer window, draw an envelope and draw a long note (16 bars will do) on E2.
Adjust your Loop points and set Loop to On, so the note repeats when you press Play.
This will make it easier to hear what you’re doing.

Step 4: Creating the basic tone

In the Malström, set OSC A to Sawtooth*4 and set the Motion to -64, which will give you the basic sound to work with.
On OSC A, set the Decay to 127 and the Attack to 64, to make the siren fade in.

Now, turn on OSC B.
Set OSC B to Wind: BrokenBrass and turn down the Motion to -64, like we did for OSC A.
Set the Attack and Decay in the same way you did for OSC A too.
Increase the gain on OSC B to 100, to make the sound a bit louder.
Turn the Octave button down to 3, and turn the Semi button up to 4.
The Octave button will make the sound one octave lower, while the Semi button detunes your tone a bit.
This gives the tone an analogue feel, and give the siren a ‘motor effect’.

Now, this is your basic siren tone, but it sounds synthesized and dull.
To make the sound more realistic and scary, we’ll be using modulation to pitch it.

Step 5: Modulating the tone and routing

Set MOD A to curve 20.
This will shape your tone, and for easier Automation we’ll be routing the pitch and rate to the Combinators Rotary buttons.

On the Combinator, press the Show Programmer button and in the Keymapping section, select the Malström.
Route ‘Modulator A Rate’ to Rotary 1 and then ‘Modulator A to Pitch’ to Rotary 2.
Beneath the Rotary buttons, double click the label, and call Rotary 1 ‘Mod A Rate’, and Rotary 2 ‘Mod A Pitch’ for easier recognition.
Set the Rotary 1 button to 8 (or lower) and the Rotary 2 button to 114.

Have a listen to what you have now.
Starting to sound familiar? We’re not done yet though!
We need to add some effects to beef up the sound.

Step 6: Adding reverb

Right click the Malström, and create an RV7000 Advanced Reverb.
Right click it, and press Initialize Patch to clear any settings that may have loaded.

Set the Dry/Wet button to 40 to keep the original sound coming through.
Turn the Decay button to 80, the HF Damp button to 24 and turn the Hi EQ to 63.
Press the Remote Programmer button to open up the advanced settings and input the following settings.

Algorithm: Hall
Size: 39.6m
Diffusion: 127
Room Shape: Three
ER -> Late: 80%
ER Level: 3.0 dB
Predelay: 45 ms
Mod Amount: 95%

Step 7: Adding saturation

Right click the RV7000 Advanced Reverb, and create a Scream 4 Distortion.
Right click the Scream 4 Distortion and press Initialize Patch to clear any settings that may have loaded.
Input the following settings.

Damage Control: 32
Damage Type: Tape
Parameter 1: 64
Parameter 2: 56
Cut: On
Cut Lo: -4
Cut Mid: 24
Cut Hi: 16
Body: On
Reso: 8
Scale: 4
Auto: 0
Body Type: B

Don’t forget to press Save Patch on the Combinator, so you have easy access to the sound when you need it.
And that’s it for my first tutorial here, folks!
If you have a Soundcloud, or Youtube channel, feel free to send me a link to what you’ve created with this, so I can have a listen!

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