KVR Audio

TW1306 · Post by **TW1306** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 12:26 pm

I've been making the older kind of trance and progressive for a while, but have struggled to get an authentic sound using the devices included with Reason. Does anyone know any emulations of synths that were used often in progressive house/trance in the early 2000s (or just plugins that'd be suitable in general)?

Tj Shredder · Post by **Tj Shredder** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 12:53 pm

Older-style progressive would be progressive rock...

Mellotron and Moog modular...
http://equipboard.com/pros/patrick-moraz

(Doesn‘t help, I know...)

TW1306 · Post by **TW1306** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:03 pm

I've heard the term progressive rock a few times but being someone who doesn't listen to that kind of music I have no idea what exactly it means...

When I say progressive I was thinking more along these lines:
youtube.com/watch?v=0er_2bIAE04
youtube.com/watch?v=emxME4oFVh8
youtube.com/watch?v=OdkFni0yFZs

Drew Lake · Post by **Drew Lake** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:18 pm

Thats easy...

Near enough Everything offered on Roland Cloud, the KORG Legacy Collection and can't forget DiscoDSP Dicovery Pro.

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:46 pm

TW1306 wrote:I've been making the older kind of trance and progressive for a while, but have struggled to get an authentic sound using the devices included with Reason. Does anyone know any emulations of synths that were used often in progressive house/trance in the early 2000s (or just plugins that'd be suitable in general)?

Samplers. Lots and lots of samplers (well one or two multitimbral samplers like an Akai or eMu). It was pretty common to take patches on a synth and just sample them to free up channels on top of the chopped-up beats and stuff.

Plus a bucketload of digital delays and some fairly ordinary reverbs - MidiVerb, Quadraverb etc.

I can't see why this would be impossible in Reason.

omac · Post by **omac** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 3:04 pm

People have talked bad about Reason for having a lot of just the sort of samples you are looking for. They added others but the original samples are still there. There are demos and walkthroughs for the type of music you're asking for. I don't know what version of Reason you have, but there's quite a bit on Reason 5 and later. Here's a few.
boyinaband progressive house (campy upbeat). Good reason production skills tutorial.
youtube.com/watch?v=xll2G-pBBHU
sunshine reason 5 melodic prog house (a demo someone made for inspiration)
youtube.com/watch?v=1cQjeM-sVME
mord fustang milky way remake in reason
youtube.com/watch?v=ZKJ7U67RUOA
this (disregard the hip hop sounding start. This is the tutorial you want)
watch me create prog trance track (not really a tutorial, but you can get a lot from it)
youtube.com/watch?v=c32CNZ20Nic
house music in reason 9
youtube.com/watch?v=Ew6lQDMI7EA

The examples you posted used a swung house rhythm.
(I didn't want active links because they embed the video and really slow the page down for us less than Grade A internet accessers so you'll have to add the www)

Synthman2000 · Post by **Synthman2000** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:34 pm

I think early Virus and JP8000 were used so I am not an expert in this trance but would have to have a guess at saying try Viper (early Virus emu), Sylenth1 (great all round dance synth) and maybe Sunrizer (JP emu) and maybe NI Massive for starting points, all do Supersaw leads pretty well and all will manage dance bass duties without no troubles.

Gamma-UT · Post by **Gamma-UT** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:52 pm

I think this thread is running into the problem that "progressive" is the worst name for a house genre anyone ever came up with. It wound up encompassing a whole bunch of four on the floor styles but not in any coherent way. This isn't the Deadmau5 prog trance stuff, this is the "second wave" of progressive that popped up briefly in at the end of the 1990s, and kinda mixed the Leftfield/Justin Robertson bongoes-and-sped-up breakbeats with some garage influences (as garage kinda evolved out of jungle/DnB, that was probably inevitable).

It's less to do with synths and a lot more to do with sampling tricks. For feel, you're better off going back to the early-90s Lemon Interrupt-type stuff, borrowing percussion ideas from there and just popping in a bass, some very sparse pads and maybe the odd acid-303 line.

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 4:55 pm

Don't use layering. Don't use massive supersaw patches. Don't use a lot of compression, or make too loud mixes. Use drum machines like the Roland ones. Will rather get you "that" sound than looking specifically for emulations of the synths used at that time, i guess.

Local Man · Post by **Local Man** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:06 pm

I have to agree with the others saying that you could get that sound with what's included in Reason. Aside from using samples as already mentioned, the Reason Synths can easily get you that sound. I would say stay away from the presets at first because they can be a little overworked. The synth sounds from the videos you posted are very simple so I would say start with init patches and do your own programming to get those sounds. That's what early electronic music was all about because many of the synths available back then were pretty simple in terms of programming and modulation and many of them didn't have any or much in terms of preset storage. You had to know how to program them to get the sound you wanted. Start with Subtractor as it's the easiest to use and closest to the sound you are looking for.
I'm not sure from what you wrote whether or not you have a any experience or skill with programming, but if not, start there. Watch YouTube videos, buy books, learn from friends, whatever. It is very important that you learn to program before you start looking for what to buy to solve your problem. Good luck!

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:12 pm

Local Man wrote:Aside from using samples as already mentioned, the Reason Synths can easily get you that sound.

True. They're very lo-fi.

Local Man · Post by **Local Man** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:27 pm

chk071 wrote:
Local Man wrote:Aside from using samples as already mentioned, the Reason Synths can easily get you that sound.
True. They're very lo-fi.

The older ones kind of are, but I am really impressed by the range of options in the latest version of Reason. I was just playing around with Europa and Thor and you can get some really cool, very modern sounds that complement the old school vibe of Subtractor and Maelstrom well (but even with Maelstrom alone you can coax a wide variety of sounds if you know what you're doing).
But for me, more than anything, Reason just has a very high fun factor. Making sounds never feels like a chore. Whether it's the best or most advanced or not, it's just a lot of fun to play in that environment (wish I could say the same about the sequencer though

).
Anyway, sorry to go so far off topic.

Synthman2000 · Post by **Synthman2000** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:11 pm

Sorry I missed the house part of what was being asked. I thought it was trance related.

recursive one · Post by **recursive one** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:23 pm

TW1306 wrote:
When I say progressive I was thinking more along these lines:
youtube.com/watch?v=0er_2bIAE04
youtube.com/watch?v=emxME4oFVh8
youtube.com/watch?v=OdkFni0yFZs

I love this old Bedrock stuff

Synth-wise i think Viper will get you covered. Chances are that they were using some older Virus models.

Also a very improtant part is to get that fat groovy percussion right

Drew Lake · Post by **Drew Lake** » Thu Sep 13, 2018 6:29 pm

Synthman2000 wrote:Sorry I missed the house part of what was being asked. I thought it was trance related.

So did I...

Synths/emulations for older-style progressive?