need help - distorted hi-hats in reason4

chrisMatiC413

New member
right now i have all my percs (hats, shakers, etc) routed to a mini mixer, then to the main mixer

ive noticed that the sounds coming from that mini mixer are getting distorted when played with the main track. distorted meaning, some notes sound like theyre playing at full velocity whereas others are getting cut off.

im not EQ'ing any of the individual sounds (yet) , so could this be a problem with my sound card (motherboard stock) ?
 
I don't have Reason 4.. but I have Reason 3.
My sounds would get distorted sometimes... and i realized it was b/c i accidently hit a button on my midi keyboard called "double", so i had a "double note" coming from my midi keyboard. It was pressing the same note twice at the same time, and that caused it to be distorted when it recorded the data into reason.

Could this be your problem?


Is it only your hi-hat? does it happen when you route it just to the big mixer? I'm guessing you're using the Redrum, does it happen for any other instruments you use?
 
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yup, my setup looks like...
6 redrums > each routed to a channel on the mini mixer > 1 channel on the main mixer

its not only the hi-hat thats distorted, its the sounds from all the redrums going into the mini mixer. im thinking it might be my weak soundcard or that im missing something in my reason rack.

the only other thing i can think of is the mclass mastering patch im trying to use (the default hip hop one)... ill try using another patch when i get home to see if the instruments on the mini mixer are still off
 
Have you tried turning the faders down 20% or so and seeing if it makes a difference?

This is just as a test to try to isolate the problem. If it fixes the problem, you can turn the fader up slowly until you hear distortion starting again - then ease off the fader about 2-3% to be safe.
 
By "mini-mixer", you mean the "line mixer" right?

Try running an NNXT piano patch through the line mixer. Does that have a distorted sound also?

If there's no distortion from that... try routing each individual drum on your redrum into it's own channel on a regular Mixer. That way you can each the output level and see if that's the issue.

If you're using stock sounds.. those sound usually aren't loud enough to cause distortion unless u have a button turned all the way high.

To test if it's your soundcard... play a regular sound in winamp or windows media player or something.


Lastly... try adjusting the latency by going to Preferences.. choose the audio page and see if raising the latency helps.
 
I'm really interested to know if any of the other instruments like the NNXT of NN19 get distorted going through your line mixer.
 
yup, i was talking about the line-mixer. i didnt get a chance to mess around with the setup last night but a thought i had is that it might be caused by the EQ settings of the mclass mastering patch ive been using ...the frequencies coming from the line mixer might be fighting with the freq. that the mclass patch is creating for the main track

ill definitely try using a big mixer instead of the line mixer to consolidate all my percs and just route that to the main mixer. i have a feeling that might work better. i didnt think that the line mixer would degrade sounds routed into it

i didnt get a chance to line-in the NNXT or NN19 yet, but ill try that later tonight and let you know how that goes too
 
right now i have all my percs (hats, shakers, etc) routed to a mini mixer, then to the main mixer

ive noticed that the sounds coming from that mini mixer are getting distorted when played with the main track. distorted meaning, some notes sound like theyre playing at full velocity whereas others are getting cut off.

im not EQ'ing any of the individual sounds (yet) , so could this be a problem with my sound card (motherboard stock) ?


You probably are double triggering the sounds. Keep good track on what's playing what.

Sometimes double triggering is good for effect (flams and what not).

You could mix mixing your high hats at too loud of a level as well. Does lowering the volume helps?
 
You probably are double triggering the sounds. Keep good track on what's playing what.

Sometimes double triggering is good for effect (flams and what not).

You could mix mixing your high hats at too loud of a level as well. Does lowering the volume helps?

im pretty sure they're not double triggering, bc lets say i have a 2 bar segment of hats, not all the notes in that segment sound distorted, just a few of them.

i have a feeling the eq levels of the mastering patch are to blame, but ill try out everyones suggestions later today
 
well, first of all, you should bypass the mastering effects until you're done everything else. check your velocities. some of the velocities might be low and some full, you might have raised the fader to compensate for the low velocities and when the full ones hit its clipping, making the distortion. the line mixer won't effect your sounds different then main mixer if everything else is the same. how did you program the hats? did you use the redrum sequencer? if you have the sequencer in the redrum running and the notes in the main sequencer it'll cause the sounds to double.

if you want to send an
 
well, first of all, you should bypass the mastering effects until you're done everything else. check your velocities. some of the velocities might be low and some full, you might have raised the fader to compensate for the low velocities and when the full ones hit its clipping, making the distortion. the line mixer won't effect your sounds different then main mixer if everything else is the same. how did you program the hats? did you use the redrum sequencer? if you have the sequencer in the redrum running and the notes in the main sequencer it'll cause the sounds to double.

if you want to send an

thats a real good tip, i should start bypassing the mastering until the end ...i spend so much time with making sure everything sounds right before im even done w/ the project

as far as the velocities, theyre all at the max (i enable 'Full' on my midi controller [mpd] so it plays all the pads at the highest velocity) ...also, i dont use the redrum sequencer, its just me hitting the pads to the beat
 
im pretty sure they're not double triggering, bc lets say i have a 2 bar segment of hats, not all the notes in that segment sound distorted, just a few of them.

i have a feeling the eq levels of the mastering patch are to blame, but ill try out everyones suggestions later today

That sounds like double triggering to me.

Do this...

1. Find a 2 bar segment of music where some of the hihats sound distorted.

2. Zoom in on this section using your sequencer in EDIT mode.

3. Make a mental note of which midi note refers to the distorted hi hat sounds.

4. Take your mouse and move that particular midi note away temporarily. You can always choose Edit -> Undo straight afterwards. What you're checking for here is if there is an extra midi note hiding underneath.


This can happen sometimes while recording using midi controllers/keyboard/pads, and would explian why the distorted sound only happens on some hi hat hits and not others.
 
That sounds like double triggering to me.

Do this...

1. Find a 2 bar segment of music where some of the hihats sound distorted.

2. Zoom in on this section using your sequencer in EDIT mode.

3. Make a mental note of which midi note refers to the distorted hi hat sounds.

4. Take your mouse and move that particular midi note away temporarily. You can always choose Edit -> Undo straight afterwards. What you're checking for here is if there is an extra midi note hiding underneath.


This can happen sometimes while recording using midi controllers/keyboard/pads, and would explian why the distorted sound only happens on some hi hat hits and not others.

that would be my next advice as well. akai pad controllers have a tendency to double trigger sometimes, and depending on you quantize settings it could be stacking them on top of each other.
 
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