REASON STUDIOS RECYCLE 2.2 | The perfect tool that works in any DAW for sampled grooves

ReCycle is a creative tool that helps you make the most of your grooves.

In simple terms, ReCycle lets you do with sampled loops what you can do with beats programmed from individual drum sounds – like changing the tempo or replacing sounds and processing them individually. A tool for quickly editing sampled parts, cutting riffs, remixing and making mash-ups.

Trim your loops with ReCycle and transform them from rigid recordings into flexible musical elements that blend seamlessly with your music.

ReCycle cuts loops into their rhythmic components, allowing you to quantize, rearrange, or entirely reimagine your sampled grooves.

How is this done

• Cut: ReCycle finds all the transients in the sampled material and cuts the loop, keeping the timing information so you can play it back at any time without losing the feel or artifacts that come from extended timing.

• Tune: Fine-tune your sound with ReCycle 's built-in effects: Transient Shaper, EQ, Envelope, and a stretch feature that lengthens the back end of each cut in the loop.

• Create: Save your loops as REX files and let the creative part begin. With recycled audio, your loops can be organized, rearranged, tempo changed, or even used as a groove template for your music.

ReCycle Tricks

• Like the sounds of your loop, but the feel isn't right for your music? Recycled loops can be quantized in your sequencer to fit any groove.

• Or maybe you feel your loop but the snare isn't quite right? Simply replace the snare drum while keeping the beat.

• Create a livelier performance by rearranging loop cuts in your sequencer to create fills and variations.

• Use the sequencer's groove quantization to set the recycled loop as your groove template and have the entire track rotate in your loop.

ReCycle in action

Imagine you have a sample of a drum loop that you want to use in the track you're working on. The loop is 108 bpm and its track is 90 bpm. What do you do? Of course you can tune the loop, but this will make the loop sound very different, and if there are harmonies in the loop that you want to match your song.

You can also stretch the time. This will maintain the tone, but will make the loop sound different and lose some power.

Enter ReCycle and the smart way to make loops independent of tempo. Instead of stretching the sample, ReCycle REX files are divided into small chunks, so each drum hit (or whatever sound you're working with) gets its own chunk. When you change the loop tempo, the time between loops is increased, rather than the chunks themselves.

Total control

When you load a sound into ReCycle , the program “looks” at the file, analyzes it, and breaks it down into its rhythmic components. The process itself is fully automated, but you can move, listen to, or delete chunks using the program's on-screen tools and controls.

Other tools allow you to define the length, attack and decay of the pieces and change the tempo or general tone of your rhythm, without one affecting the other. It's not magic, but it's probably as close as it gets.

Splitting a loop also gives you individual control over the chunks' sound and tempo. You can rearrange the loop, change the feel of it, replace parts of the loop with other samples, change the pitch, and more.

ReCycle turns hard concrete loops into musical modeling clay, allowing you, the loopist, to do pretty much whatever you want.

Use ReCycle as a troubleshooter for loops: load a drum loop into ReCycle , set a new tempo or pitch, and save the results as a new file. Or load any groove and use ReCycle 's on-screen signal processors: Compressor, EQ and Transient Designer, to add flair and distinction. Anything you choose in ReCycle can be applied to your loop non-destructively and saved as a new file.

The REX file format

REX is ReCycle 's native file format. A REX file contains the original loop audio, the chunks you applied in ReCycle , and any effects or processing you added in ReCycle .

REX files are also compressed, using a lossless compression technique to save precious hard drive space.

You can also use your REX files as audio by importing them directly into the audio tracks in Reason 's sequencer. When you import a REX file as audio, it is automatically stretched to fit the tempo of your recording songs.

REX files are supported by major music software titles.

The Dr. Octo Rex and REX files in Reason

The Dr. Octo Rex Loop Player is a unique machine that has become a cornerstone of Reason 's intuitive music workflow.

When you open a new loop in Dr. Octo Rex, you can load the corresponding MIDI data into a special REX editor in the sequencer, where you can move the chunks around to create the beats you want. This way you can make a drum loop and rearrange it however you want.