Master Class: Any Way You Slice It (Bonus Material)

Oct 26, 2009 6:06 PM, By Marty Cutler

           
 

ReCyling Tips for Stylus RMX

Fig. A: You can create Suites manually from REX files on your hard drive by clicking the Import REX Files button and then choosing what files to import.

One of the beauties of Stylus RMX is its ability to convert any file in Propellerhead’s REX file format (.rx2, .rex or .rcy extension) into proprietary RMX files. Consequently, any AIFF, WAV or SDII file you can load into Propellerhead Recycle is fair game. Considering that you can convert just about any other audio file into one of those formats, your choices have multiplied tremendously. Although there are useful tutorials (especially at the Propellerhead Website) for creating REX files with ReCycle, this article deals specifically with creating them for Stylus RMX.

Kyle Z. of Nine Volt Audio is an expert at designing RMX-ready tracks, and a large portion of his stock-in-trade comprises sounds and instruments that might be more difficult for the average sound designer to work with (guitars, bass, synthesizers and so on). He outlines some criteria and a few suggestions for creating good RMX loops:

“I think having an idea of what kind of audio material translates well to a sliced REX file is the first thing to keep in mind," he says. "Drum and percussion loops are the most obvious and easy to slice because they generally have well-defined transients, which is what ReCycle looks for when adding slice markers. For example, a conga loop will slice into a REX file easily and quickly. An open string-guitar loop will not work very well because the transients are much softer and less defined. "

Once Kyle sets up the target instruments for looping, he records loops at slower speeds to ensure a wide tempo range when they are converted to RMX files. “We also record everything at very slow tempos (usually in the 60 to 70 bpm range) and then name the loop with its target tempo—the tempo that the loop sounds best at. This means that users can slow loops way down without the loop breaking apart.” Kyle rarely uses Recycle’s Stretch function (which extends a slice’s tail for smoother transitions) because he feels “it’s unnecessary (and not reliable) when recording at such slow tempos.”

Once you have one or more REX files, it’s a simple matter to convert them into Suites in the RMX user library. Make sure you have the latest version of the SAGE Converter application that comes with RMX (currently 1.5.1d). Launch it and drag a folder containing REX files or containing subfolders containing REX files to the Import REX Files button. If the folder layout is compatible with RMX, the library will be imported and named automatically.

If the folder layout is not compatible, you’ll get an enigmatic error message. In that case, click the Import REX Files button. Select as many as 61 REX files to import as a Suite and provide a Suite name (see Fig. A). The next time you instantiate RMX, you’ll find the new Suite in User Libraries >> Converted REX Files. You can reorganize and rename the Suites in the SAGE Libraries >> User Libraries directory on your hard drive.