But why? Because the Reason Rack is a modular playground — and you don't even have to use Reason as your DAW to enjoy it. Run the Reason Rack FREE as a VST3 in your DAW and build your own virtual studio rack from Rack Extensions. Combine instruments, effects and utilities in the same space, with free signal routing of both audio and CV. Devices can interact, modulate each other and be chained together in ways that go far beyond a traditional plugin setup.
It's a powerful environment for sound design, experimentation and generative workflows.
A place to build unique instruments and effects that simply wouldn't exist as a single plugin!
Ekssperimental Sounds Studio developed out of the music producer alias EKSS - an acronym derived from my full name, Erik Karl Stephan Söderberg. The initial demos under the EKSS moniker were recorded around 1999-2000, taking the first tentative steps on a 4-channel tape porta. These early explorations delved into a fusion of lo-fi, indie, bit, chip-tune, and krautrock experiments. Soon after, my musical journey took a significant turn when I acquired a copy of Reason 1.0, having tried ReBirth earlier I quickly found myself at home in Reason, suddenly music production was swift, easy, and very much enjoyable.
By 2006, my musical palette had evolved, transitioning from synthpop to goa trance, tech house, and eventually finding inspiration in reggae/dub, influenced by pioneers such as King Tubby, Jah Shaka, and Mad Professor. Living in Uppsala, the heart of sound system reggae dub in Sweden, I frequented events hosted by Meditative Sounds, Dub Tribulation, and Jah Massive Sound System, immersing myself in a vibrant scene of producers and labels providing fresh riddims and dubs for the dance.
With the introduction of Reason's Combinator, I began crafting custom devices, adorning them with graphics that seamlessly integrated with the rack. The aspiration to create more sophisticated devices took root, and by 2017, I unveiled the ES01 Analog Synthesizer under the Ekssperimental Sounds brand, available in the Reason Shop. Since then, the commitment to innovation continues, with the ongoing development of various effects and synths.
Roll the dice and see what comes out. There might be some great sounds and some weird. Each can be a fresh starting point to shape into your own sounds! Pick a pack type, press the button, download a zip.
Bitsynthzr Patch Generator
Pick a pack type and how many you want, and press the button. You get a pack of playable patchesas a zip, built with the same recipe logic as the factory bank: every value computed in musical units, checked against the device, and levelled to the loudness of the factory patches.
Results vary - have fun digging through them!
http://ekss.se/bitsynthzr/tool/
ES400 Patch Generator
FM can go from a useful sound to something completely strange with a very small change. That makes the ES400 a fun one to randomise, with 8 algorithms and four operators to push in different directions. Each sound type uses its own recipe inspired by the sounds found in the factory bank, carefully tuned so that the random patches stay within useful territory. Some will be great, some will be weird, and any of them can be a starting point for your own sound.
Try Bass, Keys, Plucked, Pads & Textures or the other pack types and see what turns up!
ES101 Patch Generator
The ES101 patch generator is built to take a sound in one direction and then see where it ends up. Its recipes are based on the different sounds in the factory bank, with enough freedom for things to wander into unexpected territory without turning into completely random settings. Some patches might be close to where you started, others might suggest something you wouldn't have thought of yourself.
Seven sound types to explore — Bass, Keys, Plucked, Synth Sounds, Pads & Textures, Drums and Mixed. Pick a pack, generate some patches and see where they take you!
ES01 Patch Generator
The ES01 is small in design but deep in function, with a sub oscillator, noise, unison and 16 slots in the modulation matrix. It has a particular strength in basses,PWM sounds and patches where you want the synth to react immediately to the controls. The generator keeps the random values in musically useful ranges, so the results stay playable while still taking you somewhere unexpected. The arpeggio packs also make use of the LFO-to-FEET trick to create octave patterns in time with your song.
Nine sound types to dig through — grab a Bass pack, or let Mixed surprise you!
ES10 Patch Generator
The ES10 is a compact analog synth inspired by one of the most classic monophonic synths ever made. Great for house basses, acidic arpeggios and vibrant leads. With polyphony and built-in chorus, it also opens up to fat chords, lush pads and soundscapes. Classic tones with extended features and a broader sound palette.
The generator lets you quickly create semi-randomized patches and explore all those different sides of the ES10. Click the button and see what comes out!
AMALGAM Patch Generator
AMALGAM fuses FM synthesis with subtractive synthesis and offers a huge range of sound-sculpting tools, including numerous filters, granular processing and an onboard effects section. it really is an experimentalist’s playground!
Its many parameters can now be explored through curated randomness, generating new combinations again and again. Every click can take AMALGAM somewhere different. Give it a try and see what comes out!
ARCHIVE: previous version of ekss.se and refills.ekss.se
