The spider audio merger and splitter tutorial in propellerhead Reason

Reason 6 Tutorials

With having a larger article about the CV Merger & Splitter I can be really short about the Audio Merger & Splitter. Since it works the same way as the CV Merger & Splitter but the audio veriant only reroutes Audio signals (the main output of a device).

While in a way the Audio merger splitter was handy with using a Combinator patch to connect all the other devices to eachother by using the splitter, the Audio merger kind of became obsolete with having a Line Mixer 6:2 in the reason Rack. Still there are some nice techniques that you can apply to use this device. Especially the split function can create these really dynamic sounds while having only one devices that triggers the notes.

The rear of the Audio Splitter

the spider audio merger and splitter

When you would add a Spider Audio Merger and toggle to the rear of the rack (press Tab key), you will notice a whole bunch of holes. These are audio inputs/outputs. The spider audio can devided into 2 different segments:
1. Merge Signals (left pane)
2. Split signals.

As I have already mentioned, the merge signals are kind of obsolete, since there are different devices inside the reason rack which do the exact same function but with more precision and control. However, if you want to bind the audio signals together without tweaking volume knobs, then the spider audio merge section can come in handy. The merge segment has 4 input slots and 1 output slot.

the spider audio merger and splitter

The second part of the Audio merger splitter (which is called split audio) still has its applicable usages. Since in a way you are able to use one dry signal and therefor connect it to mulitple effects using the same dry signal. A similar effect would be called Parallel Audio processing (which is different then serial Audio processing).

the spider audio merger and splitter

The way this kind of works in the following schematic:

the spider audio merger and splitter

Audio splitter

Lets kick this into high gear and start with an example on what you can do with splitting the audio. In this example I am going to use a subtractor. The first subtractor has a splitter inside of it which is connected too 2 different phaser units. Each phaser unit has its own rate making it really dynamic in a way. For the second effect, the bassline, I added 2 different unisons connected to the splitter, which leads into a real nice stereo effect by panning one signal to the left and the other to the right inside the main Remix Mixer.
RNS Download: Splitting the Audio of the subtractor
MP3 Download: Splitting the Audio of the subtractor

In other words, you can send one signal to the splitter, reroute it through 2 different devices and create 2 unique sounds just by using one device.

Split and Merge together again

With the second example the signals are being rerouted by using one Scream 4 sound destruction unit and a Unison Detune unit. Where you might think, why use the splitter for this? Well, the answer is simple. One signal is being changed by the scream unit, the other signal by the unison. This is a different effect that just adding a scream unit and a detune unit in a row. I'll just demonstrate this with the next set of files:

RNS Download: Splitting the Audio Detune and Scream
MP3 Download: Splitting the Audio Detune and Scream
RNS Download: Just Detune and Scream
MP3 Download: Just Detune and Scream

So there you have a comparison on what actually happends when rerouting the signals seperatly and join them together seperatly.
There is a lot of tweaking that you can do between the process of creating a single instrument, and reroute the signal through all kinds of different effects... Just for the fun of it, here's a real big example of what this can do for you. And Ps don't take this example too serious because this is just for fun ;)

RNS Download: Lets screw around with spiders
MP3 Download: Lets screw around with spiders
RNS Download: Lets screw around with spiders part 2
MP3 Download: Lets screw around with spiders part 2
RNS Download: Lets screw around with spiders part 3
MP3 Download: Lets screw around with spiders part 3

This concludes this short tutorial about the Spider Audio merger and splitter!