By "acid style" lead lines we mean patterns that use a combination of Legato and slide (or portamento) effects to produce the widely used hypnotic "wavy" sound produced by the original Roland TB-303, and recreated in the Propellerhead Software product ReBirth. To approximate this typical sound using Reason, proceed as follows:
1. Create a Synthesizer (Subtractor or Malström).
2. Create a Matrix Pattern Sequencer, or if one already exists, set it to an empty pattern.
3. Make sure that the Note and Gate CV outputs are connected to the synthesizers Sequencer Control CV and Gate inputs, respectively.
4. For Subtractor, select either a Init Patch, or use the "TB Synth" patch in the Monosynth category of the Factory Sound Bank.
If you use an Init patch, it is important that you make the following settings:
Switch Trigger Mode to "Legato".
Set Portamento to a value around "50".
5. Create a pattern in Matrix, and keep it playing back.
If "Tie" now is activated for a step, the note will be tied to the next and the pitch will continuously "glide" to the pitch of the following step.
Please note that Tie should be activated on the note you wish to slide from, and not the note you slide to.
If you have several tied notes, one after the other, they will play as one long legato phrase. This can be used to create "wavy" lead lines with pitch bend effects.
6. Experiment with different Note, Tie and Gate values.
If you have ever used a TB-303 or ReBirth, you should now begin to get the hang of how you can create patterns in that particular style by using the Matrix together with a synthesizer.
Adding a DDL-1 (delay), and a D-11 (distortion) effect device will make it sound even more "ReBirth"-like, but of course you are also able to get a much wider range of timbres by utilizing Reason's other sound and modulation capabilities.