Steinberg/Propellerhead Rebirth RB338 v2

Rebirth main screen with individual mix controls and effect control panels to the right, plus the new 909 at the bottom.

Unlike the vintage equipment it emulates, Rebirth is getting more sophisticated all the time. Derek Johnson & Debbie Poyser catch up with the latest version.

Modern music software, by and large, is fantastic. It lets musicians create sequences of staggering complexity at the drop of a hat, work simultaneously and easily with both MIDI and digital data, and instantly subject audio to the kind of torturous manipulation that would have taken hours, or even days, with a razorblade and tape.

But do you ever really covet software in the same way that you covet hardware? Do you regard your music program with the same affection as your Moog Rogue or Fender Strat? Can something which exists only in a computer's virtual environment inspire the same pride of ownership as, say, that small silver box called a TB303 Bassline? If it's called Rebirth, maybe it can...

For the uninitiated, Rebirth RB338 has been called "the ultimate techno software package" and was a considerable software success story of 1997. It could hardly fail, given that it was an accurate 16‑bit, 44.1kHz emulation of the sounds and many of the facilities of two vintage Roland TB303 bass sequencers and the classic Roland TR808 drum machine, with a beautiful, colourful graphic interface, all for a quid under £150. MIDI, naturally, came as standard (unlike the originals), sync with any OMS‑compatible sequencer was assured, sequences were immediately savable to hard drive, and built‑in Delay and Distortion effects were a nice bonus.

With all this fabulousness on offer, you'd think it would be churlish to complain that the super‑hip TR808 simulation was not an even hipper TR909 simulation — but some did. So a group of enterprising hackers set about figuring out how Rebirth was put together, discovered how to replace its source 808 samples with 909 samples, and even tinkered with the graphics. Instead of getting their knickers in a twist, Propellerhead took a friendly interest in the proceedings, even posting customised Rebirths on their web site, and providing DIY instructions! Indeed, v2.0 comes with the necessary bits for customising Rebirth. It's like putting shiny manufacturers' stickers on a flightcase (somebody we once knew dismembered Roland stickers to produce the unforgettable 'Ronald Poland'), or spray‑painting your keyboard day‑glo orange: modify it, and it becomes yours.

Propellerhead haven't stopped there: Rebirth v2.0 for the Mac (see 'Rebirth & the PC' box for PC situation) features that 909 as standard, a compressor, and Rewire, a link between Rebirth and Steinberg's Cubase VST MIDI + Audio sequencer, which allows VST to control or be controlled from Rebirth, as well as routing Rebirth audio through VST mixer channels. It's now also possible to tweak on‑screen knobs in real time in Song mode (whereas before you could only tweak them in Pattern mode, unless you were prepared to commit yourself and record the tweaks into a Song). There's a new Shuffle facility, to add a 'triplet' feel, slight refinements to a couple of editing functions, a new Shape parameter for the Distortion effect, and extra 'patterns' for the Pattern Controlled Filter (more later). Finally, sounds from the onscreen 808 can now be selected by clicking on the abbreviation above the step buttons, rather than by turning the instrument select knob with the mouse.

Cosmetically, the most obvious change in v2.0 is the appearance of another dinky graphic drum machine: the virtual 909.

In The Picture

The Rewire routing panel in Cubase VST patches incoming Rebirth audio, on the left, to VST, on the right. When a Rewire link is made, a special channel is added to VST's Audio Channel Mixer. It's coloured a distinctive red, but is equipped with all the audio mixing facilities that VST has to offer.

Anyone unfamilar with the workings of the original Rebirth should refer back to SOS's August 1997 review, but for now, before discussing v2.0 enhancements, here's a brief overview of the program.

Each of the graphic representations of 303s, 808 and (now) 909 has its own 'Section' for sequencing purposes; you could think of each Section as a sequencer track with a sound source physically attached to it. Though the 303 synth Sections are monophonic (like their hardware namesake), the 808 and 909 are fully polyphonic. The sequencer is Pattern‑based, with up to 16 steps per Pattern (though Patterns of differing lengths can run together) and each Section can draw from its own set of 32 Patterns, which are chained into a Song (with a maximum of 999 Pattern steps, or bars). All the Sections are controlled by a single transport bar.

Programming of Patterns is done in a similar manner to the hardware originals, in that the user specifies which note will play on each step of a Pattern, either while a Pattern is playing back, or without playback. Notes are chosen using the mouse (from the 303 mini‑keyboard or the 808/909 step buttons), the computer's keyboard, or a MIDI keyboard. One feature of the real 303/808/909 that's missing from Rebirth is the option to record Patterns with different note resolutions: while non‑4/4 time signatures can be managed, by changing the Pattern length, you're always working with straight 16th notes (it's possible to enter triplet Patterns on a real‑world 303, with the 808 and 909 also offering 32nd‑note options).

Rebirth only has one screen, so although Patterns are editable, you don't really see what's going on. However, it's possible to Cut, Copy and Paste data, Shift Patterns or drum parts left or right by one step at a time, Transpose, and Randomise (an entire Pattern, just pitch, everything that's not pitch, or individual drum parts). The Alter function, rather than generating something entirely new, like Randomise, takes notes already entered and jumbles them to create new Patterns.

Rebirth is one of the few software programs that really feels like an instrument.

Each Section has its own Mixer controls: level fader, mute switch, pan pot, Delay send knob, and three switches for the other effects, plus a level meter. Each effect also has a control panel, and there's a Master level fader. While not all the physical controls of the original 303, 808 and 909 are recreated on screen, the most important ones are, and their movements can be recorded into a finished Song. Rebirth Songs or sections of Songs can be saved and exported as AIFF or WAV files, which is significant for PC users also running an audio sequencer but with only one audio card: exporting a Rebirth Song as audio into a sequencer means that these people can still get the Rebirth sound into their work. The same would go for those using under‑powered computers which won't run Rebirth and an audio sequencer together satisfactorily. Of course, the export options also mean that Rebirth loops can be beamed into a sampler.

Get On Up... Like A Drum Machine...

Just a few examples of the kind of graphic modifications that can be made to

Cosmetically, the most obvious change in v2.0 is the appearance of another dinky graphic drum machine: the virtual 909. Comparing the front panel of a real 909 with the Rebirth version reveals that the only controls left off the Rebirth 909 are those related to sequencing, but some have been modified in appearance and slightly in operation — for example, accent. On Rebirth's 909 this is available via two different methods: clicking once or twice on one of the 909's 16 step buttons applies one of two levels of accent, which will affect just the selected sound and step, while clicking the AC (Accent) selector activates accent mode, whereupon you can enter an accent on any step of a Pattern, which will apply to all voices sounding on that step. The graphic LED on each Rebirth 909 step button glows dimly for the lower accent level and brightly for the higher — just like the original. Flams can be placed on a per‑step, per‑sound basis, using the Flam selector. A resolution knob varies flam length, and flammed steps glow green rather than red. Other virtual 909 controls are as follows:

• Bass Drum: Tune, Level, Attack, Decay.
• Snare Drum: Tune, Level, Tone, Snap.
• Low, Mid & Hi Tom: each has Tune, Level and Decay knobs.
• Rimshot and Clap: each has a Level knob.
• Open & Closed Hi‑hat: these share a Level knob but have separate Decay knobs.
• Crash & Ride Cymbal: each have Level and Tune knobs.

Soundwise, the virtual 909 is as good as you'd expect from the company whose 808 emulation was described as "convincing and successful" and whose 303 sound was acclaimed as "almost identical" and "very impressive indeed". And this was in side‑by‑side tests with the originals, conducted by long‑term 808 and 303 owner Chris Carter. Sadly, we no longer have a 909, but comparing the Rebirth one with a set of good 909 samples revealed a striking similarity (as it should, since the Rebirth 909 is based on samples). Naturally, the range of tonal control and tweakability is similar to that of a hardware 909.

Wire Drill

If the virtual 909 is graphically the most significant addition to Rebirth, arguably the most significant functional addition is Rewire. This pretty much allows Rebirth to become part of Cubase VST (v4 or later on the Mac), and is fantastically useful to VST owners. The two programs will now synchronise without OMS, and up to 18 Rebirth audio channels can be routed through VST's mixer — with access to VST's EQ and plug‑ins. Rebirth channels can even be converted to audio tracks, giving scope for stacking multiple Rebirth Patterns.

Rebirth and VST can work together in a number of ways: you could patch the stereo output of Rebirth to two VST mixer channels, the 303, 808 and 909 sections to their own channels, or any or all of the drum sounds to their own channels. As a Section is patched to a channel it's removed from the stereo mix, until all that remain are the Rebirth effect and processor 'returns', and drum sounds are removed from the drum machine mixes as they're patched individually. There is one slight anomaly: if drum sounds are routed separately to VST, their audio is not treated by Rebirth's processors. But the advantages of Rewire far outweigh this, since apart from Rebirthaudio being treatable by everything VST has to offer, one of Rebirth's few real problems can now be overcome: the audio mix of the 808 and 909 Sections is resolutely mono, and passing separate drum sounds through VST's mixer allows the creation of a stereo image of Rebirth percussion. People who have multi‑channel audio cards running with VST will also now be able to route Rebirth sounds to the outside world via that. In addition, starting a VST sequence now starts Rebirth, and vice versa.

Rewire pretty much allows Rebirth to become part of Cubase VST and is fantastically useful to VST owners.

Version 2.0 is installed as two components: the application, and the Rebirth Engine, a shared library file used by both VST and Rebirth. The Rewire technology is currently exclusive to Steinberg/Propellerhead, but other developers could adopt it, integrating Rebirth with their sequencers. It might even be feasible for virtual synth developers to integrate with VST in the same way as Rebirth. Yet another bonus of Rewire is that using the two programs together uses less processor overhead than previously, though a pretty tasty computer is still required to run them both with a decent amount of plug‑ins.

The downside to Rewire is that it and OMS can't work at the same time on one Mac, so you won't be able to use MIDI remote control (for Pattern selection or knob tweaks) while using Rewire, which is a shame. If you prefer to record tweaks into Rebirth using MIDI controllers, you'll have to do it independently of VST.

In Full Effect

New to v2.0 is a simple compressor with Ratio and Threshold controls, plus a level‑reduction meter. This isn't a serious compressor, but more of a creative effect tool. It's available to only one Section at a time, although it can be assigned to the master output, becoming a stereo compressor for compressing a mix. Experimentation will probably yield good results, but we didn't find it terribly effective.

Also new is a Shape parameter for Rebirth's Distortion effect. Steinberg say this controls the "character" of the distortion, and at higher settings it certainly produces an even grungier sound. Additionally, Distortion is now available to all four Sections, rather than one at a time, as before.

Rebirth RB338 has been called 'the ultimate techno software package' and was a considerable software success story of 1997.

The Pattern Controlled Filter, introduced in v1.5, has been enhanced with nine extra patterns. This filter is essentially a 12dB device, with low‑pass and band‑pass options, plus cutoff frequency, resonance, envelope amount and envelope decay parameters. There are 54 non‑editable filter envelope patterns in total which between them allow the filter to superimpose pumping effects, slow sweeps, and subtle or extreme rhythmic phrasing. The manual provides a list of patterns, so it's possible to get a good idea visually of what each is capable of. Sadly, this effective device is only available for one Section at a time.

Rounding off Rebirth's processing facilities is the Delay effect, which is available to all four Sections at once and remains unchanged from that of v1.5.

Born Again

The v2.0 upgrade costs £39, while Rebirth's full price remains £149, as on its launch. While £39 might seem like quite a lot as a proportion of the retail, the upgrade is pretty much essential, especially to owners of this superb program who also run VST. The Rewire technology will give these people far more than £39's worth of added usability and convenience. And when have you ever seen a TR909 for £39? Of course, aside from these two biggies, the other enhancements are also most welcome. It might, perhaps, have seemed more equitable to charge, say, £20 for the upgrade and raise the price of new Rebirths to £170: this way, the developers would recoup their costs, but established users, who've supported the program since its launch, would share the extra cost burden with new users, who haven't. Other niggles are few, perhaps the biggest being that Rewire and OMS can't be used at the same time on a Mac, and that the two virtual drum machines are mono. However, these are relatively trivial points in light of the extra facilities, and they don't damage Rebirth's status as one of the few software programs that really feels like an instrument.

Now then, would go‑faster stripes look good on our virtual 808...?