ReCycle (program)

ReCycle is a music loop editor designed and developed by Swedish software developers Propellerhead Software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh based PCs. The software debuted in 1994.

The principal idea of ReCycle is to alter the tempo of a music loop without changing its pitch or otherwise altering its sound. ReCycle does this by "slicing" loops into a series of separate "beats" or "hits" and altering their lengths, thus allowing the loop to play at a different speed whilst still using the same sounds for each individual slice. ReCycle can also assign each successive slice to a respective MIDI note on a scale. [Huber, D.M. 2005. "Modern Recording Techniques", 6th Edition. Focal Press. Chapter 6, p.295. ISBN 0-240-80625-5] ReCycle was the first program to popularize the idea of loop slicing. [Souvignier, Todd (April 1, 2003). " [http://emusician.com/met/emusic_closing_loop/ Closing the Loop] ". "Electronic Musician". Retrieved on April 1, 2008.]

Propellerhead developed their own file format for this software: REX, and later REX2 (.RX2) adding support for stereo files, which has become a standard for music loops and is compatible with many third party programs, including Emagic Logic, MOTU Digital Performer, and Steinberg Cubase. Propellerhead's Reason has its own specialised REX2 playing device called the Dr.REX Loop Player. This device can play slices when requested or simply play the entire loop in sequence.

ReCycle was originally developed in conjunction with Steinberg, [Farrer, P. 1995. Super Looper. "Sound on Sound". Volume 10, Issue 7. Available online: [http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1995_articles/may95/steinbergrecycle.html] . Accessed: 24th August 2007.] although version 2 was solely a Propellerhead release.

References

External links

* [http://www.propellerheads.se/products/recycle/index.cfm?fuseaction=mainframe Official website]