REX2 is a proprietary type of audio sample loop file format developed by

Reason Studios Reason Studios (formerly known as Propellerhead Software) is a music software company, based in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1994, it develops the studio emulation digital audio workstation and audio plug-in Reason (software), Reason. Histor ...

, a Swedish music software company. It is one of the most popular and widely supported loop file formats for sequencer and

digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...

software. It is supported by PreSonus Studio One, Reason Studios

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, Steinberg Cubase, Steinberg Nuendo, Cockos REAPER, Apple

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, Avid

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for compos ...

, Cakewalk Project5, Cakewalk

Sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

, Image-Line

FL Studio FL Studio (known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. It features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. It is available in four different ...

, MOTU

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, MOTU Mach 5 (software sampler), and Synapse Audio Orion Platinum, among others. REX files are named after the three-letter

filename suffix A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (for example, .txt, .mp3, .exe) that indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

for "ReCycle EXport", as these are files generated by Reason Studios's

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

looping utility. The

filename extension A filename extension, file name extension or file extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file (for example, .txt, .mp3, .exe) that indicates a characteristic of the file contents or its intended use. A filename extension is typically d ...

s for the file format are .rex and .rx2.

REX file format and use

REX2 loops are created in ReCycle by analyzing audio files to locate zero crossings in the waveform, usually at the start of a

beat Beat, beats, or beating may refer to: Common uses * Assault, inflicting physical harm or unwanted physical contact * Battery (crime), a criminal offense involving unlawful physical contact * Battery (tort), a civil wrong in common law of inte ...

or other rhythmic point. The file is then divided into "slices" delineated by these markers (a form of

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

). This allows compatible DAW software to adjust the playback start time of each slice, so that the loop can dynamically match the

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of a song without altering the pitch of the loop, as would normally happen if the audio file was slowed down or sped up. Depending on the host software, individual slices can be triggered via

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

notes, and individually tuned up and down in pitch if desired.

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REX2 Loop and sample collections are now available from many sources. The original REX format was mono only; REX2 supports mono or

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

files. The REX2 format uses a proprietary

compression algorithm In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compression ...

that can reduce the file size by up to 60%.

References

REX
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516142522/http://www.propellerheads.se/technologies/rex/index.cfm?fuseaction=mainframe , date=2006-05-16 (on the Reason Studios website)

Audio Engineering Reddit post Sampling (music) Computer file formats

REX file format and use

See also

References