Reason Rack Plugin 13.3 Operation Manual
DAW | Rack Plugin | Reason+ Rack Extensions
Audio and MIDI Basics
Reason Rack Plugin doesn't communicate directly with your audio or MIDI hardware. Instead, this is handled by your DAW host, which in turn passes on MIDI or audio to Reason Rack Plugin and gets audio back in return.
A Reason Rack Plugin instance can:
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Receive MIDI notes and other messages from the DAW host. It does not care about MIDI channels.
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Receive up to four audio channels (two stereo input pairs).
Typically, Reason Rack Plugin receives audio when used as an audio effect, but it's also possible to send audio to an instrument (if your DAW permits this), for sidechaining and other effects.
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Send out up to 32 audio channels (16 stereo pairs) to the DAW host.
In most cases, the output will be a single stereo signal, but you may for example want to route different drum sounds to different outputs for processing on separate channels in your DAW host's mixer.
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Reason Rack Plugin can also send MIDI to other tracks in your DAW - if you use the MIDI Out Device, see “MIDI Out Device”.
#Typical input/output configurations
Below are some examples of typical MIDI and audio configurations in Reason Rack Plugin:
#Stereo instrument device
This setup involves MIDI note input sent to an instrument device, and stereo audio output sent from the instrument device:
Stereo instrument example.
#Multi-channel instrument device
This setup involves MIDI note input sent to an instrument device, and audio sent out from multiple audio outputs of the instrument device. A typical scenario would be a drum machine device with multiple drum channels:
Multi-channel instrument example.
#Stereo audio effect device
This setup involves a stereo audio input signal to an effect device, and stereo audio output from the effect device:
Stereo effect example.
#Stereo audio effect device with sidechain
This setup involves a stereo audio input signal to an effect device - plus a sidechain audio input signal to the effect device - and stereo audio output from the effect device. A typical scenario would be a stereo compressor device with sidechain inputs.
Stereo effect with sidechain example.
The I/O device is always located at the top of the rack.
At the top of the rack is the i/o device (for "input/output"). This handles the audio communication between the devices in the rack and the DAW host.
The input jacks deliver audio from the DAW host to devices in the rack. This is most often the case when Reason Rack Plugin is used as an effect, and typically only the main (1-2) input jacks are used.
The output jacks deliver audio from devices in the rack to the DAW host. These are used both when Reason Rack Plugin is an instrument and an effect.
On the front panel you find audio input and output indicators, lighting up whenever audio signals are received from the DAW host (input) or sent back to the DAW host (output).
The first eight output pairs have more detailed meters, name labels matching the device names and buttons called (sum) “To Main" (outputs 3-16 only). When sum To Main is on for an output pair, its signal is directed to the Main Out (1-2) instead, and summed with any other signals there.
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If you want to layer several instrument devices on a single stereo channel in your DAW, leave "To Main" on.
The three instruments (connected to outputs 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6) will all be sent out on Main Out 1-2 to the DAW.
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If you want different devices in your rack to be routed to different audio channels in your DAW's mixer, turn off "To Main" for these outputs.
The two instruments connected to outputs 1-2 and 3-4 will be sent out on Main Out 1-2 to the DAW. The instrument connected to outputs 5-6 will be sent to the separate Out 5-6 outputs.
Since Reason Rack Plugin doesn't communicate directly with the audio hardware, audio settings like sample rate are all made in the DAW host. There is however one audio setting in the Settings dialog:
#Render audio using host buffer size setting
When this is activated (default) all audio rendering will be done in batches corresponding to the buffer size selected in the DAW host's audio settings. Selecting a higher buffer size there will improve the performance of Reason Rack Plugin. However, if your rack contains feedback routings, these will be delayed with higher buffer sizes.
Turning this off will cause the plugin to render audio in batches of 64 samples (like in older versions of Reason). Use this only if you want to minimize delay in feedback routings in Reason Rack Plugin.