Reason Rack Plugin 13.3 Operation Manual
DAW | Rack Plugin | Reason+ Rack Extensions
Using Reason Rack Plugin as an Effect
When you add Reason Rack Plugin as an effect the plugin window opens. When the rack is empty, an overlay is shown with icons of the most popular effect devices. Either:
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Double click an icon to add that effect,
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click "Browse Effects" to open the Browser with “Add Effects” focus,
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or click "Add other device" to add another device from the context menu that appears.
When you have added a device, the popular devices overlay goes away - it is only shown when the rack is empty. Note that the list of popular devices will change over time to include the instrument devices you most often add!
The first effect device you add will be automatically connected between the Main Input jacks on the I/O device and the Main Output jacks. Audio sent from the DAW host will pass through the effect and be sent back to the DAW:
A The Echo effect device automatically connected to Main In (1-2) and Main Out (1-2) of the I/O device.
When nothing at all is connected to the I/O device, Reason Rack Plugin Effect will send any incoming audio back to the DAW host (as if the rack was bypassed). This way you can still hear your audio when you add an empty rack.
Most effect devices come with patches for quickly changing sounds. There are two main ways to select a patch for a device:
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Use the patch name display on the device panel.
Either click and select a patch from the menu or use the previous/next patch buttons next to the display:
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Click the Browse Patches button on the device (or select Browse Patches from the context menu).
This opens the Browser, where you can search and navigate the sound banks and folders on your hard drive. Read more in “Sounds, Patches and the Browser”.
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Select a device and click the Browse icon on the global panel.
This opens the Browser with Browse Focus for the device, where you can search and navigate the sound banks and folders on your hard drive. The Browser can be viewed either as a separate window or in a side panel to the left in the plugin window. Read more in the “Sounds, Patches and the Browser” chapter.
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Adding more effects will automatically connect them in series.
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If you press [Shift] and drag an effect up or down in the rack, it will be automatically re-routed, changing the order of effects in the signal chain.
Note that this can change the sound drastically!
It is also possible to do more complex setups such as splits and parallel effect chains. For this you could use devices such as the Spider Audio Merger & Splitter (see “Spider Audio Merger & Splitter”). This would require you to do some manual routing by dragging cables on the back of the rack. Read more in “Manual routing”.
All effect devices in Reason Rack Plugin have a Bypass/On/Off switch:
This is normally set to On, but setting it to Bypass lets you temporarily disconnect the effect. Setting an effect to Off will silence it completely (no sound will be passed through). This is mainly useful if you are using send effects or parallel effect chains.
Once you have an effect chain that you're happy with, you could Combine it (by selecting all devices and selecting Combine from the context menu). This creates a Combinator with all devices. You can save this as a combi patch and load it into other instances of Reason Rack Plugin or the standalone version of Reason, see “The Combinator”.
Reason Rack Plugin has four audio input channels: Main left + right and Sidechain left + right. This allows you to send an additional stereo audio signal into the rack (provided that your DAW host supports this). How you use this is really up to you, but a common usage would be sidechaining a compressor:
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Open Reason Rack Plugin as an effect.
For this example, you should add it as an insert effect on a synth pad track or similar.
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In the rack, add a compressor device with a sidechain input, e.g. the M-Class Compressor.
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Flip the rack.
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Click the Sidechain input on the Compressor and drag to connect it to the Sidechain In on the I/O device at the top of the rack.
(If the I/O device is folded, just hold the cable over the folded device for a moment - it will unfold automatically to allow you to connect it.)
Connecting the Sidechain inputs of the MClass Compressor.
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In your DAW host, route another channel or audio track to Reason Rack Plugin input 3-4 (Sidechain input).
Typically, you would use something like a kick drum loop for this.
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Start playback of your synth pad and kick drum tracks.
The synth pad will be processed by the Compressor, but the Compressor will be triggered by the sidechain signal.
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Adjust the settings on the M-Class Compressor to get a classic, pumping sidechain pad.