Reason 13 Operation Manual
DAW
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Rack Plugin
Gain Tool
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Introduction
Gain Tool is a utility for managing your signal levels, panning, and routing. It’s particularly useful at the end of a signal chain, to do complex automation without having to use up the Mixer controls for this task. For Combinator builders and Reason Rack Plugin users, Gain Tool acts as the fader part of a channel strip and also enables some clever x-fading for more intricate patch building.
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Signal flow
The picture below shows the signal flows for the different input and output modes in Gain Tool:
Gain Tool signal flowchart.
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Panel reference
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The input mode switch
Select which input mode you want Gain Tool to operate in:
In Gain input mode Gain Tool works as a signal attenuator and amplifier for a stereo or mono input signal.
In Mix input mode Gain Tool works as a mixer for two stereo or mono input channels.
In X-Fade input mode Gain Tool works as a crossfade mixer between two stereo or mono input channels.
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The Gain input mode
Click the Gain button to activate the built-in amplifier.
Set the desired gain/attenuation with the Gain knob.
The gain/attenuation level is shown in the Gain Display. The display also shows a percentage figure of the amplification.
Range: -Inf to +18.1 dB (0-800%)
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The Mix input mode
In Mix input mode you can connect two separate stereo input signals (Main and Aux) and control their individual gain.
Set the desired gain/attenuation for the Main and Aux inputs with corresponding the Gain knobs.
The gain/attenuation is shown in the corresponding Gain Display.
Range: -Inf to +18.1 dB (0-800%)
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The X-Fade input mode
In Mix input mode you can connect two separate stereo input signals (Main and Aux), control their individual gain and also crossfade between the input channels.
Set the desired gain/attenuation for the Main and Aux inputs with corresponding the Gain knobs.
Range: -Inf to +18.1 dB (0-800%)
Set the desired crossfade between the input channels with the X-Fade slider.
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The output mode switch
Select which output mode you want Gain Tool to operate in:
In Width/Pan output mode you can set the stereo width of any connected stereo input signals, as well as control the panning of the input signal(s).
In Dual Pan output mode you can pan the Left and Right channel(s) of the input signal(s).
In Router output mode you can crossfade the output mix to the Main Out and Split Out jacks on the rear panel.
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The Width/Pan output mode
Set the stereo width of the input stereo signal(s) with the Width knob.
At the 12 o’clock position the width of the stereo input signal(s) are unaffected. Turn counter-clockwise to turn the signal(s) more towards mono. Turn clock-wise to enhance the stereo width of the stereo input signal(s). Since Width affects the differences between the left and right channels, enhancing a stereo signal will not cause any phase problems.
Note that mono input signals are not affected by the Width parameter - mono signals will always remain in mono.
Turn the Pan knob to pan the input signal(s) Left or Right.
If you have both the Main and Aux inputs connected, it’s the combined signal that will be panned.
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The Dual Pan output mode
Pan the Left and Right stereo channels individually with the Pan Left and Pan Right knobs.
If both Pan knobs are at their 12 o’clock positions the output signal will be mono.
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The Router output mode
Move the Output slider to crossfade the output signal to the Main Out and Split Out jacks on the rear panel.
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The Output buttons
To the right of the front panel are a number of buttons.
Click the Mute button to mute the output signal(s) of both the Main Out and Split Out jacks on the rear panel.
Click the Inv L and Inv R buttons to invert the phase of the corresponding stereo channel.
Note that the phases of the Split Out signals are also inverted.
Click the Swap L-R button to swap the left and right output channels.
Click the Mono button to get the output signal(s) in mono.
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The output level meters
To the far right of the front panel are the output level meters.
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In the Width/Pan and Dual Pan output modes the meter shows the output levels of the Left and Right Main Out channels:
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In the Router output mode the meter shows the output levels of the Main Out and Split Out channels respectively:
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Connections
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Audio Inputs
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Main Input L&R
Patch the main audio signal(s) here.
If your input signal is in mono, connect only to the L (left) input.
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Aux Input L&R
Patch the additional audio signal(s) that you want to use in Mix or X-Fade mode here.
If your input signal is in mono, connect only to the L (left) input.
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CV Inputs
The first three CV inputs control parameters in the Input section. Each CV input also has an attenuator knob:
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Main Gain, Aux Gain and X-Fade
Modulate the Gain parameter in Gain, Mix and X-Fade mode by a CV signal patched to this input.
Modulate the Aux Gain parameter in Mix and X-Fade mode by a CV signal patched to this input.
Modulate the X-Fade parameter in X-Fade mode by a CV signal patched to this input.
The last three CV inputs control parameters in the Output section. Each CV input also has an attenuator knob:
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Width/Pan L, Pan/Pan R and Output Router
Modulate the Width parameter in Width/Pan mode - or the Pan L parameter in Dual Pan mode - by a CV signal patched to the Width/Pan L input.
Modulate the Pan parameter in Width/Pan mode - or the Pan R parameter in Dual Pan mode - by a CV signal patched to the Pan/Pan R input.
Modulate the Output parameter in Router mode by a CV signal patched to the Output Router input.
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Audio Outputs
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Main Out L&R
Patch the main audio output signal(s) here.
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Split Out L&R
Patch the Split Out audio output signal(s) that you use in Router mode here.