Tips & Tricks

While most controllers can be used with Reason, there are some that Reason will already recognise when plugged in.

During my search for a new MIDI keyboard myself, I thought I would keep tab on the keyboards I have found that will be suitable for Reason 6.5.

MIDI Keyboard controllers for Reason 6.5

M Audio MIDI Keyboard Controllers
M-AUDIO Oxygen 25
M-AUDIO Oxygen 49
M-AUDIO Oxygen 61

M-AUDIO Axiom 25
M-AUDIO Axiom 49
M-AUDIO Axiom 61

Novation Products
Novation Impulse 25
Novation Impulse 49
Novation Impulse 61

Korg products
Korg Microstation 61
Korg Microkey 25
Korg Microkey 61

Nektar Panorama – made specifically with Reason in mind, apparently. And they look SWEET.
Nektar Panorama P4
Nektar Panorama P6

Updated: 25/01/2013

I will carry on updating this list, if you have ideas or recommendations of any that are missing that you would like to make it known leave a comment or drop an e-mail over.

I seem to remember that in the last release(s) of Reason, to edit Tempo or Time Signature Automation, you could right click on the Sequencer and add an Automation lane. As I now fail to see this option, it took me some time to figure out how to do this in Reason 6.

It’s actually quite straightforward – to edit Tempo or Time Signature automation in Reason 6, simply right click on either the Tempo or Time Signature in the Transport panel, and low and behold, the Automation option is there.

From there, you can edit Tempo automation like you would for anything else (CV, volume etc.). The Time Signature works slightly differently in the way you choose what Time Signature you would like use, much in the same way you would choose a pattern for a Redrum section.

Tempo Automation Editing

Time Signature Editing

I have always felt that Reason lacked monitoring devices. You can perceive sound however you like, and many argue, if it sounds good then go with it. I don’t think that’s enough.

Adobe Audition has a very cool Spectrum Analyser, so if Adobe can do it, then why the hell can’t the Propellerheads?

Well, Rack Extensions is finally here and, thanks to Flower Audio, we have a Loudness Meter. This really opened my eyes (and ears) on one track. I listened to this track through everything – my Beyerdynamic DT 100s, M Audio AV 30s, my car stereo, and my tiny headphone set that came with my mobile phone. Yet, what this device told me was far different from what I was hearing. To add to that, I listened to the track again, I agreed totally with what it had said. I had got the mix totally and utterly wrong, it was underperforming quite significantly and it basically sounded like garbage.

I have contacted Flower Audio and they say a Spectrum Analyser was in the making but were not sure what to release next. Until then, there is a work around using the BV512 Vocoder.

You will need – 1 x Spider Audio and 2 x BV512 Vocoders.

The key here is your Spider Audio unit. You will need to rewire the main audio output into the Audio splitter (represented by the two small blue cables at the bottom of the picture). These would normally go straight into your Main Mixer. Instead, wire one splitter channel directly to your Main Mixer. In the next splitter channel, wire the left to one Vocoder Modulation input, and the right into the other Modulation input. And there you have it – your very own EQ Spectrum Analyzer.

It’s a work around, but it will be really nice for a dedicated one.

The CV outputs on the Malstrom can be very useful. Here, we will talk about how you can use the Malstrom to create a nice, sweeping left to right and back again sound.

First, create yourself a Combinator. Create a Line Mixer, the sound you wish to sweep left to right and back again, and a Malstrom. When creating the Malstrom, be sure to hold shift when you do so that no cables are connected into anything automatically. In this example, the sound we are going to use is the Aerie Pad, found in the Factory Soundbank.

Now, we need to send the CV output to the Line Mixer so that it can automate the panning from left to right and back again. We are going to use the CV from “MOD A”.

Hit your “Tab” button to switch to the back of the Reason rack. Then, left click on MOD OUTPUT – MOD A and hold to create a cable. Patch this cable into the mixer channel that your chosen sound is going out of (in this example, the channel where the Aerie Pad is going out of), patching it into “PAN CV IN”.

MOD A CV output is now controlling channel 1′s pan.

In this example, I want my sound to pan left and right and back every beat in a bar, and I would like to sweep it. So, flipping back to the front of the rack (Tab button), I’m going to go to MOD A and turn “sync” on, and rotate the “rate” knob to 1/4. I am going to leave the waveform as it is.

One last thing – flipping to the back again, I am going to adjust the level of Pan CV in to about three quarters over. This increases the effect the CV has on the pan.

Now, let’s lay a quick track down to see what our sound is like.