Reason 13.1 Operation Manual
DAW | Rack Plugin
Hardware Interface
The Hardware Interface device is where you connect Reason to the “outside world”. This is where MIDI is received, and where audio signals are routed from physical inputs and to physical outputs of your audio hardware. The Hardware Interface is always present at the top of the rack, and cannot be deleted. This chapter is meant to serve as a panel reference, describing the various sections of the device. How to set up your audio hardware is described in the “Audio Basics” chapter.
The Hardware Interface is normally unfolded, showing a panel with 2 Sampling Inputs, 16 Audio Inputs and 16 Audio Outputs and a couple of buttons.
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On the right hand side at the top of the panel are the Input Focus and Play Focus buttons - these are described in “Input Focus and Play Focus”.
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The Sampling Input, Audio Input and Audio Output sections feature a LED meter for each input and output channel.
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Remember that the Hardware Interface is where any possible audio clipping will occur in Reason. Keep an eye on the clipping indicator on the Transport Panel, and also on the individual meters on the Hardware Interface panel. If a channel pushes the meter into the red, the level should be reduced at the source - see “About audio levels” in the “Audio Basics” chapter.
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The multi-color LEDs below each channel indicate the following:
Green LED: Available and used channel (cable connected to the channel jack on the rear panel).
Yellow LED: Available but unused channel (no cable connected to the channel jack on the rear panel).
Red LED: Unavailable channel but with a connected cable on the rear panel. No audio will be present on channels with red LEDs.
Unlit LED: Unavailable and unconnected channel (no cable connected to the channel jack on the rear panel).
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By clicking the “ADVANCED MIDI” button at the top on the panel, the Advanced MIDI Device panel is shown:
Refer to “Advanced MIDI Device” for more information.
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By clicking the “MORE AUDIO” button at the top on the panel, an additional Audio In and Out panel is shown for a total of 64 inputs and outputs.
Refer to “More Audio” for more information.
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By clicking the “BIG METER” button at the top on the panel, a panel with bigger audio level meters is shown:
Refer to “The Big Meter” for more information.
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Do NOT use the Advanced MIDI Device if you are only going to use Reason’s internal sequencer for recording and playback!
This is opened by clicking the “ADVANCED MIDI” button on the Hardware Interface panel. The Advanced MIDI device is only used if you are controlling Reason from an external sequencer, using the External Control Bus inputs. Normally, you send MIDI to a track via the sequencer, by selecting the sequencer track.
You can select MIDI ports for up to four External Control Busses (on the Sync page in Preferences). Each bus can host 16 MIDI channels, for a total of up to 64 MIDI input channels. The Advanced MIDI Device is where you can route each MIDI channel to a specific device in the Reason rack:
1.
Select one of the External Control Busses by clicking the corresponding Bus Select button at the top of the Advanced MIDI device.
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Pull down the device pop-up menu for a MIDI channel and select a device.
The menu lists all devices in the current song.
Now, incoming MIDI data on the selected bus and MIDI channel is sent directly to the selected device, bypassing the Reason sequencer. The name of the device is shown in the name field for that MIDI particular channel.
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Try sending MIDI notes from the external sequencer, on the selected bus and MIDI channel.
The indicator below the channel's name field should light up.
See also “Advanced MIDI - The External Control Bus inputs” in the Advanced MIDI and Synchronization chapter.
To get a better overview of the levels of a particular channel pair you can bring up the Big Meter on the Hardware
Interface.
1.
Click the “BIG METER” button on the front panel.
The “Big Meter” panel shows up.
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Select the Input or Output pairs to view in the Big Meter by clicking on the corresponding Channel Selection button below each Input or Output pairs.
Alternatively, select channel by turning the Channel Selection knob.
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It’s also possible to select various Meter Modes, or combinations of Meter Modes, by clicking the Meter Mode button to the far left.
The available Meter Modes are:
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VU
The VU Mode simulates the behavior of analog meters and shows the RMS (Root Mean Square) value of the signal. Since the RMS value is an "average" of the signal level over time it's not suited for detecting fast transients in the sound. Rather, VU meters are useful for monitoring the overall loudness of the signal.
In VU Mode, the meter response is 300 ms/20 dB for both attack and release. There is no peak segment in the meter.
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The VU Offset can be set in 2 dB steps between -20 and 0 dB, by turning the VU Offset knob.
This setting determines how the VU dB scale relates to the Peak dB scale. If you have no specific preference in this matter, you don't need to change the VU Offset.
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The VU Offset setting will affect the readout of all Meters on the Main Mixer channel strips and on their corresponding Rack devices.
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PPM
In PPM (Peak Program Meter) Mode, the meter response is 0 ms rise and 2.8 s/24 dB fall. The PPM Mode is perfect for detecting transients in the sound. There is no peak segment in the meter.
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PEAK
In PEAK Mode, the meter response is 0 ms for both rise and fall, which means that this mode provides the most accurate representation of the signal level over time. Since the fall time is 0 ms, it could be quite distracting to the eyes to watch the meters in PEAK mode. If so, the PPM Mode might be more convenient since it's equally fast at responding to transients, but falls more slowly.
The peak segment (the rightmost LED segment, indicating the highest level) has a fall time according to the Peak Hold parameter setting (5 seconds or infinite). This allows you to more easily spot very brief level peaks.
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VU+PEAK
In VU+PEAK Mode, the meter response is according to the VU Mode, plus a peak segment.
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PPM+PEAK
In PPM+PEAK Mode, the meter response is according to the PPM Mode, plus a peak segment.
If the audio level for the selected is, or have been, too high, the Clip indicators on the Big Meter will stay lit until you click the “Reset” button, or select new audio channels for the Big Meter. See “About audio levels” for more information on how to use and work with the Big Meter.