Virtually any actions in Reason Essentials can be undone. This includes creation, deletion and reordering of devices in the rack, parameter value adjustments, recording and editing in the sequencer and tempo/time signature adjustments. You can undo hundreds of actions.
The action to be undone is indicated next to the Undo command on the Edit menu. For example, if your latest action was to delete some device(s) from the rack, the Edit menu will say “Undo Delete Devices”.
See “Undo and Redo” for more detailed information.
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To redo an undone action (“undo the undo operation”), select “Redo” from the Edit menu or hold [Ctrl](Win) or [Cmd](Mac) or and press [Y].
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The action to be redone is indicated next to the Redo command on the Edit menu. You can undo/redo hundreds of actions.
See “Undo and Redo” for more detailed information.
This command takes the selected item(s), removes them and places them on the clipboard (an invisible storage location) from where they can later be pasted in.
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This command takes the selected item(s), copies them and places the copies on the clipboard (an invisible storage location) from where they can later be pasted in.
Copying applies to devices/channels and their sequencer tracks, sequencer clips, notes, automation points and device patches. Also individual Kong Drum patches can be copied and pasted from one selected pad to another.
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Pasted tracks and devices are inserted below the currently selected track in the track list and below the selected device in the rack, respectively.
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For example, [Shift]-pasting an instrument device typically connects it to the first free Mix Channel device input(s) above it in the rack.
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If you have deleted the original tracks, or if you paste into another Reason Essentials song document, the clip will be pasted at the song position on the selected track (if the track type is the same as the original). Otherwise new tracks will be created. If the clip is a note clip, a new ID8 instrument track will be created.
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This menu item is used for deleting selected items. If you delete a sequencer track with this menu item (then called “Delete Tracks and Devices”), its device is also deleted.
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If “Auto-group Devices and Tracks” is selected in the Options menu, an alert appears asking you if you want to delete only the selected device or the entire Device Group - see “About Device Groups”.
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This creates a duplicate of the selected device and track, or channel and track, complete with all parameters and recordings/events. The duplicated items will appear below the selected device and track, respectively.
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This selects all devices in the rack, all tracks in the track list, all channels in the Main Mixer, or all clips or all notes or automation points in an open clip. The result depends on which area (rack, track list, Main Mixer etc.) has focus. This is indicated by a thin frame around an area in the document window.
You can use this menu item to quickly apply a command to all items you are working on, for example deleting all devices in the rack (select Select All Devices and then press [Delete]) or for Quantizing all notes in an open clip (select Select All and then click the Quantize button in the Tool window).
This will select all devices within the selected device’s Device Group. See “About selecting all devices in a Device Group”.
This function should be used if you want to rearrange devices, channel strips or sequencer tracks according to the order of the current selection. For example, if you want to rearrange the rack devices according to the current sequencer track order, you can select all sequencer tracks and then choose “Sort Selected Device Groups” to rearrange the rack devices. See “About the “Sort Selected Device Groups” function” for more examples.
Auto-routing is when devices’ audio and CV/gate connections are automatically routed according to default rules. Auto-routing is normally performed when:
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By selecting the Combinator (or one or several devices contained in a Combinator) and then selecting “Uncombine” will remove the devices from the Combinator and into the rack.
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See “The Combinator” for more details.
This function allows you to copy and paste the parameters of different sections of a Main Mixer channel strip and paste into another channel strip. The available parameter groups are:
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This disconnects and removes all Insert FX devices of a selected Mix Channel or Audio Track device in the rack, or of a selected channel in the Main Mixer. See “Deleting Insert effects” for more details.
Sometimes it is useful to start with a “clean slate” when creating a synth sound, a drum kit or a sampler patch. This is done by selecting Reset Device from the device context menu or Edit menu. This sets all parameters to their default values. Resetting NN-XT or Redrum devices will also remove samples from the device, allowing you to start from scratch.
Copies the pattern on the clipboard to the current pattern location in the selected Redrum or Matrix device. This overwrites the current pattern with the one on the clipboard. Note that this can be used to transfer patterns between different Reason Essentials songs.
This menu item allows you to select a new Patch for a device or an Insert FX Patch for a selected channel strip. The menu item reflects which device is selected - in other words, you must select the device for the corresponding Browse Patches item to appear on the Edit menu.
When you select the menu item, the Browser appears (if hidden), allowing you to locate and select the patch, on disk or within a ReFill.
When you load a patch, the device’s parameters will be set according to the values stored in the patch, and the name of the patch will be shown in the patch name display. As with any change you make, this operation can be undone.
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Any parameter adjustments you make on the device panel after selecting a patch will not affect the actual patch file (for this you need to re-save the patch).
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Patches for the Redrum, Combinator (if any sampler devices are part of the Combi), NN-XT and Dr. Octo Rex devices contain references to samples. Just like patches, samples can be independent files on the hard disk or elements within a ReFill or a SoundFont. However, if sample files have been moved or renamed after a patch was saved, the sample file references in the patch will not be accurate.
If this is the case when you select a patch, the program will tell you so. You can then choose to either manually locate the missing files, to have the program search for them in all stored locations and ReFills or to proceed without the missing sounds.
This menu item is used to add a loop to the selected Dr. Octo Rex Loop Slot. Files to be imported can be in REX, RCY or RX2 file format.
This menu item lets you load samples into the devices that use them; Redrum and NN-XT. The following sample formats can be loaded:
SoundFonts are an open standard for wavetable synthesized audio, developed by E-mu systems and Creative Technologies.
REX files are music loops created in the ReCycle program or when editing audio clips inline in Reason Essentials (see “Bounce Clip to REX Loop”). The NN-XT lets you load REX files either as complete patches or individual REX slices as separate samples.
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To remove a sample from a Redrum drum machine, select its drum sound channel and then select “Delete Sample” from the Edit menu.
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To remove a sample from an NN-XT Sampler’s memory, select the zone it belongs to, and then select “Remove Samples” from the Edit menu.
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The sample is removed from the zone and from sample memory. The zone still remains though. To delete a zone, you must use the option “Delete Zones”.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. When you select this, any changes you have made on a loaded sample using the sample parameters (root key, loop settings, etc.) are immediately undone, and the settings revert back to the original.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. It is used for adding an empty zone to the key map. An empty zone can be resized, moved and edited in the same way as zones that contain samples.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. It copies the selected zone(s), and all of its settings - including references to any sample it may contain - and places it in the clipboard buffer. You can then select “Paste Zones” to create a new zone that is an exact replica of the copied zone(s). Note that copying/pasting zones can also be performed between separate NN-XT devices.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. If you have used the “Copy Zones” command, with any number of selected zones, you can create exact duplicates of these by using the “Paste Zones” command. The pasted zones will then be added below any existing zones in the key map.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. It lets you duplicate any number of already existing zones (containing samples or empty).
The duplicated zones will contain references to the same samples as the original zones. They will also have the exact same key ranges and parameter settings.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. Selecting this option will remove both the selected zones, and any samples they may contain.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. It lets you easily copy parameter settings from one zone to any number of other zones. Proceed as follows:
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Observe that this only applies to the synth parameters (LFOs, envelopes etc.). Sample parameters (root key, velocity range etc.) can not be copied.
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This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. This option lets you automatically sort the selected zones within a Group in descending order according to their key ranges. When you invoke this option, the selected zones will be sorted from top to bottom in the display starting with the one with the lowest range. If two or more zones have the same key range, they are instead sorted by velocity range.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. This option lets you automatically sort the selected zones within a Group in descending order according to their set low or high velocity values.
When you invoke this option, the selected zones will be sorted from top to bottom starting with the one with the highest “Lo Vel “value.
For example if you have created a layered sound consisting of piano and strings, you could put all string samples in one group and all piano samples in one group. Then you can quickly select all piano samples and make an adjustment to them by trimming a parameter.
For example, you may want to set a group to legato and monophonic mode and add some portamento so that you can play a part where you slide between notes.
The zones don’t have to be contiguous in order to be grouped. Regardless of their original positions in the samples column, they will all be put together in succession.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. All instrument sounds have an inherent pitch. When playing a sample of such a sound on the keyboard, the keys you play must correspond to that pitch. For example, you may have recorded a piano playing the key “C3”. When you map this onto the NN-XT key map, you must set things up so that the sampler plays back the sample at original pitch when you press the key C3, and this is done by adjusting the root note.
The NN-XT features a pitch detection function to help you set the root keys of loaded samples. This is useful if you for example load a sample that you haven’t recorded yourself, and you don’t have any information about its original pitch.
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Note that for this to work properly, the samples must have some form of perceivable pitch. If it is sampled speech, or a snare drum for example, it probably doesn’t have any discernible pitch.
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This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. The automap function can be used as a quick way of creating a key map, or as a good starting point for further adjustments of a key map.
Automap works under the assumption that you intend to create a key map for a complete instrument, for example a number of samples of a piano, all at different pitches.
The key ranges are set up so that the split between two zones is exactly in the middle between the zones’ root notes. If two zones have the same root key they will be assigned the same key range.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. It will map the selected zones chromatically (one zone per semitone) from C2 and up. This is useful if you are mapping non-pitched material (e.g. drum or percussion samples) and want one sample per key. Before you select Automap Zones Chromatically, you may want to adjust the order of the zones, since this determines which zone is mapped to which key.
This menu item is used with the NN-XT sampler. This is used for automatically setting up velocity crossfades for smooth transitions between overlapping zones. To set up crossfades, you adjust the fade out and fade in values for the overlapping zones.
This means that this zone will play at full level with velocity values below 40, With higher velocity values, it will gradually fade out.
This has the effect that as you play velocity values up to 80, this zone will gradually fade in. With velocity values above 80, it will play at full level.
NN-XT will analyze the overlapping zones and automatically set up what it deems to be appropriate fade in and fade out values for the zones.
At least one of the zones must have a partial velocity range (see “About full and partial velocity ranges”).
This menu item is used for the Dr. Octo Rex loop player device. To be able to make your REX loop start at the same time as other sequencer or pattern data, you “convert” the slices in the loop to note clips in the sequencer:
Now, the program will create a note for each slice, positioned according to the timing of the slices. The notes will be laid out in semitone steps, with the first note on C1, the second on C#1 and so on, with one semitone for each slice. If the range between the locators is longer than the loop length, the loop notes will be repeated to fill out the loop.
This menu item is used for the Redrum drum machine and Matrix pattern sequencer. It converts the selected pattern to notes on a sequencer track. Proceed as follows:
When working with a Redrum, you want to select the track for the Redrum device. For the Matrix, you would typically select the track for the Matrix’ target device (the instrument device to which the Matrix is connected). This is because the Matrix itself produces no sound, so the notes won’t do any good on the Matrix track.
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If you copied a Matrix pattern, you may want to disconnect the Matrix (or even remove it), to avoid having both the Matrix and the sequencer notes playing at the same time.
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If you have automated pattern changes for your pattern device, you can render all patterns to notes in one go, using the “Convert Pattern Track to Notes” menu item instead.
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The Alter Pattern function modifies existing patterns. Note that there must be something in the pattern for the function to work on - using an Alter function on an empty pattern will not do anything.
This function modifies existing patterns for the selected drum sound in Redrum. Note that there must be something in the pattern for that channel for the function to work - using an Alter function on an empty pattern will not do anything.
A rack device can have one sequencer track or no sequencer track. Instrument devices are by default created together with a sequencer track, while effect devices, mixers etc. are created without tracks.
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With a device selected in the rack, select “Go To Track for [device name]” to bring the corresponding sequencer track for the device into view.
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This function inserts an empty area between the locators in the main sequencer. All events after the left locator are moved to the right to “make room” for the inserted area. See “Inserting bars” for more information.
This function removes all material between the locators in the main sequencer. All events after the right locator are moved to the left to “fill out” the gap after the removed section. See “Removing bars” for more information.
This function allows you to choose which Stretch Type to use for a selected Audio Track. See “Selecting Stretch Type” for more information.
It’s possible to bounce an Audio Clip to a new Song Sample. You could then edit the sample in the Edit Sample window and then load into a sampler device for playback. See “Bounce Clip(s) to New Sample(s)”.
This function allows you to export a selected audio clip as a WAV or AIFF file to disk. See “The “Bounce Clip to Disk” function”.
This function allows you to export the recording of a selected audio clip to an additional Comp Row. See “Bounce Clip(s) to New Recording(s)”.
This lets you bounce an open Single Take audio clip to a Rex file. The Rex file ends up on the Song Samples tab in the Tool Window. See “Bounce Clip to REX Loop”.
This lets you undo all Slice Marker edits you made in an open Single Take audio clip and revert to the clip the way it was before you edited it. See “Revert Slices”.
This function lets you decide if a selected audio clip should stretch and follow tempo changes in the song. When disabled, the audio clip doesn’t follow the song tempo. When enabled, the audio clip is stretched and follows the song tempo of the sequencer. See “About tempo changes and tempo automation of audio tracks”.
This function deletes all recordings that are not used in the selected clip - or anywhere else in the song. By using this function, the file size of the song can be reduced. See “Delete Unused Recordings”.
This function heals all selected audio clips that are affected by the Clip Safe function in Propellerhead Balance. See “Recording using the Clip Safe function in Propellerhead Balance”.
This function deletes the Clip Safe signal from selected audio clips. The clips revert to being ordinary clips (no clipped waveform indication, and no healing button). See “Recording using the Clip Safe function in Propellerhead Balance”.
This function increases the overall audio level of selected Audio Clip(s) so that the loudest peak touches 0 dB. See “Normalizing Clips”.
This function reverses selected Audio Clip(s) and plays them back backwards, from the end to the start. See “Reversing Clips”.
This lets you split an open Single Take audio clip at the selected Slice Markers, and thus create several separate audio clips out of a bigger one. See “Split at Slices”.
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For each pattern clip, the corresponding pattern is converted to note clips on the track (following the same rules as for the “Copy Pattern to Track” function). The track will play back just the same as when you played the pattern device with the pattern changes.
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When you use this with a Matrix, you need to move the note clips to the track of an instrument device (typically the device to which the Matrix is connected).
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This function is available if the track list has focus and one or several note lanes on the selected track have ReGroove Mixer channels assigned.
Commit to Groove will move all notes (on all note lanes on the selected track) to their grooved positions and then reset the groove settings to “No Channel” for the note lanes. In other words, this makes the groove “permanent” - the track will play back exactly as before, but you can now view and edit the grooved notes.
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If there are several clips containing the same performance controllers (e.g. mod wheel) on the same positions in the song, only the performance controller data from the topmost lane will be kept.
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This requires that a single note clip is selected. The function will look at the notes in the clip and extract a groove from these. You can apply this groove to other note lanes or save it as a groove patch for later use.
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For the groove to be useful in most common music styles, it’s recommended that the note clip is an exact number of bars in length - preferably 1, 2, 4 or maybe 8 bars.
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The groove is assigned to the ReGroove Mixer channel as “User”. By selecting that ReGroove Mixer channel for other note lanes, you can make the music fit with your custom groove.
Here you can adjust how the groove should affect note timing, velocity and length and also save the groove as a ReGroove Patch (including the settings of the sliders in the window).
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If note or automation clips contain masked-out events in the range between the clips, these events will be deleted. Also, if note or automation clips overlap, any hidden events are deleted - see “Joining clips”.
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If there are one or several unmuted clips selected, this menu item is called “Mute Clips”. Muted clips (shown with angled stripes and dimmed borders) will not play back but can be edited and arranged as usual.
If only muted clips are selected, the menu item is called “Unmute Clips”. The keyboard shortcut for Mute/Unmute Clips is [M].
Notes or automation events can be positioned outside the start or end of a clip. For example, this would happen if you have resized a clip after recording. Notes outside the clip become masked and won’t be heard on playback, but you can view and edit them if you open the clip.
Selecting “Crop Events To Clips” removes all such outside events from the selected clip(s). If tracks are selected in the track list, this function is performed on all clips on the selected track(s). See “About masked recordings and events” for more details.
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If you have several clips selected, the “untitled” label will be added to all selected clips. To edit the names of the clips, you need to double click each label.
See “Naming clips” for more information.
Allows you to select a color for the selected clip(s). See “Coloring clips” for more details.
Allows you to select a color for the selected channel(s) and track(s). The selected color is shown in the track list and will be assigned to all new clips you create on the track. However, clips that are already on the track will not be affected - to change color of existing clips, select the clips and use the “Clip Color” setting.
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If “Auto-color New Sequencer Tracks” is activated on the Options menu, tracks will get colors assigned automatically when they are created.
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This command sets the Left and Right Loop Locators to encompass all selected clips in the arrangement. Then, sequencer playback is automatically started in Loop Mode. This function also has a keyboard shortcut: press [P].
If an automation clip has been moved to a lane for a parameter with a different range (for example if you cross-browse to another device type), it will be shown as alien and won’t play back.
Depending on the data, you may be able to fix this by selecting the clip and selecting “Adjust Alien Clips to Lane”. This scales the automation data in the clip to fit the range of the current lane.
See “About alien clips” for more information.
This lets you quantize note clips and Single Take audio clips, as well as selected notes in note clips or selected Slices in Single Take audio clips. See “Quantizing audio” and “Quantize”.
This command is available when a sample is selected in the Song Samples location. Selecting Edit Sample opens the sample in the Edit Sample window. See “Editing samples” for more information.
This command is available when one or several samples are selected in the Song Samples location. Select this to create a duplicate of the selected sample. The duplicated sample is placed in the All Self-contained Samples and Unassigned Samples folders. Several selected samples can be duplicated in one go. See “Duplicating samples” for more details.
This command is available when one or several samples are selected in the Song Samples location. Select this to export the selected sample to disk. A dialog appears where you can select file format. Several selected samples can be exported in one go. See “Exporting samples” for more details.
This command is available when one or several samples are selected in the Song Samples location. Select this to permanently delete the selected sample(s) from the song. Note that samples from the Factory Soundbank and from ReFills will not be deleted from their original locations - only from the song document. Several selected samples can be deleted in one go. See “Deleting samples from a song” for more details.
This menu command is available when Keyboard Control Edit Mode is selected. It will open a dialog where you can assign a Keyboard Control for a selected parameter. See “Editing Keyboard Control” for more information.
This menu command is available when Keyboard Control Edit Mode is selected. It will remove the Keyboard Control mapping for a selected assigned parameter. See “Editing Keyboard Control” for more information.
This menu command is available when Keyboard Control Edit Mode is selected. It removes all keyboard mapping you have set up for the selected device. See “Editing Keyboard Control” for more information.
This menu command is available when Remote Override Edit Mode has been activated on the Options menu. It opens a dialog where you can assign a Remote Override for the selected parameter. See “Remote Override mapping”.
This menu command is available when Remote Override Edit Mode has been activated on the Options menu. It will remove the Remote Override mapping for a selected assigned parameter. See “Remote Override mapping”.
This menu command is available when Remote Override Edit Mode has been activated on the Options menu. It removes all Remote Override mapping you have set up for the selected device. See “Remote Override mapping”.
These menu commands are available when Remote Override Edit Mode has been activated on the Options menu. You can use them to copy override mappings from one device and paste them into a device of the same type.
If the device you paste into is in the same song as the device you copied from, the operation will replace the existing overrides. See “Remote Override mapping”.
With a Rack Extension device selected in the rack, selecting this item will start up your default web browser, which will take you to the product page for the R.E. at the Propellerhead web site.
This lets you adjust the response sensitivity of the various knobs in Reason Essentials when manipulating them with the mouse. A higher sensitivity gives a higher degree of precision. You can choose between Normal, Precise and Very Precise.
The Automation Cleanup setting reduces the number of automation points when you record or draw automation. Adjust this setting if you find that recording or drawing results in too many or too few automation points.
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When this is selected, transposing notes, by manually moving them with the Selection Tool, will make the notes trigger - and sound. This is useful since you will hear when the notes reach the correct pitches.
The selected alternative determines how cables on the back of the rack should be displayed when “Reduce Cable Clutter” is selected on the Options menu:
All other (non-selected) devices will have “transparent” cables to make it easier to distinguish the cables of selected devices.
All devices with auto-routed cables will have “transparent” cables to make it easier to distinguish the manually routed cables.
See “Cable appearance” for more details.
Cables in Reason Essentials are animated in a lifelike fashion when flipping the Rack and making connections. Should you so wish, you can choose to disable the cable movement animation by deactivating this checkbox.
Normally, if you hold the mouse pointer over a parameter on a device panel for a moment, a Tool Tip appears displaying the name and the current value of the parameter. If you uncheck this option, Tool Tips will not be displayed.
If a parameter is automated in the sequencer, this is by default indicated by a green frame around the parameter on the device panel. If you uncheck this option, automation will not be indicated.
It’s possible to specify a certain song document which will automatically open as a “template” each time you select “New” from the File menu. The Default Song could be an empty document, a song you have created earlier, or a factory made Template song. See “Setting up a Default Song” for information on how to select Default Song.
Reason Essentials is a very powerful program which was designed to be as light on processing power as possible - without compromising on sound quality. Nevertheless, the more devices and audio processing functions you use in your song, the more of your computer’s resources it will use.
The CPU Usage Limit setting allows you to set a limit on how much of the CPU (computer processor) that should be used for creating audio. The remaining capacity is reserved for the user interface and the graphics.
When this is active, Browse focus is automatically set to new devices as soon as they have been created. This means that you can immediately start to browse for, and load, compatible patches for the devices you just created. Browse focus is indicated by orange sidebars and an orange patch section on the devices. The top section of the Browser also gets an orange label with the device’s current patch name printed on it.
When this is activated and you create a new device (of a device type that supports patches), a default patch will be loaded. This way you can be sure that a new device generates sound right away. The default sound will also determine the default location in the Factory Sound Bank when you browse for patches for the new device.
If you turn this off, new devices will be initialized - parameters are reset to their default values and no samples are loaded in sample-based devices.
Reason Essentials fully supports MultiCore Audio Rendering. This means that if your computer has multiple CPU cores (dual-core or quad-core, for example), or multiple CPUs, Reason Essentials takes advantage of this to significantly enhance the performance. If your computer has a multi-core CPU, or multiple CPUs, MultiCore Audio Rendering is active by default.
See “Audio Basics” for more information on how Reason Essentials handles audio.
When this is activated, any samples you load into a sampler device from disk will automatically become self-contained and saved together with the rest of the song data when you save your Song.
This lets you adjust the global tuning in Reason Essentials. Standard tuning is “middle A” at 440 Hz. You can adjust this by +/- 100 cents. The Master Tune setting affects the tuning of all sound sources in Reason Essentials, including the Tuner function on the Audio Tracks. It also affects the tuning of the Redrum and Dr. Octo Rex loop player.
This menu lists all the available Audio Card Drivers on your system, and lets you select which one Reason Essentials should use. Which option to select depends on the audio hardware:
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With an ASIO driver written specifically for the audio hardware you will get lower latency (see below), support for higher sampling frequencies (up to 192 kHz in 24 bit/32 bit float resolution), and possibly better support for additional hardware features such as multiple outputs.
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Reason Essentials requires that the audio card uses an ASIO driver on Windows systems, if you want to use both audio in and audio out. Direct X and MME drivers only support audio out.
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This menu lists all the available Audio Devices on your system, and lets you select which one Reason Essentials should use. Which option to select depends on the audio hardware:
With a Core Audio driver written specifically for the audio hardware you will get lower latency (see below), support for higher sampling frequencies (up to 192 kHz in 24 bit/32 bit float resolution), and possibly better support for additional hardware features such as multiple outputs.
Reason Essentials handles all internal audio processing in 32-bit floating point resolution, with 64-bit summing in the mix bus in the Main Mixer Master Section. However, the resolution of the input and output audio is determined by the hardware audio interface. That is, if you have a 24-bit audio card, Reason Essentials will record and output audio in 24-bit resolution, and if you have a 20-bit audio card, audio will be recorded and played back in 20-bit resolution.
The Sample Rate can be specified on the Audio tab in the Preferences dialog. See “Sample Rate settings for recording and playback” for more details.
The Buffer Size determines the Input and Output Latency of the audio. Generally, the smaller the Buffer Size, the lower the latency. However, too low a Buffer Size setting could result in clicks, pops, dropouts, etc. in the audio. Therefore, the Buffer Size should be set to an “optimal” value rather than to the lowest value. See “Buffer Size settings” for more information.
The Input latency is the delay between when the audio is “sent” from a connected microphone or instrument and when it’s received and detected by Reason Essentials. Output latency is the delay between when audio is “sent” from Reason Essentials and when you actually hear it. The latencies in an audio system depends on the audio hardware, its drivers and their settings.
When you select a driver, its latency values are automatically reported by the audio card and displayed in the Preferences-Audio dialog. Depending on the audio hardware and the driver, you may be able to adjust these values:
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If you are using an ASIO driver specifically written for the audio hardware under Windows, you can in most cases make settings for the hardware by clicking the Control Panel button.
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This opens the hardware’s ASIO Device Control Panel, which may or may not contain parameters for adjusting the latency. Usually this is done by changing the number and/or size of the audio buffers - the smaller the audio buffers, the lower the latency. Please consult the documentation of your audio hardware and its ASIO drivers for details!
OK, so why not just set the latency to the lowest possible value? The problem is that selecting too low a latency is likely to result in playback problems (clicks, pops, dropouts, etc.). There are several technical reasons for this, the main one being that with smaller buffers (lower latency), the average strain on the CPU will be higher. This also means that the more CPU-intensive your Reason Essentials song (i.e. the more tracks and devices you use), the higher the minimum latency required for avoiding playback difficulties.
See “About latency” for more information.
If you are monitoring via an external mixer, and have selected “External” in the “Monitoring” section on the “Audio” page in Preferences (see “Monitoring”), there might be situations where you experience that the recorded audio is generally played back too early - or too late - in the song. This could be because the latency values reported to Reason Essentials by the audio card were not completely accurate.
If you should experience that your audio recordings are played back too early or too late compared to the instrument tracks in your song, you can adjust this by editing the Recording Latency Compensation parameter.
See “Recording Latency Compensation” for information.
This displays the number of audio input and output channels the currently selected audio hardware supports. If your audio card has multiple inputs and/or outputs, and an audio driver that supports this is selected, the “Channels...” button will be enabled. Clicking this will bring up a window with check boxes for all available inputs and outputs. By ticking these boxes, you are able to select which input and/or output channels should be active.
Active inputs and outputs will be also indicated with yellow and green LEDs in the Reason Essentials Hardware Interface - see “How Reason Essentials communicates with your audio hardware”.
If you are using an ASIO driver for your audio hardware, you have the possibility of selecting a Clock Source. This is used for determining the source to which audio playback should synchronize its sample rate. If you have an audio card and a driver that supports it, you can choose to synchronize to external sources.
If you have selected an ASIO or Core Audio driver, this button brings up a control panel window specifically for that audio hardware. This may contain buffer settings, routing options, synchronization alternatives etc.
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Select “Automatic” to automatically monitor the input signals on all record enabled audio tracks when recording and when the sequencer is stopped.
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Record enabling of audio tracks is done by clicking the Record Enable button on the track in the track list - see “Record enabling”.
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Note that if you have selected “Standard” in the “Master Keyboard Input” section on the “Keyboards and Control Surfaces” page in Preferences (see “The Master Keyboard Input setting”), selecting an audio track also automatically record enables it - and consequently enables monitoring in “Automatic” mode.
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Select “External” if you are monitoring directly through your audio interface outputs (and not via the Reason Essentials application) - or via an external mixer.
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Selecting a surface in the list allows you to edit its settings or delete it from the list, by clicking the corresponding “Edit” or “Delete” button.
This requires a USB connection or a two-way MIDI connection. Note that not all control surfaces support auto-detection - but you can always add control surfaces manually.
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If you have surfaces added in the “Attached surfaces” list that you do not wish to use with Reason Essentials, you can uncheck the “Use with Reason Essentials” checkbox.
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The surface designated as Master Keyboard cannot be locked to a specific device - it always follows the sequencer Master Keyboard Input. By selecting the Master Keyboard surface in the Attached Surfaces list and clicking this button allows you use Surface locking, although you will not be able to play the device. See “Locking a surface” in the Remote chapter for details.
To add a control surface, click the “Add” button to open the Control surfaces dialog. If you want to edit the settings for an existing control surface, click the “Edit” button. Then proceed as follows:
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If in doubt, you can click the “Find” button and then tweak a control or play a key on the control surface to have Reason Essentials find the correct input port for you.
In some cases this is labeled “Optional” - then you don’t have to make a selection. In other cases, a MIDI Output is required. This is the case if the control surface uses MIDI feedback - motor fader, displays, etc.
In some cases, Reason Essentials can restore a preset in the control surface to factory settings for you. If so, you will be informed about this.
Finally you return to the Control Surfaces Preferences page, where your added surface is now listed.
If you can’t find your control surface listed on the Manufacturer or Model pop-up menus when you try to add it, this means that there’s no native support for that model. However, the program supports generic keyboards and controllers. Here’s what to do:
Select this is you have a MIDI keyboard with programmable knobs, buttons or faders. You need to set up your control surface so that the controllers send the correct MIDI CC messages, depending on which Reason Essentials device you want to control - check out the MIDI Implementation Chart in the Reason Essentials documentation. If your control surface has templates or presets for different Reason 2.5 devices, these can be used.
Select this if you have a MIDI controller with programmable knobs, buttons or faders (but without keyboard).
Again, you need to set your controllers to send the right MIDI CCs.
Again, you need to set your controllers to send the right MIDI CCs.
Select this is you have a MIDI keyboard without programmable knobs, buttons or faders. This is used for playing only (including performance controllers such as pitch bend, mod wheel, etc.) - you cannot adjust Reason Essentials device parameters with this type of control surface.
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Under the “Other” Manufacturer, there are also two options called “MIDI Multichannel Control Keyboard” and “MIDI Multichannel Control Surface”. Use these if the controls on your keyboard/control surface send the same MIDI message but on different MIDI channels. Read more in “Adding a control surface or keyboard” in the Remote chapter.
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One of the control surfaces can be the Master Keyboard. This is like any other control surface, but it must have a keyboard and it cannot be locked to a specific Reason Essentials device (in other words, it always follows the MIDI input to the sequencer). This is the surface you use to play the instrument devices in Reason Essentials.
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If you don’t want to use any Master Keyboard at all, select the current Master Keyboard surface and click the same button (which is now labeled “Use No Master Keyboard”).
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This determines how you set Master Keyboard Input in the sequencer: to which track and device the Master Keyboard should be directed (which track to play from your keyboard):
This way you can just click anywhere on a track in the track list to select it for playing (or use the arrow keys to step up and down in the track list).
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This is useful if you’re working with multiple selections in the track list, or if you want to select different tracks for editing without changing which device you play from your keyboard.
On instrument tracks, a small keyboard is also shown below the device icon. On other track types, a small control surface is shown below the device icon.
This could be an external hardware sequencer or sequencer software that is installed on the same computer as Reason Essentials. See the chapter “Synchronization and Advanced MIDI” for more details.
Using the MIDI Clock Input, you can slave (synchronize) Reason Essentials to external devices (tape recorders, drum machines, stand alone sequencers, workstations etc.) and other computer programs running on the same or another computer. MIDI Clock is a very fast “metronome” signal which can be transmitted via MIDI. As part of the MIDI Clock standard there are also instructions for Start, Stop and locating to sixteenth note positions.
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By first selecting the appropriate MIDI input using the MIDI clock sync Input pop-up and then selecting “MIDI Clock Sync” on the Options menu, Reason Essentials is made ready to receive MIDI Clock sync.
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See the “Synchronization and Advanced MIDI” chapter for more information.
See “Adjusting for Latency” for more information.
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Since many keyboard keys are already “locked” to other functions and commands in Reason Essentials, it’s not really applicable to reassign all the actual “play” keys. It’s more useful to reassign the Octave and Velocity (numeric) keys.
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See the “On-screen Piano Keys” chapter for information on how to use the On-screen Piano Keys.
With this checkbox ticked you allow Reason Essentials to send error reports and usage statistics to Propellerhead to help us improve the program. These reports can also be extremely valuable, should we need to help you out with any support cases.
Here you can select where you want to locate the Scratch Disk Folder. The Scratch Disk Folder is a temporary storage for recorded audio files before they have been manually saved in a song document file. By default, Reason Essentials places the Scratch Disk folder in the system temp folder in your home directory. You can manually change the Scratch Disk folder location if you like. See “Changing Scratch Disk folder location” for more information.
Reason Essentials is localized to several different languages. The language setting affects menus, dialogs, tool tips and some display texts, but generally not the texts on the device panels. If you run Reason Essentials under Windows, you can select preferred language on this page.