Installation Guide

SETTING UP
27
Setting up MIDI Control Surfaces
In Reason, MIDI keyboards or remote control devices are called control surfaces. MIDI input from control
surfaces can be handled by two systems: “Easy MIDI Inputs” and Remote. Here are some of the main
features:
• You can use any number of control surfaces at the same time.
• The program supports a large number of control surfaces out of the box - knobs, faders
and buttons on the surfaces are automatically mapped to the most useful parameters on
the Reason devices.
You don't have to change the settings on the control surface to control different devices in Reason - if
you change MIDI input from a ID-8 track to a Combinator track, the control surface will automatically
adapt. You just set up your control surface once and for all for use with Reason - the program handles
the rest!
• For control surfaces that are not natively supported at this stage, you can use generic
drivers.
Note however, that Remote drivers for additional control surfaces will be added continuously - check
our web page for more info.
• By default, all control surfaces follow the sequencer Master Keyboard Input.
This means that you set MIDI input to a track in the sequencer to route the control surface(s) to the
track's device in the rack.
• You can lock a control surface to a specific device in the rack.
For example, you could have a Master Keyboard that follows MIDI input, while another control surface
is locked to the Main Mixer. This way you can control levels and pans at all times. This is described in
the Operation Manual.
• You can use remote overrides to map a specific control on a surface to a specific Reason
parameter or function.
For example, you could override-map a knob or fader on your control surface to the Main Mixer's mas-
ter level fader. Or you could map buttons on your control surface to control Reason's transport (play,
stop, record, etc.) at all times, regardless of which track has Master Keyboard Input in the sequencer.
This is described in the Operation Manual.
• Remote also supports some control surfaces with MIDI feedback.
If you have such a control surface and it is supported by Reason, you can take full advantage of motor-
ized faders, meters, displays, etc.
In case you specified a Master Keyboard in the Setup Wizard, and you don't have any other control
surfaces, you don't have to do anything else. But if you want to add additional control surfaces or edit your
settings, this is done in the Preferences.
Automatic set-up using the Easy MIDI Inputs function
By default Reason automatically scans and detects all available MIDI In port(s) on your computer. If you
have a MIDI keyboard or MIDI control surface connected to your computer, Reason automatically connects
and lets you use it for controlling Reason. This way you don’t have to do any manual set-up but can start
controlling Reason right away.