Operation Manual

MENU AND DIALOG REFERENCE
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D If there is no specific ASIO driver, you should select the Direct Sound
driver for the audio hardware.
This makes Reason communicate with the hardware via Direct Sound (a part of
the Microsoft DirectX package). For this to be possible, you need to have DirectX
installed on your computer, and there must be a Direct Sound driver for the audio
hardware.
D If the audio hardware doesn’t support Direct Sound (i.e. there is no Direct
Sound driver for the audio hardware), select the MME driver for the audio
hardware.
This makes use of Windows Multimedia Extensions, the part of Windows that han-
dles audio, MIDI, etc. Using MME often results in larger latency values (see below).
Audio Card Driver – Mac OS X
This menu lists all the available Audio Card Drivers on your system, and lets you select
which one Reason should use. Which option to select depends on the audio hard-
ware:
D Normally, you select “Built-in audio”
Select the option that corresponds to the hardware you want to use (the built-in
audio connectors or some additional audio hardware that you have installed).
D Other options may be available, mainly for compatibility with all possible
hardware/software configurations.
You should use these only when required.
Active Channels (ASIO and Built-in audio only)
This displays the number of audio channels (outputs) the currently selected audio
hardware supports. For a regular stereo card, this number will be “2”. If your audio
card has multiple outputs and an ASIO or Built-in audio driver is selected for it, the
“Channels” button will be available. By clicking on it, you will be able to select which
channel outputs (stereo pairs) should be active. Active outputs will be indicated in the
Reason Hardware Interface.
Clock Source (ASIO Only)
If you are using an ASIO driver for your audio hardware, you have the possibility of se-
lecting a Clock Source. This is used for determining the source to which audio play-
back 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.
ASIO Control Panel (ASIO Only)
If you have selected an ASIO driver, this button brings up a control panel window spe-
cifically for that audio hardware. This may contain buffer settings, routing options, syn-
chronization alternatives etc.
Sample Rate
This lets you specify the playback sample rate. The options available on this menu de-
pends on which sample rates are supported by your audio hardware.
Play in Background
When this is activated, Reason will not “release its grip” on the audio hardware when
another application is active.
• The advantage is that Reason will keep playing while you work in the other appli-
cation.
• The disadvantage is that other audio applications may not be able to play any au-
dio, depending on the type of driver used.
Output Latency & Buffer Size
The Output latency is the delay between when audio is “sent” from the program and
when you actually hear it. The latency in an audio system depends on the audio hard-
ware, its drivers and their settings.
If the latency is large, you will notice that the sound is delayed when you play a device
from a MIDI keyboard. You may also notice that reactions are delayed when adjusting
controls on the device panels (for example, if you lower the volume of a device, you
will not hear this immediately but after the latency time). Therefore, you want to get as
low a latency value as possible.
When you select a driver, its latency value is automatically reported and displayed in
the Preferences-Audio dialog. Depending on the audio hardware and the driver, you
may be able to adjust this value: