Operation Manual

SYNCHRONIZATION
132
About the beginning of the Song
Due to the latency phenomenon, described on page 18, Reason needs some time to
correct it’s playback speed when it first receives the Start command. This can be
noted as a small glitch in the audio playback, when the program starts. If this is a prob-
lem, you need to insert a couple of empty measures at the beginning of the Song. Pro-
ceed as follows:
1. Set the Left Locator to “1 1 1” and the right Locator to “3 1 1“.
2. Click somewhere in the main sequencer area to move the menu focus to the
sequencer.
3. Select “Insert Bars Between Locators” from the Edit menu.
4. Set up the other device/application, so that it also plays two empty bars at
the beginning.
About MIDI Song Position Pointers
MIDI Clock actually consists of five type of messages: The actual clock (the metro-
nome that establishes the tempo), Start, Stop and Continue commands and Song Po-
sition Pointers. This last type of message contains information about positions, so that
a program for example “knows” where in a Song to start playback from.
Normally, this ensures that you can locate to any position and activate playback from
there. In older devices, Song Position Pointers might not be implemented. This means
that you will be able to synchronize properly only if you start both devices from the ab-
solute beginning of the song.
About Tempo Changes
Again, due to the latency phenomenon, Reason needs a bit of time to adjust to
changes in tempo. If there are abrupt changes in the MIDI Clock, due to drastic tempo
changes in the master, you will note that Reason will require up to one measure to ad-
just itself to the change. How long this actually takes also depends on the precision of
the incoming MIDI Clock. The more precise it is, the faster Reason can adjust to it.
If this adjustment is a problem, try to use gradual tempo changes rather than immedi-
ate ones.
! When Reason is synchronized to MIDI Clock, there is no Tempo readout.
MIDI Sync and Focus
The Options menu contains items relating to MIDI sync.
D The “MIDI Clock Sync” button puts Reason into MIDI sync mode.
The transport controls will be disabled, and Reason will not run unless MIDI sync
data is provided from an external device.
The MIDI and Play Focus buttons relate to how incoming MIDI and MIDI sync should
be handled if there are several open Song documents. If you have two or more Songs
opened, and no MIDI sync is used, the currently selected Song (the document “on
top”) always has MIDI focus. If MIDI Sync is enabled (which is global for all currently
open Song documents), this functionality changes in the following way:
D If both “Play” and “MIDI” are activated for a Song, incoming MIDI data
and MIDI sync will be sent to this Song, regardless of whether another
Song is currently in focus.
D If only “MIDI” is activated for Song, and another Song has “Play” focus,
incoming MIDI will be sent to the former and MIDI sync to the latter (i.e
this Song will play back), regardless of which Song is currently in focus.