Reason Remoter

I first used ReBirth by Propellerheads back in 1995 and was hooked! Around the same time I was working mobile discos and small clubs and having the hands-on experience of DJ mixing with physical hardware, I found Propellerheads aproach easy to relate to. Dispite having very limited sight and relying on screen magnification to use the computer, I stilled enjoyed using the Propellerheads software.

Later I got a copy of Reason 3 and a few tutorials and found the software easy to learn and again really enjoyed using it. Now am using Reason 10 and it’s still great, with everything still there from earlier versions plus heaps of new devices and features. I’ve tried other DAWs like Ableton, ProTools and Cakewalk but always come back to Reason.

One of the features I like about Reason is the flexibility for MIDI remote control. This is where you can connect up your MIDI hardware, anything from keyboards, pad controls to touch pads and mixing consoles. Reason allows for multiple MIDI devices both as control surfaces as well as MIDI outputs. You can hook up your favourite hardware synth and have it work with Reason.

I have a real mix of MIDI hardware from old to more recent. The oldest is a Roland MCR-8 and the most recent is a Novation LaunchPad Mini. One of the great things about Reason Remote, is that I can still use all my old and new MIDI gear with Reason.

One of the issues some people have with Reason MIDI is the scripting required to get your MIDI devices working how you like. Although for some MIDI devices many options are pre-configured often they may not be how you’d like them or may not include all the settings you need.

The aim of this site is to bring together Reason users, helping and sharing Reason MIDI Remote settings. Helping more Reason users get the most out of Reason and their MIDI hardware.

For me having physical control over all the features of Reason, the built-in devices, rack extensions and now VSTs, is the key to my using of the software. Having to use the mouse with high magnification is both slow and hard work. Where as having physical tactile controls is much faster and easier.

The one feature that is still tricky for me with very limited sight, is knowing the value of a given control or meter output. Although I can mouse over a control and focus on the tooltip to read the value, it’s slow. However, this may all change soon! With the new MIDI support in Chrome, I’m hoping to put my web development skills to use and build an accessible MIDI display for Reason.

The idea is to have a web page that can be connected to both Reason and my MIDI hardware via virtual MIDI cables and the page provide feedback of both what each physical MIDI control is mapped to as well as the values from Reason. This way I will be able to monitor peek meters, check device settings and know what control will do what.