Rewire (Reason 4 with Logic 8)

Date: 21/3/10
Duration: 4.5 hours

Having used Reason to create drum sounds in the past, I thought to make the most out of Reason it needed to be Rewired to Logic. The idea is MIDI notes generated inside Logic will trigger drum machine/synths inside Reason and be fed back into Logic. To accomplish this, several steps must be taken to ensure Reason enters the Rewire mode as slave and Logic as its host/master.

To understand how to setup Rewire properly I read/watched tutorials online. They explained in-depth information about the dos and don'ts of Rewire and its capabilities as well as its limitations.

Setting up Rewire

First, the host program (Logic) has to open before Reason. This step is important otherwise it wouldn't work. Open Reason and tab at the top indicates Reason has entered slave mode. It is now relying on Logic's input and output.

To get any sound out of reason, External MIDI track must be created. Then an auxiliary channel must be created inside the mixer and appropriate input must be chosen.

(When creating aux channel, it is important to make sure the input is corresponding to the instrument inside Reason's hardware)

(above shows the Reason rack from behind. shows Malstrom & subtractor connected to the combinator, Redrum drum sequencer and Reason's sampler connected to individual outputs)

After creating all necessary inputs and outputs, I began playing some notes on the controller. After deciding on a particular beat, I hit the record button and played the beats. I added few extras then quantised the result. The advantage of using Reason's drum sound is its customization ability. Each drum sound from the kit can easily be swapped from their extensive library. I didn't like the original snare sound on the kit so I loaded up a new sound by clicking on the folder button and chose another one I felt worked better.

I loaded up two separate sounds inside the Combinator and tweaked them until I was happy with the result. Inserting the line mixer inside the Combinator enables the user to mix the different sounds accordingly. If you want to enhance one particular instrument over the other, it can be turned up as well as panned.

(picture above shows levels can be adjusted to get the right balance at the outputs)


After I had all the sounds I was looking for, I began playing these sounds over the drums I recorded earlier. Small sections were played and copied mush like apple loops inside Logic but these could be altered as they are MIDI date and not sound files.

(above shows the automation data, the volume changes of the drums and the panning of the strings)

After a brief mixing it became apparent I needed to enhance the drums as its presence in the mix was not great. I normally would use parallel compressions for drums (New york compression) but I was unsure of the results inside the Reason so I decided to do this inside Logic using Focusrite Liquid mix emulation.

(picture show the Empirical Distressor emulation with NEVE desk EQ)

Hard compression was used to really squash the dynamic range and slight shelf boost for the hi-hat and cymbals to cut through.

Here is the finished product: