Logic and Reason (Mac) by Rob DeBoer Getting Logic and Reason to work together can be a bit of a brain bender. So, I've written this guide. For reference, my system: Dual 533 G4, OS 9.2.2, LAP 5.3.0/TDM Mix++ hardware w/ESB, Reason 2.0 -These instructions also apply to Logic 4.x and Reason 1.x. *Please note: I am not in any way affiliated with Emagic or Propellerhead, I just love their software! Any information provided herein is based solely on my personal experience, and is provided as a goodwill gesture to my fellow Logic/Reason enthusiasts. And finally, the shameless promotion: www.boomtang.com Logic and Reason can be used together in two ways: In Rewire mode: -Reason's audio outputs are streamed directly into Logic's mixer -The two sequencers are synced up tightly, and can be controlled with either program's transport -OMS must be used for MIDI, but currently there is a large MIDI latency in Rewire mode which makes this very awkward. Out of Rewire mode: -Reason's audio output goes to audio hardware -The two sequencers can be synced up with MIDI clock, with Logic as the master -OMS must be used for MIDI, but there are no latency problems -You can sequence directly in Reason's sequencer, or... -You can use Logic to sequence Reason's sounds, using it as a virtual rack of gear My working method goes something like this: While working up a song, I work out of Rewire mode, due both to the MIDI latency problem and the fact that in Rewire mode, the sequencer must be running in order to hear anything from Reason! I spit Reason's outputs out through MacAV, then back into my audio interface for monitoring. I sync the programs with MIDI clock through OMS. This is a bit of a pain, because you have to keep clicking back into Logic to start/stop if you're working on something in Reason. Reason can easily be taken in and out of sync mode so you can play it by itself, but it invariably loses the song tempo to varying degrees when taken out of sync. Also, Reason can be pretty slow to catch up to Logic when play is engaged, and sometimes it doesn't catch up at all and you have to hit stop a couple of times before it'll play properly. Anyways, it works! I like to use both sequencers at the same time, for different things; REX files and patterns in Reason are much easier dealt with in its own sequencer, but for more "live" MIDI stuff I obviously prefer Logic. When the song is ready to mix, I then go into Rewire mode - better audio quality and sample-accurate sync. At this point terrible MIDI latency is introduced going from Logic to Reason, so any Reason sounds you have sequenced in Logic have to be exported as a MIDI file and imported into Reason's sequencer. This is very simple and doesn't take long at all; you just have to assign the newly-created Reason tracks to the right "gear". So how do you set it all up? To launch in Rewire mode: Launch Logic first, then Reason. You will notice that Reason takes considerably longer to load in Rewire mode. To launch out of Rewire mode: Launch Reason first, then Logic. Using OMS: You have the option to use OMS for everything, or use it addition to Logic's built-in MIDI drivers, just for its IAC bus (actually, you can have up to four IAC busses with 16 MIDI channels each, but I don't usually need more than one). To use just OMS, you need to create a studio setup which contains all your MIDI gear. This is supposed to be easy and automatic, but it's never worked automatically for me, I always have to build it manually. Don't get me started on OMS... That's a whole other tutorial, and will be moot anyway once we're all on OSX ;-) Make sure that "IAC Bus" is listed in your studio setup. Now in Logic, under Options>Preferences>MIDI Interface Communication, check "use OMS if available". Now you use Options>Preferences>OMS Preferences>OMS Out Mapping Connection 1 to assign instruments in your environment to the right OMS nodes. To use OMS in addition to built in drivers, create an OMS studio setup with nothing but the IAC bus in it - get rid of everything else, even your MIDI interface. In Logic's MIDI prefs, check "use OMS in addition to built-in MIDI drivers". Now, assigning objects to the IAC bus is done in the instrument parameters window, just above the "port" setting. To sync the two programs via OMS: In Logic's sync preferences, assign MIDI clock to the IAC bus via the check box and dropdown menus. In Reason, under Edit>Preferences>Advanced MIDI, set it to receive MIDI clock from the IAC bus. Use the sync button on Reason's transport to slave it to Logic. Under Edit>Preferences>Audio, you may have to tweak the latency compensation to get the two sequencers bang on. *Note: In Reason 1.x, the MIDI prefs are combined under Edit>Preferences>MIDI To sequence Reason sounds in Logic's sequencer: Create a multi-instrument called "Reason" in Logic's environment, and assign it to the IAC bus (as described abive in "Using OMS"). In Reason, under Edit>Preferences>Advanced MIDI, you have four MIDI input busses (A-D) to choose from; start with one. Assign Bus A to IAC Bus. At the top of Reason's rack, there is a MIDI interface; here you can assign incoming channels 1-16 to any unit in the rack via drop-down menus. Make sure Bus A is selected. To record directly into Reason's sequencer: In Reason, under Edit>Preferences>MIDI, set the sequencer input to receive from your controller. When you click to the left of a track in the sequencer, you will see a MIDI icon; that is now the active track and should be receiving MIDI from the controller. One more step though - since Reason and Logic are both receiving MIDI from your controller, Logic will also respond on whatever track is selected in the arrange window; create a "no output" track to use when recording into Reason. To stream Reason’s outputs into Logic in Rewire mode: In Logic, create two audio objects. In the parameter window for each one, under Instrument>Others, you will see MixL, MixR, then a whole whack of other channels – these are your Rewire inputs. So make one object MixL, the other MixR, and pan them out. In Reason’s rack, there is an audio interface. In Rewire mode, you can assign any of Reason’s sounds to any Rewire channel, and bring that channel in on an object in Logic. Remember, though, you won't be able to hear any of Reason's sounds unless the song is playing.