The basics of “Rewire-ing” are actually fairly simple. One program is known as the “Host” and one program is known as the “Client”. Host programs are used to control the client programs. In this particular instance, Pro Tools is the host, and Reason is the client.

One of the most important things you need to understand when using Rewire are it’s limitations. With Rewire, audio travels in only one direction; from the client to the host. MIDI data can travel in both directions, but is usually only done from host to client. Pro Tools currently limits the MIDI data coming from the client to the host to cc messages only (a feature that I’m hoping will expand in the future), but fully supports all MIDI from host to client.

Although there are multiple different ways to Rewire Reason into Pro Tools, depending on what you are looking to do, the simplest way is the following:

1. Create or open a Pro Tools session.
2. Create a stereo Instrument track.
3. Insert Reason on the track.The Reason program will start automatically when you do.
4. In Reason, open or create a Reason session.

That, right there, is the absolute basics of Rewire-ing Reason to Pro Tools. Seriously. At this point, when you press play in Pro Tools, Reason will follow along at the same tempo and the transports will be in sync. If you opened a pre-created Reason session, the audio from reason will come through the instrument track you have it inserted on.

Now what if you didn’t open a pre-created Reason session? What if you are trying to create new music? This is, again, where things get complicated and can be done in several different ways. I’m going to cover the most basic and widely used method here in it’s simplest form:

1. In your new Reason session, create a device that you want to use to produce the sounds, and select a preset. (Reason Adapted users can actually skip this step because you are forced to use a specific set of devices because of the limitations of the Adapted version)
2. On your Pro Tools Instrument track, in the Instrument section (make sure your instrument section is not hidden from view on the mix or edit window), select the device that you are going to use from the MIDI output selector. When you add devices to the Reason Rack, they automatically appear in the MIDI output dropdown. (Again, Adapted users will get the fixed set of devices in this list; just select the one you are going to use)
3. Make sure that the MIDI input is set to “All” or the specific MIDI input that you are using.
4. At this point, as long as your hardware is setup properly, you should be able to play your controller and hear the preset you selected on the Reason device, assuming that you have the Default Thru Instrument set for “first selected MIDI track”. If not, either make that setting (Setup->Preferences, MIDI tab) or record enable the track.(the next few steps are a little obvious)
5. Record the MIDI
6. Playback at will.

The MIDI data will be recorded in your Pro Tools session on that Instrument track, and it will control the device that you selected, producing sound that is then passed back into Pro Tools on the same instrument track.

There are some more complex ways to use and setup Reason over Rewire, but since this is a “basics” tutorial, I will stop there. Check out some of the other tutorials here if you wild like to know more.

The topic of this tutorial can be quite convoluted as different platforms behave differently in certain circumstances. In Windows, Pro Tools “steals” the MIDI from most other applications, and Reason shows an error message about not being able to select a MIDI controller, and many people get confused and wonder how to get their controller to control Reason.

The simple and most common solution is to use Pro Tools as your MIDI sequencer instead of Reason, and just use the Reason devices to generate the sound for the Pro Tools Instrument/MIDI tracks. The outcome is the same, and is honestly how a majority of the people who use Reason with Pro Tools work. The only reason to use the Reason sequencer is if you prefer the Reason sequencer for some *ahem* reason. I might see this being the case with the newest version of Reason, 4.0, but IMHO, the Pro Tools sequencer is much easier to use than any of the pre-4.0 Reason sequencers. (YMMV)

So how is it done?

1. Make sure your MIDI controller hardware is setup, has any necessary drivers installed and is working correctly (that’s really up to you following the manufacturer’s installation instructions and out of the scope of this tutorial )
2. Create an instrument track (Stereo or Mono, depending on the sound you are going to use) and insert Reason on the track.
3. In your Reason session, create a device that you want to use to produce the sounds, and select a preset. (Reason Adapted users can actually skip this step because you are forced to use a specific set of devices because of the limitations of the Adapted version)
4. On your Pro Tools Instrument track, in the Instrument section (make sure your instrument section is not hidden from view on the mix or edit window), select the device that you are going to use from the MIDI output selector. When you add devices to the Reason Rack, they automatically appear in the MIDI output drop-down. (Again, Adapted users will get the fixed set of devices in this list; just select the one you are going to use)
5. Make sure that the MIDI input is set to “All” or the specific MIDI input that you are using.
6. Make sure MIDI Thru is selected on the Pro Tools Option menu.
7. At this point, as long as your hardware is setup properly, you should be able to play your controller and hear the preset you selected on the Reason device, assuming that you have the Default Thru Instrument set for “first selected MIDI track”. If not, either make that setting (Setup->Preferences, MIDI tab) or record enable the track.

After that, you can record enable the track and record your sequence into it. The MIDI that is recorded in Pro Tools will playback the device you have selected in Reason, and the audio from Reason will pass back through the Instrument track.

There are a number of ways to expand on this procedure, like using multiple devices and tracks (instrument, AUX and MIDI), but those will be covered in a different tutorial later; this is just the “basics”.

1. How to use softsynths in ProTools? (generic; non-plugin specific)
2. How to use XPand! in ProTools?
3. How to use Sampletank Free in Pro Tools?
4. How to use Sampletank SE from the Ignition Pack in Pro tools?
5. How to use BFD Lite from the Ignition Pack in Pro tools??
6. How to use BFD (the full version) with Pro Tools?
7. How to use Ableton Live Lite from the Ignition Pack in Pro tools?
8. How to use Reason in Pro Tools?

For this answer, I am assuming that you have your hardware set up correctly (which is a different topic altogether) and can input MIDI data into Pro Tools properly, either by MIDI controller or using the pencil tool.
I am also assuming that you have selected and installed a sofsynth of your choice. This tutorial does not go in depth into how to use any one particular softsynth.

• Create a new Instrument track. Make sure you create the proper type of instrument track; some plugins, like Sampletank, will only work on a Stereo track. (Conversely, some are mono only as well)
• Make sure to move the fader of the instrument track to a listenable level
• Select the softsynth that you are trying to use from one of the Insert Selector buttons.
• Make sure your softsynth is set to output sound. Some plugins, like Sampletank SE, need to have sound ssamples loaded into the instrument. Some other softsynths require loading a preset.
• Some older softsynths that aren’t compatible with the newer versions of Pro Tools (like some versions of sampletank) need to have a valid audio input set for sound to be passed from the instrument through the track, even though you are not using the audio input at all. If you are not hearing any sound through your track, set the audio input of the instrument track to be a valid audio input on your hardware. (I would highly recommend updating any software that you have like this to compatible versions if you can)
• Set the input of the instrument section of the instrument track to be “All”, or the specific port and channel of your MIDI controller
• Set the output of the instrument section of the instrument track to be the softsynth that you are using and the MIDI channel to which you have loaded an instrument, or the channel of the softsynth you are trying to control.
• Record arm the Instrument track.

At this point you should be able to play your controller and hear sound from the softsynth. If you want to actually record, you will have to:

• Press F12 to start recording.

You can also program and “play” the instrument even if you don’t have a MIDI controller, you would just need to use the pencil tool to manually place the notes in grid mode on the instument track. (information about how to do this is covered in the Pro Tools Reference Guide).

• Create a new Auxiliary Input track.
• Make sure to move the fader of the aux track to a listenable level
• Select the softsynth from one of the Insert Selector buttons.
• Make sure your softsynth is set to output sound.(see info above about setting sounds)
• Create a new MIDI track.
• Set the input of the MIDI track to be the channel of your MIDI controller
• Set the output of the instrument section of the instrument track to be the softsynth that you are using and the MIDI channel to which you have loaded an instrument, or the channel of the softsynth you are trying to control.
• Record arm the MIDI track.

More info coming soon…

For this answer, I am assuming that you have your hardware set up correctly (which is a different topic altogether) and can input MIDI data into Pro Tools properly. I am also assuming that you have installed Sampletank Free properly, including all of the available samples. This is not a tutorial on how to install Sampletank Free. For help with installation, contact IKMultimedia, the makers of the plugin.

• Create a new Instrument track. Make sure you create the proper type of instrument track; some plugins, like Sampletank, will only work on a Stereo track. (Conversely, some are mono only as well)
• Make sure to move the fader of the instrument track to a listenable level
• Select the Sampletank Free from one of the Insert Selector buttons.
• Sampletank Free needs to have sound samples loaded into it to produce any sound. Load a sound patch into channel 1 on the sampletank interface.
• Sampletank Free isn’t fully 7.x compatible, so you will need to have a valid audio input set for sound to be passed from the instrument through the track, even though you are not using the audio input at all.
• Set the input of the instrument section of the instrument track to be “All”, or the specific port and channel of your MIDI controller
• Set the output of the instrument section of the instrument track to be channel one of Sampletank (or whatever particular channel you chose to load an instrument into)
• Record arm the Instrument track.

At this point you should be able to play your controller and hear sound from the softsynth. If you want to actually record, you will have to:

• Press F12 to start recording.

You can also program and “play” the instrument even if you don’t have a MIDI controller, you would just need to use the pencil tool to manually place the notes in grid mode on the instument track. (information about how to do this is covered in the Pro Tools Reference Guide).

• Create a new Auxiliary Input track.
• Make sure to move the fader of the aux track to a listenable level
• Select Sampletank Free from one of the Insert Selector buttons.
• Sampletank Free needs to have sound samples loaded into it to produce any sound. Load a sound patch into channel 1 on the sampletank interface.
• Create a new MIDI track.
• Set the input of the MIDI track to be the channel of your MIDI controller
• Set the output of the instrument section of the instrument track to be channel one of Sampletank (or whatever particular channel you chose to load an instrument into)
• Record arm the MIDI track.

1. How to use Sampletank SE from the Ignition Pack in Pro tools?
2. How to use multiple outputs with Sampletank SE and ProTools?

For this answer, I am assuming that you have your hardware set up correctly (which is a different topic altogether) and can input MIDI data into Pro Tools properly. I am also assuming that you have installed Sampletank SE from the Ignition Pack properly, including all of the available samples.
This is not a tutorial on how to install Sampletank SE. For help with installation, contact IKMultimedia, the makers of the plugin.

• Create a new Instrument track. Make sure you create the proper type of instrument track; some plugins, like Sampletank, will only work on a Stereo track. (Conversely, some are mono only as well)
• Make sure to move the fader of the instrument track to a listenable level
• Select Sampletank SE from one of the Insert Selector buttons.
• Sampletank SE needs to have sound samples loaded into it to produce any sound. Load a sound patch into channel 1 on the sampletank interface.
• Some older versions of Sampletank aren’t 7.x compatible and would need to have a valid audio input set for sound to be passed from the instrument through the track, even though you are not using the audio input at all. To eliminate this necessity, make sure you have the latest version of the plugin, which should be available from the support section at www.ikmultimedia.com
• Set the input of the instrument section of the instrument track to be “All”, or the specific port and channel of your MIDI controller
• Set the output of the instrument section of the instrument track to be channel one of Sampletank (or whatever particular channel you chose to load an instrument into)

At this point you should be able to play your controller and hear sound from the softsynth. If you want to actually record, you will have to:

• Record arm the Instrument track.
• Press F12 to start recording.

You can also program and “play” the instrument even if you don’t have a MIDI controller, you would just need to use the pencil tool to manually place the notes in grid mode on the instument track. (information about how to do this is covered in the Pro Tools Reference Guide).

• Create a new Auxiliary Input track.
• Make sure to move the fader of the aux track to a listenable level
• Select the softsynth from one of the Insert Selector buttons. (in this case, Sampletank SE)
• Sampletank SE needs to have sound samples loaded into it to produce any sound. Load a sound patch into channel 1 on the sampletank interface.
• Create a new MIDI track.
• Set the input of the MIDI track to be the channel of your MIDI controller
• Set the output of the instrument section of the instrument track to be channel one of Sampletank (or whatever particular channel you chose to load an instrument into)
• Record arm the MIDI track.