1. How to “play” the Strike interface while Pro Tools is running
2. How to play patterns in Strike with MIDI in Pro Tools.
3. How to import MIDI from Strike into Pro Tools (coming soon… or maybe not )
4. more to come…

If you want to play the sounds in Strike using electronic MIDI drums, or a MIDI keyboard controller to create your own beats, you would want to use Kit Mode.

If you want to play (trigger) the pre-recorded beats in Strike (basically MIDI loops), using a MIDI controller (keyboard or drum pad trigger), you would want to use Style mode.

• Using Kit mode in Strike
• Using Style mode in Strike

If you don’t have a MIDI interface, and you aren’t comfortable penciling in notes on the track with the pencil tool, you can also still play the patterns using the Strike interface and the mouse, but you will have to record the audio output of your performance directly to an audio track, or play the patterns every time.

• “playing” the Strike interface with the mouse (coming soon)

• Insert strike on an Instrument track and make sure it is selected
• Select a drumkit or pattern
• Set the MIDI input of the Instrument track to either “All” or your specific controller
• Set the MIDI output of the Instrument track to MIDI Channel 2 of the Strike plugin
• If your system is set to use the first selected track as the default MIDI instrument, you can now play the Strike drums from your MIDI controller. If not, you will need to record arm the Instrument track.

That’s it! Seriously. You should now be able play the drum kit pieces from your MIDI controller. To record your performance, all you need to do is record arm the track (if it isn’t already) and press record.

If you don’t have a MIDI controller, but still want to use strike in this manner, you can also program these notes by penciling in MIDI notes to the track with the pencil tool.

There are two different modes for playing the patterns; normal and latch. In normal mode, the drum patterns play as long as you hold down a key. In latch mode the pattern loops continuously after you hit the key that the pattern is assigned to, until you hit another key to trigger another pattern or you hit the “off” key (C1).

Latch mode really is more suited for playing live and is more of a “hands-off” approach. It’s also the best approach if you are using pad like MIDI controllers (such as the M-Audio Trigger Finger, or the pads on an axiom controller).

• Insert strike on an Instrument track and make sure it is selected
• Select a pattern
• Set the MIDI input of the Instrument track to either “All” or your specific controller
• Set the MIDI output of the Instrument track to MIDI Channel 1 of the Strike plugin (should be the default selection)
• If your system is set to use the first selected track as the default MIDI instrument, you can now play the Strike drums patterns from your MIDI controller. If not, you will need to record arm the Instrument track.
• If you are in normal mode, you will need to hold down the key as long as you want the loop to play.
• If you are in latch mode, you can tap the key for the pattern, and it will play until you press another key, whether for another pattern or the “off” key (C1).

That’s really all there is to playing the patterns. To record the performance, just record arm the track (if it isn’t already), and press record.

If you don’t have a MIDI controller, but still want to use strike, you can also program these patterns by penciling in MIDI notes to the track with the pencil tool.

Here are the steps:

1. Create a stereo Instrument track in Pro Tools. (you can also use multiple tracks for the audio return, but that’s a different tutorial)
2. insert Reason on the track, leaving the default channel selection (Mic L – Mix R)
3. In Reason create a ReDrum device and make sure it’s outputs are routed correctly (Reason Adapted users can skip this step as the ReDrum device is always in the Adapted rack, and routed to the mixer by default)
4. on the instrument track in Pro Tools, on the instrument view, select the ReDrum device on the MIDI output selector
5. in Reason, on ReDrum, select a drum kit
6. If you have Pro Tools setup to use the first selected MIDI track as the Default Thru Instrument, you should now be able to hear sound from ReDrum through the instrument track in Pro Tools. If you don’t have Pro Tools setup that way, then do so () or record enable the track. Keep in mind that the individual instrument channels are mapped to keys C1-B1, so you won’t hear anything unless you play those specific keys.
7. Record or pencil in notes at will.
8. Playback.

That’s pretty much all there is to using ReDrum as a sound module in Pro Tools. There are some “fancy” things you can do with it; like mapping the individual outputs of the instruments to different tracks (separate tutorial), and using it along with other devices in Reason (again, separate tutorial), but those are the basics.

I will cover the most basic ones first, and then add topics as time permits.

• How to Rewire Reason into Pro Tools
• How to use a MIDI controller with Reason and Pro Tools
• How to control individual levels of devices in Reason through Pro Tools
• How to use ReDrum as a drum sound module for Pro Tools
• more to come…

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 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”.

OK, now that we’ve established that you know what they are, you need to know how to make them work in Pro Tools. For that, you are going to need a soundfont player. (They don’t play themselves, y’know.) A soundfont player is a “virtual instrument” that can access and process the sounds in a soundfont, and allow you to use a MIDI keyboard and/or sequencer to play back those sampled sounds. Pro Tools does not include a soundfont player, so you will need to obtain one. There are several options:

1. Native Instruments Kompakt – a sample player that will play soundfont files (.sf2), as well as a host of other sample formats.
2. RGCAudio SFZ – a free (yeah, I said free!) soundfont player, but it is only in VST format, so you would need to convert it to the Pro Tools RTAS plugin format using the VST-RTAS wrapper by FXPansion
3. Reason – One of the most useful and used softsynth programs on the market, basically the “swiss army knife” that includes a host of options for softsynths, one of which is the NN-XT sampler, which will play soundfont files.
4. Many others…
   

Once you have decided on a player, and made sure you’ve read that particular player’s instructions on it’s use, all you basically have to do is use it like any other softsynth in Pro Tools. You just load up the soundfont you are trying to use into whatever soundfont player you have chosen, and play away.