Ableton: Running Live With Reason 11

By Len Sasso

We show you how to get Live playing nicely with Reason 11.

Version 11 brings some radical changes to Reason from Reason Studios (previously Propellerhead Software). The big news for Live users is that Reason now includes VST3 instrument and effect plug-ins. You can no longer route the Reason 11 stand-alone application to Live using ReWire, which has been discontinued, but using the plug-in makes a number of things easier. (It is still possible to ReWire older versions of Reason to Live, so you haven't lost access to older projects that use that as long as you hang on to your earlier software version of Reason.) One downside of the plug-ins is that they do not support MIDI output. This is a shame because Reason offers many wonderful MIDI sequencers and Players. A rather tedious workaround is to export MIDI clips from Reason stand-alone and import them in Live.

If you're not a Reason user, you may find it worth a look. One way to think of it is as a full-featured but still very accessible modular synth plug-in. Modular synth plug-ins such as Voltage Modular and VCV Rack, fixed-format modular synths such as those from U-he and Arturia, and do-it-yourself applications like Max For Live and Native Instruments Reaktor typically feature single-purpose modules — oscillators, filters, controllers, effects and so on. By contrast, Reason modules are complete instruments, effects and MIDI devices. Cabling (mostly on the back panel) is for the main inputs and outputs along with occasional sub-module ins and outs. And, much of the I/O cabling is automatic. 

Published December 2019