ReWire with Nuendo & Reason

r4pP157 12:03 pm on October 23, 2009 | Answers: 1    
Tags: music (13), nuendo, reason (2), rewire

Rate Knowledge: (6 votes)

 Loading ...

• r4pp157 12:06 pm on October 23, 2009
  

  Following with some more music and specifically with Reason and Nuendo, something that cannot be left out is ReWire. I decided to write this as there’s little actual information about it around the internet (at least that I could find) and still the only oficial information is from the Propellerhead site, on which this tutorial is based. For the unaware, here’s a short description of everything that’s involved here:

  Nuendo: Editing and post production music software from Steinberg.

  Reason: Synth and sequencing music software from Propellerhead.

  ReWire: Virtual connection software created by Propellerhead in association with steinberg. It works as a connectivity driver between various softwares, among them Nuendo and Reason, as a physical cable would do between a physical synth and a physical mixer.

  Now that we know what we´re talking about, let’s inspect why there’s a need for this. As I said above, Reason could is a synth/sequencer/sampler software, which in real life would be a piece of hardware on it’s own; Nuendo is a mixing/editing/post-producing software, which in real life would be another piece of hardware. Now each of them can work separately and they do well, but kind of makes sense to grab a cable, and make the synth go through the mixer, and work with both as a whole, doesn’t it? Well, this is what ReWire was born for: being the cable.

  In the software life, if you want to create some loops with Reason and then use them as part of a song you have been (or are going to) record on Nuendo, or maybe add some VST plugins to that crazy creation of yours, there are two possible paths:

  No ReWire: Just export your Reason track as a wav file and import it into Nuendo as a wav file. Have fun trying to make that work into an already working piece!
  ReWire: Just create the virtual connection between the two softwares and use them as a whole
  If you´re choice is No ReWire, then you can stop reading this load of crap and do something more useful as washing your car, or write a ten thousand pages best seller, or adopt an abandoned dog, or read crime and punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, or learn the first hundred or so decimals from e.

  If you prefer to go with ReWire, then stay close, this might be of interest to you.

  Note: ReWire can work between Reason and many other softwares such as Cubase, Live!, and so on. I decided to use Nuendo in the hopes that serves as good example and mainly because is what I know. If you’re using a different software, navigate the menus using this tutorial as a reference. You shouldn’t have a hard time getting it to work (that is, as long as that particular software supports ReWire!)

  ReWire works in a Master/Slave configuration in which one of the softwares will act as a master (Nuendo) and the other one will be the slave (Reason). Luckily, ReWire is not a stand alone software, but more like a part of Reason, so the only thing that will determine who’s who is the order in which we open each piece of software. That’s why we’ll proceed to open Nuendo first, and wait for it to fully load until we get the main screen. Once done, we open Reason, and if everything went well (not that we had to do much until now), in the upper left corner in Reason you’ll see “ReWire Slave Mode”

  Now that we know both programs are connected, we can proceed to use Reason as an instrument inside Nuendo. To do this, in a new project, or a previously created one, you can find Reason in the Devices menu of Nuendo.
  Now everything is set and the only thing missing is to tell Nuendo which channels we are going to use from Reason. As an example, let’s say we have a Redrum, a NN-XT and a Thor all connected to the Reason Mixer, which is connected to stereo output of the Hardware Device. This stereo output is wired to Nuendo’s Mix L and Mix R, or Channel 1 and 2, so activating those channels we have the output of Reason as an input in Nuendo and we can record an audio track in Nuendo while using a Reason track. The good thing is, both programs are now sync’d, so if you pause Nuendo, Reason will automagically pause as well. Press start in Reason, and Nuendo will start with it. ASAT (As Simple As That).
  But that’s not it. You may not have a complete loop in Reason, maybe, you just want to use that piece-o-cake redrum drums you´ve just created, or maybe just that amazing synth sound you accomplished with Thor, or maybe all of them, but separately, as to create your own Nuendo mix of Reason instruments. Well that’s possible too. Just get rid of that Reason mixer and connect every Reason instrument directly to a stereo output of the Reason Hardware Device. Automagically (yet again), you’ll get the output in the corresponding input channel of Nuendo. Now the mix is yours to be made with Nuendo, as well as applying VST plugins or wathever you want! Awasome? Indeed, but not quite as much. The best part of this, is that you can create a MIDI track on Nuendo and with it, control a Reason instrument. But how, you ask? Easy enough. Just create a MIDI track and in the out field, select the Reason instrument you want, which will be listed (as long as you have the instrument created in Reason). Done!

  Now anything you play in the new MIDI track, using your favorite MIDI controller, even if it’s as basic as this, will be played by the Reason instrument of your selection, which in time, will send it’s output to Nuendo for you to mix. And this way, Reason becomes a perfect match for Nuendo!

  So that’s that. It took some job, but we’re ready to go explore the possibilities and make the best out of this two monsters. Just a final hint for those who have completed the Reason part of the composition and need to work just on the mixing and post-production with Nuendo, you can make you’re ReWire tracks become audio tracks, for simplicity, and in order to free some CPU/Memory by closing Reason. What needs to be done is the following:

  Select the track or tracks (if you select more than one, all the tracks will become a unique audio track. Keep that in mind for mixing purposes) you want to convert, making sure the solo channel of it is active and the loop switch inative.
  Go to File->Export->Audio Mix…
  In the box that pops up, complete the preferences as you prefer, just make sure that the options Import in pool and Import in Audio Track are active.
  After the exporting process is done you’ll get an audio track that will exist physically on your hard drive, but beware, you’ll have a duplicate as the ReWire tracks will continue to exist, so you end up with two equal tracks.
  That’s it for now, I hope you find this useful, and as usual don’t hesitate to ask any questions, or comment as you please.

  http://r4pp157.com.ar
  http://r4pp157.wordpress.com