Reason 11.2 with midi out

Something new about it?

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I’ve downloaded and installed 11.2
The new midi output option converts CV to midi, which is nice for the Rack, sending bleeps and bloop patterns to the host DAW.
But there is still no connection to MIDI Guitar’s midi output…

I’ve contacted Reasonstudios, and recommended a solution that would fit their DAW setup. I have a bit of hope, since they added MIDI routing stuff now: it is just a small step to have MG supported now…

Its been about a year – any updates on this? I have Reason 11.3, and Chapter 27 in the manual describes the MIDI OUT. I dont own MIDI-GUITAR yet, but will get it as soon as i can verify this. thanks for your help. (i just tried to upload those 3 pages, but as a new user, it wouldnt allow that.)

Hi! I use Reason Suite 11 together with MG2 all the time! What functions are you looking for in particular?

Actually, ANY of them (lol). I just wanted to make sure MG2 would SHOW UP in the options now. The original issue a year ago was stated as “But there is still no connection to MIDI Guitar’s midi output”, so if THAT connection can NOW be made AT ALL (which your comment seems to mean), then my question is answered, and I can go buy it today! Thank you, friend!

Well, wait for just a second with that. I don’t say it shows up anywhere. This is what I am asking you about. I play Reason from outside. I open A standalone version of MG in the background and do all recording. So this is why I am asking about functions.

It does show up under Easy MIDI Inputs (Keyboards and Control Surfaces) that way though.
Skärmavbild 2021-01-30 kl. 16.48.59

I did this as Reason Suite 11 differs from some environments insofar as the not so obvious implementing strategy needed for the MIDI Guitar 2 (MG2) to work. Seen as a DAW next to any other, I would consider it flawed. But the fact is, I don’t. The two primary ways to have your guitar control the sounds and synths in Reason are 1) Open the standalone version and have it running in the background. it will send the information to Reason and what else you open that respond to the midi data sent. You can use an external midi controller for changing presets with different settings on transpose, pitch bends, aftertouch on/off for instance. And you can also still open a MIDI Guitar plugin inside Reason on an audio track if you like. You might want to use some of the internal synths or effects perhaps. Then, you just record them as separate audio tracks.
2) The other way is to use the Reason rack inside another DAW, as a software instrument. In that case, you can have MG2 running as a plugin as usual and still get MIDI to control the synths in reason.
I believe I have used both these strategies in these clips. I furthermore make use of a breath controller (besides the MIDI guitar) and also this isn’t as straightforward as one could have wished for. Some of the new Rack extensions such as Friktion have a breath controller alternative more readily available than perhaps some of the older instruments, where you have to do some investigations into the inner workings a little bit more. One might think that is part of its charm, whereas it is offputting to someone else.
I have here five clips just to show you, it does work.

  1. The first is the Friktion Modeled Strings rack extension controlled by the standalone MIDI Guitar 2 running in the background only. Pretty straightforward
  2. The second is a little more complex setup, but not difficult to achieve. I have MG2 running in standalone, and the breath controller is connected to the computer feeding data for CC2 (Breath). I recorded a loop with Grain on Reason, then un-armed that track (so that it would no longer receive midi data as I proceeded with my improvisation). Then I open up Respiro, which is a fantastic standalone wind synth, and just played on. In this case with the breath controller
  3. Back to Friktion, but this time it is controlled by MG2 (in standalone) and my breath controller. They are two different MIDI controllers, and produce two different MIDI cc feeds, working in tandem. The breath controller has nothing to do with MG2 in this case, except that they meet up and join forces inside Friktion. This was just a spur of the moment recording, so therefore I have no live GUI video to offer.
  4. Now this setup is more interesting. Here I play (recorded) an instance of Sample Modelings the Trumpet 3 as a software instrument inside Native Instruments Kontakt as a vst inside Reason. Why is this interesting? If you wonder how well the external software plugin instruments work inside Reason, I say pretty darn good. I use my breath controller both to control the trumpet recorded and to play a patch from the brilliant TBOR (TheBreathOfReason) collection from ‘The Art of Wind Synth’ over it. If you look closely at the Thor synth you can see where some of the breath settings are done.
  5. The last clip are excerpts from a single session where I switch in real time between playing Grain and the Trumpet 3 in unison over some beat, and just the trumpet alone (simply muting Grain). I use two virtual instrument channel strips in a Mainstage 3 patch switching between them. And as far as I remember, I had the beat run on a standalone version of Reason outside of Mainstage.
    These are some of the ways you can use MG2 and Reason together. Not that special or in-depth, but perhaps a place to start at least?
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thanks a ton – i havent had time to dig into / through these yet… (still swamped building out guitar lessons for a student)… i currently have the Fishman TriplePlay wireless (on a Variax) and the Sonuus G2M. I havent tuned the TriplePlay well yet (still records the midi for the first overtone with the fundamental at the same time – lol). I am hoping to get some time to do a massive parallel test with the Variax (1) Midi out through Tripleplay; Audio out into Sonuus G2m with audio through (recording the MIDI output, while passing through the Audio into Reason for MG2 to process). Theoretically (if i have understood all this – and if latency doesnt kill the dream), i would get 3 separate MIDI conversions–for comparison/complementing) and the dry audio from the Variax. Havent read enough on the MG yet to see how/if this makes sense, configuration-wise). i hope to get to download the MG this week and start playing with it… but i will dig deep into the helpful video clips and explanations you posted—thanks for taking the time to help, friend.

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also, i have never heard of a breath controller before … i will have to explore that too…

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If you have any questions, be sure to let me know! :+1:

This is Q & A special: Connecting MIDI Guitar 2, breath controller & Reason

In this video, I’ll go over how to connect to Reason, and Reason Rack, using MIDI Guitar 2.2.1 and a TEControl breath controller in the following ways:

The first setup is with:
MIDI Guitar 2 standalone Mode
Reason in standalone

The second setup is with:
MIDI Guitar in standalone mode
Reason Rack as a plugin in MIDI Guitar 2

The third setup is with:
MIDI Guitar 2 as a plugin in Abelton, and
Reason Rack as a plugin in MIDI Guitar 2