INSTALLATION
8
About the Audio Hardware
The audio hardware is the computer equipment that converts the digital sig-
nals from Reason to analog audio signals (for connection to an amplifier,
headphones, or similar). This equipment could be a standard stereo sound
card, the built-in audio hardware on a Macintosh or some more advanced
audio card with several inputs and outputs, digital connectors, etc. Regard-
less of which, you need to make sure the hardware and its drivers are prop-
erly installed:
MacOS
If you are using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh
In this case you don’t need to make any extra settings. Just connect the au-
dio output to your listening equipment (speakers, mixer, headphones or sim-
ilar) and make sure your Mac plays audio properly, e.g. by testing the alert
sounds in the Sound control panel (or the “Monitors and Sound” control
panel, depending on the MacOS version).
If you are using other audio hardware
You may want to use other audio hardware with Reason (e.g. an audio card
with multiple outputs, digital connections, etc.). For this to be possible, the
audio hardware must be compatible with the ASIO standard. That is, it must
have an ASIO driver, a piece of software that allows Reason to communicate
with the card.
1. Make sure you have the latest drivers for the audio hardware!
Please check the manufacturer’s website for the latest versions.
2. Install the audio hardware and its low level drivers as described in
its documentation.
3. Connect the stereo outputs of your audio hardware to your listening
equipment (speakers, mixer, headphones or similar).
For info about how to use multiple outputs (i.e. more than a stereo out-
put), see the electronic documentation. For now, we stick to standard
stereo connections.
4. If possible, test that audio plays back OK with the audio hardware.
With some audio hardware, a test application is supplied for this purpose.
5. Locate the ASIO driver for the hardware.
After installing Reason, you will need to copy this into Reason’s ASIO
driver folder (see page 10).
!
Some Macintosh audio hardware comes with a Sound Manager
driver (i.e. without an ASIO driver). However, we recommend using
ASIO compatible audio hardware only.
Windows
➜
If possible, you should use ASIO compatible audio hardware (i.e.
audio hardware for which there is an ASIO driver).
ASIO drivers generally provide better performance and lower latency
(see page 14).
➜
If there is no ASIO driver available, you should make sure your au-
dio card supports DirectX.
DirectX is a Microsoft protocol for handling audio and other multimedia
aspects.
➜
As a last resort, you could use audio cards that don’t support ASIO
or DirectX, provided that they are Windows compatible.
In this case, Reason will communicate with the audio hardware via MME
(Windows Multi Media Extensions). However, most often this results in
large latency values (see page 14), making real-time playback of instru-
ment devices difficult or even impossible.
Regardless of which type of audio hardware or drivers you are using, you
should follow these basic steps:
1. Make sure you have the latest drivers for the audio hardware!
Please check the manufacturer’s website for the latest versions.
2. Install the audio hardware and its drivers as described in its docu-
mentation.
3. Connect the stereo outputs of your audio hardware to your listening
equipment (speakers, mixer, headphones or similar).
For information about how to use multiple outputs (i.e. more than a ste-
reo output), see the electronic documentation. For now, we stick to stan-
dard stereo connections.
4. If possible, test that audio plays back properly with the audio hard-
ware.
In the case of audio hardware with ASIO drivers, you will need some test
application for this (often included with the audio hardware). If you are
using DirectX or MME drivers, you can use Windows’ Media Player appli-
cation for this.