The following steps will get you recording MIDI information into a MIDI track, listening (monitoring) it throught an Audio Track. Subsequent webpages will explain MIDI editing, and recording the actual audio from Reason into a ProTools Audio track (through. This is also a good opportunity to introduce the scoring features of Reason--tempo, metronomes, time signatures, etc...
Open a (new) session.
Make 2 tracks, one MIDI, and one stereo Audio Track.
Set up the Audio Track: Reason as the first plugin, no input, and Analog 1-2 as outputs.
Set up MIDI like before: [1x1] Port 1, NN19 (or any other Reason Module).
Here we see how the Mix Window should look as you are ready to record MIDI sequencing data to a MIDI track. The audio is produced by the plugin in the Audio track, and output to Analog1-2 (or whatever the output(s) on the Audio Track are set to).
Record-enable the MIDI track. Tap the keys on the MIDI keyboard to confirm the proper connection. Make sure that the reason floating window is set to Mix L-R.
You should be able to hear some sounds from Reason. If you used the NN19 sampler, it will most likely be a sampled piano. If you selected the Subtractor Synth, you will hear a rather simple waveform sound.
Don't use Redrum for this excersize. You'll see why not to do so later.
In either case, we are going to record MIDI information only. We woiuld like to have some sense of tempo, so that we can record more tracks later. Remember that we are using the sequencer in ProTools, so this is where we will set the tempo.
Look up at the strips of timing information at the top of your Edit Window. You will see a row for tempo and a row for time signature. To change either, select the appropriate selection from the MIDI menu. To keep things simple, we will leave the time signature alone for now, since many of you will want to keep things uncomplicated and go with 4/4.
Select "Change Tempo..." from the MIDI menu, and look at the window that pops up. This window is actually the same that would come up for a time signature change. Leave the pull-down menu at "Tempo Change" and make sure that "Snap to Bar" is checked. You can set the precise location for a tempo change, and with "Snap To Bar", you will make sure that it changes on the bar line. In the example, I've changed the tempo to 60 beats per minute at bar 5, beat 1. The Resolution should be a quarter note (filled-in notehead and straight stem, no flag. This is the basic beat of 4/4. Click Apply.
You will notice that the timing info at the top of the edit window changes, but the floating window does not go away. This way, you can quickly change the tempos of several sections of a piece all at once.
Here we see the MIDI notes after the tempo change was applied. Notice how the MIDI notes are stretched out to double their original length. See that the bars are also twice as long starting in measure 5. The only thing that stays constant is the time measured in seconds.
If you want a metronone, select "Click Options..." from the MIDI Menu. You can do it differently, but I like the following settings: Only during record, output to the ReDrum module using the exact settings you see here, and a 2 bar countoff only during record. Go to the ReDrum module and change the sound sample for the 10th slot to a sound that you can use to follow the beat. Note: You may direct the metronome sounds to any module, but that setup is more complicated.
An alternative to using a metronome throughout the recording process, is recording percussion/drum tracks first with a metronome, so you have some sense of the rhythm and tempo.
Now that you have some tempo and metronome settings ready, it's time to record...MIDI, at least. Go to your Reason document and find or design a sound you want to use. SAVE your Reason document! GO to ProTools and arm the recording and press play.
You will be able to play along with the metronome keeping time. When you are done, you will have MIDI information recorded, but no audio. If you are satisfied with your MIDI, UNarm the track for recording, so you don't inadvertently record over your MIDI notes.
You now have MIDI notes in a MIDI track. You may do two things. You can edit the MIDI data to clean it up and add details that you were not able to "play" into your recording. You can also proceed straight to recording the MIDI-controlled sounds into an Audio Track in ProTools.