Rewire

[idiotSavant]

I know this post is old and I'm hoping that the folks involved are still around to help me out. I've been able to get one track in Reaper to return the master outs from Notion, but I'd like to set up multiple tracks in Reaper to return the individual track outputs from Notion Rewire slave. I can't seem to be able to do this. Frustrated!

[Surfwhammy]

I know this post is old and I'm hoping that the folks involved are still around to help me out. I've been able to get one track in Reaper to return the master outs from Notion, but I'd like to set up multiple tracks in Reaper to return the individual track outputs from Notion Rewire slave. I can't seem to be able to do this. Frustrated!

I tried doing ReWire 2 with the current version of Reaper (64-bit) for the Mac, and it works for the Channels 1-2 pair, but I was not able to get it to work for any other channels, and although I could hear the NOTION 4 generated audio from the Master stereo output track sent via ReWire 2, it would not record in Reaper . . .

I followed the instructions in the Reaper ReWire Wiki, but they appear to be outdated, and most if not all of the instructions did not match the screens and controls in the current version of Reaper . . .

And I encountered other problems--which included Reaper not recognizing when NOTION 4 closed and quit, which required doing a Force Quit for Reaper--so my perspective at present is that the current version of Reaper (v4.32) only works with the Channels 1-2 pair but not for recording, and this essentially makes it useless for doing anything practical with ReWire 2 . . .

Since you are doing digital music production on the Mac, my advice is to get Digital Performer 8 (MOTU), which is the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application I use here in the sound isolation studio, since (a) it works very nicely and (b) it is the easiest to use DAW application for doing ReWire 2 on the Mac . . .

Another possibility is Logic Pro 9 (Apple), which costs a bit less than Digital Performer 8, but overall it is much easier to do ReWire 2 with Digital Performer 8 than with Logic Pro 9 . . .

And because MOTU does not do discounts--the price is the same at online stores as it is at the MOTU online store--I advise getting Digital Performer 8 directly from MOTU, because while you can get Digital Performer 8 at a few online stores, most of them are selling Digital Performer 7, which is the previous version and is 32-bit only.

You want Digital Performer 8, which is 64-bit . . .

Digital Performer 8 costs more when it is the first time you are purchasing Digital Performer, but the upgrades cost less when there is a new version . . .

You certainly can "save money" with at least some of the other DAW applications for the Mac (but not all, since a few of them cost more than Digital Performer), but you have to mess with stuff, and best wishes on getting technical support. As an example, Cubase costs more than Digital Performer 8, and in addition to costing more Cubase, at present only supports 32-bit ReWire, which makes it useless for doing 64-bit ReWire 2 with 64-bit NOTION 4 . . .

Digital Performer 8 works wonderfully on the Mac in 64-bit mode, and if you have a problem, you can call MOTU technical support and get help during regular working hours, which will be the Eastern time zone (US), since MOTU is located in Massachusetts . . .

In some respects, I am generally agnostic regarding hardware and software, and my overall perspective is that I want to focus on making music rather than on messing with computer hardware and software, which is the reason I do everything on the Mac with a specific set of hardware and software, which includes Digital Performer 8 . . .

As noted, Logic Pro 9 also works, but you have to connect the NOTION 4 generated audio to a Logic Pro 9 auxiliary channel strip and then bus the audio from the auxiliary channel strip to an audio track, which is a bit of a hassle when you need to do it for 32 ReWire channel pairs . . .

In contrast, with Digital Peformer 8 the NOTION 4 generated audio for a ReWire 2 channel pair simply becomes the input to a stereo track on the mixing board, and DIgital Performer 8 can handle 32 audio tracks for ReWIre 2, where each track has a ReWire 2 channel pair from NOTION 4 as its input, although I limit it to only the ReWire 2 channel pairs that have two digits, which starts with Channels 11-12. Digital Performer 8 handles additional audio tracks for real instrument and singing, but when the total number of tracks in Digital Performer 8 are around 75 or so, I start consolidating by doing submixes and merges, since 75 tracks is too many tracks to work with visually at once . . .

For the NOTION 4 ReWire 2 channel pairs, you control what happens for the corresponding Digital Performer 8 stereo tracks via their "Input Monitor" and "Record Enable" buttons, where initially you set the "Input Monitor" and "Record Enable" buttons, which lets you hear the NOTION 4 generated audio and makes it possible to record it. Once it is recorded, you deselect the "Input Monitor" and "Record Enable" buttons, and then you hear the soundbite that Digital Performer recorded, which is the easiest way to do ReWire 2 productively . . .

Lots of FUN!

P. S. There probably are lots of ways to do digital music production at the dawn of the early-21st century, but if you do it on the Mac using the hardware and software I recommend, then (a) it works wonderfully and (b) I have verified that it works wonderfully, which makes it a fact rather than a belief . . .

P. P. S. The Reason ReWire Wiki tends to imply that there is a way to route individual ReWire channels to different audio tracks within Reason, and as noted I followed the instructions but was unable to get it to work. There might be a way to do it, but if there is, then it is not clearly documented, so best wishes in this regard. It might work in Windows, but it is not working on the Mac, as best as I can determine . . .

[elerouxx]

Try this:

Open you Notion project.
Go to file, export MIDI, and save the MIDI file someplace easy to get to (like your computer desktop)
Close Notion
Open Reaper, add the necessary rewire channel, etc. Notion should open automatically. Pick the Notion project you just closed. Reaper is now acting as host.
Import the MIDI file into Reaper. Reaper will ask if you want to map the tempo from the MIDI file. Say yes.

Reaper should now have the same tempo map as your Notion file's nTempo recording. It's not a live solution, but like I said earlier, I have never been able to get Reaper's "get tempo from slave" feature to work... on any rewire program.

I've read this before but now I'm using it . Thanks!

[idiotSavant]

Sorry again for a reply to an old post, but has anyone had any luck getting a Reaper-Notion Rewire setup to work with Notion as the Master? As far as I can tell, Reaper won't work as a slave, period. If I could get this to work, it could solve a lot of my mixing issues...

[pcartwright]

has anyone had any luck getting a Reaper-Notion Rewire setup to work with Notion as the Master? As far as I can tell, Reaper won't work as a slave, period. If I could get this to work, it could solve a lot of my mixing issues...

In Windows, look under All Programs, Reaper, and select Reaper (rewire slave mode). The main Reaper program is not a rewire slave, so you need to open this special version.

I'd like to set up multiple tracks in Reaper to return the individual track outputs from Notion Rewire slave. I can't seem to be able to do this.

This is possible:
You need to allow more than two channels in the Reaper track that contains Notion (Reaper defaults to two tracks).
You then need to use Reaper's rewire "effect" to route rewire channels back to the Reaper rewire channel. I've attached my template of my Notion4 rewire set up if you'd like to try it. Just unzip the file and add it to your Reaper project.
Make sure that you change the output in the Notion mixer (found at the bottom of each channel in the mixer view) to the appropriate rewire channel.
Finally, route the Reaper's rewire channels to their own tracks.

[pcartwright]

I am using the cheap stuff, some onboard Realtek HD audio device, and I have been using asio4all for a while now (wonderful driver!). But audio is not the problem.

The problem is how the rewired applications act, if they act at all. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. I see that Rewire is a little tricky, and as Surfwhammy said, it kinda gets corrupted or something and requires frequent restarts.

I'm trying to write down a table of what works and what doesn't. For instance, Reaper works better as a host but it's hard to use it as a slave - there doesn't seem to be transport control from Reaper as slave to Notion.

Notion4/64 as slave and rewire/64 as host do fine, but I use several VST instruments that are not available in 64 bits. I'm trying to figure out how to rewire N4/32 to Reaper.

Anyway, thanks for your help! I'll try to post some more accurate information about what's happening in this box. It has been running for more than one year and I suspect it's time for a full reinstall anyway.

Hi elerouxx. I think I missed your response all those months ago... so sorry! I've found that arming the Reaper rewire track to record (with the option of "record: disable (monitor use only)) gives me the best rewire performance with Notion.