Use VST plugins with Reason!

VSTs WITH Reason, not IN Reason. Here's how!

Recently I was trying to find a way to sample any computer sound directly into Reason's units without the need to use Audacity and the "Stereo Mix" audio device. As I was searching the net for answers I came across the software JACK that is an audio routing software for multiple platforms. JACK installs a new ASIO driver called Jackrouter and all programs that can use ASIO drivers can then route audio between them!

In the same time I also came across the LoopBE1 that installs an internal "MIDI-destination" that can be used from within Reason.

The third software I use for VSTs is the VSThost.

I will not describe the installation and configuration process in depth now, but these are the programs you need to be able to make use of VST plugins with Reason.

• Now Start the Jackrouter server (and configure it).
• Open Reason and select "ASIO Jackrouter" as the Audio card driver in Preferences/Audio.
• Create a new External MIDI Instrument, and select the MME LoopBE Internal MIDI.
• Create a new Audio track and select the Jackrouter as input.
• Open VSThost, configure it to use the LoopBE1 MIDI device,  and load the VST plugin you want to use.
• In Jack Control panel, click the Connect button and make the audio connections from VSThost to Reason's inputs.

With this setup, you can play and edit MIDI-notes in Reason, send the MIDI-data to the VST-plugin and then hear the sound from the VST-plugin through the Audio track and record the audio if needed!

It is of course possible to use Reaper, for example, and use ReWire to make use of VSTs, but by using VSThost you don't need to run another DAW at the same time.

So, I didn't solve my "sample all computer sounds directly into Reason"-problem but I found a way to use VSTs with Reason in a pretty simple way!

Happy jackrouting! :)