Overview
Here's an overview of the steps to take. More details for each step are below.
- Install Soundflower.
- Configure the Mac to use it in the Mac Audio MIDI setup preferences.
- Start Reason
- Set up Reason's audio preferences
- Set up a Reason template or song
Install Soundflower
Visit https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases to find the latest release, ie. https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases/tag/2.0b2
After running the installer, there will be no program created in /Applications but a window will open that contains a readme and an uninstaller. Create a new folder /Applications/Soundflower and put the readme and uninstaller there because that's where you'll likely look first if you ever want to uninstall it :)
Soundflower gives you two new audio devices: Soundflower (2ch) and Soundflower (64ch).
Any audio that you send to a Soundflower output gets routed back to its respective input. In other words, if you send audio to Soundflower (64ch)'s 48th output channel, then the audio is available at the Soundflower (64ch)'s 48th input channel.
Mac Audio Configuration
- Set Soundflower (2ch) as the default for sound output and sound effects.
- Set Soundflower (64ch) as the default for sound input.
- Create a new aggregate device with your sound card (or the Mac's built-in input and output if you don't have a sound card), Soundflower (2ch), and Soundflower (64ch).
Reason
Open Reason preferences:
- Set the audio device to the aggregated device that you created.
- Set the Active Input Channels to use your sound card's inputs and the ones from Soundflower (2ch). For me that's 1-6.
- Set the Active Output Channels to use your sound card's outputs and the ones from Soundflower (64ch). For me, that's 1-4, and 7-8. (Outputs 5 and 6 would just get sent to output 1-2 anyway by Jack so might as well not enable them in Reason.)
- Close the preferences
- Make a new track and name it Mic
- Leave the input to the first input on the sound card.
- Create a new output bus for the track
- Route the new bus output into an audio splitter.
- One output goes to audio I/O 5+6, which is Sunflower 64(ch), the system default input.
- The other output goes to another splitter which combines with the main output and goes to audio I/O 1+2 (the speakers).
- Enable monitoring for the track. You'll now hear it in the speakers and it will be sent to the system input, to be used by other programs.
- Make a new track and name it Sys Out
- Set the input to stereo 5+6
- Hit the monitor button to hear the system output out of the speakers
- Add effects as needed and record if you want too :)