No single DAW does it all. As a result, many musicians are finding that just as it helps to have more than one keyboard or guitar, it helps to know more than one DAW. But you don’t have to learn everything about another DAW: with ReWire, your main DAW can do a lot more than it currently does.
ReWire allows two software applications to work together as one integrated program. One application serves as the host program (also called the “mixer”) that works with a ReWire client (also called the “synth”). Any ReWire-compatible application is either a host, a client, or both. ReWire host programs include Steinberg Cubase, PreSonus Studio One Pro, Ableton Live, MOTU Digital Performer, Avid Pro Tools, Propellerhead Reason, Magix Acid Pro and Samplitude, and more.
There are five main ReWire attributes:
- The client’s audio outputs stream into the host’s mixer.
- Starting or stopping the host or client triggers the other.
- Setting loop points in either application affects both applications.
- MIDI data recorded in the host can flow to the client.
- Both applications share the same audio interface.
ReWire is CPU friendly, because it’s simply a software interconnection protocol. However, your computer needs enough power to run two programs simultaneously.
So What Does This Mean to You?
Most DAWs bundle some instruments but expect you to supplement what’s there with plug-ins. Propellerhead Reason 10 is an exception, because one of its major strengths is a superb suite of virtual instruments that’s been enhanced over the years — but you might balk at buying the full version or learning a new DAW, just for the instruments.
Reason 10 provides a rack of useful, ReWire-friendly instruments.
Enter Reason 10. It can work as a ReWire client and features three versatile synths, two different samplers, an 8-loop REX file player, and a songwriter’s toolbox, along with audio and MIDI effects to use with the instruments. You don’t need to learn all about Reason — just treat it as a super virtual instrument plug-in.
For loop-based composition, nothing beats Ableton Live’s matrix-based, clip-launching paradigm. But again, you might not want to buy Live Standard and learn an entirely new program. Fortunately, Ableton Live 10 Intro provides 16 tracks and eight scenes that can trigger multiple loops simultaneously. You don’t need to learn all of Live’s ins and outs to add its exceptional looping (and MIDI) capabilities into your main DAW.
Live 10 Intro brings the most important aspects of Live into a program that’s eminently suitable for ReWiring into various hosts.
There’s also FL Studio 20 Fruity Edition, which is one-third the price of the Signature Edition. For loop creation, FL Studio’s beat-slicing, time-stretching, and chopping options are outstanding; it also includes 11 virtual instruments and a ton of effects. This program is ideal to ReWire with DAWs that lack sophisticated loop-creation tools.
The bottom line is you may be able to stop hoping that your DAW of choice will eventually include features other DAWs have — thanks to ReWire, those features may already be available to you! As a bonus, you can often upgrade to the full version of these programs as well.
