An Inside Look at the Rack

A picture is worth a thousand words. 864 pictures and 312,000 words on 360 pages becomes an invaluable story. Especially when that story conveys the inner workings of the software tool used to get the music in your head out to the world. And especially when that story is packaged in a logical, easy-to-follow book. That’s what you’ll find in the Reason101 Visual Guide to the Reason Rack

Want to know a bit more? Here’s a video that should answer most of your questions about what it is and why you should invest in it:

Here’s a little preview of some of the test copies I got back from the printer. 51 devices are covered top to bottom, and there are full visual outlines of how every parameter on each one of them functions. And all this is cross-referenced with the 101 Tutorials on everything from basic to advanced sound design, effects design, and utility construction.

The idea was to create a dual purpose book whereby the Device section can be used as a quick reference as well as completely cover all front and back panel parameters. The Tutorial section can open up new ideas on how all the devices can be integrated together to create different sounds, effects, and utilities. A complete course in a book.

As I progressed with the devices, I found that you could explain most all of them in a very concise way over 3-4 pages each. Of course, some devices took considerable more space, such as Thor and Kong, which are each about 9 pages. But each page had to be laid out according to the device’s design, not a “one-size-fits-all” book layout. Each page was hand-crafted, and required completely different layouts, balanced against the consistency of the headings, fonts., page size, and other elements to give the book its flow.

I’ve been a technical writer for 12 years, and that often involves working on your own layouts and graphic design. I was very mindful of this when crafting the book to give you the best learning experience I could. Part technical manual, part creative index of ideas, and part practical “how-to,” I hope this book encourages you to push your limits with the Reason software.

One of the most important aspects of working on this project was ensuring that all the visuals presented the devices in full view as you would see them on-screen. I wanted to make everything easy to follow and simple to navigate. I didn’t want to intrude too much on the imagery. Therefore, all the call-out lines are simple and don’t cover any important device areas.

As you can see, all the tutorials have full visuals as well, so you can follow along and recreate exactly what I’m explaining. And with 101 Tutorials, there’s plenty in there to work on. Many of these tutorials also have alternative ways to accomplish something, or additional ideas and tips. This isn’t a rehash of what you’ll find on my website. There are many new tutorials, as well as expansions and re-workings of many of the most popular articles found on my site.

Well, that’s a quick look at the actual copy. Let me know what you think.

You can pick up your copy of the Reason101 Visual Guide to the Reason Rack  exclusively at http://www.reason101.net/shop

More details to come. . .