Here is the first reason tutorial that covers one of the very basic things that I always get surprised people are always asking about on various reason boards, how to record and edit device automation and specifically in this case how to record and edit effect device automation.

The first thing you have to understand is that if you are going to record automation for a device in reason then it must have a track to send the automation to. Most sound creation devices (EG: NN-XT, Subtractor, etc) automatically have a new track created and assigned to them when they are first created. This is not the case with effects devices such as the RV-7000 or the Scream 4.

With effects devices first right click on the rack and create the device then right click on whichever knob or button you wish to automate on the device itself and you should see one of the options available is “Edit Automation”. Click on this and a new track that will store automation will appear for the device. You should also notice that the knob being automated now has a green box around it to indicate that it is now assigned to an automation track.

Now to the recording of the automation. First click on the “record” button in the transport controls section, the sequencer should start to record as you would expect. Now start to twiddle the knob you have decided to record automation for and hey presto you will see a new clip box begin to appear in the sequencer track, this clip is where the automation is being stored. Once you have finished recording your automation simply press the stop button on the transport control (or alternately press the space bar).

Finally we can edit our recorded automation with the sequencer editing tools. Sometimes you will wish to make minor adjustments to your automation or perhaps even write the automation completely by hand. In this case you need to double click on the automation clip you have recorded.

Once inside the clip you will see a number of points in the clip. Any of these points can be moved using the selection Tool (The arrow), deleted using the eraser tool or new points can be drawn using the pencil tool.

You can now watch your devices knob move in prefect synchronization with your automation clip during playback.