ReWire is a

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technolog ...

, jointly developed by Propellerhead and

Steinberg Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH (trading as Steinberg) is a German musical software and hardware company based in Hamburg. It develops music writing, recording, arranging, and editing software, most notably Cubase, Nuendo, and Dorico. It als ...

, allowing remote control and data transfer among digital audio editing and related software. Originally appearing in the

ReBirth Rebirth may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Film * ''Rebirth'' (2011 film), a 2011 Japanese drama film * ''Rebirth'' (2016 film), a 2016 American thriller film * ''Rebirth'', a documentary film produced by Project Rebirth * ''The Re ...

software synthesizer A software synthesizer or softsynth is a computer program that generates digital audio, usually for music. Computer software that can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed now allow softsynths to accomplish the sam ...

in 1998, the protocol has since evolved into an industry standard. Reason Studios has announced that they will discontinue the Rewire protocol at the end of 2020. Currently used in

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

and

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

32-bit or 64-bit audio applications, ReWire enables the simultaneous transfer of up to 256 audio tracks of arbitrary resolution and 4080 channels of

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

data. This allows, for example, the output from synthesizer software to be fed directly into a linear editor without the use of intermediate files or analog transfers. There are also provisions to remotely trigger actions, such as starting and stopping

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

. The protocol is licensed free of charge to companies only, but comes with a "non-disclosure of source code" license that is incompatible with most free-software licenses. The ReWire system consists of "Hosts", "Panels", and "Devices". Hosts are the host applications which typically do the sequencing at one end and the final mixdown at the other end. A Device is a

dynamic link library Dynamic-link library (DLL) is Microsoft's implementation of the shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows and OS/2 operating systems. These libraries usually have the file extension DLL, OCX (for libraries containing ActiveX controls), or ...

that only generates sound; it has no user interface. A Panel is a graphical interface for setting the parameters of one Device. A typical setup would be to use Ableton Live in "Host" mode, and use Propellerhead Reason as a synthesizer. In this case Reason would provide Device/Panel pairs to Ableton, which could then send MIDI commands, sync timing and mix Reason's output into its own effects chains. Many applications support either mode. In fact, an application could (at the discretion of a developer) act as both a Host and a Panel at the same time.

ReWire Hosts ("Sequencers/Trackers")

Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Ableton Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool f ...

Adobe Audition Adobe Audition is a digital audio workstation developed by Adobe Inc. featuring both a multitrack, non-destructive mix/edit environment and a destructive-approach waveform editing view. Origins Syntrillium Software was founded in the early 19 ...

Cakewalk Sonar Sonar was a digital audio workstation created by the former Boston, Massachusetts-based music production software company Cakewalk (company), Cakewalk. It was acquired by Singaporean music company BandLab Technologies and renamed Cakewalk by B ...

Cakewalk by BandLab Cakewalk by BandLab is a full-featured Digital Audio Workstation software package for audio and MIDI composing, recording, arranging, editing, mixing and mastering. It is developed and published under a free subscription licensing model by ...

{{cite web, url= https://reverb.com/news/bandlab-acquires-cakewalk-assets-from-gibson , title=BandLab Acquires Cakewalk Assets from Gibson , website=Reverb, date=2018-02-23 , accessdate=2020-11-05 * Cycling '74 Max/MSP *

FL Studio FL Studio (previously known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. FL Studio features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. The program is avail ...

* GarageBand *

Jeskola Buzz Jeskola Buzz is a freeware modular software music studio environment designed to run on Microsoft Windows using MFC. It is centered on a modular plugin-based machine view and a multiple pattern sequencer tracker. Buzz consists of a plugin arch ...

(with plugin.) *

Logic Pro Logic Pro is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and MIDI music sequencer, sequencer software application for the macOS platform. It was originally created in the early 1990s as Notator Logic, or Logic, by German software developer C-Lab which ...

* MOTU

Digital Performer Digital Performer is a digital audio workstation and music sequencer software package published by Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU) of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms. Ancestry In 1984, Mark of the ...

* MU.LAB *

Notion Notion or Notions may refer to: Software * Notion (music software), a music composition and performance program * Notion (productivity software), a note-taking and project-management program from Notion Labs Inc. * Notion (window manager), the s ...

Plogue Bidule Bidule is a commercial software application for the creation of interactive computer music and multimedia produced by the Canadian company Plogue Arts and Technology. It runs on both Windows and Mac computers. Bidule uses a modular structure ...

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

REAPER A reaper is a agricultural machinery, farm implement or person that wikt:reap#Verb, reaps (cuts and often also gathers) crops at harvest when they are ripe. Usually the crop involved is a cereal grass. The first documented reaping machines were ...

Renoise Renoise is a digital audio workstation (DAW) based upon the heritage and development of tracker software. Its primary use is the composition of music using sound samples, soft synths, and effects plug-ins. It is also able to interface with MID ...

* Samplitude *

Sonoma Wire Works {{COI, date=February 2011 Sonoma Wire Works is a company, based in Los Altos, California and incorporated in 2003, that develops audio software and hardware. Sonoma Wire Works began in an outbuilding in Sonoma County, California. Three audio engine ...

RiffWorks RiffWorks is a guitar recording and online song collaboration program for Mac OS and Windows. RiffWorks is designed and developed by Sonoma Wire Works. The program includes guitar effects, drum tracks, an online music collaboration system, and t ...

* Sony ACID Pro *

Steinberg Cubase Cubase is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Steinberg for music and MIDI recording, arranging and editing. The first version, which was originally only a MIDI sequencer and ran on the Atari ST computer, was released in 1989. Cut-dow ...

* Steinberg Nuendo * Studio One *

Synapse Audio Synapse Audio Software is a software company located in Germany. Previously known as Sonic Syndicate and headed by Richard Hoffmann, they develop music production software for the Mac OS and Microsoft Windows platforms. They started developing so ...

Orion Platinum Orion () may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology * Orion (spacecraft), NASA crew vehicle first launched in 2022 Arts and media Fictional ent ...

* Tracktion * Zynewave Podium

ReWire Devices ("Synthesizers")

Arturia Arturia is a French electronics company founded in 1999 and based in Grenoble, France. The company designs and manufactures audio interfaces and electronic musical instruments, including software synthesizers, drum machines, analog synthesize ...

Storm *

Cakewalk The cakewalk was a dance developed from the "prize walks" (dance contests with a cake awarded as the prize) held in the mid-19th century, generally at get-togethers on Black Slavery in the United States, slave plantations before and after End ...

Project 5 * Cycling '74 Max/MSP * Finale (beginning in v.25) *

ReBirth RB-338 ReBirth RB-338 is a software synthesizer for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS 8- 9 and iOS for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It was developed by Propellerhead Software, and its first alpha version (for Mac OS) was publicly released in October 1996. ...

* Record *

* Sibelius (beginning in v.6) * Sony ACID Pro *

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project led by Kenmochi Hideki at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, in 2000 and was not originally intended to b ...

Vocaloid 2 Vocaloid 2 is a singing voice synthesizer and the successor to the Vocaloid voice synthesizer application by Yamaha. Unlike the first engine, Vocaloid 2 based its output on vocal samples, rather than voice analysis. The synthesis engine and the u ...

External links

Propellerheads' description of ReWireA database of tutorials on how to rewire different combinations of rewire compatible software programs.Reason Studios announcement of discontinuing the product
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References

Music software plugin architectures

ReWire Hosts ("Sequencers/Trackers")

ReWire Devices ("Synthesizers")

See also

External links