Propellerhead Reason, Installation Manual

INTRODUCTION

9

What is in the Reason box?

If you have purchased the boxed version of Reason, the package contains the following items:

The Reason installation DVD

This DVD contains the main Reason program installer which include the Reason application, Help System, 
Demo Songs and documentation. In addition, the Windows partition of the DVD also contains an installer 
for Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The Ignition Key

Reason comes with a protection hardware - the Ignition Key - which is a part of the Reason protection 
system. The Ignition Key hardware is built-in in the Propellerhead Ignition Key (USB stick) which should be 
plugged into a free USB port on your computer.

The Ignition Key hardware needs to be authorized before use, see 

“Authorization and the Ignition Key”

".

Product authorization

The license number and registration code required for the installation are printed on the DVD sleeve. The 
registration code is a one-time code used to register your Reason license to your Propellerhead user 
account. Once you have registered Reason to your account and authorized the Ignition Key, you don't need 
it any more.

!

Note that if you bought Reason from the Propellerhead web shop, it is already registered 
to your account.

The Reason download version

If you are upgrading from an earlier Reason version

!

If you are upgrading from an earlier version of Reason, there are some important things 
to consider before installing the new version, see 

“Upgrading from an earlier Reason version”

.

If you are upgrading from Reason 6 or later (or from Propellerhead Record), you already have an Ignition 
Key and won’t need the boxed version. After you have downloaded the Reason upgrade, unpacked the file 
and installed Reason, refer to 

“Registering and authorizing Reason”

 for details on how to authorize Reason.

Using the Reason download version while waiting for the box

If you have purchased the boxed version of Reason and are waiting for the shipment, you could meanwhile 
use the download version of the program and run it with full functionality using Internet Verification. Refer 
to 

“Running Reason with Internet Verification”

 for details on how to proceed.

If this is your first acquaintance with audio recording and music production software, you might also want 
to check out the 

“About the Audio Hardware”

 and 

“About MIDI Interfaces”

 sections before continuing.

!

When you receive the Reason box you should NOT reinstall the Reason program - every-
thing you need has already been installed from the download version. However, you 
might want to authorize your Ignition Key hardware, see 

“Authorization and the Ignition Key”

.