Stream Deck Plugin Development
Reason Remote Auto-Follow
Your Stream Deck + follows the device you select in Reason. Click a Thor and the dials become Thor's oscillators, filters, and envelopes. Click a SubTractor and the deck switches again. No profile switching, no button presses.
Overview
Reason Remote Auto-Follow is an Automate Pros product built on the Elgato Stream Deck SDK and the Reason Remote protocol. Selecting a device in Reason moves the Stream Deck + to that instrument's own page set, so the eight keys and four dials always match whatever is in front of you. It ships as a TypeScript plugin, a Lua Remote codec, and a set of generated hardware profiles.
Automatic Page Switching
The Remote codec emits an identity message whenever the selected device changes. The plugin reads it and switches the deck to the matching profile, with no user interaction at all.
Hand-Authored Pages
Every instrument gets pages, groups, and dial assignments authored from its real remotable parameters, rather than a generic MIDI map that ignores what each device actually does.
Two-Way Feedback
Turn a dial and Reason responds. Move the same control inside Reason and the touch strip updates to match, so the hardware never drifts out of sync with the project.
The Challenge
Stream Deck plugins are not allowed to change pages in response to incoming MIDI, which is the obvious way to build this. The workaround is indirect: a Lua codec inside Reason watches which device has focus and sends a small identity message over a virtual MIDI port, and the plugin turns that into a profile switch.
That constraint shapes the whole architecture. Profiles have to be bundled with the plugin rather than authored by the user, which means the layouts for every supported instrument are generated ahead of time from a single source of truth and packaged into the installer.
Twenty-Four Instruments, And Growing
Twenty-four instrument packs are included so far, each with its own pages, grouping, colour theme, and dial assignments derived from that device's remotable parameter list. Thor, SubTractor, Europa, Malstrom, Kong, Redrum, Grain, Complex-1, and the samplers are all covered, along with plenty more.
This is not the complete Reason device list, and it is not meant to be a fixed set. Authoring a pack is deliberate work per device, so the collection started with the instruments people reach for most and keeps expanding. New instruments are added regularly, and you can request the one you want on the issue tracker.
Alongside the instruments there is a Document profile for track navigation and a Master Section profile for mixing, which runs on a second surface so the mixer stays available while an instrument page is in front of you.
How It Is Built
TypeScript Plugin
A Node plugin on the Elgato Stream Deck SDK listens on a virtual MIDI port, resolves the incoming identity to a bundled profile, and drives the switch.
Lua Remote Codec
A Reason Remote codec maps each device's parameters and reports selection changes, assembled from source fragments and syntax-checked as part of the build.
Generated Profiles
Hardware profiles and all key artwork are generated from per-instrument definitions, so a layout change is a data edit and a rebuild rather than hand-editing binaries.
One-Command Release
A single command versions, builds, tests, validates against Elgato's rules, packages the installer, and renders the store listing media.
What You Need To Run It
The plugin requires a Stream Deck + and Reason 12 or newer on Windows. Setup takes about twenty minutes: create the virtual MIDI ports, run the installer for the Remote codec, and add the control surfaces in Reason's preferences.
This plugin provides the auto-follow behaviour. Parameter control on the dials is driven by the MIDI plugin from Trevliga Spel, a separate paid Stream Deck plugin that needs to be installed as well. Without it the deck still follows your selection and page navigation still works, but the dials will not control anything.
Build Something Like This
Automate Pros builds Stream Deck plugins, MIDI and control surface integrations, and the generation pipelines that keep large sets of device layouts consistent. If you have hardware that should be driving your software, or a manual workflow that would be better as a single key press, we would like to hear about it.
Reason and all Reason device names are trademarks of Reason Studios AB. Stream Deck and Elgato are trademarks of Corsair Memory, Inc. This project is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by either company.
