I’ve had the MiniLab MkII for quite a few years now and using it with Reason was always a pain. No matter how much config I did manually in MIDI Control Center, it never mapped properly for my use cases.

I work with both the original Reason rack and VSTs from Spitfire and other providers, so I needed to find a way to make this work.

So I started to look into my options and came across the official mapping Arturia made for the newer MiniLab 3, built for Reason 13 and above.

I only have Reason 12, so I used those files as a starting point and retrofitted and remapped them for the MkII and my setup. I never got to test whether the MiniLab 3 mapping actually works better on its own hardware. After a few tries and adjustments I landed on a decent version that I can actually use.

Quite an improvement on what I had before. Still not perfect, but good enough.

Before anything else, please read this: this is an experiment and it is unofficial. Arturia, Reason Studios and Spitfire Audio did not make it and do not support it. I tested everything on Reason 12 on macOS with a MiniLab MkII. Windows uses the same four Reason files, so in theory it should work there too, but I have not tested it on Windows.

Try it on a spare song and a spare MiniLab memory before you trust a session to it.

What you get

The zip is your working kit:

• remote/: the four Reason files (codec, script, icon and remote map).
• mcc/: the MiniLab memory (Reason12.minilabmk2) and MCC-mapping.md, which lists every value in case the import fails.
• scripts/: installers for macOS and Windows.
• README.md: the project readme, with the same install steps in a shorter form.
• SPITFIRE.md: the Spitfire libraries that are mapped, their scope names and how to add your own.

Arturia’s original MiniLab 3 files are not included and nothing of theirs gets installed.

Who this is for

If you are a producer, composer or hobby music maker, already own a MiniLab MkII and work with Reason 12 or above, this is meant for you. It might work with older versions of Reason, but I have not tested them.

It should work with the default Reason 12 devices, plus a few Spitfire VSTs (see SPITFIRE.md in the zip).

What it is not:

• Not an official Arturia DAW mode.
• Not a replacement for Analog Lab. Memory 1 stays Analog Lab.
• Not a map of every plugin you own.

Setup in three steps

The Reason files, the MiniLab memory and the Reason preferences are three separate jobs.

1. Install the Reason files with the script for your system, or copy the four files by hand.
2. In Arturia MIDI Control Center, import the memory, store it to a user memory, then select that memory on the keyboard.
3. Restart Reason and add the MiniLab as a control surface.

Each step is covered below. The README.md in the zip has the same steps in a shorter form.

Step 1: Install the Reason files

The script copies four files into your user Remote folders. Reason itself is not changed, the files just sit in the Remote folder.

• MiniLabMkII.lua, MiniLabMkII.luacodec and MiniLabMkII_96.png go in Remote/Codecs/Lua Codecs/Arturia/.
• MiniLabMkII.remotemap goes in Remote/Maps/Arturia/.

On macOS that root is ~/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Remote/. On Windows it is %APPDATA%\Propellerhead Software\Remote\.

Use either the script or a manual copy, not both. Copying the whole remote folder into Reason won’t work, because the files have to go into two different folders.

On macOS, from the unzipped folder:

chmod +x scripts/install-macos.sh
./scripts/install-macos.sh

On Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\install-windows.ps1

The Windows command lets PowerShell run a script that is not signed, so have a quick look at the script first if you want to know what it does. Both scripts are short and only copy files.

By hand: create the two Arturia folders, copy the three codec files into the codecs folder, and copy the remote map into the maps folder.

If Reason still does not list Arturia MiniLabMkII after a restart, copy the same four files into Reason’s built-in Remote folders. You will probably need admin rights for this.

A Reason update can overwrite those folders, so keep that in mind.

• macOS codecs: /Applications/Reason 12.app/Contents/Resources/Remote/DefaultCodecs/Lua Codecs/Arturia/
• macOS map: /Applications/Reason 12.app/Contents/Resources/Remote/DefaultMaps/Arturia/
• Windows codecs: C:\Program Files\Propellerhead\Reason 12\Remote\DefaultCodecs\Lua Codecs\Arturia\
• Windows map: C:\Program Files\Propellerhead\Reason 12\Remote\DefaultMaps\Arturia\

The Windows paths can be slightly different depending on your machine and where Reason was installed, so check the Reason folder under Program Files if these don’t match.

Reason 13 and above should, in theory, take the same four files. For the built-in folders, only the Reason folder name in the path changes. The user Remote folders stay the same.

Step 2: Install the MiniLab memory

Memory 1 is reserved for Arturia’s factory Analog Lab layout, so leave it alone. You can put this layout in any of the other memories. I use Memory 2, so the steps below say Memory 2. If you pick another one, use that number instead, including for the Shift + Pad shortcut.

Back up your MiniLab memories in MIDI Control Center before you write anything, just to be on the safe side. Store To overwrites the memory you choose, so be careful which one you pick.

Watch out for this: knob 1 and knob 9 Shift must stay Absolute. If you set them to Relative 2, the MiniLab ignores that when it stores the memory, and Shift keeps Analog Lab’s CC 7 and CC 116.

MIDI Control Center has two Import buttons. Use the one under Local Templates. The one for Device Settings imports a different file type and will not change the knobs.

1. Connect the MiniLab MkII and open MIDI Control Center.
2. Under Local Templates, click Import and pick mcc/Reason12.minilabmk2.
3. Click the imported User template so it is the one on screen. If Device or Memory 1 is selected, you are still looking at the factory Shift assignment: CC 7 (channel volume) and CC 116.
4. Check the values. Knob 1 Shift should be CC 28, Absolute, on the keyboard channel (the MIDI channel the MiniLab’s keys send on). Knob 9 Shift should be CC 29, Absolute, keyboard channel. The Turn row for knobs 1-12 should be Relative 2.
5. Select Memory 2 under Device Memories, then click Store To.
6. On the MiniLab, press Shift + Pad 2 to switch to Memory 2. To check it worked, hold Shift: Pad 2 should be lit.

If the import fails, or Shift is still CC 7 and CC 116 after you select the User template, enter the values from mcc/MCC-mapping.md by hand, save, then Store To Memory 2. For reasons I never pinned down, this happened to me a couple of times during testing.

Step 3: Tell Reason about it

1. Restart Reason after the files are in place.
2. Go to Preferences → Control Surfaces. Use Auto-detect, or add Arturia / MiniLabMkII yourself.
3. Set In Port and Out Port to MiniLab mkII. Out is what colours the pads. Without it, the surface can be listed and still look dead.
4. Leave Easy MIDI Inputs empty, and uncheck MiniLab mkII if it shows up there. Remote and Easy MIDI on the same port usually fight each other.
5. Make MiniLabMkII the master keyboard. Master Keyboard Input stays on Standard.
6. Check the keyboard is on Memory 2 (Shift + Pad 2).

How the keyboard sits in Reason

The MiniLab MkII has no screen, so all the feedback comes through the pad colours, which Reason sends to the keyboard over MIDI Out. When Reason connects, it colours the pads. Hit a pad and it flashes red on the hardware, then Reason colours it back.

The main points of the mapping:

• Knobs 1-8 are the device encoders.
• Knobs 9-12 stand in for faders. On most Reason synths, Attack is knob 9, not knob 1. Knob 1 is usually filter or oscillator.
• Knobs 13-16 are not used. They sit on CCs that don’t clash with anything else.
• Shift + turn knob 1 steps to the next or previous patch. You have to turn it, a click on its own does not change the patch.
• Click knob 1 once and Shift + turn moves between tracks instead. Click it again to go back to patches.
• Shift + turn knob 9 scrubs the timeline.
• The mod strip is the Remote mod wheel.
• The pitch strip and the sustain input are pitch bend and the sustain pedal.
• Pads 1-8 play drum notes C1 to G1. They are not Remote-mapped.
• Pads 9-16 are Play, Stop, Record, Loop, Tap Tempo, Click, Rewind and Forward.

What the knobs do depends on what is selected:

• Master Section: knobs 9-12 are level, FX1, FX2 and pan.
• A mixer channel strip: that channel’s level, pan, compressor and gate.
• Mixer 14:2 or Line Mixer 6:2: the rack mixers.
• Nothing selected: knob 1 can still change the song tempo.

One thing to know: a master keyboard follows the selected track. It cannot be locked to the Master Section.

Spitfire players

This part is separate from the general Reason mapping and only applies to the Spitfire plugins listed below. SPITFIRE.md in the zip has the full list, the exact scope names and the parameter table.

Reason Remote can only map plugin parameters that are exposed for automation. Each plugin needs its own scope line in the remote map (manufacturer plus model name), and VST2 and VST3 versions of the same plugin often use different names.

The remote map includes high-level mappings for these:

• BBC Symphony Orchestra Core, VST2.
• BBC Symphony Orchestra, VST3. Reason 12 often loads the VST3 version, which is why both are mapped.
• Originals: Cinematic Pads, Cinematic Percussion, Epic Brass and Woodwinds, Epic Choir, Epic Strings and Firewood Piano. These are mapped as VST2 only, unless you export the VST3 names yourself.

On these players the MiniLab is laid out more like a performer’s controls than a mixer:

• Knob 9 is Expression.
• Knob 10 is Dynamics.
• Knob 11 is Reverb.
• Knob 12 is Global Gain on VST3, or Master Volume on VST2.
• Knob 1 is Release, knob 2 is Tightness, knob 3 is Vibrato.
• The mod strip also controls Dynamics, through Proxy Mod Wheel. Because knob 10 and the mod strip both move Dynamics, the value can jump when you switch from one to the other.

Articulations stay on keyswitches, or on a CC range you set inside the player. These players have long lists of techniques, and eight knobs can’t page through them.

Kontakt-hosted libraries, including older Spitfire libraries that run inside Kontakt, do not use these scopes.

When a plugin knob does nothing

If a knob does nothing, Reason is not seeing the parameter name you think it is. Small differences are enough to break it: Dynamics versus InstrDynamics, or Master Volume versus Global Gain. There is no single “all Spitfire” scope, so each plugin needs its own block.

To fix a mapping or add a new plugin:

1. Open a song that contains the plugin, select its track and use File → Export Device Remote Info.
2. In the unzipped remote/MiniLabMkII.remotemap, duplicate one of the BBC SO blocks at the bottom of the file.
3. Copy the Manufacturer and Model from the export into the Scope line.
4. Copy each parameter name (the text before the first tab in the export) onto the Map lines.
5. Run the installer again, or copy the edited remote map over the installed one by hand. Then restart Reason.

Test before you trust the mapping

Try this on a throwaway song and go through the checklist:

• Reason lists Arturia MiniLabMkII.
• When Reason connects, pads 1-8 turn blue and pads 9-16 show the transport colours.
• Pads 9-12 work as Play, Stop, Record and Loop.
• Pads 13-16 work as Tap Tempo, Click, Rewind and Forward.
• Shift + turn knob 1 changes the patch.
• Click knob 1, then Shift + turn changes the target track.
• Shift + turn knob 9 scrubs the song.
• Knobs 1-8 move the focused device.
• Thor, Europa or Malström: knobs 9-12 are the envelope, knobs 1-8 are filter and tone.
• Combinator 2: knobs 1-12 are Rotary 1-12.
• Mixer 14:2: knobs 1-8 pan channels 1-8, knobs 9-12 are levels 1-4.
• Master Section: knobs 9-12 are level, FX1, FX2 and pan.
• Pads 1-8 play C1 to G1.
• Keys, pitch strip, mod strip and sustain all work.
• BBC Symphony Orchestra, VST3 or VST2: knobs 9-11 are Expression, Dynamics and Reverb, and the mod strip is Dynamics.

The pad colours you should see once MIDI Out is working:

• Pads 1-8: blue.
• Play: green while playing, cyan when stopped.
• Stop: white.
• Record: red while recording, magenta when not.
• Loop: yellow when on, blue when off.
• Tap, Click, Rewind, Forward: white, yellow, magenta, magenta.

Troubleshooting: when Reason lists it and nothing happens

Seeing the MiniLab in the Control Surfaces list only means Reason has loaded the codec. The keyboard still needs the right memory selected and MIDI Out set up before the knobs and pads do anything.

• Pads never change colour. Out Port is empty or is not set to MiniLab mkII.
• Pads show the colours above, but the knobs are dead. Memory 2 was not stored, or the keyboard is still on Memory 1 (Analog Lab).
• Holding Shift lights pad 1, not pad 2. Memory 2 was never stored. Import, Store To Memory 2, then Shift + Pad 2.
• Shift + knob 1 still moves Filter A or volume. The Shift row is still CC 7. Select the User template (not Device), confirm CC 28, then Store To Memory 2.
• Easy MIDI Inputs still has MiniLab checked. Uncheck it.
• The mod strip does nothing on BBC SO, but knob 10 works. You have an old codec installed. Download the zip again, run the installer and restart Reason.
• Knobs stop moving when you turn them back. The Turn mode is Absolute. Re-import and confirm knobs 1-12 Turn are Relative 2.

The codec also listens to the factory Analog Lab knob CCs. If knobs move parameters while you are still on Memory 1, Reason is receiving MIDI fine and only the MiniLab memory for Reason is missing.

Firmware, MIDI Control Center versions and plugin builds differ, so expect some differences in behaviour.

Removing it

To go back to how things were:

• MiniLab: restore the backup you made in MIDI Control Center, or load Arturia’s factory memory back onto the slot you used.
• Reason: delete the four files from wherever you copied them (the user Remote folders, and the built-in ones if you used those), then restart Reason. Remove the surface in Preferences → Control Surfaces if it is still listed.

Credits and terms of use

The original MiniLab 3 Reason codec and maps are by Farès Mezdour at Arturia (2026), published on Arturia’s MiniLab 3 DAW Integration support page. They were the starting point for this retrofit.

One more time, so it is clear: the MkII adaptation is unofficial and is not affiliated with or supported by Arturia, Reason Studios or Spitfire Audio.

There is no warranty and no support. You are responsible for what you load onto the keyboard and into Reason, and for any other changes you make along the way. The instructions are as detailed as I could make them, but it might not work in every setup.