# The deck at a glance

> What the keys, dials and touch strip do, and every dial gesture Reason Remote understands.

Source: https://www.reasonremote.com/guide/deck-basics/  
Applies to: Reason Remote 1.4.0, Reason Remote Lite 1.3.0

The Stream Deck + has three kinds of control, and Reason Remote gives each one a steady job. Keys **move you around** or switch things on and off. Dials **change values**. The touch strip **shows** what each dial is doing and lets you pick which parameter it controls.

*The SubTractor landing page: keys, strip and dials. Keys: Back, Osc 1, Osc 2, Filter, Flt Env, Amp Env, Global, Mod/LFO. Dials: Volume, Patch, Pitch, Mod.*

## Keys

The eight keys sit in two rows of four. This guide numbers them left to right, top row first.

- **Navigation keys** open another page. **Back** is always top-left, and section keys like **Osc 1** and **Filter** open the matching section. The page you're on pulses, so you can always see where you are.
- **Folder keys** show a small grid icon and a list of names, like **Mod/LFO**. They open a set of related sections.
- **Switch keys** turn a setting on or off, like an oscillator's **On** or **Phase Sync**. They light up when the setting is on, even when you change it in Reason.
- **Page keys** such as **Document**, **Mix**, **Piano**, **Go**, **Prev** and **Next** move between the main areas. [Getting around](https://www.reasonremote.com/guide/getting-around/) covers them.

## Dials and the touch strip

Each dial owns the quarter of the touch strip above it. A dial holds **one to four parameters**. They sit side by side in its quarter of the strip, and the selected one is highlighted. Turning the dial changes the selected parameter.

![Touch strip readouts for four instruments](https://www.reasonremote.com/img/gallery/dials.png "Live values on the strip")

Values run **both ways**. Turn a dial and Reason moves. Move the control in Reason with the mouse and the strip follows.

Some parameters on the strip are **buttons**, for example Play, Loop or Tap tempo. Tap them on the strip. Turning the dial doesn't fire a button.

## Dial gestures

| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Turn** | Changes the selected parameter. Turn faster for bigger steps. |
| **Tap a parameter on the strip** | Selects it. If it's a button, tapping fires it. |
| **Press the dial** | Selects the next parameter on that dial. If the dial holds a single button, the press fires the button. On a few dials, such as Pitch, a press recentres the value. On a dial with banks, the press acts on the selected parameter. |
| **Press and turn** | Moves the selection through the dial's parameters, one per click. On a dial with banks, it moves through the banks instead. |
| **Turn a switch** | A switch (On, Loop, Click…) turns on clockwise and off anticlockwise, which helps when a tap misses. |
| **Touch and hold the strip** | Leaves the page. See below. |

## Dial banks

On landing pages most dials have several **banks** of parameters. Dots along the bottom of the dial's strip show how many banks it has and which one you're on, and a small stack symbol marks a dial that has them.

- **Press and turn** the dial to move through its banks.
- **Tap a parameter on the strip** to select it within the bank.
- **Press the dial** to act on the selected parameter: it fires a button, or re-centres a control like Pitch.

The first bank on every instrument is **Volume, Patch, Pitch and Mod**. Coming back to a page puts each dial back on the bank you left it on. The [Combinator](https://www.reasonremote.com/guide/combinator/#the-dials) is different: a press there steps to the next row of rotaries.

## The hold gesture

**Touch and hold anywhere on the touch strip** to move between your instrument and the Document page (or the Piano, if that's where you went last). The hold works the same everywhere, including over a button or a piano key. Nothing under your finger fires.

It's the most useful gesture on the deck. [Getting around](https://www.reasonremote.com/guide/getting-around/) explains where it takes you.

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