I Am Unsubscribing From Reason+ In One Month - What Do I Need To Know?

[StephenHutchinson]

So this evening I was checking my Reason+ account to see how much time I have left on Reason+ and it is set to renew April 3rd, 2022. Wow, a whole year has gone by and still here we are with things still not completely squared with Reason 12. Be that as it may, I want to stay positive and hope that all the bugs get worked out.

The Reason+ packs are just not enough of an incentive to pay double the past year's subscription pricing. If they kept it at $99USD per year, I'd be okay with that. Right now the $199 subscription is more than I pay for the Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop bundle, and is way less valuable than Adobe's offerings, so I'm out.

Awhile ago when the price for Reason 12 standalone was about to be jacked up to $199, I bought it from the JRR shop for a little less than $129 with a discount coupon. So I have Reason 12 in my account, with the licence number etc. What I would like to know is what happens when I let my subscription expire (or outright cancel before April 3rd). I've already removed my billing information and so this is a done deal. My questions for anyone who has already cancelled after a year or less are these:

1) Will I still have use of the Companion app to install new REs or update old REs or will that be handled with the "Authorizer" type window that pops up when you use install new devices or update them?

2) I know I will lose a few Reason+ instruments and effects, but some of these like Reason Drum Kits I already bought ages ago in the form of RDK 2.0 on CD. I've gone through all the other instruments and effects I've previously purchased and it leave me with a few that I haven't paid for like the two Waves synths, and Complex-1. Other stuff like Radical Keys, Processed Pianos, Reason Bass, I have covered with VSTs. My question is, when my subscription is non-existent, and if the Companion app is no longer available, will these instruments just disappear from my standalone version of Reason 12? I'm assuming that some kind of box will pop up or something, but if anyone has gone through this, I'd like to know how it works.

3) Because I bought the standalone version of Reason 12, will I have to reinstall that version on top of the existing version in order to be compliant with the license for the standalone version that's on my account?

Any help in these matters is greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance.

[Enlightenspeed]

Why are you asking us?

At a guess...

1) Companion won't work, I think.
2) Instruments should disappear and be replaced with the "cardboard fronts".
3) No the Reason install will stay the same if your license is for 12.

I'm reasonably confident on these answers, but you need to ask customer support.

[StephenHutchinson]

Hi Enligtenspeed, thanks for the response, much appreciated. I was asking the forum because I'm sure there are more than few people like me who signed up last May, and I was just wondering what the process was. I guessed that any REs that I haven't bought would appear replaced with the cardboard fronts. I haven't done much with those for that reason alone that I'd not be using them in the future. I guess your answer number 3 gives me comfort. That's pretty much the gist of it.

[adfielding]

I realise you've probably already considered this, but as your subscription is still active it might be worth bouncing any instruments or channels using effects you won't have access to to audio. I tend to keep stems of everything I work on as a precaution, and if you don't then it might not be a bad habit to get into at least temporarily - better to have them and not need them than to think "man, I love that track but the mix could do with a tweak" further down the line and then realise there's nothing you can do.

[Steedus]

As I understand it:

1. Companion app will be no more (pretty sure it's a + thing only - at least for now). You'll have to go back to the old Authorizer app.
2. I think they will just disappear from the rack, but they will remain installed (much like when a trial expires) - so you will likely need to use Authorizer to remove them.
3. I don't have a version of Reason installed called "Reason+", just the latest Reason Version 12.yadda-yadda, so I would imagine you won't have to uninstall/re-install anything. An added bonus is (depending on your setup) you won't need to login to use reason anymore.

Mine's up at the end of May so we'll see.

[avasopht]

Yeah. That's why I didn't subscribe.

I saw that promo and just thought, cool, but it's asking me to trust a little, and while RS has always delivered in the past, my spider senses were tingling. I wrote some threads about it but based on a few decisions I've seen recently I was feeling a little sceptical.

R12 is pretty cool, and my friend who's joined #ReasonGang with an R+ subscription was blown away when I showed her how she could play chords using players, I just can't install something (and pay for it) when it's this incomplete. I might still subscribe as there are nice things and the cost is tiny anyway ... I'm just feeling a little apprehensive for some reason.

But I have to ask, would you really be content to forgo the nice little R+ perks like knowing you also have access to the many R+ dependent combinators from members?

I do suspect that they have a rather large upcoming update for R12 that will show you how R12 was really intended to be released.

[StephenHutchinson]

I realise you've probably already considered this, but as your subscription is still active it might be worth bouncing any instruments or channels using effects you won't have access to to audio. I tend to keep stems of everything I work on as a precaution, and if you don't then it might not be a bad habit to get into at least temporarily - better to have them and not need them than to think "man, I love that track but the mix could do with a tweak" further down the line and then realise there's nothing you can do.

Hi Adam, thanks for the suggestion. That's a wicked smart idea I did go back and look at some songs I have with the WAVES and WAVES Layers stuff that I should really bounce. Before Reason+ I was on a rent to own situation with those two REs and I might start that up again. The other REs I have which I haven't really created any songs with are these:


Reason Drum Kits - Replaced with Reason Drum Kits 2.0 on CD
Complex-1 - Replaced with Voltage Modular and possibly VCV in the future.
Processed Pianos - Replaced with various VST pianos (Addictive Keys, Arturia, etc)
Radical Keys - Replaced with various VST pianos (Addictive Keys, Arturia, etc)
Reason Electric Bass - Replaced with various Bass VSTs and other REs

[StephenHutchinson]

As I understand it:

1. Companion app will be no more (pretty sure it's a + thing only - at least for now). You'll have to go back to the old Authorizer app.
2. I think they will just disappear from the rack, but they will remain installed (much like when a trial expires) - so you will likely need to use Authorizer to remove them.
3. I don't have a version of Reason installed called "Reason+", just the latest Reason Version 12.yadda-yadda, so I would imagine you won't have to uninstall/re-install anything. An added bonus is (depending on your setup) you won't need to login to use reason anymore.

Mine's up at the end of May so we'll see.

Thanks for your reply Steedus. I'll respond to each points separately :

1) You're absolutely right about Authorizer.. I downloaded a free RE and watched the Authorizer box pop up on my Mac mini M1. For some reason I thought it had previously changed to a different name somehow but nope, good old Authorizer.

2) I'm thinking the same thing. I don't mind if they remain installed, as long as there is no issue with Reason 12 standalone, given it's been prone to so many bugs lately.

3) That's great if I don't have to reinstall it, although it's not that bad... I've done countless installs over the past 20 years but I just don't want my VSTs and their screenshots messed up. Ah yes, I still have my original Authorizer key, but if that doesn't work, I'll hit the Reason Account section and try to get it to Auth my Mac mini M1 so I don't have to always hit the damn LOGIN thing... it's so damn annoying.

I thought mine would be up at the end of May, but silly me... 12 months from May 2021 is April... so I'm glad I checked. Good luck with whatever you choose at the end of May.

[StephenHutchinson]

Yeah. That's why I didn't subscribe.

I saw that promo and just thought, cool, but it's asking me to trust a little, and while RS has always delivered in the past, my spider senses were tingling. I wrote some threads about it but based on a few decisions I've seen recently I was feeling a little sceptical.

R12 is pretty cool, and my friend who's joined #ReasonGang with an R+ subscription was blown away when I showed her how she could play chords using players, I just can't install something (and pay for it) when it's this incomplete. I might still subscribe as there are nice things and the cost is tiny anyway ... I'm just feeling a little apprehensive for some reason.

But I have to ask, would you really be content to forgo the nice little R+ perks like knowing you also have access to the many R+ dependent combinators from members?

I do suspect that they have a rather large upcoming update for R12 that will show you how R12 was really intended to be released.

Hi Avasopht,

Thanks for your reply. That's pretty awesome about your friend... the joy of discovery.. it's what made me buy Reason 1.0 almost 20 years ago or so. I still have it installed on my PC and it works great. All the amazing stuff that's been added along the way have been inspiring.

Other than the Sound Packs (of which I currently have almost 400 of them) I'm not sure what other perks I would be missing. Reason 12 standalone should have MIMIC and the "Combinator 2" should it not? As mentioned in a previous reply above the only REs I would be losing are:

Layers
Layers WAVE
Reason Drum Kits
Complex-1
Processed Pianos
Radical Keys
Reason Electric Bass

So if "Combinator 2" combinators (is that redundant? haha) are made with these specific REs, then I wouldn't be able to access them of course. Most of the "Combinator 2" stuff I've seen and downloaded should work well.

I do hope that the work continues on with fixing Reason 12 and that we won't have to wait for another $199 paid upgrade to Reason 13 to have this stuff fixed.

[earwig83]

this is exactly why the subscription paradigm is consumer cancer. It should be vehemently rejected. Ownership and access to working files in (reasonable) perpetuity is a hard requirement for me and many others.