It's a total head scratcher really.
R8 focuses on collaboration, but still does not seem to have any official way to "discover" and connect directly with other users.
R8 says proudly that "This instrument creates music," then undermines the entire profession in the Terms of Service:
3.1 You retain all of your ownership rights in the Content that you create or upload to the Sharing Services. However, by uploading Content you grant every user and Propellerhead a non-exclusive right to use your music (with the right to sublicense). The license includes a right to copy, reproduce, communicate to the public, distribute, prepare derivative works of, modify and adapt your Content – even for commercial purposes – in any and all media and distribution methods and to the extent permitted by the Terms of Service. The license applies worldwide and is royalty-free and irrevocable.
Anyone that values their work as an artist would refuse such a contract. Only someone that has some sort of cash problem and needs to startup some hustle right now would agree to that.
Also, collaboration is even more difficult because the entire premise of the RE shop is unrealistic. In order for RE modules to be a creative and collaborative array of musical tools, every user has to buy all of them. Anything less, and user A can't work with user B because one of them doesn't also have device C. You can export to stems, but even small adjustments to settings can make the difference between "what you have to work with" and "happy accidents that make the track".
So, no. I'm not sold on R8+ so far. I think the only way I would have my mind changed is if R9 came out and demolished Studio One 3. But that's unlikely.
They need to watch out because everyone else is figuring out how to do the modular thing better than they do. They risk becoming an anachronism.
One last thought I had recently might be oversimplifying, but I found it so strange I had to laugh.
Other DAWs have risked alienating established users by changing things from one major release to the next. They prioritize increasing the creative potential over preserving the same user experience. In some cases, like with me for instance, potential users see the features of the new version and say "wow, I can instantly see how I would need that, that, and that on a daily basis" and start reaching for their wallets. The changes entice new users. Reason, on the other hand, preserves the same user experience, such that when old users who haven't touched the software in years come back, they will be able to get going again easily because "their room is just the way they left it before they left home." One strategy drives a user base, the other strategy hopes that former users come back someday.
That's just my thoughts, but I found that so funny from an absurd perspective that I just stopped what I was doing, sat back, laughed, and pondered the comparison with wide eyes and an open smile for several minutes. The only feeling I can compare it to is when you find an easy solution to what seemed like a complex problem, or when you're hanging out with some of your high school friends a few years later and you get that gut feeling that you've moved on in your life and they just aren't your type of people anymore.
Until they can overcome that image, I'm waiting for a fall sale for Studio One 3.
you never know if a client wants to work with reason 8 and I don't have it. Waiting after the release of R9 will prevent my opportunity of getting a R8 license.