Syncing Favorites between Reason 10 on Mac and PC?

[drhfk]

Hi! I would like to sync favorites (in the Reason Browser) between Reason on my Mac and my PC, e.g., if I add a kick to my favorite kicks on the Mac I would like to see that change on my PC as well.

• On the Mac, favorites are in /Users/[name]/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Reason in .favo and .popular files

• On the PC, the corresponding directory is C: \Documents and Settings\[name]\Application Data\Propellerhead Software

I tried moving the target folder to Dropbox and drop symlinks into the original locations (on the Mac and PC), but that does not work. Reason crashes. Is there a way to do this?

Best,
drhfk

[ShawnG]

Short answer: nope.

Favorites are just directory links, and since OSX and windows have different file structures, they can't be the same, The 2 operating systems also use different file systems, and the hard drives are formatted differently, which also does not help. Maybe someday if reason goes full cloud, then perhaps.

[mcatalao]

This should work at the file level If the format is the same. Reason manages that just fine at song and refill levels. But start by small steps.

I'd first grab a favorites file from the pc and put it on the mac or vice versa. If reason doesn't brake on either machine just start working out the sync process afterwards.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

[mcatalao]

Short answer: nope.

Favorites are just directory links, and since OSX and windows have different file structures, they can't be the same, The 2 operating systems also use different file systems, and the hard drives are formatted differently, which also does not help. Maybe someday if reason goes full cloud, then perhaps.

This is not totally correct, the fact that hdd formats are different does not invalidate both os's manage file copy and interchange them quite nicely. I've opened plenty of reason patches, songs, templates, etc that were done in mac and I'm sure people has done it backwards. The same is true for a bunch of other formats like mp3, every office document type, etc, etc.

Also the case for Linux boxes. All my stuff is backed up to a nas with a proprietary hdd format. The nas os is based in centos and all devices cope syncing with it.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

[okaino]

Hey while we are on this is it possible to assign keyboard shortcuts to favorite folders in reason? If so how?

[Magnus]

Short answer: nope.

Favorites are just directory links, and since OSX and windows have different file structures, they can't be the same, The 2 operating systems also use different file systems, and the hard drives are formatted differently, which also does not help. Maybe someday if reason goes full cloud, then perhaps.

This is not totally correct, the fact that hdd formats are different does not invalidate both os's manage file copy and interchange them quite nicely. I've opened plenty of reason patches, songs, templates, etc that were done in mac and I'm sure people has done it backwards. The same is true for a bunch of other formats like mp3, every office document type, etc, etc.

Also the case for Linux boxes. All my stuff is backed up to a nas with a proprietary hdd format. The nas os is based in centos and all devices cope syncing with it.

Sent from my WAS-LX1A using Tapatalk

The problem is not NTFS vs HFS+ per se, it's that the locations are hard-coded into the favourites/locations file in a way that is OS specific thus this part of Reason isn't cross compatible in the way that song files, rack patches etc. are.

[mcatalao]

The problem is not NTFS vs HFS+ per se, it's that the locations are hard-coded into the favourites/locations file in a way that is OS specific thus this part of Reason isn't cross compatible in the way that song files, rack patches etc. are.

I understand that, but you can sync at the file level to a cloud system on either platform. Heck you can even copy the files to another folder, sync from there and back.

[Magnus]

The problem is not NTFS vs HFS+ per se, it's that the locations are hard-coded into the favourites/locations file in a way that is OS specific thus this part of Reason isn't cross compatible in the way that song files, rack patches etc. are.

I understand that, but you can sync at the file level to a cloud system on either platform. Heck you can even copy the files to another folder, sync from there and back.

I still don't think you quite grasp why hard-coded OS specific paths don't work, as your example has nothing to do with that. Propellerhead would have had to write some custom code to convert paths between the OSes when reading the favourites files at Reason runtime; and I just don't think that would have been worth their effort. Thus the favourites paths are hard-coded into the file in a way that is OS specific and therefore the favourites files simply cannot be cross compatible.

On Windows the locations will be hard-coded into the favourite file as things like:

C:\Users\M.Catalao\Desktop\ReFills\Lots-O-Sounds.rfl
D:\Archive\Old Sounds\Patches\

on Mac the locations will be hard-coded into the favourite file as things like:

/Users/M.Catalao/Downloads/Mega-Sounds.rfl
/Volumes/External Mac Disk/Reason Stuff/My Patches/

The way paths work on Windows and Mac is different and Propellerhead obviously decided not to try and do any logic to cross convert paths if a favourite file being loaded has been generated on a different OS; and you can't really blame them given the inherent differences between the systems.

[mcatalao]

Dumm mode off!

Ok, i get it. The problem is not the sync'ing but the linking at the favorites file level because the folder structure can't never be the same between a Mac and a PC.

Thank's for the explanation.

[Magnus]

Dumm mode off!

Ok, i get it. The problem is not the sync'ing but the linking at the favorites file level because the folder structure can't never be the same between a Mac and a PC.

Thank's for the explanation.

No worries man! Hopefully one day Reason in the cloud will make operating system irrelevant to the favourites

[dannyF]

I don't think this is a folder structure issue. Reason knows what rack extensions it has and how to get to them. When a favorite is created in reason its not pointing to a folder on the OS, but it looks to me like its telling reason what Rack Extension to put into this Favorite. Reason does the connecting to the rack extension. The Favorite just tells reason what ones to collect. It has noting to do with directories.

I am recently attempting to do this. But my approach will be just to grab all the favorites and drop them onto a windows machine from a mac. Will report back.

[dannyF]

Yup, confirmed.

I copied the favorite file from my mac, dropped it onto windows machine location and it shows up.

No problems.

PC Location of Favorites:
C:\Users\daniel\AppData\Roaming\Propellerhead Software\Reason

Mac Location of Favorites:
/Users/df/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Reason

[Fotu]

I just confirmed the other direction: copying .favo files from a Windows PC to a Mac (Mojave) as described by dannyF works properly for patches that come with various standard and purchased REs. (The only favs not resolved (marked with a yellow triangle) were some custom patches which I've stored in a custom spot on my PC; makes sense they would not resolve.)

Poking in the .favo files I would have thought also there were only hard-coded paths, so kudos to Props for this platform portability!