Reason Studios shares their roadmap (September 7, 2021)

[scotward57]

This new transparency is very much welcomed and appreciated. Big thumbs up for Reason Studios on that one.

Agreed! That is one of the coolest blog posts I've ever seen. I was wrong about RS in the sense that I thought they were directionless. But this post clears up some misconceptions and even signals some foresight on their part. I'd like to see them partner with other DAW companies and have them adopt the Reason Rack paradigm on a deeper level. I want Logic Alchemy, Sculpture inside the rack with full CV routing, for example.

But this open and transparent way of doing business is the most intriguing aspect of all. Excited to see what happens!

[rorystorm]

I'm +1 for midi freeze. But what I really want is to double click on a parameter and type in the exact value. The cumulative hours I've spent backwardsing and forwardsing even using the shift key.... it frightens me.

[robotgard]

delete

[raymondh]

My wishlist for the investigation categories:


New devices :
- Build-your-own synth - e.g. A Malstrom oscillator + a Subtractor Osc feeding a Thor Filter and signal path, all sitting behind a nice Combinator 2 UI. Plus some more features e.g. analog filter model, multi-point envelope generator (PX7 style or drawable), drift/condition/panning per oscillator.
- More production devices - Scream2/saturator, Pulveriser2, multiband compressor, LUFS metering,...
- Upgrade existing production device to be more graphical UI's e.g. Spectrum EQ window can be used with the SSL EQ rack device, upgraded UI on the MClass EQ.
- Remote mapper that no longer requires editing text files to map control surfaces to devices.

Tight integration with other DAWs :
- faster loading - hear hear!
- Make reason devices appear as individual plugins to host DAW rather than the two step add Reason Rack, then add device
- drag and drop - wherever that's feasible between RRP and host DAW
- Some way of cabling across multiple RRP instances. e.g. "Cable Portal" Where a cable gets assigned to a slot that can be read by an RRP on a different track. That would be cool and very powerful!

Immediate musical results :
- Presets for MIDI Out Device, setting the MIDI device, channel, CC parameters etc.
- The sequencer improvements identified by others (less important to me now I'm using Reaper for DAW)

[deeplink]

I would regard the road map consisting of some pretty big changes.

It would be nice if they sprinkled the small quality of life additions in there too;

- Sequencer - When resizing Audio clip - Snap to Zero Crossing or to Slice
- Sequencer - Snapping Relative/Absolute as a check box
- Sequencer - Audition audio clips in sequencer with Speaker Tool
- Sequencer - Shift+Up/Down to Transpose by Octave to Work on Midi Clips (arrangement view)
- Rack - Bypass in VST window
- Rack - VU reading on Rack Meters
- General - Option for VST window stays open as default
- General - Relative note display in Freq Spectrum

[MrFigg]

Sorry but personally this to me is just a disguised, shameful apology for a rushed and incomplete release. That's the way I read it anyway and I'm not a particularly negative person at the worst of times.

Smart browser – October
In Reason 12 we delivered a new fresh and fast browsing experience. In October we plan to ship an update that organizes all your content in a better way and makes finding patches and sounds much easier

Read: We'll fix the bugs in the browser and finish the originally planned update.

Hi-res rest of Reason – October
For Reason 12 the focus was to make the rack hi-res but in October we will ship an update that updates the remaining parts of the sequencer and UI to hi-res too.

Read: Yeah...everything was supposed to by hi-res but we didn't get that finished in time

More styles for Combinator 2.0 - November
Most of us spend too much time choosing the right button or knob to make our Combinators really pop. They make the Combinator so much more fun, and we want to have an even broader selection. And my personal testing shows that good looking Combinators sound better too..

Read: We've been working on the new combinator for ages but then within just a week or two after release we realised that it wasn't as good as it should have been

M1 support – December
Reason will be updated to run natively on the Apple M1 processor.

Read: (Well I can't really comment on this as I don't know how long M1 processors have been in use but I'd guess it has been quite a time before the R12 release date)

VST3 support –January
Yes, you read that right! VST3 support is coming to Reason. This is a big project, but we are working to deliver this as soon as possible which is why it’ll take a bit longer than other stuff on the roadmap

Great . Thanks for letting us know.

And all the bugs?! Some which were reported and acknowledged as early as R10. Oh well.

[Heater]

Native M1 support. Fantastic.

[wowhow]

Could video support be under investigation too? It would be so much fun to drop a video into reason to make music.
If we could crop videos or even put visual effects in the videos with reason devices (cv outputs maybe) that would be so much fun I think.

[Neo]

Sorry but personally this to me is just a disguised, shameful apology for a rushed and incomplete release. That's the way I read it anyway and I'm not a particularly negative person at the worst of times.

Smart browser – October
In Reason 12 we delivered a new fresh and fast browsing experience. In October we plan to ship an update that organizes all your content in a better way and makes finding patches and sounds much easier

Read: We'll fix the bugs in the browser and finish the originally planned update.

Hi-res rest of Reason – October
For Reason 12 the focus was to make the rack hi-res but in October we will ship an update that updates the remaining parts of the sequencer and UI to hi-res too.

Read: Yeah...everything was supposed to by hi-res but we didn't get that finished in time

More styles for Combinator 2.0 - November
Most of us spend too much time choosing the right button or knob to make our Combinators really pop. They make the Combinator so much more fun, and we want to have an even broader selection. And my personal testing shows that good looking Combinators sound better too..

Read: We've been working on the new combinator for ages but then within just a week or two after release we realised that it wasn't as good as it should have been

M1 support – December
Reason will be updated to run natively on the Apple M1 processor.

Read: (Well I can't really comment on this as I don't know how long M1 processors have been in use but I'd guess it has been quite a time before the R12 release date)

VST3 support –January
Yes, you read that right! VST3 support is coming to Reason. This is a big project, but we are working to deliver this as soon as possible which is why it’ll take a bit longer than other stuff on the roadmap

Great . Thanks for letting us know.

And all the bugs?! Some which were reported and acknowledged as early as R10. Oh well.

Hence my reply with ".. I won't hold my breath". This is surely/possibly a bit of damage control given all the feedback here and on youtube (obviously?). Lets see shall we, here's hoping they deliver on the r.map.. just dont ask me for another $180AUD for what still feels like a beta build (as much as i like the update!). Hopefully with some money flow RS can push out some fixes sooner than later.

[helmutson]

... and now I fall on my knees and ask for forgiveness

But seriously , I welcome this new attitude. Lets see how close it will be at reality ... next stop October, full HiRes DAW !

[Ottostrom]

- Sequencer - Snapping Relative/Absolute as a check box

This one is desperately needed!
When working with a lot of audio tracks I get so paranoid while moving stuff around that I have to zoom in every time to check if it landed in the right spot, which kills my flow.
I can't get a grip on when it switches between relative and absolute...

[Heater]

Who do I have to kill to get track freeze?

[michael.jaye]

If I recall correctly, they've said once before previously that they would be more open with their users. Since it would've been much more effective if this roadmap was released prior to R12 in quelling much of the speculation and negative comments, I think their hand has been forced this time to relese such a Road Map.

[Matt_Man]

Well done RS! this is a step in the right direction! Lets hope they continue this road of transparency.

Really happy that DAW improvements have been listed - heres hoping Reason has a bright future as a stand alone system

[Onkel Paul]

Thanks Matthias and Reason Studios for sharing the plan.
As you asked for feedback, here is my view. I am not part of the target audience, so it will not be of much value, but here it goes anyhow.

Now that I know what was delivered now and what to expect in a future Roadmap, I do not see that I will upgrade from Reason 11 Suite now or then. There is nothing in it for me. I am not in beat making or sound design. I only use the rack in Studio One, and that not very often.
I do not see a need for Hi-Res, but I may be ignorant with regards to that feature that so many celebrate. I do not need VST3 support from Reason, as I have that in my DAW (and many many features more that I need). New devices – forgive me if I am sceptical about the quality that may be expected. You Tube Videos and this forums entries made me cautious.

The only thing I can imagine as valuable for me would be a tighter Integration with Studio One. But shelling out the money for a full upgrade with all the things I do not use, not need or do not care for would be stupid. And a reasonable price tag for a better Integration of a plug-in that I seldom use? I cannot imagine that this will happen. And yet, as you say “Roughly half of you are using Reason in another DAW”. That may be a customer base (and I can imagine that amount will grow) that should be considered.

Having that said, I would like to see an upgrade path for Reason 11 users that brings this tighter Integration to their existing RRP at a reasonable price.

ADENDUM; I just saw today that you even raise the price for an update soon. Well, it was nice while it lasted, but we have drifted to far apart.

[alipi]

Hello Reason Studios,

I appreciate the announcement. Acknowledging and fixing the paid update not delivering the expected full DAW HD graphics.

From the future list, I believe core DAW feature/UX improvements and overall polish should have the highest priority. One minor example is to remember all my settings between version updates; this might not be as an exciting fix as others, but as an end-user it's really frustrating to have to start over on each update (lacking craftsmanship and attention to details impression). Tracking workflow improvements, maybe retire the tool window and integrate it and more in the main UI and make shortcuts more configurable (FL Studio inspiration)? Tack freeze / mixing mode. Maybe expand the block functionality (old-school trackers or Renoise inspiration)? MIDI channels. MPE. Native dark theme including the main window and popups. Improved font and rendering. RGB/expanded color selector. Auto and manual grouping of instruments and effects based on metadata and user tags. Better presentation of VSTs (why do I have to manually take screenshots? Just add a default on first load). Global volume control (reported issue during R12 beta).

Regarding plugin specific improvements, I think they should have a lower priority than core improvements this time. In my opinion "New devices" should have the lowest priority, although I understand that maybe not all engineers can work on core improvements.

Just some quick shower thoughts, I'm sure there are many more core improvements that others have already reported.

[Steedus]

Very much appreciate the candor. Hands down, that means a hell of a lot to some of us.

But I also think R12 was released too early. Much like the gaming industry is prone to delays (especially these days), financial reasons not withstanding, it might've been better to just delay the initial release. Some of these things feel like tying up loose ends from a premature release.

[utdgrant]

I just wanted to say that I was VERY pleased to read this. Great to see some transparency from RS. That is all!

[jam-s]

I really hope we'll get quarterly updates on the roadmap from now on.

[deigm]

Here's my list in no particular order.
I think they fit nicely in the 'Immediate musical results' category

• Save samples with patch
• VST midi out
• Improved controller mapping (no more editing text files)
• Audio lanes
• Zoom per device in the rack
• 'dont ask me again' check-box on login screen
• Highlight scales on piano roll
• Drag and drop audio clips from sequencer directly to kong pads / mimic slots, VSTs, etc
• Trigger blocks with kong!
• Bypass button on devices. Make that switch just on/off and put a toggle button next to it for bypass. Would be so much easier to audition changes and map to controllers. .

Great to see this roadmap.

[Loque]

...
• Save samples with patch
...

Oh dear...yes...

[MrFigg]

Is this turning in to another Reason wishlist thread?

[AnotherMathias]

Is this turning in to another Reason wishlist thread?

It sure seems that way!

Which is ironic, since the roadmap tells us not only what they are going to be doing, but also what they are NOT going to be doing.

Implementing requested workflow features seems to be in the “not” category.

[zebbleganubi]

Anyone interested in animated/gif backgrounds for CMBv2 so you can make one knobs that look like endless smile?

yea! and let us control the speed the animation plays back at so you can have sync up to something else

[JRRC]

This statement goes to show what a convoluted mess its all become.
Simultaneously Reason Studios needs to add value and attract spend from DAW users, from RRP users and from R+ users while still offering maintenance on current offerings.
Instead of prioritising those features and requests which will cover most users and bring them along each step they instead throw out features which will satisfy one group over others. This is then all disguised by telling us they are levelling up the rack.
R+ users will become a greater distraction, it will always require constant attention because of the desire for constant shiny new toys.