Reason shifts one gear up now - reclaim back the top?

[tewoc]

I hope that Reason Studios will now shift up a gear and implement more workflow DAW features like a clip looper or whatever in short intervals to become the best all-in-one DAW on the market.

It's time to reclaim back the top spot.

[wendylou]

For my use, it doesn't matter if they are No. 1 or not, although I am often reminded that Reason is increasingly omitted from DAW ratings or comparison lists over the years. Indeed, after I got a Stream Deck to control Reason, I was dismayed that https://www.sideshowfx.net had Stream Deck software for every other DAW, including Reaper, but not Reason! (I even wrote their CTO and they declined to make one for Reason, so that's when I knew Reason was lagging in popularity). Still, I'm cheering for Reason to be embraced more widely.

[parma]

Reason has never been in the "top spot" for DAWs. I mean, almost half its life it wasn't even really a DAW at all.

[Theo.M]

Hmmmm. I never really thought of any DAW as the best, just what I like to use that fits the workflow of my brain. I was able to learn Reason with a few bits of help from the kind forum folk and the rest was just instinct, and that tells me it's a well designed DAW for me.
To this day I find Reaper, for example, and DP, totally unusable, so it doesn't matter what features they have or how powerful they are, they simply do not gel with me whatsoever. IMO that's how a DAW should be judged. And then of course, if one loves a certain DAW and wants certain features in it to complete it, nothing wrong with that at all. But I'd still use Reason as is, ANY day, over the two above mentioned (oh, and also FL Studio which rounds out the 3 I could never use), no matter what features they might add in the future vs Reason.
So sure, feature requests are great, I have some too (for example I really want the master channel EQ low cut filter to have a direct wired on/off option into an EQ sidechain for the master buss compressor, and I want delay compensation to be improved amongst other things), but they don't stop me using the software or enjoying it. Look at Pro Tools, it's always ragged on and being endlessly compared to the competitors but almost always in an unfavourable light, and I would use it over all of them cause it works for *me*. I genuinely love it and switched to it as my main DAW, yet when I DID have a commercial studio, I used Logic. Go figure. I tried it out of sheer curiosity one day back in 2018 and was instantly hooked - it was always the internet that had put me off it prior to that. I find some of the comments to be quite ridiculous, as soon as anything PT is mentioned, people jump in to say how behind the times or how crap it is and so on, and it's just not, IMO anyway.
Pro tools never makes any top 5 lists but it's better for me personally cause of the workflow. I think Reason plugin in Pro Tools is a fantastic combination but Reason standalone is wonderful too, and I too hope they continue improving it for all of us. As far as the general internet, which means nothing in reality, I doubt Reason will ever make any number one lists. But that's fine by me, as it's great and I consider those not using it to be the ones missing out on something special.

[dakta]

I think the responses actually open a tin can of 'heres a valid question'

does reason actually need to be top shelf to succeed?

There's a lot of assumption it does. But does it? If they can power the lights with a small loyal userbase who can get the word done the way reason does it, does all this pressure of competing with everything else even come to anything?

The somewhat tongue in cheek line 'Reason isn't a DAW, reason is reason' does carry meaning.

Getting into Reason has the feel I'd imagine having an Apple did in the 90's. Your buying into someone's idea of what computing is, and you've gone that way because it just so happens works for you. Has it occurred to anyone that Reason isn't actually trying to be 'everyones DAW?'

[AnotherMathias]

Dakta, I think you really summarized my viewpoint well!
I think we're better of when we can let Reason do its own thing, rather than wishing for it to be everything to everyone.

The me-too game of expecting Reason to do the same stuff as all the other DAWs is pretty exhausting. Personally, I'm extreme to the point that I only use REs within Reason - VSTs, in my mind, dilute the Reason-ness of the design, if nothing else because you have to leave the rack environment to do it. (though I do use VSTs and AUs, in other DAWs)

The question is, if Reason were to fully embrace the "90's Apple" mindset, would they have enough revenue to stay alive? Perhaps if they could free themselves of the pressure of a corporate investor (where growth and profits are everything), and scale it down to a core group of clever visionaries getting to do whatever they want, they could be sustainable at a smaller scale.

[Yonatan]

The bigger things missing would be video sync and clip-style-live-sequencing.

Then ofcourse there are supports for MPE and such type of things. And support for VST midi, Midi 2, flac export and all that sort of compatibility.

But other than that, most things people seem to be concerned about is such workflow things as folders, markers, punch-in rec etc.

[gullum]

there is a reason I used Reason for the last 18 years and some of those reasons is what other companies blot their DAW's with. I love reason for being simple flexible and out of the way for the most part. Reason to me does not need all the futures that others have, In all these years I have not once run into a wall because reason couldn't do what I needed it to do, well thats after version 6,5 when I could record audio

[motuscott]

I really like Reason's audio comping.
There, I said it.

[AnotherMathias]

The bigger things missing would be video sync and clip-style-live-sequencing.

Then ofcourse there are supports for MPE and such type of things. And support for VST midi, Midi 2, flac export and all that sort of compatibility.

But other than that, most things people seem to be concerned about is such workflow things as folders, markers, punch-in rec etc.

The mindset that certain things are missing assumes that those features really should have to be there eventually.
But if we accept that Reason doesn't want to be another me-too DAW, then we might also accept that if we want those things, perhaps we should look elsewhere. That doesn't mean that anything is wrong, or that Reason is somehow lagging behind.

For example, a musical score editor, something a lot of DAWs have - is that something Reason is "missing"? Or is that simply something you should use another piece of software for?
Well, that's how I feel about clip launching, video playback, etc.

That being said, I agree that Reason could benefit from tons of improvements in terms of workflow, audio capabilities, rack devices, and things we haven't yet thought about (and the rate of improvements we do get are painfully slow). But I want it to be done Reason-style.

To see something done in another DAW, and immediately wish for the same thing to be possible in Reason just shows a lack of imagination.

[Baylo]

It’s strategy 101 really. RS should be thinking about what problem are they trying to solve, for what group of potential users, and how do they do it in a way that is valuable/differentiated from others trying to solve the same problem? That means making decisions about what they are and - just as importantly - what they are not.

They’ve been pretty clear that their goal is to provide the tools that let you quickly compose music that helps you “sound like you” and generally gets out of the way. So does it have all the bells and whistles? No. Does it largely accomplish its goals? I’d say yes. It provides the basics that it has to in order to exist in a market and then focuses attention on the differentiators that address its strategic choices.

Now obviously every user has their own wishlist and preferences. One user’s “basic functionality” may be another’s “I don’t need that”. But strategy works by defining groups and then meeting enough of the chosen group’s needs to be successful. This is really the thinking that underlies the oft-expressed sentiment (here and in every single other marketplace) by “fanboys” of “if you don’t like it, use something else”.

[tewoc]

No, markers, trackfolders and looper comping are so ultra-basic-basic, even freeware has it. Its about to have fun and work fast (as they say) - how can you ignore basic-basic-features, that are essential to fulfill their claim.
Bad strategy right now, hope they are going to change it with R13 release. Its not so much to to, there youre right, but they need to work really on the workflow destroying issues of the DAW.

[Yonatan]

The bigger things missing would be video sync and clip-style-live-sequencing.

Then ofcourse there are supports for MPE and such type of things. And support for VST midi, Midi 2, flac export and all that sort of compatibility.

But other than that, most things people seem to be concerned about is such workflow things as folders, markers, punch-in rec etc.

The mindset that certain things are missing assumes that those features really should have to be there eventually.
But if we accept that Reason doesn't want to be another me-too DAW, then we might also accept that if we want those things, perhaps we should look elsewhere. That doesn't mean that anything is wrong, or that Reason is somehow lagging behind.

For example, a musical score editor, something a lot of DAWs have - is that something Reason is "missing"? Or is that simply something you should use another piece of software for?
Well, that's how I feel about clip launching, video playback, etc.

That being said, I agree that Reason could benefit from tons of improvements in terms of workflow, audio capabilities, rack devices, and things we haven't yet thought about (and the rate of improvements we do get are painfully slow). But I want it to be done Reason-style.

To see something done in another DAW, and immediately wish for the same thing to be possible in Reason just shows a lack of imagination.

Maybe AI can soon help companies develop at greater pace and we will see a bit faster progress. It takes time to develop and code and implement things with graphic and user experience adaptions. Not a snap at a finger.
RS have always wanted to find their take on things, that also takes its time to grow mature until the idea is as good and realistic it can be.

Also, I am not using the word "missing" features as in some doomed meaning. I would love being able to use Reason synced with video but at the same time, there are DAWs that do that already , so in the meantime one can use the Reason Rack in Logic Pro etc. I might rather see some other ideas implemented than that they put all effort in that alone, but video is so so mainstream today so it need be supported at one point or another. But also there are so many codecs and standards in video field so I can see why they would hesitate. I once used some VST plugin but it was cumbersome.

RS have their priority list of what they think is most important. Ideas do take time to grow. I don't want RS to throw in some half-thought-through thing just to please the audience/users. If they do, they will get a storm of critique on that as well. I like their Players idea and it allows for some fun playing but I do see some need for live-sequencing capabilities in to work more non-linear with Blocks and Players in some way. I am sure they ponder on many creative ways to solve some limitations now existing, to make it even easier to come up with a dynamic composition. We users will try find our work-arounds wherever we can, but some things just need be solved at a basic structure by introducing new solutions.

But I put trust in that RS-team do investigate a lot in what their next step will be and they always work on problems behind the scene that we have zero knowings about, that may need a lot of processing until it is implemented or put at the shelf for prioritizing something else at the moment.

[Baylo]

No, markers, trackfolders and looper comping are so ultra-basic-basic, even freeware has it. Its about to have fun and work fast (as they say) - how can you ignore basic-basic-features, that are essential to fulfill their claim.
Bad strategy right now, hope they are going to change it with R13 release. Its not so much to to, there youre right, but they need to work really on the workflow destroying issues of the DAW.

For the three items you identified - markers, folders, looper - I would actually agree! I’d love to have those, too. I think they’re features that are highly consistent with the strategic goal. But there is a difference between a bad strategy and bad (or incomplete) execution of the strategy. The point I was trying to make was that people who think Reason should be competing feature-for-feature with Protools, Cubase, etc are missing the point about strategic choices. This is why the CEO says Netflix are their competition. And why users need to consider whether their goal is to drill a hole or hammer a nail before they pick up a tool from the workbench.