Using RE plugins in another DAW is amazing, also a question re latency

[Theo.M]

Just thought this might be an interesting topic to those not using Reason as their one stop shop DAW.

lately, I have been heavily using Reason as both a VST plugin in S1 and an AAX plugin in Pro Tools, and I am absolutely floored with it, in the best way possible.

All the native plugins have the usual ridiculously low cpu usage and don't seem to add much if any overhead with the vst/aax/au plugin, and so far, ALL rack extensions that I have tried have worked.

Furthermore, all the players are fully functional. So I am able to use Reason's Chords and Arps and Bass players with literally any sound from any Factory synth or RE, right there as a regular AAX/VST/AU instrument plugin.

It gets even better. Multi outputs are supported, so I can even use say for example, Redrum and each sound have it's own mixer channel in PT. That's pretty crazy cause PT's mixer is very powerful.

I have been testing multiple instances too, and I just haven't run across any issues yet.

Another bonus, for those DAWs that don't preview rex files in time to project tempo correctly (for example, Cubase and Logic do NOT tempo preview Rex files correctly during project playback), you can do that via Dr Rex, which is my preferred Rex file instrument anyway.

I am writing this because for those using other DAWs or on the fence, I am strongly, without reservation, recommending those who can, to buy Reason to use as a plugin in their preferred DAW.

I mean, really, it's worth it just for the sounds/instruments/effects included (and yes, you can use Reason effects as insert effects in your external DAW via the Reason plugin), but the fact it's so expandable with REs and players is just the icing on the cake.

I think propellerheads made the absolute correct decision focusing solely on the Reason Rack as a DAW plugin - Sure, I still miss rewire as a protocol, I think it was ahead of its time and still very much current when it was deprecated, but let's be straight here - Props created Rewire to use Reason with other DAWs, that was its primary purpose, and the plugin, as far as using Reason with your DAW goes, far exceeds it, including total recall within just one project.

The question part is that I still need to work out is if the Reason rack is reporting latency to the external plugin - the only latent plugins I have used are Neptune and Tapefunk, but by design, those don't report their latency to the Reason mixer, therefore are not relevant in this discussion.
Does anyone own or have used RE's that DO report their latency to the Reason mixer, and tested whether that translates over to the DAW plugin?

cheers!

[Pepin]

The question part is that I still need to work out is if the Reason rack is reporting latency to the external plugin - the only latent plugins I have used are Neptune and Tapefunk, but by design, those don't report their latency to the Reason mixer, therefore are not relevant in this discussion.
Does anyone own or have used RE's that DO report their latency to the Reason mixer, and tested whether that translates over to the DAW plugin?

In my experience, the rack plugin does report latency with similar caveats as the DAW.
The stock Softube amps report latency, so you can use those to test yourself.

The manual details various cases where PDC is not applied. Effects within Combinator instruments don't report latency for instance (though Combinator effects do).

[Theo.M]

The question part is that I still need to work out is if the Reason rack is reporting latency to the external plugin - the only latent plugins I have used are Neptune and Tapefunk, but by design, those don't report their latency to the Reason mixer, therefore are not relevant in this discussion.
Does anyone own or have used RE's that DO report their latency to the Reason mixer, and tested whether that translates over to the DAW plugin?

In my experience, the rack plugin does report latency with similar caveats as the DAW.
The stock Softube amps report latency, so you can use those to test yourself.

The manual details various cases where PDC is not applied. Effects within Combinator instruments don't report latency for instance (though Combinator effects do).

Brilliant, thanks, I had no idea re Softube amps.
Again, thanks for the comprehensive info. Mucho gracias!

[DaveyG]

Furthermore, all the players are fully functional. So I am able to use Reason's Chords and Arps and Bass players with literally any sound from any Factory synth or RE, right there as a regular AAX/VST/AU instrument plugin.

The players have been my favourite part of Reason for quite a while now. I've got loads of Studio One songs which include one or two instances of RRP which each only contain one Player and drive a VST in S1. Using the RRP like that lets me capture the MIDI into the S1 piano roll, which is superb for note editing. R13 looks to be taking a few tentative steps towards integrating editing tools with the piano roll, which is good news, but Studio One and FL Studio (and probably some others) are several orders of magnitude ahead when it comes to commands and macros for piano roll editing. Reason has a lot of catching up to do, assuming the will is there to do so.

[Theo.M]

Furthermore, all the players are fully functional. So I am able to use Reason's Chords and Arps and Bass players with literally any sound from any Factory synth or RE, right there as a regular AAX/VST/AU instrument plugin.

The players have been my favourite part of Reason for quite a while now. I've got loads of Studio One songs which include one or two instances of RRP which each only contain one Player and drive a VST in S1. Using the RRP like that lets me capture the MIDI into the S1 piano roll, which is superb for note editing. R13 looks to be taking a few tentative steps towards integrating editing tools with the piano roll, which is good news, but Studio One and FL Studio (and probably some others) are several orders of magnitude ahead when it comes to commands and macros for piano roll editing. Reason has a lot of catching up to do, assuming the will is there to do so.

Totally agree.

Also, thanks to the mods for moving the topic. For some reason, and honestly so, I had not noticed the reason rack plugin sub forum - very sorry about that to all, will be more careful next time.