Unreliable REs

[mguh22]

I used Reason 5 and Record for ages and never ever had any problems with opening songs.

These days, I find within Reason 7 that even just opening a song with an RE in can sometimes result in it not loading properly and then I have to close Reason completely and reload it again; second time lucky for the song to load.

Of all my REs, it seems currently that PX7 and Radical Piano are the two which are most likely to stop working and require me to reload. Sometimes they load fine but an Undo involving them or perhaps deleting or adding a new one of them to a session can be enough to cause issues.

Bit disappointed when it happens, especially given these are both first party REs. I don't find it ever happens with the Props A-List guitarist REs I use in most songs however.

Anyone else find this to happen, especially with Radical Piano or PX7 or is it perhaps something in my setup causing the sporadic RE conflicts?

[joeyluck]

I have this happen with Parsec. I'm on Reason 8.3
I haven't been able to pinpoint the issue. I always figured it had something to do with my MIDI or audio interface acting up. It only happens occasionally, but I haven't reported it. I will remember to report it next time it happens. Thanks for the reminder.

For me, all I have to do is delete the device and create a new one. It never happens a second time within a session. And it never happens when I'm opening a song and never prevents me from opening a song—only seldom happens when I create a device.

[dvdrtldg]

Mixfood Ambi Nature has a few hiccups when controlled with a Matrix. Nothing serious, but a bit glitchy. Reminds me I've been meaning to contact the dev about it

Mr Overdrive was causing the occasional crash, but I think that's been fixed? I haven't used it in a while

[Libraquaricorn]

I've never had any problems with any of those REs and certainly not with the loading of projects. I have had a few crashes though, with projects I have left open on my computer between sessions. When I've come back I find a message saying this or that device has stopped working. Good thing I always save when I leave my computer for a while, and I have never had any problems loading the crashed project back up again. Every time I've had a crash like this I figure it is because i've used loads and loads of different LFOs that keep running all these crazy modulations I've set up all over the place even after I've pressed the stop button on the transport panel. I guess Little LFO has caused the most number of crashes like this, but I've never really experienced it as a problem as such.

And, oh, I'm on Reason 7 with a windows pc..

[satyr32]

I got this problem with Parsec, Overdrive sometimes. Very often with Carve.

[willowman]

mixfood...my system acts the dick with anything from mixfood...8.3 and windows 8

[ebop]

I got this problem with Parsec, Overdrive sometimes. Very often with Carve.

Yeah Carve crashed for me a few times when I hooked RP Punch up to it. I like the concept of Carve but don't use it anymore because of this.

[Loque]

Carve crashed also very often on my system. I reported it to the dev but never get a answer. Also Quad from RP has some peak problems, but did not reported it yet.

But some other bugs i found were fixed very quick by the devs. A big thanks again here for that great support.

[JiggeryPokery]

Of all my REs, it seems currently that PX7 and Radical Piano are the two which are most likely to stop working and require me to reload. Sometimes they load fine but an Undo involving them or perhaps deleting or adding a new one of them to a session can be enough to cause issues.

Bit disappointed when it happens, especially given these are both first party REs. I don't find it ever happens with the Props A-List guitarist REs I use in most songs however.

Anyone else find this to happen, especially with Radical Piano or PX7 or is it perhaps something in my setup causing the sporadic RE conflicts?

It's funny ain't it and how two people can have the same devices yet the opposite experience!

I've never had a problem with either of the Radical RE's, and yet for me the C-Lists have been very flakey in that every so often they just stop outputting sound; they've not "crashed" as such, just no sound until I delete and rebuild it. Kind of stopped me using them.

[robgs]

The only RE I've had a problem with [touch wood..] has been Ochen K's EDS06s Drum Synth, which crashes occasionally - maybe it doesn't like being triggered by Redrum?. Shame, as it's a great sounding RE. Hopefully he'll get round to fixing/upgrading it at some point.

[Skullture]

I have this happen with Parsec. I'm on Reason 8.3
I haven't been able to pinpoint the issue. I always figured it had something to do with my MIDI or audio interface acting up. It only happens occasionally, but I haven't reported it. I will remember to report it next time it happens. Thanks for the reminder..

I was going to answer this as well. That's why it is really important to keep backing up your previously made patches.

[challism]

Knock on wood... I haven't had any issues with anything in my rack crashing (other than beta stuff). Of the REs mentioned so far, I have both Radical Piano and Keys, PX7, the first 2 A-Lists (I like how Matt called them C List! ha ha), Parsec, Mr Distortion and a shit ton of other REs not mentioned in this thread.

I have had PX7 and the 2 Radicals for about as long as they have been out; I have used them a LOT and never had any issues opening a song.

I just got Parsec during the last sale, so I haven't had it long enough to honestly say one way or the other, but so far, so good.

[Fretless Fingers]

I used Reason 5 and Record for ages and never ever had any problems with opening songs.

These days, I find within Reason 7 that even just opening a song with an RE in can sometimes result in it not loading properly and then I have to close Reason completely and reload it again; second time lucky for the song to load.

Of all my REs, it seems currently that PX7 and Radical Piano are the two which are most likely to stop working and require me to reload. Sometimes they load fine but an Undo involving them or perhaps deleting or adding a new one of them to a session can be enough to cause issues.

Bit disappointed when it happens, especially given these are both first party REs. I don't find it ever happens with the Props A-List guitarist REs I use in most songs however.

Anyone else find this to happen, especially with Radical Piano or PX7 or is it perhaps something in my setup causing the sporadic RE conflicts?

I constantly have issues with Radical Piano (Radical Keys seem to do fine in most projects). It seems to freeze out more often than RE's I've Beta tested and certain songs have issues to the point of not opening with ought an error the second it's loaded, causing me to remove the device altogether and bring it back in after saving and reopening.
I really need to sit down and wright a report and send a video. There is a specific project where it wont even open with ought giving an error and freezing out.

I did have the issue once again yesterday (error at project open) and for some reason thought to open the file while holding shift. On Mac OSX it seems to open the file more slowly (can't remember or find the exact use) but it seemed to work in keeping the error from popping up again.

[doctecazoid]

Speaking for myself: I've had no issues with RE reliability (save for the issue that popped up with Selig's Leveler, which he fixed fairly quickly).

I'm not saying this is 'the' (or even 'a') cure for the issues, but the following steps are worth a shot:

1a) Delete the offending RE's in Authorizer, then:
1b) Log in to your account on the Propellerhead site, go to Products -> Rack Extensions and click the Sync All button to get fresh copies of the deleted REs.

2) Uninstall Reason, then reboot and re-install Reason;

3) If your version of Reason is not the latest version, download and install it from the Propellerheads site;

4) Make sure your digital audio interface drivers are up to date (update them if they are not current);

5) [Windows users:] Make sure your Windows OS has all the latest updates, use a utility such as CCleaner (http://piriform.com) to clean out unneeded files and registry entries from your system, and (if you're not using a SSD) run a disk defragment utility (such as PerfectDisk) after the Windows update & cleanup steps.

[ScuzzyEye]

Sounds like that many of the problems are with the large, sample-based REs. One thing about those, is because Reason doesn't have disk streaming (so far), you must have enough free RAM to hold the sample set of each different ROMpler you've loaded into the song. If you make heavy use of those instruments it might be well worth adding another 4 or more GB to your machine.

[Last Alternative]

Polar (too much latency)
Crapre (sux with no damage control)
U-HE RE's (sounds cheap)
PDT2 (can't send velocity patterns to sequencer which makes it a pointless RE)
Softube saturation knob (no output gain knob to bring the level back down WTF)

Plus all the REs I don't use which is why I stopped buying them. Too much of a gamble. I think PH has really dropped the ball on new stock features/devices.

[mguh22]

I'm not concerned with latency or sound quality; the former is inevitable in some audio processing techniques (like Polar) and the latter is simple - don't purchase such REs!

My problem is that, even when only using First Party Propellerhead Rack Extensions; for me they are not as stable and reliable as the Factory Reason Rack Devices when adding and removing them from the Rack and loading songs containing them. And that is a disappointment. I'd have preferred the new Props devices to have been stock instead of for sale separately wrapped in REs; at least they'd have been 100% stable built into the main app!

Anyway, I'm going to try reinstalling Reason and redownloading all of them and then do some soak testing to see just how robust the Props REs actually are in my setup and perhaps pinpoint where the issue actually is. I'll report back my findings here. This is on Reason 7.1.1 on OS X btw.

Cheers

[joeyluck]

Yeah it looks like Last Alternative brought all the grievances to a 'unreliable/does it break?' thread hehe

Overall, the issues happen very seldom for me; and it's only with Parsec.
I'm on a 2008 MBP using an old interface from time to time—a Focusrite Saffire LE. So, when Parsec has a hiccup here or there, I figure I shouldn't be too concerned. But nonetheless, I feel a bit bad now for never reporting it... Will do so next time it happens. That's the only way sometimes that developers know there is an issue to be fixed!

[chimp_spanner]

The only RE I've found an issue with is Neutron. I set it up one way in my project, export and it sounds completely different. It also changes depending on project sample rate as well. Shame because it can create some awesome effects! Everything else seems to work okay.

[dvdrtldg]

Polar (too much latency)
Crapre (sux with no damage control)
U-HE RE's (sounds cheap)
PDT2 (can't send velocity patterns to sequencer which makes it a pointless RE)
Softube saturation knob (no output gain knob to bring the level back down WTF)

Plus all the REs I don't use which is why I stopped buying them. Too much of a gamble. I think PH has really dropped the ball on new stock features/devices.

The thread's titled "Unreliable REs", not "Part 46 in My Continuing Series of batch About Reason"

[siln]

Curve and radical piano crashed several times , they didnt opened in a saved rns file..i kind of am afraid to use them now

[MannequinRaces]

No problem with Radical Piano as of yet. To the OP what are your computer specs, especially RAM?

[Last Alternative]

The thread's titled "Unreliable REs", not "Part 46 in My Continuing Series of batch About Reason"

Hmm. I didn't consider it batch about Reason. Just sayin what's unreliable to me and why. But take it as you will.

[joeyluck]

I should note that he issue I have with Parsec only happens at times when I create the device. And it never puts my project in jeopardy. I just have to delete it and create another. 10/10 times I don't have an issue after that in that session. Not sure what others are experiencing.

[mguh22]

To be fair to Reason, the issue here is that my expectation is probably too high!

I used to use Cubase SX many years ago and it could often just completely crash; literally vanishing from the screen and taking any unsaved work with it.

The problem is, up until REs, Reason has been the single most stable piece of software I've ever used. Never any crashes or error messages ever.

I made a decision early on when moving to the new versions of Reason that I would stick with only buying the first party Rack Extensions that had Propellerhead's seal of quality.

Unfortunately, despite this, the platform does not feel as stable to me as it used to when I integrate REs into my songs. But in its defence I have never lost any work or had a song file become sabotaged by bad code. I just hate the creativity flow killer that is an error message popping up telling me some shit has gone wrong and I have to come out of music mode and restart something to get stuff going smooth again.