If you disagree, that's fine. I'm only going to state my view of things and share it as input on recent events.
1. Scenic Hybrid
I made a post recently that compared the offerings in u-He Hive 2 to those in the Scenic Hybrid Instrument. Let's revisit these devices now that they both have demos up online.
First let's compare sound quality.
SoundCloud Set of Scenic Hybrid Demos:
SoundCloud Set of u-He Hive 2 Demos:
Alright, let's take a look at how these two devices were showcased in their release videos.
Scenic Hybrid Instrument Highlight Video:
U-He Hive 2 Highlight Video:
So, what is the comparison we're really making here.
Aside from price, the Hive 2 really puts organization of its interface and user feedback at the center of its workflow. You can make percussion, baseline, and lead with a comprehensive overview of what you're doing without having to do a lot of display switching. Each display allows you to do a lot all in one place. The showcase for the Hive 2 is almost 12 minutes long.
The Scenic Hybrid Instrument basically provides a certain type of sound, but isn't as easy to use from the perspective of having a comprehensive overview while you're working. The showcase for the Scenic Hybrid Instrument is below 2 minutes in length, showing almost nothing of the actual device in action.
And then there's the comments on each of those videos. The Scenic Hybrid Instrument has a solid wall of unhappy and unimpressed comments that are downright scathing. The Hive 2 video is almost entirely unanimous praise.
Ok. What can we learn from all of this so far.
The creation of the Hive 2 demonstrates a commitment to the end user in the form of how much planning went into the features and overall design. The UI itself is second only to the sound quality, which is very good for the low amount of CPU this thing consumes.
There is a real sense that the people at u-He have put a lot of thought into providing the most to the user that they can inside of a single instrument, and the appreciation for their effort is palpable in the response from their community.
In short, their users feel like the company has their best interests at heart.
The creation of the Scenic Hybrid Instrument looks and sounds like a rushed repackaging of old material, as many have stated. It has a beyond minimalist design and subpar sound library compared to something like the Hive 2. Sample loading has been announced, but feels more like an admission of guilt regarding the quality of the sounds currently provided by the unit.
The reaction has been mixed so far, but shrewd people who are more likely to do their research before investing in a new tool have almost universally been turned off by this product. Because things like the Hive 2 exist, and because their ear training tells them it doesn't command $99.
In short, the users mostly feel like the company scraped something together to try to justify asking for more money.
Adding to all of this is the implied de facto price tag of $250 for the Scenic Hybrid Instrument. If you already own every RE in the Suite version but chose to purchase Suite anyway, all you would be getting is Scenic Hybrid, which would then cost you $250 instead of $99.
You could buy it separately, you might say. But, if you upgrade to 11 at $129 and purchase the Scenic Hybrid separately at $99, that's still a price of $228 where all you're really getting for that money is Scenic Hybrid.
But they've made changes and improvements to the DAW, you could also say. Surely those command a price.
2. Reason 11
Reason 11 added a very simple, linear, "locked to semitone" ability to draw in repeated notes that snap to the grid resolution. FL Studio has a brush tool where you can freely "paint" notes almost like pixels to quickly create arpeggiations and melodic elements. Cubase has a randomize notes feature that allows you to generate and discover happy accidents that can boost creativity when you're having producer's block.
Reason 11 added curved automation. Cubase didn't have curved automation either until recently. Not only did Steinberg add it in, but took it one step further by allowing automation to be shaped by VCAs. Every other host has had this as one of its basic features for a long time, while advancing and improving in many other areas.
Reason 11 added audio crossfades. Many of the other hosts have had this for quite some time. The feature is so long in the tooth that since the time of incorporating crossfades, other packages have dedicated some of their brightest minds to advancements in audio analysis. These bleeding edge tools now allow for tempo detection from audio clips, as well as relatively painless tempo matching of recordings that have different BPM.
There are a couple other things in the Reason 11 update but those three are the key "new" things.
I center on Cubase because in my belief it is the best value for money in terms of career progression in the longterm. You can begin with basic usage and mixing, all the way to using it as the primary console for a network of secondary systems running Vienna Ensemble over ethernet. All the way from young people material like what Zedd produces, to top level film scoring work like Junkie XL and Hans Zimmer.
It's a program that seems very simple at first but will take a user years to actually master it. There's just so much built-in that it can be daunting trying to learn it all at the beginning.
In short, Cubase feels like using a piece of software that has 20+ years of features packed in, while Reason feels like software that was made in 2000 and has been kept on life support for 20 years.
I can hear you saying "but Cubase crashes". To that I say, nothing is perfect, but using other DAWs in a haphazard nonsensical way like in Reason's interface is bound to cause problems most users of "other daw x" don't encounter. But I digress.
Let's take a look at the emphasis on community these two brands have.
Reason Studios Community Tab:
https://www.youtube.com/user/PropellerheadSW/community
Steinberg Cubase Community Tab:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcQBdi ... /community
Right away we can see a huge disconnect. The Reason Studios community tab has gaps as large as 3 months with nothing posted and only two showcases of other channels / artists. They have a playlist for artist showcases that hasn't been updated for a year, but none of that is in their community tab.
The artist showcases for Reason have always felt like a thinly veiled non-admission of comparative mediocrity. As if to say, "see, we promise our software can actually be used on a professional level, just look at these people (please)".
The Cubase community not only has more activity, but it demonstrates a clear dedication to the users of their product.
The overwhelming bulk of videos on the Cubase official channel show people how to use their software and how to accomplish things they might not have known they could do. It's clearly a way of giving back and investing in the success of the people who use Cubase.
The Reason Studios playlists have not been updated in as much as 2 years. Many playlists haven't been updated since 2011 and date back to Reason 4 of all things.
The tonal consistency of the videos on the Reason Studios official channel is predominately "here's something we want you to buy", rather than "here's what we believe in as well as the experience we can offer you, and through how we present ourselves we can win your investment in us."
I'm not sure how else I can word that to convey what I mean. Videos that are 10-20 minutes in length at least three times a month that center on helping users fulfill their dreams as producers one step at a time, compared to a string of intermittent product videos of something else to buy that looks (and sounds) like it should be a free download.
Not to mention all the video evidence of the unbroken track record of failed products, such as RE, Figure, Take, Line6, Allihoopa, and A-List. There's a lot of cringe in those playlists.
3. Getting to the Point / My Thoughts
Nobody knows what the direction is for this product and for this company.
That alone is cause for alarm.
It does not make sense to entice users back by making a VST3 wrapper for Reason if those users left because they weren't happy about the modules that Reason offered them. Why would they want to use what they already didn't like, but in another program?
It does not make sense to entice new users or old users to buy the VST3 plugin if it breaks the more streamlined and modern workflow of those superior user experiences. Why would someone with a much more professional grade workflow want to fight with a deeply flawed plugin that is "weird" compared to everything else they use?
It does not make sense to include VST2 support in your host without being aware of VST3's upcoming release. Companies should be up to date on industry trends so they can anticipate shifts in the market. Here's a question to consider: is it even possible for Reason Studios to innovate, or do they always have to stay a step behind so they can loosely mimic other companies?
It does not make sense to try and sell RE units to VST3 enabled DAW owners when things like Hive 2 exist, and many useful VSTs are free to use (or very cheap compared to REs). Many VST products include redundant features so you don't have to load a hundred things to achieve the sound you need, so buying and loading a ton of RE units is nonsense in that context.
It does not make sense to hastily shove out an unfinished product like this at the cost of any established users, while simultaneously embarrassing the company on a global scale. It's not just on ReasonTalk, it's not just in our little bubbles on reddit and KVR, etc., this time it's everywhere. This time Reason Studios gets to fall down in front of everyone.
Keep in mind that the Scenic Hybrid Instrument is being given this shroud of prestige as the newest, brightest diamond in their crown. Taken as a whole, the sum of their offerings are being greeted with placating bemusement from the professional audio world. To further the cringe factor, the manner in which version 11 was released was an unprecedented failure for all to witness.
It doesn't make sense for a company to get caught snoozing rather than have their new domain up and running on the day of their hyped release. Did they even want to sell any units? Or did they just want the plausible deniability that the server was down to explain their denial of 30 day refund tickets when people come asking why their double- or triple-billing through the broken payment system confirmation page hasn't been placed back into their bank account. "What refund tickets? We never got any. Oh, right. All of our systems were down for a couple days at launch, such a shame we have to keep all that money. We would almost feel bad if it didn't mean our slim chance of survival."
In summary, almost none of this makes sense.
Many people have all come to the same conclusion on their own over the past several days. Reason Studios knew they really didn't have much at all to bring to the table and that people are fed up with them already. Bringing out an almost unchanged new release would only piss those people off and make them commit to leaving. So the only way to spin that to their favor was to make a way for the people who were giving up on them to take their stuff with them. It would supposedly inject a large sum of revenue, but only as a one-time cash out of all the disgruntled loyalists that would be willing to take them up on their implied invitation to kindly leave.
At face value, it seems like a good addition to the product in that you can use it elsewhere and users can explore other options if they want. But if you scratch the surface things don't add up.
Rather than feeling empowered to use Reason stuff in other DAWs, it will quickly be more and more noticeable how slow and clunky it is to do things with the Rack plugin compared to the built-in workflow of other packages. As people branch out from Reason for the first time, they're going to discover new tools and ways of working that they literally can't do in Reason and likely never knew existed and they will find themselves using the stuff they dragged with them from Reason less and less.
People used to Reason and having to "make do" with no meaningful updates or improvements will shift from having clearly defined needs that aren't being met to having overwhelming options far beyond their exceedingly conservative requests. They will discover the true difference between a company that listens to their customers and one that deigns to know better than them.
This is a gateway drug to the wider world of what's out there. This is not a viable way of proving the value of Reason, it is a way of encouraging people to abandon it.
Many people today will protest ever doing this, but when there are features like the ones displayed here out there waiting for them, it's a foregone conclusion that they eventually will.
Cubase Pro 10 Release Promo:
Seriously, imagine having a mixing console much more dynamic than the SSL board with each channel strip setup with exactly and only the devices you want where you want them, then add being able to "snapshot" that entire mixing board so you can freely switch between configurations.
There's a mention of a VR enabled mode. Gimicky, sure, by today's standards maybe. But the main narrative here is that they're overshooting the mark not underselling something tired and worn out.
Cubase Pro 10 Upgrade Featurette:
This is the video aimed at current users to pitch them a reason to update to the latest release.
Notice how much of this is not only light years ahead of anything Reason has ever done, but it is framed from the user's point of view, as in how they would benefit from the things mentioned?
Also notice how there are directly synonymous and superior versions of every feature Reason has? Yeah. It's like everything works like it should, y'know?
Let's go back to the u-He Hive 2. Devices like that are out there. Such devices are modern, built to have GPU accelerated 4k graphics, and are practically a DAW unto themselves. They have CPU performant engines that allow for stacking of multiple instances and in some cases, compelling value offerings in VST format are even free to use.
If each version of Reason is to be considered a separate software unto itself, then the feature differences in each version are the actionable elements that command the price of the package.
If we go back and compare with Cubase Pro 10 again, the flagship of the Steinberg lineup, the value proposition becomes clearly defined.
Cubase Pro 10 is packed with 20+ years of features.
Cost: $559
Upgrade Cost: $50
Reason 11 Suite has minimal features and heavy DLC to prop it up.
Cost: $599
Upgrade Cost: $129+ (*)
* It should be noted here that nobody even knows what the upgrade pricing is going to be for the Suite version at this time. It could be $250 every update. No one knows.
Clearly, the year over year investment has a much higher value with other brands by comparison. If you choose to go with FL Studio, for example, the updates are free for the lifetime of your license.
But, really, let's be honest about what this is really all about.
This is about respect, trust, and honesty, not all about price or value for money. Many have chosen to overpay by staying in the Reason ecosystem "just because" for a long time. What is rotting things from the inside out is that the culture of Reason has grown toxic, isolated, and stagnant. In many ways the community is now defined by their complaints as much as the software they use. That's a big deal and very hard for a company to reverse.
The biggest motivator for people leaving Reason for good once they explore "what's out there" is that those communities are built upon customer feedback. Front and center in all of the marketing for other packages you will hear multiple mentions of user responses and what they have done to address them. People will imperceptibly acclimate to being treated better and feeling included in the direction their DAW company is taking, which is only natural after being in what amounts to a bad relationship for so long.
Some people have said they don't want to start over by learning a new DAW. To that I say, give up right now. If you don't want to continually start at the bottom of another rung of knowledge, you will never progress in anything. To be a master of any art, you are always building upon what you have learned by becoming a beginner in a new aspect of your craft. Better to stop completely than excuse having to make a positive, necessary, and healthy change that can better support your longterm future.
4. The Bottom Line
Everyone can choose as they will, and I know my thinking is clouded by my own motivations and perception. But I am choosing to leave Reason behind and not come back.
As far as my thoughts on why I'm leaving and what they could have done differently, it's really down to that respect and honesty bit.
Before I had a legit install of Reason I had dabbled on version 3 thru 5. And to be honest, even back then it never felt like something to actually pay for. A friend of mine purchased an unregistered copy of version 1 so I could register it and upgrade to version 6 for $129, but I would never have invested otherwise.
I thought that the product had changed or progressed, but instead everything was almost entirely the same. The mixer was a welcome addition compared to the 14:2, but that was the only difference. The last time I was actually impressed by a Reason release was version 7, when they finally dragged their feet into providing a spectrum analyzer. But once I saw how low resolution it was compared to everything else I had ever seen, I was quickly underwhelmed.
They have a small team, but there's a small team behind Bitwig too. They've had 20 years and look like they've been placed into cryogenics. Studio One has had only a decade to mature but they're competing with Cubase as best value for money.
It's like these people are just seeing how much you'll pay them if they keep repackaging the same reusable internal components behind different front panel graphics, then laughing in front of you as you start to catch on you've been tricked again.
What they should have been doing is changing things up and moving forward instead of taking forever to plan these invisible projects behind the scenes that no one asked for and no one really wants. They also should have done a lot more inclusivity with their customers, like pretty much every other brand does. Rather than puff up their chest and promote an egotistical position on "being different" where the company and its ideas are sooo much better than its customers, they should have been building their brand on the bedrock of customer appreciation and satisfaction.
Imagine Ableton, but if they didn't center their branding on young music makers that are selling out shows using Live on stage.
Or imagine FL Studio, but if they didn't center their branding on independent producers.
Reason Studios presents their offerings like they're begging. Here's something to buy, please buy it. The rest of it? Oh yeah, it's still the same. But you can add this to it. Yeah? Good enough? Please we need to eat.
Improvements? You want improvements. Hmm... yeah, sure you can help improve my salary. Come on in we'll make you a deal.
Some may think that I'm a quitter, but really things have gone way past the concept of "quitting". It's more like Reason Studios is the one that quit a long time ago, or they never knew how to start. It's not that I'm giving up on them, it's that I don't believe they can make the changes necessary for me to see a value in sticking around. It's hard to articulate accurately. Given that the future of the company is a top trending conversation lately, I'm not the only one in doubt of their ability to do anything toward modernizing their products or forging ahead into new territory.
It's like children playing house, but instead it's a business.
I'm not going to relate my life story and it's none of your business anyway. But it suffices that I have been in bad relationships before. My motivation for leaving Reason is that I choose to not be taken advantage of.
All of this feels like beating a dead horse at this point. It hasn't felt right for a long time and I can't justify why I haven't left sooner. I know there are things I'm leaving out of this stream of consciousness, but really the whole thing tires me.
Perhaps I'll see you over at Steinberg.net, but unless someone wants to do a transfer and inherit my license, I'm out.
I've got a life to live and I don't want to waste it on things that don't make me happy anymore.
Don't let your life pass by being miserable when all you have to do is drop the weight you're carrying. That goes for anything that might be dragging you down. Those are my final two cents.
Enhanced by DataBridge v5
Bring it to life 
). Reason is missing some things, absolutely. But they haven't stopped me from doing all that so, that's my experience. Evidently it's different to yours so, it is what it is. For the record, yes Cubase IS awesome. Interestingly, though, it had a reputation for being "amateur" until relatively recently. But I was always out there defending it. So I'm not shitting on it. It just hasn't been the right tool for me lately.
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