A list of devices used in a Reason project.

Have any feature requests? No promise they'll get to Reason Studios, but you can still discuss them here.
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Carly(Poohbear)
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Location: UK

10 Feb 2021

I would like to output a list of devices used in a Reason project.

What is really annoying is the fact the list already exists in Reason but there is no way to export or copy the data out.


Regards

Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

10 Feb 2021

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
10 Feb 2021
I would like to output a list of devices used in a Reason project.
Interesting feature request. I can see how this would help with the management of a project.

Since reading your post, I started fooling with Google Drive's ‘Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities (it does work... sometimes…. But no success this time)

Instead I found an alternative, using an online OCR which outputs a file to .xls. For this to work, I changed my settings to 'default' color, rather than my usual dark workspace theme. Here is a walk-through, from a Windows OS user’s POV. Replace your own tools for Mac.

Minimize the sequencer traces (Alt+click)

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Take a screen ‘snip’ of the stem names, and save as a JPG.

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Upload your JPG to https://www.onlineocr.net/

Change output format to .xls

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Hit 'convert', which will generate a 'Download Output File'

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Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

10 Feb 2021

You will then have a list of your devices, in spreadsheet format.

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Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

10 Feb 2021

joeyluck wrote:
10 Feb 2021
This has my vote. This was something I requested before:
You have nothing to add about my solution ? I spend about an hour working out "a" solution for the OP of this thread. And once familiar with the process and workflow of the hack, it would take about 3 minutes. A very small percentage of time in comparison to the hours invested in a whole project

There's nothing to be gained by 'oh yea I also want this feature, and said so in the past'. Let's work out what can be achieved right now, at this minute, with the plethora of tools that 2021 technology provides for everyone, for free.

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joeyluck
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Joined: 15 Jan 2015

10 Feb 2021

Proboscis wrote:
10 Feb 2021
joeyluck wrote:
10 Feb 2021
This has my vote. This was something I requested before:
You have nothing to add about my solution ? I spend about an hour working out "a" solution for the OP of this thread. And once familiar with the process and workflow of the hack, it would take about 3 minutes. A very small percentage of time in comparison to the hours invested in a whole project

There's nothing to be gained by 'oh yea I also want this feature, and said so in the past'. Let's work out what can be achieved right now, at this minute, with the plethora of tools that 2021 technology provides for everyone, for free.
Well for me I would need plugin names and most of my tracks get generic names or patch names. That and very few of my total plugins have a track. So I'm not sure if it would work for me, unless I'm misunderstanding something.

Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

10 Feb 2021

joeyluck wrote:
10 Feb 2021
Well for me I would need plugin names and most of my tracks get generic names or patch names. That and very few of my total plugins have a track. So I'm not sure if it would work for me, unless I'm misunderstanding something.
Don't you name your stems according to the plugin that's on that track ?

It's a fair response, Joey. Not everyone works in the same way when it comes to naming/managing projects

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joeyluck
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10 Feb 2021

Proboscis wrote:
10 Feb 2021
joeyluck wrote:
10 Feb 2021
Well for me I would need plugin names and most of my tracks get generic names or patch names. That and very few of my total plugins have a track. So I'm not sure if it would work for me, unless I'm misunderstanding something.
Don't you name your stems according to the plugin that's on that track ?

It's a fair response, Joey. Not everyone works in the same way when it comes to naming/managing projects
No I don't. But the bigger point being is I don't have a track for so many plugins in a project unless they have notes or automation. I get that it could possibly work for some people.

Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

11 Feb 2021

joeyluck wrote:
10 Feb 2021
Proboscis wrote:
10 Feb 2021


Don't you name your stems according to the plugin that's on that track ?

It's a fair response, Joey. Not everyone works in the same way when it comes to naming/managing projects
No I don't. But the bigger point being is I don't have a track for so many plugins in a project unless they have notes or automation. I get that it could possibly work for some people.
Right on. I feel like a bit of a dick now, for only thinking at a 'top level' to provide a solution.

That said... have you thought about what a list output might look like ? Does any other DAW do something like this ?

Seems like a complex data export, to represent where everything sits in the signal chain.

Like, how do you represent channel Combinator FX on an instrument ? How about one stem being made up of a Combi of four instruments, thru a 14:2, each with four FX ?

Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

11 Feb 2021

Seems like a low priority feature request, considering the many other shortcomings of Reason that they've never revisited (and I guess never will)

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orthodox
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11 Feb 2021

Carly(Poohbear) wrote:
10 Feb 2021
I would like to output a list of devices used in a Reason project.
You can export a midi file and extract the names from there (I would write a script for that). Or bounce a short loop to disk and list the directory of resulting WAV files.

EDIT: Correction, a bounce will give names of mix channels, not of sequencer tracks.

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deeplink
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11 Feb 2021

Maybe open the project file in an unauthorized version of Reason.

That way you can get a list of all the "missing rack extensions"
Get more Combinators at the deeplink website

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joeyluck
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Posts: 11029
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11 Feb 2021

Proboscis wrote:
11 Feb 2021
joeyluck wrote:
10 Feb 2021


No I don't. But the bigger point being is I don't have a track for so many plugins in a project unless they have notes or automation. I get that it could possibly work for some people.
Right on. I feel like a bit of a dick now, for only thinking at a 'top level' to provide a solution.

That said... have you thought about what a list output might look like ? Does any other DAW do something like this ?

Seems like a complex data export, to represent where everything sits in the signal chain.

Like, how do you represent channel Combinator FX on an instrument ? How about one stem being made up of a Combi of four instruments, thru a 14:2, each with four FX ?
I use this type of feature with QLab. When I "bundle the workspace" it also includes a text file. That text file simply lists all of the plugins used for that show and the cues in which they are used.

I can then refer to that list when I go to install and further program a show on a computer at a theatre or if I send that package to a theatre, they know what plugins they will need to have installed and purchased for the run of the show before I arrive.

The next benefit is I can then look at all of those lists and compare them with the plugins I have installed to really figure out what plugins I'm using and not using. There can be plugins many of us hang onto because we simply don't remember if we used them in a past project. This also helps with that.

It's a lot of work to go through every project manually searching for plugins...and in many cases...overlooking things anyways (amongst the many folded plugins...and plugins nested in insert sections or Combinators). You may also be looking in a sea of built-in devices as well, which of course you likely don't need to account for, but if included in an auto-generated list; that's fine.

Yes, one can maintain their own list of plugins used if you started doing that from the beginning. But also, things are always quickly moving and changing and nothing is more foolproof than the software spitting out a text file that says what plugins are used in a project. It's a pretty simple feature, but a huge help for many reasons.

Proboscis
Posts: 1004
Joined: 28 Aug 2019

11 Feb 2021

joeyluck wrote:
11 Feb 2021
I use this type of feature with QLab. When I "bundle the workspace" it also includes a text file. That text file simply lists all of the plugins used for that show and the cues in which they are used.
Are you familiar with Adobe's "InDesign (ID)", which (I believe) packages all assets along with proofs, for printing?

I've been using a lot of Adobe's Premiere Pro in the past two months (part of the CC suite, and a legit student discount of around 70% wooo!), for some 'peanuts payment' video post production. Built a template, a a whole bunch of keyframe presets to apply. But despite being under the same umbrella (Adobe), PP has no such 'all assets, and PATHS' function to self-contain, as ID does.

Ultimately, when I removed myself from the cloud in which my template was stored, the links to the other assets become broken. Completely in contrast to Adobe's self-contain features. (edit1: ... in ID)

Don't even get me started on the process of Audition's quite different project management as well.....

I'm talking about Adobe as a comparison to Reason. If Adobe aren't sorting out consistent workflow benefits, then its quite likely that Reason aren't ever, with a far more limited staffing/outsourcing budget.

I cannot imagine any possible argument for Reason Studios to work on incorporating a 'device name export', when there are so many glaring oversights on abandoned ideas. The Combinator... abandoned..... still can't see the control tag labels in the sequencer, instead it's "rotary 1/2 etc". FFS I'm sure Europa has more 'otherwise not-automatable' controls than the Combi can manage.

But back to this idea of an exportable data file.

Right now I have a Combi, in which a 14:2 desk is installed. Into that I have four Turn2On FM synths. I have offset the panning to slightly L/R/L/R with a version of WTFM purely for the LFO output, split & inverted. And attached to the old desk, I have one of Turn2On's reverb/Delay units. Quite simple. Until you consider which of the four parts of that Combi are dialled into the FX. How would you represent that ?

How would a data output of 'devices' makes sense, in that one stem ? Bear in mind my current track has around 12stems.
joeyluck wrote:
11 Feb 2021
It's a lot of work to go through every project manually searching for plugins...and in many cases...overlooking things anyways (amongst the many folded plugins...and plugins nested in insert sections or Combinators).
Isn't that down to your own management of the software ? Every RE you have will continue to work, unless you've specifically de-authed it. I have TOO MANY GB of other stuff, mostly REX bundles, but I always know where they are. And for me, its SLOW A F ! But that's only because they're coming off an external USB2 physical hard drive, at a stated speed of 56.

I guess the TL;DR comment I keep coming back to is "how"? How would a Reason project's device data look, in your ideal world ? Show me some output from a complex project in this Qlab you mentioned.

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Carly(Poohbear)
Competition Winner
Posts: 2871
Joined: 25 Jan 2015
Location: UK

11 Feb 2021

Proboscis wrote:
10 Feb 2021
......
Thank you for thinking out of the box for a solution...
deeplink wrote:
11 Feb 2021
.......
orthodox wrote:
11 Feb 2021
......

I want a complete list of all devices used, not just instruments..

It's there in Reason in one big dropdown list, but I don't want to spend ages scraping the screen as I have over 30 of these lengths in a project etc....
FYI: There are not "duplicates" in this list it's the way I do my naming in Reason.
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