Yay!
I'm really happy that Reason Studios are becoming more transparent! Being a user for ~20 years, I've wanted this transparency for a long time. It makes investing time and money in updates feel safer. And it stops a least some of the speculation. I also want to say that I really appreciate the work that has been put into Reason 12, even if not all users are super happy. As a software dev myself, I know how important it is to allocate time to do the major refactoring and rewrite tasks – even the ones that takes months and years and that user won't even notice. As for doing rewrites and new features simultaneously like some people mention, I know that most companies can't just throw more people at it. It costs money to hire people, and it takes time and effort to teach them the domain, code and workflow. Also, more devs means more complex organizations, (often) more complex code, and more complex coordination – which in some cases may actually slow things down.
As for roadmap feedback, the two features I want the most are not mentioned:
* MPE support
* Softube Console One integration.
There are threads related to both features elsewhere on this forum, so I know I am not the only one wanting this. Both relates to hardware integration, which probably could be better in general.
As for MPE, there's no need to rebuild all existing Reason devices for MPE support. Support for third party VSTs would be more than good enough. I assume this to be a major task to implement, though.
When it comes to Console One support, this is only for Console One users. Still, most professional DAWs do have integration. So it would be great if Reason could at least do the bare minimum, like remembering track order so that it's not a complete mess every time I open a project. Transfer of track name would also be nice. Full integration would be just amazing. My guess is that this is a reasonably low hanging fruit, at least the minimum stuff. Also, Softube is a Swedish company. So what about hiring a bus and go to Linköping for a team building workshop together with Softube and implement it over the weekend? (From my understanding after emailing their support, they want to help DAW vendors implement this.)
What I don't need is more devices. With VST(3) support, I can put whatever I want into Reason. That doesn't mean new devices isn't cool, but I'll agree with other around here that there are lots of other smaller things that should probably be prioritized. I do understand that new shiny devices probably sells more copies of Reason, but my guess is that some people will hesitate to upgrade if their main issue or wanted feature never gets fixed/implemented. (Figuring out the stats for lost sales after neglecting an issue/feature is probably a lot more difficult than counting copies sold after adding a device.)
Anyway, thanks for the good work! And I hope to be using Reason as my DAW for years to come.