Reason rack anyone ?

This forum is for discussing the Reason Rack Plugin, the version of the Reason rack that runs as a VST3, AU, AAX in other DAWs.
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rsnsnds
Posts: 48
Joined: 26 Sep 2022

28 Sep 2022

Since this is a forum dedicated to Reason, I assume that most of us use it as their DAW

But I'm curious about how many use the Reason rack in other DAW's

Are there any advantages to that ?

RobC
Posts: 1833
Joined: 10 Mar 2018

28 Sep 2022

I know of that you can oversample devices with Reaper and RRP, for example.

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selig
RE Developer
Posts: 11685
Joined: 15 Jan 2015
Location: The NorthWoods, CT, USA

28 Sep 2022

Today I needed a ducking delay effect, and I was working in LUNA. There are plenty of delays, but I couldn't get what I was looking for. But it's easy to do in Reason, so I loaded up the plugin and was up and running with the exact effect I needed in about a minute.
I also like the ability to run RE Instruments (and explore Player chains), so that I can have the same sounds available in any DAW. Plus I've built all my personal sound banks/sample instruments in Reason since 2003, and still rely on many of those basic sounds from time to time.
That said, I still prefer composing in Reason, and building tracks there - it's the final stages where I find Reason lacking for the way I'm used to working (though it's taken me over 10 years to admit it and find an alternative!). ;)
Before a few months ago when I started exploring LUNA, I had not used RRP except for a few quick tests.
Selig Audio, LLC


Jac459
Posts: 677
Joined: 29 Mar 2022
Location: Singapore
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28 Sep 2022

Definitely use reason as rrp and love it.

For myself and my very own opinion, using reason inside a modern daw like bitwig is the best of all worlds. You get all the innovations, compatibility of bitwig and you keep the playfulness and creativity of reason.
I just love it.
I have a shit ton of VST because I have a serious GAS but yet, reason stays by far my most used plugin. Maybe 40% of the tracks in a song. Some instruments and effects are just difficult or boring to program outside (Kong, grain, alligator,...)
Bitwig and RRP fanboy...

rsnsnds
Posts: 48
Joined: 26 Sep 2022

29 Sep 2022

I just love the improved combinator device.

You can build almost any device or instrument and use it in any DAW

There aren't many VST plugins that allow you to build your custom instrument or effect with the choice of devices and routing possibilities of Reason
Last edited by rsnsnds on 29 Sep 2022, edited 1 time in total.

Mattvank
Posts: 363
Joined: 30 Mar 2017

29 Sep 2022

I have good Results when i do the ,,post´´ production in Reason itself. Than bouncing each Track and move to Cubase and do FX and new Instruments with Reason Plugin.
But i could imagine that the bounce process is the key so leaving Cubase 11 Elements and focus on Reason is also an option to me.
I use it also as Plugin for VCVRACk. I can contain Synthracks and still have focus on spezific mixer and CV elements from VCV.

So RRP make sense :)

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ShelLuser
Posts: 358
Joined: 25 Aug 2019

02 Oct 2022

rsnsnds wrote:
28 Sep 2022
Since this is a forum dedicated to Reason, I assume that most of us use it as their DAW
While that might be true you shouldn't forget Reason's legacy that easily. It were the Props themselves who came up with the ReWire protocol and it quickly became an industry-wide standard, I'm still very much impressed by that feat to be honest.

I've been using Live (suite) together with Reason through ReWire for most of the last decade, also because I've always been a Live user first and foremost.
rsnsnds wrote:
28 Sep 2022
But I'm curious about how many use the Reason rack in other DAW's
*raises hand*

But truth be told I use Reason a lot less frequent then I used to, I really missed out on being able to use 2 sequencers at once ever since v11 got released. In hindsight it's a bit of a sad and/or silly story I suppose because as it turns out all current rack extensions are still compatible with Reason 10+, back then I assumed that 11 would be the norm which is why I upgraded (I fancied some players and a rack extension which name I forgot).

At first I turned to Maschine as my 2nd sequencer but that didn't really work out too well, so I eventually moved to FL Studio for that; where Reason can only give us rack access through VST usage FL Studio provides their whole DAW, including the sequencer. And don't get me started on their mobile app...

I still sometimes miss all the awesome patching; while FL Studio can pretty much do everything that Reason can where routing is concerned Reason made the process a lot more satisfying, not to mention easier to look back to.

But yah, these days I sometimes use Reason for sound design and sometimes just playing around: I also got 2 big(er) synths as rack extensions (Legend & Antidote) and I enjoy using them from time to time. I briefly considered the idea of getting them as VST's also so that I could use 'm in Live but then Native Instruments suddenly provided a U-HE bundle for sale and... yah, I never really looked back anymore: Diva, Hive & Bazille (!) are just more to my liking.

Like I said, it's also a bit of a sad story because in hindsight I could have gone back to Reason 10, but when I finally realized as much it was already too late to do so; way too much hassle involved. Not to mention possible bugs which may have been resolved in Reason 11 and not so much in 10.


So yah... sound design (I'm still quite a fan of Jiggery Pokery's modulation oscillators & synths!) and of course: those awesome players! In full honesty I think it's the players I keep coming back to the most. I actually played Maschine / Kontakt with the Beat map and even messed with NI's Prime Bass instrument through bassline generator (all through Live obviously, once you have a Push you just can't ignore Live anymore ;)). It was awesome: from my POV the ingenuity of the Propellerheads combined with the audio power of Native Instruments? => GOOSEBUMPS!

Sorry for a long post but... this still kinda gets to me a bit: audio design has become a passion for me and Reason has always been a huge part of this: ever since they decided to drop ReWire. I picked up on Reason 1 week after I bought into Live.

Looking back I still can't understand why they went for this rack plugin stuff.... I mean; it's not just the rack but back then I was also used to working with multiple racks... nope... this critter basically takes you back to Reason 4 yet without the sequencer. Or groove box, no more mixer, nor the master channel device for crying out loud!

... in the mean time I load up the entirety of FL Studio into Live "just like that" and I can even use it's mixer section on my 2nd monitor quite easily.

With all due respect... but yeah: how about adding the rack plugin to FL Studio which I loaded in Live through their VST plugin and then controlling it using FL Studio's piano roll / sequencer? That is what I sometimes do. No offense intended: I need my 2nd sequencer these days. And it was Reason who got me the idea in the first place!

I'll take Reason's mixer section over FL Studio's mixer panel any day of the week, but it is what it is.

</vent>
--- :reason:

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Jackjackdaw
Posts: 1400
Joined: 12 Jan 2019

03 Oct 2022

I use it a bit in Cubase. I would use it a lot more if I could load Reason project files.

I actually preferred ReWire because I could do this and bring my pattern select lanes with me.

Now I open Cubase if my project will be mainly audio recording and Reason stand-alone for sound design.

MuttReason
Posts: 339
Joined: 28 Jan 2021

03 Oct 2022

I use RRP in Live 11 and also use Reason as a DAW.

RRP in Live is great because I get to use Push2 (best MIDI controller ever IMO) with Reason devices in the rack once I’ve mapped specific controls to Live macros controlled by the Push rotaries. Even better is using the Push2 step sequencer mode with Reason devices. Plus I like combining Live stock effects with RRP instruments. It’s a really good setup.

Where the Reason DAW shines is in the way that instruments and effects in the rack interrelate with the sequencer. It’s so easy to add automation to any control on any device in the rack, much easier than in Live IME. Plus I find editing audio tracks in Reason less of a faff than in Live, and Reason pitch edit is great (Live doesn’t have anything like this).

PhillipOrdonez
Posts: 3732
Joined: 20 Oct 2017
Location: Norway
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04 Oct 2022

I use it within live. It's my favourite instrument.

gino
Posts: 1
Joined: 04 Oct 2022

14 Oct 2022

Im trying to use reason rack in bidule vsti which outputs to reaper to split the audio channels. I can successfully play Fricktion with my midi keyboard but it doesn't recognize any midi cc messages in the rack. I'm new to reason and I've looked at combinator unsuccessfully as a solution so far. I'm able to send cc messages to all other vst instruments. Not sure Friction will run as a vsti outside of the rack. Any ideas ladies and gents? Thank you in advance.

ltbrunt00
Posts: 532
Joined: 10 Jan 2017
Contact:

11 Nov 2022

I use the reason rack in Studio one 6, Nuendo 12 and bitwig. I do get annoyed with not being able to easily extract the Reason player midi directly into the sequencer. Each DAW has a slightly different way of routing the RRP for Players midi data output.

It works but is now where near the ease of using these within Reason. I am just on the lazy side and like to work quickly. Easily extracting midi data to the sequencer.

About 2016 I started using a trial version of one of Toontracks piano products. Every few minutes the sound drops out to prevent you from fulling using the trial software. This product has a drag and drop chord selector that works the same in every DAW. Choose your chord and drag it to whichever DAW sequencer you are using.

I would pay a bandits ransom to be able to instantly export RRP players midi data directly to the sequencer window in S1, Nuendo and bitwig.
Reason, Nuendo, Studio One
https://soundcloud.com/user-404930848

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raymondh
Posts: 1776
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

11 Nov 2022

Big fan here.
RRP + Reaper.

I can use a 140% zoom on Reason devices for sound design, while operating in the no-zoom of Reaper - best of both worlds.

Reaper is so much more flexible and faster for arranging and programming (once you figure it out), feels like you've had a massive CPU upgrade, and Reason provides all the sound mangling and experimentation.

No one size fits all. I also have some Reason-only projects, and some Reaper+VST only projects, but do like the combo.

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huggermugger
Posts: 1294
Joined: 16 Jul 2021

11 Nov 2022

Sure there's an advantage. Many advantages. All the great things I can do in Logic plus I can use Reason devices, especially Players. In terms of workflow, Logic leaves Reason in the dust, but one big plus in Reason is the Players. Logic's own "players" are rudimentary by comparison.

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huggermugger
Posts: 1294
Joined: 16 Jul 2021

11 Nov 2022

ltbrunt00 wrote:
11 Nov 2022
I use the reason rack in Studio one 6, Nuendo 12 and bitwig. I do get annoyed with not being able to easily extract the Reason player midi directly into the sequencer. Each DAW has a slightly different way of routing the RRP for Players midi data output.

It works but is now where near the ease of using these within Reason. I am just on the lazy side and like to work quickly. Easily extracting midi data to the sequencer.

I would pay a bandits ransom to be able to instantly export RRP players midi data directly to the sequencer window in S1, Nuendo and bitwig.
Sounds familiar - I use Logic and have the same complaint. Reason's "Send To Track" is SOOO much better than having to do a realtime recording of the Player output. I wish Logic could figure that one out.

iTrensharo
Posts: 57
Joined: 17 Jun 2021

09 Apr 2023

It's the only way I use Reason.

Other DAWs are better to too great an extent in the other areas.

If I were just a beatmaker, I'd probably use Reason for everything, though. It's a nice workflow for that kind of stuff, and has enough features without feeling overwhelming for that market segment.

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