Announcing Reason 13

[iTrensharo]

Didn’t expect that they did it the easy way by using system functionality.

My guess indeed is that they use the FLAC-support that is built-in in the Apple OS. Implementing native FLAC-support should be a no-brainer, especially as the FLAC format license is a free-for-everyone affair, and the algorithms are licensed under a BSD-license, meaning that commercial implementation is allowed without any restrictions.

Given that I someday might revert to Windows that would be a major bummer.

Exactly why people are asking for it

Windows has system-level support for FLAC, just like macOS. I think the only variable may be what APIs they're using, as some things may be implemented in newer Windows APIs than what old code bases for mature product lines are using. That being said, the format is open so they could have easily just added their own support in - as innumerable other DAWs have done - even product lines much older than Reason.

Microsoft has been fairly good about adding support for new media CODECs. FLAC support has been there for a while, now. Blackmagic Design routinely leverages the system CODECs to add support for file formats in the Free SKU for DaVinci Resolve.

[iTrensharo]

My RE folder is about 40Gig but it's SymLinked to another drive, as is the factory soundbank folder. Works well on Windows but I seem to recall reading that you can't do the same on a Mac. RS really should just add an RE location setting in the prefs menu. Putting huge data files on the OS drive is just rude in this day and age.

That!

I did symlink the Reason folders like crazy. To keep track of what I did I made some notes.

Code: Select all

(((1)))
- Factory Sound Banks
- Remote
C:\ProgramData\Propellerhead Software
D:\D\Audio-Libs\RS1\Propellerhead Software
(((2)))
- Optional Content like Klang, humana, Drum Supply, Loop Supply, etc.
C:\Users\XXX\Music\Propellerhead Content
D:\D\Audio-Libs\RS2\Propellerhead Content
(((3)))
- Template Songs
C:\Users\XXX\Music\Reason 12
D:\D\Audio-Libs\RS2\Reason 12
(((4)))
- Favorites
- Preferences
- RackExtensions
C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Propellerhead Software
D:\D\Audio-Libs\RS2\Propellerhead Software
(((5)))
- Browser Fast-Search Index file
- Graphics Cache
- Thumbnails
C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Propellerhead Software
D:\D\Audio-Libs\RS4\Propellerhead Software

For that exact reason I do not understand why Reason does not support FLAC lossless compression. I converted all my samples into FLAC to save half of my disk space. Only for use in Reason I have to convert a sample back because Reason is the only pro audio software in the whole universe that can't be bothered to handle FLAC. sigh.

They install stuff to the user music directory, which is kind of like rubbing salt into a wound. Not only will you have to waste system disk space on it, but now you have to manually tailor your backup strategy with exceptions, etc. to accommodate them throwing Gigabytes of data in the User Music directory which is supposed to be for... Music files.

Converting samples to FLAC isn't really something I'd personally ever do for a couple of reasons:

1. If you decode them in real time, they use up more CPU than WAV/AIFF files, and
2. While many DAWs do support importing Compressed Audio, many of them will forcibly convert them to WAV - so, you aren't actually saving disk space at all. You are just changing how the disk space usage is allocated. Depending on how that conversion is handled (some will convert to 32-Bit WAV files, even if the source was 16- or 24-Bit), you may end up using MORE space doing it that way.

Directly editing compressed Audio/Video Files has always been a potential problem in DAWs and NLEs, as well. You have to have specific settings when converting that stuff over, to alleviate most of those risks. I didn't think anyone actually still did that, these days.

FLAC support is mostly for exporting bounces.

Windows and macOS have system-level support for FLAC files, and will play them without third-party software. So do most mobile platforms. I'm pretty sure both iOS and Android support FLAC.

I always create 4 bounces of tracks: WAV, MP3, AAC and FLAC. Lots of DAWs let do this during the export stage.

[iTrensharo]

Mhhh, but why? Do they want us to leave the ship to get rid of their long time DAW users??

No, I don't think so. They need every Penny, but I can imagine that it's hard without all these brilliant people
from the Propellerheads days. Maybe I'm totally wrong, but I can't see any kind of progression in Reason Studio,
it's more a preservation than a developement of new and fresh ideas. I'm very sad and sorry to say that .

I respect their current work, but I'm simply not impressed any longer.

I'm not sure the nostalgia is all that warranted.

Reason's sequencer has been behind competitors in development pacing for decades.

The product started as a Rack of Instruments. The Sequencer was a tack-on.

They do make decent-enough Synths/Instruments, but I don't think Propellerhead ever had the talent on staff that some of their competitors had to develop a competitive sequencer.

A lot of the newer DAWs that have risen up to pass them by - Studio One, Bitwig, etc. - have utilized developers from teams that worked on DAWs that had pretty high development pacing in the past; which is why those teams were able to start from scratch and get to where got to in just a decade.

I don't think Propellerheads every had a team like that, and I don't think they sought to make those types of hires to change that status quo over the years.

They DO do good work, it's just in areas of high redundancy. Rack is fine, per se, but it isn't as good as it could be because it came into the market after it was already saturated with virtual instruments, FX and MIDI Processors and we had entered into a "Discount Economy." This is why the price increases made no sense to me.

Why bump your price up to 25% higher than options like Studio One and Bitwig, when you're already strugging to compete on two fronts against both other sequencers as well as plug-in bundles like Komplete, Absolute, Total Studio and others?

[crimsonwarlock]

Windows has system-level support for FLAC, just like macOS.

You are wrong on that, and the devil is in the details. Native support is different from being able to install codecs. MP3 is available on Windows, but you have to install a codec for that, same with FLAC.

Although the FLAC algorithms are BSD-licensed, the plugins from the FLAC-project (basically the ready-made codecs) are GPL, meaning that Reason cannot include these in their installer without making their whole product open-source. So then they have to put it somewhere in the manual (that nobody reads anyway, obviously) that you need to download and install the FLAC-codec to get it working. It also means that they need to implement functionality to detect if a FLAC-codec is available on the system and enable/disable FLAC-export in menus and such, to prevent all kinds of error messages. So, it seems understandable why they don't have FLAC-support based on external codecs on Windows.

Since MP3 is the prevalent streaming format, they implemented that natively inside Reason DAW. Reaper, for example, has no native MP3 support and needs the external MP3 codecs installed. I remember I initially needed to download an MP3 codec myself and install it, to get MP3 export working in Reaper. I think they now include the codec in their installer (I haven't installed a Reaper release in years now), since the MP3 license was made free in 2017.

That being said, the format is open so they could have easily just added their own support in

That's what I already said in my previous message

[Reminiscence]

I guess Mods can send our feature requests to the Feature Request sub-forum, lol - clean up the floor for Reason Studios to dance the release of the new version. I think I'll continue my Reason+ sub, just to support their cause.

[selig]

As for this upgrade, it's a HARD NO for me. All personal opinion/takes. Others can spend their money on what they find is worth it to them.

The Sequencer Changes are basically just visual changes. They don't move the sequencer forward - functionally…

Not sure I would agree. A feature list can suck even when it includes everything you want, if the features are difficult to access or understand or hidden from view or take an inordinate amount of hoops to jump through etc.

For example, lots of DAWs have comping, but I’ve never really liked Reasons approach over approaches like Pro Tools. Same feature (on paper), one is very useful to me over the years and the other I’ve never been able to use. I know that just “me”, but we’re all like that in one way or another. That’s what makes product development so fun!

And functionality can only be judged by seeing if it functions “for you” - a feature list doesn’t indicate functionality to me.
Just saying, more features doesn’t automatically = more functional, just as an update having no new features CAN still improve functionality IMO.
But I’ll only know that after I sit down and see for myself.

[aquil]

Wasn't it the case that Mp3 support (reading Mp3 files) in Reason was solved by functions of the operating system's media libraries? So if FLAC is supported by Windows and MacOS etc., it could easily be integrated into Reason in the same way.

[crimsonwarlock]

Wasn't it the case that Mp3 support (reading Mp3 files) in Reason was solved by functions of the operating system's media libraries? So if FLAC is supported by Windows and MacOS etc., it could easily be integrated into Reason in the same way.

Maybe read my post above, explaining that Windows does NOT have native FLAC-support. If it had native support, you wouldn't need to download and install stuff to get it working. This should be clear from the fact that Microsoft's own Windows Media Player doesn't support FLAC natively:

2024-05-11 15_41_52-Window.png (43.18 KiB) Viewed 840 times

[iTrensharo]

Windows has system-level support for FLAC, just like macOS.

You are wrong on that, and the devil is in the details. Native support is different from being able to install codecs. MP3 is available on Windows, but you have to install a codec for that, same with FLAC.

Although the FLAC algorithms are BSD-licensed, the plugins from the FLAC-project (basically the ready-made codecs) are GPL, meaning that Reason cannot include these in their installer without making their whole product open-source. So then they have to put it somewhere in the manual (that nobody reads anyway, obviously) that you need to download and install the FLAC-codec to get it working. It also means that they need to implement functionality to detect if a FLAC-codec is available on the system and enable/disable FLAC-export in menus and such, to prevent all kinds of error messages. So, it seems understandable why they don't have FLAC-support based on external codecs on Windows.

Since MP3 is the prevalent streaming format, they implemented that natively inside Reason DAW. Reaper, for example, has no native MP3 support and needs the external MP3 codecs installed. I remember I initially needed to download an MP3 codec myself and install it, to get MP3 export working in Reaper. I think they now include the codec in their installer (I haven't installed a Reaper release in years now), since the MP3 license was made free in 2017.

That being said, the format is open so they could have easily just added their own support in

That's what I already said in my previous message

I'm not even going to respond to all of this, because much of it makes no sense whatsoever.

Windows 10 and later uses a modular architecture for Media CODECs. This means that instead of relying on Full OS updates, or Microsoft updating Windows Media Player with CODEC Support baked into the new Windows Media Foundation components, users can go to the Windows Store and simply bolt on support for CODECs - and these CODECs are available to Apps on the system.

As I've stated, software which has been updated to utilize the newer Windows APIs - like DaVinci Resolve - utilize these CODECs on systems to open file formats in their Free SKU (to avoid having to give away components they otherwise pay to license in Resolve Studio). This is how Free Resolve opens AAC, HEVC and FLAC files on Windows.

The fact that the platform is modular in that way is by design. It means users can add support without Microsoft issuing OS updates. They just need the package to become available.

Whether or not an application can access and use those CODECs depends primarily on how that application opens these types of files and what API they are using to access CODECs on the underlying system.

On macOS, Apple deprecates and removes old APIs. This means that things are almost guaranteed to work as expected because developers are forced by Apple to update their API usage on that platform.

On Windows, Microsoft will supersede APIs, but they remain available for use for decades. They do this for backward compatibility reasons - to not break software. Apple is more bullish about this, because they don't have a huge foot in the Enterprise Market where applications can stay in service for decades. This results in a lot of applications never updating to newer APIs. It's why Reason still uses Windows Audio APIs from the 1990s, while lots of other DAWs have updated to WASAPI and some even having implemented the newer Windows Pro Audio extensions for thread prioritization in Pro Audio Applications like DAWs and NLEs.

[iTrensharo]

Wasn't it the case that Mp3 support (reading Mp3 files) in Reason was solved by functions of the operating system's media libraries? So if FLAC is supported by Windows and MacOS etc., it could easily be integrated into Reason in the same way.

Maybe read my post above, explaining that Windows does NOT have native FLAC-support. If it had native support, you wouldn't need to download and install stuff to get it working. This should be clear from the fact that Microsoft's own Windows Media Player doesn't support FLAC natively:


2024-05-11 15_41_52-Window.png

Windows Media Player 12 is deprecated and has been so for years. The new Windows Framework for Multimedia does not utilize Windows Media Player components. Media Player remains available because a lot of applications used that API set to access media and have not been (and probably never will be) updated. Corel VideoStudio, for example, will not be able to load a lot of different CODECs if you don't have Windows Media Player installed on the machine. That's why it remains available... For those scenarios.

The default Media Player in Windows 11 is the new Media Player (formerly Groove Music). It uses the current system APIs, and it will play back FLAC files with 0 issue. No additional installation is needed. I don't even think the OS installs Windows Media Player 12 by default anymore. Last time I did an install, I had to add it myself from the Control Panel.

As for this upgrade, it's a HARD NO for me. All personal opinion/takes. Others can spend their money on what they find is worth it to them.

The Sequencer Changes are basically just visual changes. They don't move the sequencer forward - functionally…

Not sure I would agree. A feature list can suck even when it includes everything you want, if the features are difficult to access or understand or hidden from view or take an inordinate amount of hoops to jump through etc.

For example, lots of DAWs have comping, but I’ve never really liked Reasons approach over approaches like Pro Tools. Same feature (on paper), one is very useful to me over the years and the other I’ve never been able to use. I know that just “me”, but we’re all like that in one way or another. That’s what makes product development so fun!

And functionality can only be judged by seeing if it functions “for you” - a feature list doesn’t indicate functionality to me.
Just saying, more features doesn’t automatically = more functional, just as an update having no new features CAN still improve functionality IMO.
But I’ll only know that after I sit down and see for myself.

I understand what you're saying. That's fine, I guess.

I'm still not buying it.

Every DAW has to worry about ergonomics and accessibility, feature discoverability, etc. That is a completely different from continuing to not implement important features that need to be there.

I'd rather it be "unintuitive" to use an ARA2 plug-in, than not be able to use one at all. I'd rather it be "unintuitive" to edit MPE automation than not be able to utilize it at all. There is room for "compromise," but they aren't even attempting to present a scenario where compromise is even called for. The stuff just continue to not be there. It's 2024. How long should we wait? 2032? 2039?

We're comparing a complete inability to do things in the face of capable alternatives to "it's not convenient enough," and I'm not sure that's a rationale argument one can realistically make in this scenario.

[tewoc]

It seems that there are many un-updated issues inside Reason DAW that other DAWs already solved since ages. I watched some recently uploaded Reason 13 Youtube videos created by some Reason users and many of the comments are very sceptical and critical about Reason, because it seems that they just don not take those outdated/non existing basic stuff serious at all.

So maybe the bosses at RS should finally hire some programmer who can solve at first those terrible outdated issues - as soon as possible. No new devices until those basic stuff is fixed. Please restore Reasons reputation at first.

[madmacman]

They install stuff to the user music directory, which is kind of like rubbing salt into a wound. Not only will you have to waste system disk space on it, but now you have to manually tailor your backup strategy with exceptions, etc. to accommodate them throwing Gigabytes of data in the User Music directory which is supposed to be for... Music files.

In defense of Reason Studio: a lot of other vendors are now doing the same (DAWs as well as VST plugins) as I easily can see in my “Music” folder.

[iTrensharo]

They install stuff to the user music directory, which is kind of like rubbing salt into a wound. Not only will you have to waste system disk space on it, but now you have to manually tailor your backup strategy with exceptions, etc. to accommodate them throwing Gigabytes of data in the User Music directory which is supposed to be for... Music files.

In defense of Reason Studio: a lot of other vendors are now doing the same (DAWs as well as VST plugins) as I easily can see in my “Music” folder.

The only other application that I've seen do this is Celemony Melodyne, and that is fixed by editing the plist file and changing the Separations path.

Cubase, Samplitude Pro X, Sonar, Bitwig, WaveLab, Sound Forge, Dorico, Finale, Maschine 2, MPC 2, SpectraLayers, Studio One, Notion - I just checked - do not do this. Neither on macOS nor Windows OS.

EDIT: Digital Performer and ACID Pro also do not do this. Installed to check and make sure.

What other vendors are you seeing do this? I have a lot of plug-ins, and literally none of them do this (save for the aforementioned Melodyne).

Reason is the only application that installs gigabytes of data there. The only other exception is Melodyne, which I always fix by simply editing the plist after installation.

Beyond that, I don't really care if they default to that location. The issue is that the default is non-configurable and hardcoded, so even trying to junction will break things. You don't get a choice, at all. The non-configurable nature of it is what the core issue is. They can choose any default they want, so long as I am able to override it.

Ableton Live defaults to installing 70GB of content to the User Documents folder (Studio One also defaults here), IIRC, but you can easily override or move that content by setting the directory in the application. No one complains. They simply set the content directory to the other drive and move or install to that location (it works similar to how Logic Pro does it).

[madmacman]

What other vendors are you seeing do this? I have a lot of plug-ins, and literally none of them do this (save for the aforementioned Melodyne).

Reason is the only application that installs gigabytes of data there. The only other exception is Melodyne, which I always fix by simply editing the plist after installation.

Cannot tell - currently on vacation and far away from my Mac. From what I can recall I have all Studio One files (including all Sound Sets) in my Music folder (at least since v5, and automatically adopted by v6) but maybe it’s not the default. The VST‘s I don’t know by heart.

[crimsonwarlock]

Windows Media Player 12 is deprecated and has been so for years.

The default Media Player in Windows 11 is the new Media Player (formerly Groove Music).

The whole point is that if they implement FLAC support, it has to be working on every (currently) supported Windows version. Doing that based on native OS-support is still a no-go, as there are obviously many users not running the latest and greatest Windows version.

As older Windows versions are phased out by users, there may be a time when they implement FLAC support based on native OS support. Maybe it is already in R13, but if not, then I do understand it is a more complicated business decision than it seems from the outside.

[aquil]

The whole point is that if they implement FLAC support, it has to be working on every (currently) supported Windows version. Doing that based on native OS-support is still a no-go, as there are obviously many users not running the latest and greatest Windows version.

Check here:
https://docs.propellerheads.se/reason10 ... .42.3.html
"The audio file format support differs depending on which computer OS you are using."

Its already the case.

[avasopht]

The whole point is that if they implement FLAC support, it has to be working on every (currently) supported Windows version. Doing that based on native OS-support is still a no-go, as there are obviously many users not running the latest and greatest Windows version.

Check here:
https://docs.propellerheads.se/reason10 ... .42.3.html
"The audio file format support differs depending on which computer OS you are using."

Its already the case.

Yes, different OS as in Windows or Mac. Not just different versions of Windows.


Besides, it's open source with a license that allows it to be used by Reason on all OS's anyway.

[avasopht]

I understand what you're saying. That's fine, I guess.

I'm still not buying it.

Every DAW has to worry about ergonomics and accessibility, feature discoverability, etc. That is a completely different from continuing to not implement important features that need to be there.

I'd rather it be "unintuitive" to use an ARA2 plug-in, than not be able to use one at all. I'd rather it be "unintuitive" to edit MPE automation than not be able to utilize it at all. There is room for "compromise," but they aren't even attempting to present a scenario where compromise is even called for. The stuff just continue to not be there. It's 2024. How long should we wait? 2032? 2039?

We're comparing a complete inability to do things in the face of capable alternatives to "it's not convenient enough," and I'm not sure that's a rationale argument one can realistically make in this scenario.

That might be the case for you.

You would rather have an unintuitive ARA2 plug-in than none at all.



I would rather they use their development resources to implement intuitive features.

I would rather they get other features done well than ARA2 or MPE editing.



I have other DAWs available for when I need them. And I've found that most of the time all of those things don't matter as much as I thought.

I've spent the last 18 months exclusively in MPC Live Standalone. The year prior that was Maschine.

Both lack even more features than Reason (Maschine is not trying to be a DAW).

[RobBarnett]

I agree with iTrensharo, the RS "strategy" is driving folks towards other DAWs. I for one have started using Logic instead of Reason and have started buying VSTs rather than REs. I love Reason and have been using it since V4, and I'd love to see RS survive. RS are quite innovative when it comes to devices and the rack (Objekt is a primary example) but a DAW is a simply a tool for recording and editing Audio and MIDI and if they fall behind with features and functionality within the DAW, folks will go elsewhere and RS will become a RACK of Instruments only. Maybe this is their strategy?????

BTW I'm a R+ Subscriber and will continue with subscription for now but the further I delve into Logic and VSTs, the less I depend on Reason

[crimsonwarlock]

Check here:
https://docs.propellerheads.se/reason10 ... .42.3.html
"The audio file format support differs depending on which computer OS you are using."

Its already the case.

Yes, different OS as in Windows or Mac. Not just different versions of Windows.

This!

Besides, it's open source with a license that allows it to be used by Reason on all OS's anyway.

Yes, as long as they implement the FLAC algorithms themselves INSIDE Reason. The FLAC algos are licensed under the BSD-license which permit commercial use. All related FLAC tools are GPL, which excludes proprietary use: https://xiph.org/flac/license.html

[dusan.cani]

How is it possible to control hardware synth through VST controller in Reason ? Reason doesn't have VST MIDI out so do I understand it correctly that this is impossible in Reason ?

[avasopht]

I agree with iTrensharo, the RS "strategy" is driving folks towards other DAWs. I for one have started using Logic instead of Reason and have started buying VSTs rather than REs. I love Reason and have been using it since V4, and I'd love to see RS survive. RS are quite innovative when it comes to devices and the rack (Objekt is a primary example) but a DAW is a simply a tool for recording and editing Audio and MIDI and if they fall behind with features and functionality within the DAW, folks will go elsewhere and RS will become a RACK of Instruments only. Maybe this is their strategy?????

BTW I'm a R+ Subscriber and will continue with subscription for now but the further I delve into Logic and VSTs, the less I depend on Reason

In all fairness, he does have a point. I can't deny his needs.

I have my own gripes and wants.



But I respect that the features I want might not make a difference for others.



I came to Reason when it was purely a virtual studio in a box.

There's value in that simplicity.



They might have made a mistake with how they introduced Record.



Imagine if Record was a regular DAW supporting VSTs, and RRP was introduced at the same time.



That might have led to a better outcome.



Reason Studios have the same problem Nintendo had. First they added a touchscreen and dual screens.

Then they added a 3D display.



They got out of it by pretending the Switch was an iteration of their console lineup.

How is it possible to control hardware synth through VST controller in Reason ? Reason doesn't have VST MIDI out so do I understand it correctly that this is impossible in Reason ?

It has MIDI out.

It just doesn't return MIDI to the VST host.



Some people get around this by running Reason alongside another DAW and routing it in a similar way to Rewire.

[jam-s]

https://xiph.org/flac/license.html

The reference implementation libraries are licensed under the New BSD License. In simple terms, these libraries may be used by any application, Open or proprietary, linked or incorporated in whole, so long as acknowledgement is made to Xiph.org Foundation when using the source code in whole or in derived works. The Xiph License is free enough that the libraries have been used in commercial products to implement FLAC, including in the firmware of hardware devices where other Open Source licenses can be problematic. In the source code these libraries are called libFLAC and libFLAC++.

And using these libs is all they'd need for loading and writing FLAC files. So really not a big thing to just add them to the source tree and makefile and then add a custom loader/writer class and be done with it.

I really don't get why they've not done this in the last 10+ years, as it's a ridiculously easy win.

[supersmarter]

https://xiph.org/flac/license.html

The reference implementation libraries are licensed under the New BSD License. In simple terms, these libraries may be used by any application, Open or proprietary, linked or incorporated in whole, so long as acknowledgement is made to Xiph.org Foundation when using the source code in whole or in derived works. The Xiph License is free enough that the libraries have been used in commercial products to implement FLAC, including in the firmware of hardware devices where other Open Source licenses can be problematic. In the source code these libraries are called libFLAC and libFLAC++.

And using these libs is all they'd need for loading and writing FLAC files. So really not a big thing to just add them to the source tree and makefile and then add a custom loader/writer class and be done with it.

I really don't get why they've not done this in the last 10+ years, as it's a ridiculously easy win.

You have a point there. My guess is that we are not seeing these things "that should be there to begin with" because ReaonStudios is a much smaller team than we think they are. And any change demands strain on their capabilities. Under capabilities, I am not thinking about whether are they capable of doing something amazing. under capability I am pointing at time and resources to do something.

I am not a Reason + user and never will be. I have Reason 12 and I spent more than $3000 on Rack Extensions. So new devices don't excite me at all.

But I will upgrade on day one. I want to support them even though they are slow as old crabs and something in me tells me that with Reason 13 onwards, we might see some small adjustments and enhancements to a DAW itself in point updates.

It's only a hope of mine.

[iTrensharo]

What other vendors are you seeing do this? I have a lot of plug-ins, and literally none of them do this (save for the aforementioned Melodyne).

Reason is the only application that installs gigabytes of data there. The only other exception is Melodyne, which I always fix by simply editing the plist after installation.

Cannot tell - currently on vacation and far away from my Mac. From what I can recall I have all Studio One files (including all Sound Sets) in my Music folder (at least since v5, and automatically adopted by v6) but maybe it’s not the default. The VST‘s I don’t know by heart.

1. The Music Folder on macOS is structured differently than on Windows. On Windows it's a top level folder where most people put their music. Typically in Artist -> Album -> Song.EXT organization.

On macOS, the Music Folder isn't the top level folder for your music files. It's an umbrella folder where "music-related" things go, including folders for software like Logic Pro, etc. It's not the same. Same with the Movies folder.

This means that on macOS, even if Studio One put files there, it won't be in the same folder as your music. Your iTunes/Apple Music Library resides in its own sub-folder.

Adding unnecessary subfolders on Windows because path lengths are limited by default.

2. Studio One allows you to go into Settings and change where its document directory is.

It also allows you to change where Studio One Content is installed in the content installer. I've never experienced Studio One putting stuff in the Music Folder on macOS, but it could just be that I don't remember because I always instantly change these types of defaults after installing software and delete the offending files. I have dedicated drives for that stuff connected to my Mac via TB3.

3. I'm referring primarily to Windows (I also have a Mac, though), where the workarounds for this on macOS do not work and users are forced to have this large payload sit on the system drive. Talking about macOS is moving the goal post, as the directory structure and how people organize data into those folders on that OS differs from Windows - as are the default limitations imposed by the file system which can affect how less technically savvy users organize data within those folders.