Post
25 Jun 2024
Oh well. I guess I am out for now.
The first thing I will ask, as a Reason+ subscriber, if there is any way I can go back to 12 or install 12 on a fresh PC installation (the latter being the worry, as I am re formatting my Mac now that I understand the new OS and won't make the same mistakes that caused a bit of a mess)?
If not, I have to cancel the sub and try find a version 12 for sale.
It is not that it's simply something I don't like, the program has become genuinely unusable to me, i.e. real deal breakers.
The new browser not being able to be docked on the left every time I want to find an instrument patch is really annoying. Everything was so neat and tidy and cohesive in R12. But maybe I can get used to it, maybe, even though I can no longer see the synth or my tracks on the screen when browsing presets (seriously)???
But what makes it worse is that the folders have gone, and I don't like the new category system. OK, maybe I can get used to that.
But now they have removed the inability to hide plugin type, and that is dealbreaker number one.
I used to be able to disable VST2 or VST3 at the touch of a button and it made everything so much neater, but now the entire plugin in list is there at all times.
I hope I am wrong and just haven't discovered the functions, but I am the type of person that has always found that removing something and not replacing it is just so frustrating and I can never understand why it's done.
For example, since the media bay came out in Cubase, they have only improved it by adding it to the right docked browser, but everything that was always there is still there, many version generations later. It's been there for so many Cubendo versions that I forgot when it started, and Steinberg understands when their userbase has become accustomed to the way something works. Same with Logic. Same with PT. Same with S1 since V1!! All those DAWs have done is added options but not removed functionality. What Reason Studios have done is painful to me.
The other deal breaker is that I can barely see when a track is selected on the arrange page. The contrast they are using now is so light, it is barely noticeable, and I have to strain my eyes and it's slowing down production immensely and I keep deleting things I didn't want to or not deleting what I want to delete.
It wasn't fantastic before, but you could at least tell what tracks were selected or not.
I am not sure why they have done this, but I am nearly 52 years old and I am not going to cause myself eyestrain by trying to work like this. Logic, PT, Nuendo, so easy to see what's selected or not.
Actually, to be completely honest, I probably can't get used to a non docked browser, and even if I could, not being able to clearly see selected tracks on the arrange page is too hard an obstacle to climb for me. And this is on a 4K mini LED 1100 nit HDR monitor!
Every other DAW has an optionally dock able browser and it's part of my workflow. Can't do it. I used to be able to resize with just a drag left and right and the new one seems almost to be a punishment.
So if anyone has an R12 to sell, please let me know, or if there's a way to install it new when I re do my Mac this weekend, otherwise I won't be installing it at all, as I won't be using version 13. I just won't do it, so I don't want to start any new projects.
I love the new Polytone synth, but actual critical things (imo) haven't been fixed.
There's still no project tempo preview for audio loops that aren't in rex format. Only DAW I know of now with this affliction. So why a fancy new browser?
VST3 support is still *COMPLETELY* broken on Windows 11.. You can't do large projects using VST3 plugins cause of memory issues, even with 64Gb ram. Just 32 tracks each with one VST 3 algorithmic (i.e. not sample based) synth and one vst 3 audio effects uses nearly 50GB on reload, and not even a GB in other DAWs. That means it's BROKEN indeed.
So instead of fixing really important things, they updated cosmetics that were fantastic to begin with. I don't get it. And now, unlike before, I can't remove VST3 plugins from the plug in browser.
Of course, if I am wrong about anything, please let me know, and I'll be thrilled to be wrong! But this is where I am at thus far, in that I dislike the update immensely from an ergonomic standpoint, and therefore that makes it a DAW I don't really want to use anymore, as ergonomics are half the battle (for me, anyway).
Cheers and thanks as always.
PS I will keep an eye out, if they fix the colour issue and at least re add a dock able browser, even in its new form, I'll be back.
The VST3 issue and lack of tempo preview for wav and aiff files really needs to be fixed though and something that prevented me from migrating to version 12 as my main DAW. It's tiring running Bitwig or Ableton just to be able to tempo preview drum loops in Reason, and even the process of importing them to tempo is archaic. I just tried it in Version 13. I imported an 134bpm drum loop into an 130 BPM project. If I disabled stretch, changed the tempo then reenabled it, it went back to the clips original tempo LOL.
So I have to either guess with a control drag and time resize clip to correct bar, or disable stretch, go to clip native tempo for entire project, bounce clip in place, which is not a bounce in place as it does it on new track, delete the previous track, then go back to the normal project tempo.
Anyway, I was considering moving solely to Reason, but this has set me back considerably, unfortunately. I'll try the rack out in PT and Nuendo and maybe it's worth keeping the sub just for that. Shall see.
Mac Studio M2 Ultra/64Gb/Apollo T-Bolt 3/OS 14.6.1/PT 2024.6/R13.02/Logic 11.01
MSI GT77/13980HX/RTX 4090m/64GB/Arturia Minifuse 2/PT 2024.6/R13.02/Low DPC latency tuned