VSTs (or lack of them) in R13 browser

[CaptainBlack]

After much frustration, I've gone back to R12. The reason (cough) being that unless I'm missing something, R13 pretends VSTs don't exist. In R12, I could make Favourites folders and find my the ones I needed straight away, as well as easily choose one when setting up Send FX. R13 just seems to offer me Reason sounds and if there's a way of adding VSTs, it's not obvious. This has been so frustratng for my workflow that I've dumped R13 until this is resolved. So is there a way round this I've missed?

[supersmarter]

After much frustration, I've gone back to R12. The reason (cough) being that unless I'm missing something, R13 pretends VSTs don't exist. In R12, I could make Favourites folders and find my the ones I needed straight away, as well as easily choose one when setting up Send FX. R13 just seems to offer me Reason sounds and if there's a way of adding VSTs, it's not obvious. This has been so frustratng for my workflow that I've dumped R13 until this is resolved. So is there a way round this I've missed?

You haven't missed anything. Welcome to the train wreck of updates going wrong. I reverted back to R12 because of this. AFAIK Reason Studios addressed this issue, saying that they are working on an update that will supposedly "fix" missing favorites. When? We will see about that.

Why they did it in the first place, why they decided to remove functionality that they introduced years ago and which everyone seems to be using - it goes into one of the mysteries surrounding Europe as we know it. Or someone is just plain silly.

[Steedus]

Yeah I think (don't have 13) you can no longer 'favourite' devices, only patches. But isn't there still a big list of instruments / effects etc? All compatible VSTs should be in there like with 12.

[PhillipOrdonez]

Yeah I think (don't have 13) you can no longer 'favourite' devices, only patches. But isn't there still a big list of instruments / effects etc? All compatible VSTs should be in there like with 12.

There is. And it's way easier to load devices now than ever before. Especially if you have a macro device like a stream deck! But even if you don't, all you need to do is hit control shift F, type the name of the device, then press enter and that automatically creates the device for you. Before you had to drag it in with the mouse. Which you can still do of course if you're so inclined. For me, with macro buttons, i press one button and any device i want gets created, no matter if instrument, effect, utility or player and no matter if Re or VST. I love it.

[CaptainBlack]

But it's not just about creating an effect - it's putting it in the right point in the chain. Basical fuctionality like right-clicking a send effect slot and choosing 'Create send FX' no longer gives me any VST options. So if I want to use, say, one of my Univeral Audio ones, I have to find it and drag it to the top of the rack. Luckily I'm experienced enough with Reason to know that's where it should go. Anybody new would struggle

[PhillipOrdonez]

That's true specifically for the send effects. Hopefully the fix they're working on will be ready soon.

[selig]

But it's not just about creating an effect - it's putting it in the right point in the chain. Basical fuctionality like right-clicking a send effect slot and choosing 'Create send FX' no longer gives me any VST options. So if I want to use, say, one of my Univeral Audio ones, I have to find it and drag it to the top of the rack. Luckily I'm experienced enough with Reason to know that's where it should go. Anybody new would struggle

This one is killing me as well. What I want to do when adding a send effect is to browse DEVICES, not PATCHES. As a side note, does it bother anyone else the device browser is called "Devices" and the patch browser is called "Browser"? Another Reason inconsistency…
I mean, it IS cool you can create devices by selecting a patch from your library, but that's not how I work most of the time. I just know I want a reverb, or a specific delay, or maybe a device without patches - but how do I add a DDL1 delay as a Send Effect with this approach (as one example)?

[mcatalao]

(...)
I just know I want a reverb, or a specific delay, or maybe a device without patches - but how do I add a DDL1 delay as a Send Effect with this approach (as one example)?

I mix this way also, often every effect i add, i like it to be on a reset mode and build from there. I haven't felt that problem because i usually have my sends defined on my template (2 reverbs, 2 delays, an chorus and 3 empty for some aux or parallel fidling you can't do completly in reason.). But it is an inconsistency. For now what i've been doing is replace the sends i already have in my template, but i agree that if you add more than you already have that is a break of functionality. I do prefer to drag and drop into the rack for these.

There's another workaround wich is to create default versions of the devices, or in the case of vst's or devices without presets inside of combis, but making combis for everything we have is a huge endeavour, not to say the combi in the middle without additional fiddling breaks remote configs of a given device. It just seems any alternative brings out a can of worms...

Anyway... this might explain why, amongst other issues, I'm still doing my latest mixes on R12 instead of R13.
Oh well....

[Pepin]

This one is killing me as well. What I want to do when adding a send effect is to browse DEVICES, not PATCHES. As a side note, does it bother anyone else the device browser is called "Devices" and the patch browser is called "Browser"? Another Reason inconsistency…

I think the naming is fine, because the browser is used for more than just patches. It's a file browser that's also used for samples, midi files, etc.
The full name for the devices area is actually the "Device Palette," which makes sense since it's not a file browser.

I'd also like it if the "Create Send FX" option still opened the device palette, but I can see how it might complicate things since it would mean there's now an "orange mode" for both the device palette and the browser.