Meh....
So today I tried Reason 11 and honestly? I'm seriously disappointed, about to de-install the whole thing and forget about it. (sort off). So many gaps, so many loopholes, so much amateurism...
Where do I even begin... On a personal note I dislike the new program icon. A minor issue but an important one for me because Windows 10 displays this stuff all the time in my start menu. The old reason logo stood out, and looked interesting. This new logo is bland and boring and I dislike it. It does not suit the program. Reason's interface is anything
but bland, so why the heck did they pick such a boring and uninspiring logo? What was wrong with the old one? Nothing! Look: Live, that is a bland program. And they even acknowledged this and used a bland icon (a grey icon with "Live" written on it). That is fitting. But not this nonsense...
Yes, it's a minor issue because as an IT guy I can easily undo this stupidity myself but.... I don't like
what where this may be going.
So I
figured fired up 11 and started to wonder: so where's this fabled Reason plugin? I couldn't find it... The installer never mentioned it, it wasn't located on the VST tab in my product page: where the heck is it? I started Live and it found nothing. So... yah?
As it turns out the "professional" Reason studios company doesn't even give you a choice where you want to install the plugin. You're forced to use the default location, which is your C drive and no where in their documentation does this get mentioned. So much for professionalism. Even the manuals don't address this aspect, they only tell you how you can
use the plugin but they don't bother to address where it gets installed and how you should use that. Wake up call: not everyone uses defaults. My VST plugin is in D:\Ableton\VST. My VST3 plugin idemditto. I don't use the default location and therefor was left hanging at first: where is it?
This [strike]is[/strike]
was a first reason for me to get rid of all this. Instead of re-using the Reason program folder they basically added a 2nd copy. No fun if your C drive is an SSD drive with limited storage. I'm not just saying: I did some homework. As an IT guy I see no reason not to provide this option. Sure: this is an advanced setup, not too many users would do this. But why ignore us powerusers like this? Every VST I bought and installed (we're now talking 4 -6 years ago) allowed me to install it to a custom location. And every major DAW I used allowed me to set up a custom VST folder. Can it get worse? Yes it can because even Reason 10 allows me to set up a custom VST folder. So the Props
know that users often use custom locations for their VST's, why in the <better censored comment> do they suddenly ignore all that and force us to use a default which for many users is plain out inconvenient? And did you know that they basically copied the whole Reason program folder again?
And then the plugin itself.. I was hoping for something 'Reason 4 like' but forget about it... Mediocre came to my mind when I first started this. The interface is anything
but intuitive. Sure, there are some limitations because the VST host has control, I understand that the tab key doesn't work anymore. But I hate having to go back to the one single rack workflow. You can only stack your devices in one column and that's it. Seriously?
So then the problems start for me, because now I'm re-evaluating my other reasons for upgrading... A few new devices? Where some are basically nothing new other than the ability to stack 'm in the rack. So how do those new devices weigh up against having to install Reason triple (Reason 10, Reason 11, Reason rack extension) also comparing what I'm used to in Reason 10? Yah, there's even more here: I bought some
serious good stuff when I got myself the Synth rig, Mastering & mix rig and... allowed myself to get persuaded into buying the Synapse bundle.
I have so many high quality rack extensions now, do I really need this lackluster experience that is Reason 11? Bland boring icon, a rack vst that can't weigh up against the workflow in Reason 10 + Live (don't ever underestimate what 2 sequencers can do combined!), a program that gobbles up twice the storage for "reasons"?
The only down side for me is that I can't easily play Reason with Live using Push right now, it would be easier with a VST. That part is true. SO I decided to do things "my way":
reason_hack.jpg
I made a backup of the Reason VST folder before I de-installed Reason 11. I don't want that bland boring stuff, good riddance. Then I moved the plugin folder into my custom VST3 folder and as you can see I can easily use it without issues. So how does this work even though I de-installed Reason 11 you ask? Because the new installer is plain out
bad: it doesn't remove everything it should remove. Even though I de-installed Reason 11 the installer decided to leave the Reason 11 soundbank on my computer. "Only" 3Gb worth of now (normally) useless data. Installing & de-installing Reason is a sure way to waste precious disk space. Very professional indeed.... I don't recall the previous installers ever doing this....
And that display of amateurism is once again another reason enough for me to stay put.
I'm sure that after reading this rant (thank you) you may start to wonder about me.. and rightfully so. Don't get me wrong here: I
love Reason and the Reason workflow. But I honestly fear where Reason is heading right now. Sloppy installer (leaves "only" 3Gb of data behind, good luck getting that back automatically!), adds a plain out lackluster VST which does not match up against the Reason rack (it also adds an extra copy of storage space
of because of the Reason 11 program folder: 1 product, twice the space!), boring and lackluster program icon, doesn't add much useful devices especially if you bought into some rigs.
So yeah, I'm left disappointed. The only thing I do like about Reason 11 is the easy way to use the (VST) rack with Ableton Push. But that will only last so long until I finished my Reasonable Max for Live plugin which will allow me to use Reason rewired with Push, just as if I were to use a normal Live device. I've been working on that for quite a while now.
Oh well, there's always Reason 15
(edit: fixed some major typoes and stuff, but left my mistakes in there).
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