Antares' Autotune RE (Rack Extension for Reason) released!

[antic604]

Adding Auto-Tune to your Reason rack opens up entirely new uses for this industry-standard effect. The most essential tool for a modern vocal sound has now been significantly extended

Features

• The signature Auto-Tune Effect
• Transparent natural-sounding pitch correction
• CV Note and Gate outputs for controlling Reason instruments with a vocal track
• A collection of Combinator vocal chain patches
• MIDI control of target notes

Since its introduction, Auto-Tune has become an indispensable part of modern vocal production. Auto-Tune Reason delivers the essential Auto-Tune features, plus Reason-exclusive features for more creative workflows, all with a simple and intuitive interface.

Retune Speed and Humanize controls let you dial in the sound you’re looking for, from subtle pitch correction to the most extreme Auto-Tune Effect. And low-latency processing lets you perform through Auto-Tune Reason in real-time without any distracting delay.

But as with all things Reason, you can take things much further by combining Auto-Tune Reason with other Reason devices. To get you started, Auto-Tune Reason includes a collection of Combinator vocal chain patches for both subtle, mix-ready processing, and inspiring creative effects for every genre of music.

https://youtu.be/CPh6BKHT-zw

https://youtu.be/4Z1lfMc1pRo

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My take on this? I think we'll shortly hear from either Antares or Reason Studios (RS) about how easy it was to port the VST to RE format. Like it was easy for RS to port Europa RE to the VST format 3 years ago. I'm a firm believer that RS' long-term goal is to build an alternative, Apple Store-like platform for plugins, where they supply devs with easy to use tools allowing fast and painless developmend and conversion between VST/AU/AAX and RE, which gives certain benefits to users:

• single account login for all REs
• automatic installation & updates
• compatibility with Reason and other DAWs (via Reaston Rack VST/AU/AX)

and devs:

• centralised store
• file hosting
• promotion / marketing
• virus & piracy protection
• cross-platform compatibility (RE can be run as VST, AU and AAX but also in the Web and hardware)
• (allegedly) easy to use dev / conversion tools

Obviously RS would take a cut from the sales, but it might be worth it for a lot of smaller, independent devs to get bigger exposure and outsource some of the mundane operational headaches for a small fee.

This would also increase sales of Reason itself, unless they'd make the Reason Rack Plugin free, which would probably be an even smarter move.

[teilo]

Hmm. There's no doubt that we need an alternative to the vice-grip hold that Steinberg has on the plugin market, but it needs to be an open standard and cross-platform, and that isn't ever going to be RE.

I am hoping that after MIDI 2.0 is fully "out there" that work begins on a new plugin standard that fully utilizes the MIDI 2 architecture. Ends MPE hacks, etc.

[antic604]

Hmm. There's no doubt that we need an alternative to the vice-grip hold that Steinberg has on the plugin market, but it needs to be an open standard and cross-platform, and that isn't ever going to be RE.

I am hoping that after MIDI 2.0 is fully "out there" that work begins on a new plugin standard that fully utilizes the MIDI 2 architecture. Ends MPE hacks, etc.

Access to RE dev tools is free and open and it is cross platform - you can use REs via Reason Rack Plugin that comes in VST, AU and AAX formats

[teilo]

Hmm. There's no doubt that we need an alternative to the vice-grip hold that Steinberg has on the plugin market, but it needs to be an open standard and cross-platform, and that isn't ever going to be RE.

I am hoping that after MIDI 2.0 is fully "out there" that work begins on a new plugin standard that fully utilizes the MIDI 2 architecture. Ends MPE hacks, etc.

Access to RE dev tools is free and open and it is cross platform - you can use REs via Reason Rack Plugin that comes in VST, AU and AAX formats

Well, the problem, of course, is that you need to purchase Reason to use it; it's not on Linux; it has no scaling or HiDPI support; and I doubt it will ever be updated to support MIDI 2.0.

So, yeah, of course, the SDK is free, since you can't sell into that ecosystem without going through the RS gatekeepers.

We need a plugin standard that is modern, open, cross-platform, and not easily deprecated by a single company. That Steinberg won't allow any new developers to license VST2 is the perfect example of why this is needed.

Unfortunately, I don't see this ever happening, due to the many vested interests who would oppose it. Perhaps if a conglomeration of more open companies were to band together to do it, such as Cockos, Ardour, Bitwig, and JUCE, and were to draw support from many independent plugin devs, maybe. I won't hold my breath, though.

[antic604]

Well, the problem, of course, is that you need to purchase Reason to use it; it's not on Linux; it has no scaling or HiDPI support; and I doubt it will ever be updated to support MIDI 2.0.

As I said, if they went it this direction - to convert lots of VSTs into REs - they'd eventually make the Reason Rack Plugin (just the wrapper) free. They're currently working to add GPU-accelerated high-res GUI to Reason (REs already have 5K assets since 2016) and it will surely trickle down to the Rack Plugin. MIDI 2.0 is still some years off. Just see how most of the VST instruments - and some DAWs! - don't support MPE properly or at all, just like many VST3 plugins are still VST2.4 plugins translated to the "new" format without really leveraging any of the benefits (scaling, automatic disabling of audio processing, etc.).

I think they've racked enough money releasing 11, they've cut off all of the things that were not making money and their investor doesn't seem to back out from their commitment and if you saw the JUCE video from last year, I think they could pull it off

https://youtu.be/rcV9zLFzt4s

[teilo]

I hope not. I hope their attempt crashes and burns. This would actually be worse than the Steinberg monopoly. At least Steinberg sells licenses to develop VSTs, after which you don't have to pay them a percentage on each plugin sale.

But that's exactly what will happen with REs. Reason will give away the SDK, and then take a cut from every sale. It will not be possible to sell REs direct to the end user. You will have to use the Reason Studios sales and authentication platform. So, to put it mildly, they can go f*ck themselves.

[ShawnG]

...or this might just be a plug-in released for the reason rack with no industry shifting conspiracy behind it. Antic is conjecturing. No need to get angry about it.

[MMaarrkk]

^ I would have to agree. At least for now. I don't think it's that deep. There was just an opportunity to release a plugin and I think that's exactly what they've done.