Give me the WoW factors of Reason 8, pls

[KarmaShaman]

And as someone said, if you're at v5, the update is huge and amazing.

Its not R7 amazing. Sadly new upgraders from v5 cant use v7 and are instead stuck with the odd window assignments and illogical patch browsing.

My advice to 5, 6 & 6.5 users would be to buy an R7 licence through someone, sell your existing licence and then upgrade to v8.... so you have R7 to return to when you decide that the new release is a rush job from the Props lab

[damoog]

Upgrading from R5 to 8 is an absolute no brainer,definitely go for it

I don't agree with propellerheads way of marketing but you just cannot fault their software and one thing that is almost missed in every topic here at kvr is the sequencer,nothing locks in like reasons sequencer,it is incredibly good for beats

[eXode]

Well, that was fun. Let's see how long till the non Reason users come in and ruin this thread as well. Is there any other audio recording application that generates this much flack from people not actually using the application?

[eXode]

But to get back on topic, for me there aren't really any wow factors in Reason 8, more like good, to great little workflow improvements, some of which are very nice.

But in all fairness, not a single DAW have actually wowed me for the last couple of years, with the exception for possibly AudioGL. Very interesting concept and very different from Reason. Don't think I'd like to work with it though. But i digress.

[CrazyLittleSomething]

True that. Amateurism rules the world of DAW. Because.. everyone wants to be average nowadays.

[eXode]

No, you're not giving yourself enough credit. Let me stop you. Listen to this:

You made a few Refills for Reason and have a huge ego about it....for one thing. The next thing, you display just how inexperienced in the rest of the audio world you are whenever you, well, basically whenever you post.

I watched you argue with a VST developer last month when he detailed all the reasons he didnt want to involve HIS business with Propellerheads. You did NOT accept his own reasons and tried to tell him he was wrong for conducting HIS OWN business in that way. That was when I reached my very end with you. You display the typical Reason-zombie mindset with the complete lack of other experience to anything else going on in the audio world. There's a handful of you guys, and people can see your ego's coming from around the corner.

"It's difficult to have a discussion with someone who replies with irrelevant comments, " ~ Do you have ANY idea what it's like having conversations with people like you who really don't know much about other DAWs but hang out in audio forums like they think they do?

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to let this post from the Official Reason 8 Thread pass.

1. You don't know anything about me (or me ego), so please keep your personal insults and assumptions out of the discussion. Your personal attacks says alot more about your character than it says about mine.

2. My "argument" with the VST developer will be quoted below for your convenience:

This kind of comment is very unprofessional. If you don't have the time, or don't like their business format, fine. I can respect that. But take in consideration that many Reason users use other DAW's as well, and those users might very well buy VSTi's. This kind of statment might make a potential customer think twice about buying your product. It also kind of goes against your previous "character" statement.

Regardless of your stance on Reason and the propellerheads businessmodel, a statement about them "disappearing up their own assholes" is just unnecessary imho.

That's ALL I said, and I will continue to state that his comment was unnecessary and unproffesional. You wouldn't see U-he, Cakewalk, Roland, Korg, Yamaha, Steinberg, or any other representative of a serious company make a remark like that. I do have my doubts if you understand the basic concept of professionalism though.

3. The discussion has never been about other DAW's. We've discussed Reason and the RE platform (and it's technical abilities, which have time and again been interrupted by irrelevant comments (and continue to be interrupted by the likes of you). Do you see me harassing the forum of whatever DAW you're using? No, yet you're coming here like a moth that can't stay away from a light.

So let me ask this question back to you: Do you have any idea what it's like trying to have a serious discussion with similar minded people, when people like you interrupt with your little schemes, agendas and personal insults all the time?

So, unless you have something relevant to add to the discussion, that is about Reason 8, would you kindly just leave?

[KarmaShaman]

But to get back on topic, for me there aren't really any wow factors in Reason 8, more like good, to great little workflow improvements, some of which are very nice.

Out of interest, have you upgraded to R8? I am going over the changes again and again, looking at my R7 and paying attention to each step (as it's usually 'auto-pilot' for common tasks), and for the life of me I cannot understand how this is an overall workflow improvement.

The one or two cool things (for me) are being able to load OctoRex slots by drag & drop, and I guess clicking instead of drawing in sequencer clips is good, but I never felt this needed improving. Those are offset by the bizarre changes such as how the windows are locked together, the browser is stuck to the sequencer when folded.. and my number 1 workflow KILLER is the changes to patch browsing.

I'm quite surprised that Propellerhead expect people to fall into THEIR suggested way of working on projects. I wonder how many people would stay with R7 even if R8 was free? I certainly would.

[eXode]

But to get back on topic, for me there aren't really any wow factors in Reason 8, more like good, to great little workflow improvements, some of which are very nice.

Out of interest, have you upgraded to R8? I am going over the changes again and again, looking at my R7 and paying attention to each step (as it's usually 'auto-pilot' for common tasks), and for the life of me I cannot understand how this is an overall workflow improvement.

The one or two cool things (for me) are being able to load OctoRex slots by drag & drop, and I guess clicking instead of drawing in sequencer clips is good, but I never felt this needed improving. Those are offset by the bizarre changes such as how the windows are locked together, the browser is stuck to the sequencer when folded.. and my number 1 workflow KILLER is the changes to patch browsing.

I'm quite surprised that Propellerhead expect people to fall into THEIR suggested way of working on projects. I wonder how many people would stay with R7 even if R8 was free? I certainly would.

To be completely honest, I qualified for a free ugprade to R8. If I hadn't, I would probably not have upgraded. Like I said there are some nice little improvements and workflow enhancers, I do like the drag and drop both for samples and the way you can drop i.e. a Thor over a Subtractor in an existing track to replace it. I also like the click to create a clip, as well as the double click to add/delete a note while inside a clip, but there also some things, like you've already noticed, about forcing a certain workflow onto the users that I'm not comfortable with. Props have always done things their way, and I think that this is one of the more radical changes they've done in that regard. I don't hate the new browser being locked, but I'm not in love with it either.

I do think we're seeing the start of a big overhaul of Reason's GUI. Hopefully (and I know I'm very optimistic here) things will change in the next following updates. Even before the new browser was announced, I've made suggestions about allowing to arrange the views more freely. For instance I want the freedom to divide the Rack and Mixer views vertically.

Regardless, It is with great interest that I'll follow it's continued development.

[KarmaShaman]

If you're on microsoft OS you may wish to investigate the 'tile windows' function for vertical viewing.

So as you have no self-justifying obligation to use R8 (ie; because it was free), and have issue with the forced workflow, why are you using it instead of R7? Are you simply trying to relearn habits to keep up or do the positive changes outweigh the negative? I must admit that the device replacement is a powerful improvement that I failed to mention earlier. But having to make the choice between that and the inability to patch browse as we could before is... well its ridiculous to have to make that choice. To sacrifice some features only to experience the new ones.

Although Props are notorious for forging their own path and ignoring user requests, I really hope that they do some re-evaluating on key issues. Much of what is being requested surely can't involve complex coding.

[eXode]

If you're on microsoft OS you may wish to investigate the 'tile windows' function for vertical viewing.

Yes, it's a solution, albeit a bit more space wasting so I still hope for proper support in the application in the future.

So as you have no self-justifying obligation to use R8 (ie; because it was free), and have issue with the forced workflow, why are you using it instead of R7? Are you simply trying to relearn habits to keep up or do the positive changes outweigh the negative? I must admit that the device replacement is a powerful improvement that I failed to mention earlier. But having to make the choice between that and the inability to patch browse as we could before is... well its ridiculous to have to make that choice. To sacrifice some features only to experience the new ones.

My biggest gripe is the changed behavior of the patch surfing as well, esp that you could hold an edited patch in memory, patch browse, and then click cancel and go back instantly to your edited patch. I miss that a lot. I guess I'm forcing myself to fully explore the new features more than anything, and to keep myself updated.

Although Props are notorious for forging their own path and ignoring user requests, I really hope that they do some re-evaluating on key issues. Much of what is being requested surely can't involve complex coding.

I guess that one way to put it is to say that they do implement user requests, but they do it in their own way, and sometimes that way is not in line with what the user actually requested, if that makes sense. Or at least I think that's true for many users when it comes to RE in particular.

[Tronam]

R8 might be a marketing challenge, but after about 3 or 4 weeks of regular use I can now no longer go back to R7. The handling of audio file import was always antiquated in previous versions, but it's in sharper relief now than ever. No more popup window completely locking me out of the program. I'm now finally able to quickly drag in audio files from anywhere, desktop or browser, to the sampler devices or specific points in the sequencer, all while the transport is running. Since REX files are now universally browsable like folders, slices can be auditioned and pulled out like any other audio file for use anywhere. I can batch load samples or individual REX slices right into Kong and it'll automap them to the drum pads. I can search through my sample libraries without having to take a coffee break, even on my old computer. No more inconsistent naming and color coding chaos between sequencer tracks and clips, rack and mixer because they're all (finally) smartly linked and device replacement without recabling is quicker than ever.

[KarmaShaman]

You mention device replacement..... can you drag one device over another inside the rack to replace? I am speaking of gear embedded into a Combinator, when the sequencer device would remain the same (as its a combi, not an instrument, in the sequencer)

[KarmaShaman]

Oh and the colour changing each element of a track (sequencer, mixer and clip)is a nightmare in pre-R8. I have always thought that to be a stupid oversight so im glad they fixed it.

[Tronam]

You mention device replacement..... can you drag one device over another inside the rack to replace? I am speaking of gear embedded into a Combinator, when the sequencer device would remain the same (as its a combi, not an instrument, in the sequencer)

Either one, the combinator itself or the devices inside of it.

[KarmaShaman]

Thats great to hear. When everyones ReFills stop working due to Line6 discontinuation, at least it wont be quite as big a job for users to fix their patches. Still a painful, time consuming task but we have no choice but to accept how that issue will unfold.

Does r8 allow a larger vertical sizing of clips in the sequencer? I do some commercial work with audio-only and this has been a minor but noticeable issue.