Reason RE Development?

[tony10000]

I had heard that u-he had a negative experience with Reason RE development in the past. However, it seems that REs are really taking off now with their Players and announced ability to support dedicated hardware devices. Synapse, Rob Papen, Blamsoft and others are still actively developing. I wonder if u-he will re-enter RE development?

[pdxindy]

I hope not...

[tony10000]

Reason? lol

[Distorted Horizon]

Well, Reason supports vst's so no need for re.. Though it'd be nice to have Hive in a rack but not a necessity.

[tony10000]

Well, Reason supports vst's so no need for re.. Though it'd be nice to have Hive in a rack but not a necessity.

I have used VSTs with Reason. Not the greatest integration and some are problematic. They are working on a new version for better compatibilty. However, REs still offer better compatibility and the multiple outputs of many REs along with CV/Gate capabilities make it a great option if you are into modular systems. I find it a great tool for sound design and creative composition because of that and the Players. I also like their streamlined purchase/installation model and it virually eliminates the potential for piracy which is good for the devs.

[Distorted Horizon]

True.. Let me put it this way: I have a wooden smasher to make smashed potatoes, I don't need a plastic one to accompany it.

[tony10000]

True.. Let me put it this way: I have a wooden smasher to make smashed potatoes, I don't need a plastic one to accompany it.

Not sure I understand the analogy, but that is OK. Different horses for different courses.

[pdxindy]

Reason? lol

Two reasons...

First and most important to me... I will never use Reason. So any development time u-he puts towards RE's is development time lost for things like Zebra 3, Bazille 2, Diva 2...

Second, I think RE's are not worth the effort because Reason now supports VST's. I think any company investing their time in RE's today it will not be a financial benefit for them. Selling an RE version to a Reason user means that Reason user wont be buying the already existing VST version which requires no additional work.

[chk071]

There are companies who still develop both, VST and RE. It's true though, Propellerhead didn't really do themselves a favour. Must companies will surely think that it doesn't make much sense to still support RE now that Reason supports VST. Regardless of the better integration of RE's.

[tony10000]

The solution, of course, is to develop REs that are not mere duplicates of VSTs. For example, Synapse has Antidote and their GQ-7 EQ (neither of which have VST counterparts). I think there is a market there and money to be made.

[pekbro]

If you like Reason, RE's offer great integration and better performance, which is
soon to get better (supposedly). For devs, I can see the benefit of dealing
exclusively with a closed system, although that certainly cant apply to Urs and crew.

[Urs]

I think there is a market there and money to be made.

There's no simple formula to this. Our codebase will not compile to RE because RE requirements diverge from standard programming models. Models, which we rely on. We maintained scripts which converted our codebase to something which would work with RE, but after an update of the RE SDK we could not compile any RE which would not crash in Reason. We had a complete new RE finished, but it did not work. Evaluating the time it took to get there before that SDK update and taking into account that the developer who originally did this had left u-he, correlating it with how revenues from Uhbik developed RE vs VST/AU, it became clear that this was not anything we can pursue any further.

Sometimes it's not about the money to be made.

[tony10000]

I think there is a market there and money to be made.

There's no simple formula to this. Our codebase will not compile to RE because RE requirements diverge from standard programming models. Models, which we rely on. We maintained scripts which converted our codebase to something which would work with RE, but after an update of the RE SDK we could not compile any RE which would not crash in Reason. We had a complete new RE finished, but it did not work. Evaluating the time it took to get there before that SDK update and taking into account that the developer who originally did this had left u-he, correlating it with how revenues from Uhbik developed RE vs VST/AU, it became clear that this was not anything we can pursue any further.

Sometimes it's not about the money to be made.

It is unfortunate that your code would not compile with the new SDK and I understand your frustration. Too bad that it worked out that way. Propellerhead's loss in the end.

[joeyluck]

The Uhbik-G RE is one of my favorites and I have never had any issues with it. I wish I could still recommend it to friends to purchase. Having the CV connections is a huge plus. There are capabilities of the built-in CV that aren't there when assigning CV to the VST parameters (which is then just like automation and limited).

[tony10000]

I'm disappointed that u-he has abandoned the Reason platform (although I certainly understand why). As someone who admires their modular synths (Ace and Bazille), it would be really cool to see them develop modular products for that platform rather than just port their other products over. Stuff like what Propellerhead is doing with Complex 1.