Reason price hike starting October 1st

[ghettosynth]

Who didn't see this coming? Add a subscription model. Attempt to get everyone on board. Say, sure, there will be standalone versions still. But now, let's almost double the price of an upgrade or new license.

Clearly. This seems to happen often. I'm reminded of PA who were KVR darlings at one point with their super deals. I bought quite a few plugins from them, some at slightly above what I consider a fair price for the average audio plugin, but then they decided to go subscription. For a while it seemed like their deals would dry up. But now, they've got some new deal out weekly, sometimes, it seems, daily. The problem is, I fell off their information train after they went subscription and now pretty much just ignore their emails. I've gone from buying many things on sale to maybe one super cheapo a year. I'm still not subscribed, and I NEVER will be subscribed.

Here's the problem with subscription. If you're not Adobe, you don't have the leverage that you think that you do and whether it makes sense or not, that's usually the only trigger some consumers need to start looking elsewhere.

[SLiC]

I went to the website, front page says it's £129 for the upgrade, another page says £199. The stark reality of just how much they are asking when you see it in black and white now hits home. That's £1000 in 5 years if you continue to upgrade each year at that rate. I think this is going to make Reason harder to sell second hand as well...

Anyone know if that free/Lite version can be used offline within your DAW without the internet, or does it require it to connect an online server to work ?

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same.

If value is what you are (more) interested in and you don't need/what the Reason instruments or fx buy FL Studio....best 'Value' in the music making world. Still, to be honest, if a DAW does what you need (most did what I 'need' 10 years ago!) then you never have to update and you will never need to sell it...

[jens]

Here's the problem with subscription. If you're not Adobe, you don't have the leverage that you think that you do and whether it makes sense or not, that's usually the only trigger some consumers need to start looking elsewhere.

Exactly this! CC is the only thing I have subcribed to and it will stay that way.

[jens]

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same. ..

Yes? Who else asks 199 from one full version number to the next? Plus: who else offers so little in return?

[polac]

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same. ..

Yes? Who else asks 199 from one full version number to the next? Plus: who else offers so little in return?

Bitwig for example is 170€ upgrade, so not far away from Reason.

[SLiC]

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same. ..

Yes? Who else asks 199 from one full version number to the next? Plus: who else offers so little in return?

Upgrade price of $129 'Retail', not $199. Its obviously less from shop (for example, its $114 on JJR, that's about £80 in the UK)

May not seem like a big update from 11 (although I would say Mimic and Combiner 2 are worth 80 quid to me) but is is good value perhaps from earlier versions like 9 or 10...always better 'vale' to skip a few...no one says you have to upgrade ever version.

[jens]

Upgrade price of $129 'Retail', not $199. Its obviously less from shop (for example, its $114 on JJR, that's about £80 in the UK).

WTF?

Dude, this whole thread is about the price increase! It's in its title, for crying out loud!

[jens]

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same. ..

Yes? Who else asks 199 from one full version number to the next? Plus: who else offers so little in return?

Bitwig for example is 170€ upgrade, so not far away from Reason.

"For example"? So there are several others? Which specifically?

But yeah, the Bitwig upgrade price is certainly absurd too (still not quite 199 though)...

[SLiC]

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same. ..

Yes? Who else asks 199 from one full version number to the next? Plus: who else offers so little in return?

Upgrade price of $129 'Retail', not $199. Its obviously less from shop (for example, its $114 on JJR, that's about £80 in the UK)

May not seem like a big update from 11 (although I would say Mimic and Combiner 2 are worth 80 quid to me) but is is good value perhaps from earlier versions like 9 or 10...always better 'vale' to skip a few...no one says you have to upgrade ever version.

My point is the current upgrade price is very cheap (80 quid) much cheaper than most others (Live, Cubase, S1 etc) . Once it goes up there will be sales (40% off twice a year in the past) and resellers discounts (probably be put out for under $180 even not in sales) so similar price to most others.

Either way the upgrade is still very cheap if you only upgrade every 2 or 3 years which works for me.

[keel]

Lol, this company... Greedy. so greedy. Always so underwhelming updates and pay $199 for it. lol.. FL Studio is $199, and you get free updates forever

[SLiC]

Lol, this company... Greedy. so greedy. Always so underwhelming updates and pay $199 for it. lol.. FL Studio is $199, and you get free updates forever

FL Studio is a lot more than $199 if you want the instruments and fx (like you get in Reason) the all plug in edition is $499

I own the FL Studio all plugin edition, but I use Reason 12 far more often and enjoy it more...so Reason 12 is better value for me...

[THE INTRANCER]

I went to the website, front page says it's £129 for the upgrade, another page says £199. The stark reality of just how much they are asking when you see it in black and white now hits home. That's £1000 in 5 years if you continue to upgrade each year at that rate. I think this is going to make Reason harder to sell second hand as well...

Anyone know if that free/Lite version can be used offline within your DAW without the internet, or does it require it to connect an online server to work ?

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same.

If value is what you are (more) interested in and you don't need/what the Reason instruments or fx buy FL Studio....best 'Value' in the music making world. Still, to be honest, if a DAW does what you need (most did what I 'need' 10 years ago!) then you never have to update and you will never need to sell it...

For Reason users of the previous version It's £84.74 on JRR if you use the code ANALOG as I type this.

Now I could easily go for it and upgrade from R7.02 which I've still not bothered to install on my Windows 10 system which I use primarily. But realistically, even though I have RE's like Antidote and Predator which are still as ugly as sin to look at and a raft of other effect RE's....even with trying the Free Rack version with them to see if I really wanted hi-res versions of them, I'm not sure if I would actually use them even then. If need be, I can scale down to 1080P native resolution for music in Studio One and have parity, so things look normal.

When using Reaktor ensembles for example, one doesn't have much choice but to use 1080p in any case to use them properly, of which I often do.

Reason supports VST's, although it's kinda gimped atm for VST3, although I don't actually use VST3 versions of plugins anyway. Reason 7 allowed you to preview samples, and it seems that this still isn't implemented.

You still can't play multiple instruments ( Midi Inputs ) on separate tracks without using a Combinator I take it, and other basic things like Folder Tracks still don't exist. I reckon trying to go back to Reason as a DAW for creating music, would be like going back in to one arm round your back style of working and really not fun at all. Lacking in Macro functionality is another thing, and I swore that I'd never buy another RE ever again.

I've got all U-HE's effect RE's in VST format as well, which, if it wasn't the case, I'd have more incentive to buy the Reason upgrade.

Looking at the Reason 11 Lite GUI, is just pretty weird now. The SLL Mixer is tiny still font wise and still isn't theamable... It's not even on the radar for that to be addressed.

I used to enjoy using Reason, but it's just too problematic and too slow in development to stick with, I think. It's kinda like throwing money at old rope.

[Uncle E]

But yeah, the Bitwig upgrade price is certainly absurd too (still not quite 199 though)...

FWIW, Bitwig regularly goes on sale for $129 and now the upgrade (at the regular $169 price) comes with a $149 u-he synth (Repro or Hive) for free.

Sorry for the OT.

[machinesworking]

I went to the website, front page says it's £129 for the upgrade, another page says £199. The stark reality of just how much they are asking when you see it in black and white now hits home. That's £1000 in 5 years if you continue to upgrade each year at that rate. I think this is going to make Reason harder to sell second hand as well...

Anyone know if that free/Lite version can be used offline within your DAW without the internet, or does it require it to connect an online server to work ?

As far as I can see, Reason is no different in cost or upgrade cycles to most major DAWS, Studio One, Cubase, Live, Bitwig...all pretty much the same.

If value is what you are (more) interested in and you don't need/what the Reason instruments or fx buy FL Studio....best 'Value' in the music making world. Still, to be honest, if a DAW does what you need (most did what I 'need' 10 years ago!) then you never have to update and you will never need to sell it...

For Reason users of the previous version It's £84.74 on JRR if you use the code ANALOG as I type this.

Now I could easily go for it and upgrade from R7.02 which I've still not bothered to install on my Windows 10 system which I use primarily. But realistically, even though I have RE's like Antidote and Predator which are still as ugly as sin to look at and a raft of other effect RE's....even with trying the Free Rack version with them to see if I really wanted hi-res versions of them, I'm not sure if I would actually use them even then. If need be, I can scale down to 1080P native resolution for music in Studio One and have parity, so things look normal.

When using Reaktor ensembles for example, one doesn't have much choice but to use 1080p in any case to use them properly, of which I often do.

Reason supports VST's, although it's kinda gimped atm for VST3, although I don't actually use VST3 versions of plugins anyway. Reason 7 allowed you to preview samples, and it seems that this still isn't implemented.

You still can't play multiple instruments ( Midi Inputs ) on separate tracks without using a Combinator I take it, and other basic things like Folder Tracks still don't exist. I reckon trying to go back to Reason as a DAW for creating music, would be like going back in to one arm round your back style of working and really not fun at all. Lacking in Macro functionality is another thing, and I swore that I'd never buy another RE ever again.

I've got all U-HE's effect RE's in VST format as well, which, if it wasn't the case, I'd have more incentive to buy the Reason upgrade.

Looking at the Reason 11 Lite GUI, is just pretty weird now. The SLL Mixer is tiny still font wise and still isn't theamable... It's not even on the radar for that to be addressed.

I used to enjoy using Reason, but it's just too problematic and too slow in development to stick with, I think. It's kinda like throwing money at old rope.

You're all over the board here. Reason Rack is great, the VST3 version works. There's a glitch in the matrix in DP11 with it (it's doable but mostly just to use the MIDI out from it's players, otherwise AU instantiates in the proper place), but in Bitwig and Live it's fantastic. Reason 12 eliminates the scaling issue. I never really got using Reason as a sequencer, but my DAWs of choice over the years was Logic and one point and DP. I doubt Reason would get to than level of complexity.

Most of the hate seems to be coming from the crowd that like Reason as a DAW, and I'm all like, why would you? it's a simple sequencer as a DAW. Not bad for automating players, but kind limited for anything complex.

It's a great collection of FX and instruments, better than most all of them, and with that in mind it's not critical to buy into it every time a new version comes out. So I don't worry about them price gouging people on upgrades a bit, I'll just wait for the inevitable sale.

[antic604]

...Most of the hate seems to be coming from the crowd that like Reason as a DAW, and I'm all like, why would you? it's a simple sequencer as a DAW. Not bad for automating players, but kind limited for anything complex.

It's a great collection of FX and instruments, better than most all of them, and with that in mind it's not critical to buy into it every time a new version comes out. So I don't worry about them price gouging people on upgrades a bit, I'll just wait for the inevitable sale.

Because Rack without Reason's sequencer and mixer is just 1/3 of what it can be. Pattern tracks, blocks mode, in-line pitch editing, grooves, etc. are some of the reasons to like Reason's sequencer even though it misses a lot of things. And the mixer is still unique, i.e. even Mixbus' or Cubase's doesn't compare, because you can't easily manipiualte other devices from it there, which you can in Reason (well, you could until v12 but that's another story...).

Also, not everyone scores movies or writes orchestral pieces. For everything else Reason's sequencer is enough, even if not ideal (no sequencer is ideal).