Why did Propellerhead stopped to support Rewire?

[sellplugins]

It's one of these implementations many can't live without! why??

[chk071]

What's the point, now that Reason can load VST's, and can be loaded as a VST?

[jens]

Because it isn't 1999 anymore?

[antic604]

What's the point, now that Reason can load VST's, and can be loaded as a VST?

Primarily because RRP doesn't let you to wire between different instances (use the LFO on bass track to move parameter on a lead synth, for instance). Rack is much, MUCH better within Reason DAW than outside of it.

[Benutzername]

Rewire was introduced at a time when VST was still at it's infancy. The VST format just started to support basic synth plugins but things like sync, MIDI outs and all these features that we take for granted these days were not available yet. Most VST plugins didn't even have a user interface when Rebirth entered the scene. Plugins with a GUI were mostly DirectX based in these days.

This shows how old the code base (and the original developer) is. I guess that modern operating systems with increasing privacy and security demands make a software like Rewire very hard to maintain. Especially MacOs with it's extremely volatile development model usually requires a lot of manpower to keep things going so it will most likely be the first platform to fade away completely. iOS is out of question because Apple would never allow Rewire in the first place (and there is no need for it anyway).

Linux never had Rewire support because of Propellerheads' hostile NDA and licensing policy. This hasn't changed much over the years. Reason Studio still hides the Rewire protocol specs behind closed doors even after the support has ended. So don't expect help from the open source community here (eg to create an alternative like OpenRewire). This also means that there never has been and there never will be support for Rewire on Android, Chromebooks, Linux desktops and servers, high end hardware synths or groove boxes (eg to use Rewire instead of VST bridges or Ableton Link).

Realistically only Windows is left as Rewire platform in the foreseeable future but nobody can tell how long it will work until it needs a major rewrite. I can understand that from a company's point of view it is better to invest the time in VST3 instead. It's well supported on all platforms and it's license is compatible with closed source and open source hosts.

It also seems like there is not much interest in Windows from RS at all if you take a closer look. The entire marketing material from Reason Studio uses Apple devices exclusively with no exception, including all the external influencers I've seen on social media. Windows support is just a side note hidden on the download page from Reason. It's the unloved child that you hide in the basement - you have to feed it because society says so but that's all the love it will ever get. Rewire 2021 in a nutshell: MacOs needs to much work, Windows is boring, Linux is the enemy and VST3 is the future.

Propellerheads had a chance to make the Rewire system future proof by opening the specs to the world when Rewire was still relevant many years ago. In this case the other contributors would just take over now after Reason Studio has left the project. There was no alternative back in the day and I strongly believe that Rewire would have naturally grown to become the standard system to sync devices and to transmit audio/MIDI in the industry (with network support and so on). All that just by inviting the world to be a part of the development process. But RS decided to take shelter and now when it's too late they just killed the entire ecosystem and buried the dead body at a place where no one will ever find it. R.I.P.

[audiojunkie]

Instead of Rewire, the Linux realm developed its own method, which is alive and well. The "JACK" protocol has been around for about 20 years, and is better than it has ever been. The newest technologies to support the JACK protocol are still in development (but currently usable), and will replace both the current Pulse Audio server (consumer audio) and the JACK server (pro-audio) with a single unifying audio server that will still support the JACK protocol at ultra-low pro audio latencies. The new server is called PipeWire, and a session manager called WirePlumber is also in development. The ability to do ReWire-like connections at a very fundamental level on Linux isn't going to be going away anytime soon.

I would say that the majority of Linux Pro Audio users use JACK. Personally, I just use LV2 and VST plugins. But, it's nice to know that the JACK protocol is always going to be there if I need it.

[MuzikFreq]

What's the point, now that Reason can load VST's, and can be loaded as a VST?

Primarily because RRP doesn't let you to wire between different instances (use the LFO on bass track to move parameter on a lead synth, for instance). Rack is much, MUCH better within Reason DAW than outside of it.

Exactly.
It's one of those things that it's hard to step away from the DAW when you see how it all works together in their own environment. Outside it in the rrp and it works okay but it's not the same, you end up needing to make everything like it's a combinator and in its own instance.

[imrae]

Some of the DAW features can't be used with RRP and would be useful in a hybrid project: Groove Mixer, sample recording, REX creation, full MIDI control... I don't understand why they dropped ReWire before a true replacement was available. Unless they ultimately intend to drop all those features...

[antic604]

Some of the DAW features can't be used with RRP and would be useful in a hybrid project: Groove Mixer, sample recording, REX creation, full MIDI control... I don't understand why they dropped ReWire before a true replacement was available. Unless they ultimately intend to drop all those features...

You're expect to do all of that in your new DAW of choice (expect for REX, that's dead anyway).

What's really missing is things that another DAW can't replicate, i.e. wiring cables between instances, the workflow with the "big" Mixer and Master Bus; and - crucially! - pattern tracks/lanes. Try to launch a pattern from Reason Rack device with its own sequencer running in another DAW from 3rd beat of a bar - you can't. Or try to loop 1st half of a pattern 3 times & then play it whole - you can't either. Or play the pattern starting from the middle - nope.

[iBrellianKahilae]

The EMI plugin replaced it

[JonSolo]

I know that it should feel like REX is dead. With fantastic time stretching tools and similar in VST and built into many DAWS, one might think it should go away. Still, even beyond nostalgia, there is something about the chopped sound that is very inviting. I love it and use ReCycle often with some loops just to get a feel not duplicable with modern tools.

[ShawnG]

Wasn't REX support like the first thing they updated for apple silicon?

I will happily go on record as hating ReWire, but to just drop it? Reason wasn't the only thing using it. I get they don't want to be working on it forever, but release some source code or something at least

[v1o]

Because they didn't want the hassle of supporting it. Like others have said they should have open sourced it.

[JonSolo]

Honestly, when they added VST support and audio recording I did not miss Rewire as much. But by then, I was also using Nuendo and Live far more than Reason.

But something about the workflow in Reason changes how I produce music when I am using it...of course the same probably goes for all of my DAWs (Nuendo, Live, FL Studio, Maschine). It is when I want the best of both worlds that I miss Rewire. Right now, that is where I am...missing Rewire, ha.

[apoclypse]

Like others have said the issue with Rewire is that it was proprietary and Props didn't give it the opportunity to be more than what it was. It had the potential to be THE sync format api for pretty much everything but Props had their own d=ideas about what they wanted it to be. Now Ableton has Link , on iOS you have Audiobus etc, these are not as nice as featureful as require but they get the job done for a lot of folks. I use Link to sync my external hardware that supports it (Akai Force etc).