It’s time again to give all of you an update on what we have been up to, as well as our plans going forward. As previously mentioned, we share our roadmap in the interest of transparency—knowing there are risks involved in making the community upset when plans change. However, we would rather take that risk than keep silent. We know you want the truth—and we think you can handle the truth! As always though, our roadmap updates are plans, not promises.
What we have done
Reason 12 We have been working super hard on significant improvements to performance and stability in Reason 12 compared to initial release. And we are very happy with the results. Although R12 has worked well since release for most users, some of you have had real problems and it has been important fixing it. We have delivered several important bug fixes, both to prevent crashes and hangs, but also a wide variety of other issues, as you can see in the release notes.
It is very hard to compare performance between Reason 12 and Reason 11 outright since it’s an entirely different architecture for graphics and searching in the browser. However, rigorous testing and profiling show that Reason 12 is in a very good state now, and we are proud of these results. In many aspects Reason 12 outperforms Reason 11, for example drawing graphics up to 5 times faster—especially on modern computers.
Reason+ Companion Update We have updated the Reason+ Companion app with improvements to enable better pre-listening functionality as well as enhanced searching for Sound Packs to give you more relevant results. You now also get personal Sound Pack recommendations in the Sound Pack view. This Companion update will be available around the same time as this blog post is published. Going forward we will continue to improve the Companion app to help inspire you to make music.
Other releases We are really happy that the Bassline Generator was so well received and is already one of our most popular devices. We will absolutely be releasing more creative Players moving forward. Another Player is already specified and planned for this year.
As you might know, we continuously release weekly Sound Packs with curated patches for our Reason+ subscribers. We have now over 400 Sound Packs released in Companion. You may have noticed that we’ve also been giving away free giveaways patches for all users—often on Fridays, over on our blog.
Under Development
New Effect We are towards the end of our development of an exciting new creative Effect planned for release during April. Expect a modern take on a classic Effect, with quite a few new twists! We think you’ll really like this one.
New Device We plan to release several devices this year and our hypothesis is to have another device released during June. Hot candidates currently in the design stage are a Player and a creative Effect. The Player presented as a design concept internally at the Reason office last week is certainly both creative, fun, and practical.
VST3 The work on supporting VST3 in Reason has now started and is our top priority initiative. We will communicate further on when we know when it will be delivered.
Offline mode We are approaching the end of the technical design of the much-requested offline mode for Reason+ subscribers and are making plans for the development phase. We cannot yet set a date on when it will be delivered but expect it this year.
Under Investigation
New Instrument We are in the early-stage research phase for a new Instrument to be released towards the end of this year. We cannot say more than that yet, but we are already excited!
Next steps for Reason Rack Plugin and stand-alone DAW We are on a mission to create the most creative music making environment. We’ll deliver several devices this year and ensure we fix key capabilities, for example VST3, M1 and a new and improved Offline support. In parallel we are also doing research and working on long term plans for how to take the Reason Rack Plugin and standalone DAW to the next level. However, do not expect too much DAW workflow development during 2022, as we will continue to focus on core underlying technology projects (such as M1 and VST3) which are crucial to allow us to innovate in the future. However, we are aware of the many different requests you have regarding improved DAW workflow, sequencer updates and other capabilities.
Later
Native M1 support Native M1 support is still planned for 2022 but for now pushed forward in time. Getting the right quality for Reason 12 took more time than expected and we need to prioritize the delivery of VST3. And as you know Reason works well with Rosetta on M1 Mac computers.
Thanks for now all friends of Reason! We will keep you posted on our progress soon again! And please let us know your feedback on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and other channels. We always read (watch and listen to) your comments!
David Eriksson Chief Product Officer @ Reason Studios
