Reason Studios Announces Reason + (plus) and Companion

What is Reason + and Companion?

Reason + and companion is a subscription service model that allows you to gain access to Reason Studio’s entire pool of content. This includes, but not limited to Reason Stand Alone, The Rack Plugin, Rack Extensions as well as an ever-growing library of sound packs (Patches/combinator chains), updated weekly for a small monthly fee.

Basically… A way to stay up to date with everything REASON STUDIOS BRINGS TO THE TABLE. THIS INCLUDES UPDATES!!

If you’re new to production or have never used to Reason before, this could be the perfect way to get in the game and test the waters. Reason Standalone and Rack come with over 70 fx and instruments. More than enough to make good sounding music.

If you already have a DAW: Fl Studio, Logic Pro X, Ableton Live, this is where the RACK comes in handy. The Rack allows you to use Reason as a plugin (VST3/AU/AAX) and still have access to everything you would with the standalone version as well as anything they bring to the table in the future.

It looks like their taking notes from Splice, Waves, Plugin Alliance, and a few other companies who have decided to go the subscription route.

How Much Is The Reason Studios Subscription Fee?

At the time of this post, the subscription fee is $19.99. That’s a little more than my Netflix monthly subscription… Kinda pricey. Do keep in mind, the subscription service is not mandatory and the ‘perpetual license’ option still exists for those who would rather go that route. As with any subscription service, you can start and stop at any time.

What If I Already Own Reason Studios?

As of right now, you are entitled to 50% of your subscription for the first year. Maybe they’ll slap on some extras later on down the line, but as of right now, that’s it.

How Do Reason Users For About Reason + and Companion Subscription Service?

I attended Reason Studio’s Live Stream (1-27-2021) and it was different. I’m used to seeing Ryan and Mathias, but this time they included the CEO as well as others (upper staff). It was almost as if they were there to convince of that the direction they were going in was a good idea.

How did the community take it? I’ll put it like this, a lot of users and loyal customers were very upset. I don’t think it’s because of the subscription service (because it’s optional) but the fact that Reason Studios yet again was ignoring the functionality of the DAW. There’re a lot of functions that Reason lacks and has lacked for over a decade. They just introduced the ability to export your music as an MP3 file. Kudos for finally adding it, but geez.

What Does Reason Studios Lack

The sequencer is dated, the look is dated (I don’t mind that so much). You can’t scale units so if you have a nice high definition monitor, you’re screwed. But they do keep pumping out those rack extensions (some free).

Their midi and audio functionality is extremely dated. One user even stated that Cubase and Digital performer from 2004 is more powerful in those areas (Audio/Midi/Sequencing) than reason is today and 2021. I took this with a huge grain of salt as I thought the user(s) were exaggerating but tested this for myself … That user wasn’t wrong!

I still have an old G4 Mac with Cubase VST and Digital Performer 4 installed, don’t ask why.

I don’t care what anyone says, there is no Reason (pun intended) for any DAW’s 04,05 and 06 versions to outclass anything in 2018 let alone 2021. So with that said, I can see why loyal users would be upset.

Reason Studio’s Customer Support

Or lack thereof as some would say. I can’t really judge as I don’t work for the company, nor have I ever worked in that type of environment, I’m sure it can be stressful. Looking online, here’s what I see. Warning, it’s pretty lengthy. I’ll pull out some specific posts at a later time, but it’s crazy.

Reason Studios Trying To Find New Customers

On the ReasonTalk Forums, there’s a lot of backlash about Reason + and Companion and unlike Reason Studios Instagram, Reason Staff were more vocal on the ReasonTalk forums explaining that they’re trying to grow and looking for ways to attract new customers.

At the end of the day, this is a business, but when you’ve been neglecting your core customer base people are going to get upset. I hope they put as much effort into making sure the Reason (standalone) and its rack are updated with better functionality as they do pushing this new subscription service and Rack Extensions.

More Reason + and Companion info coming soon. Be sure to check out Reason + Pros and Cons.