Reason 14

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Big sequencer stuff I suppose. Not many new instruments (none?)

That new reverb looks like a Combinator skin. Bad UI, like no personality at all!

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Hold up … they’ve added MIDI NOTE CHASE ?!

/snark

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This actually looks cool!

Going more traditional and that’s a good thing

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Cannot wait to try the new workflow. This sounds excellent

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Slightly disappointed Landr isn’t bringing back Reason Suite (yet? :nyan:) but this looks like a very smart update. The more “schematic” chain view addresses something Reason has struggled with since v1, that the rack metaphor can unnecessarily complicate bread-and-butter signal flows (as fun and powerful as the cables may be). This finally gives you the best of both worlds.

That was my first thought too. I guess it’s supposed to evoke a vintage Lexicon or something? I’ll withhold judgment until I’ve gotten my hands on it.

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They made the ‘rack only’ thing happen, they added the most requested DAW features…I am pretty sure some sort of suite version will return, they only scrapped it to try and make people go Reason+ I suspect.

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This is the best Reason version 14 that they have ever made!

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Ah yeah, maybe.

They write that it’s a successor to the RV7000. The RV7000 has tonnes of character. It honestly looks and feels like a piece of hardware. It has a theme.

This on the other hand. Not so much.

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Lol, I saw “track-centric workflow” and immediately thought “this this gonna be MPC 3.0 all over again”. As in (Imho) bland out the thing that was good and interesting about the instrument and has been for decades, so there’s no longer a reason to use it over alternatives. At least MPCs have the advantage - for some - of being hardware that works very much like a generic DAW, but here … aren’'t people mostly already committed to their generic DAW of choice? But full disclosure, mostly I do tend to use Reason, when I use it, as a plugin elsewhere, so…

Haven’t installed the demo and it’s hard to tell from the video, but is the rack per track thing a focussed way of viewing the traditional rack, or have they ripped up to foundation to make it work as instrument and effect plugins per track … like pretty much every other DAW? Would be a pity imho. But if it’s the former I think it could be pretty good.

I cannot believe that the mixer still does not have a peak meter reader…shocking really

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Absolutely the worst UI ever. I’ve tried to give it a chance multiple times…nope.

I’m 100% sure they didn’t remove the regular rack. Routing cables between devices in different tracks is a classic advanced Reason technique; there’s no way they’d break that.

This is just streamlining the 80% use case where you’re only connecting devices in a linear chain (like in Ableton). It will be a huge improvement for basic chains, while the tab key is always there for more adventurous stuff.

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On the fence with this one.

It’s just a way to interact with the rack from the sequencer. You can still go to the rack as you always did. If you look on the website you can see the button for this track panel and the button for the rack.

I think this is brilliant because you get a more focused workflow this way. It can be a little cumbersome to switch back and forth from the sequencer to the rack. Can’t wait for this :sunglasses:

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I don’t hate this. But it’s a bit like World of Warcraft expansions… i get tempted to buy it, but then I end up not playing :joy:

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I haven’t really used Reason as a DAW for years and I only occasionally use the VST so I can play with a few of the synths and other unusual sequencers and other bits and pieces that are available.

I basically always hated the sequencer/timeline like a lot of people but this idea of simplifying the common case where it’s just “players → instrument → FX” is a good idea and I hope it signifies that they’re actually listening to the users.

I’m certainly curious to try it and see if it feels faster and less clunky to work with. Any sequencer improvements are welcome. I’m a Bitwig guy but I’d be happy to play with Reason again (100% self-contained, no VST) if they remove some of the friction. It’s still a fun environment and not really like anything else out there. You have to respect that they broke new ground and stuck with it all these years.

No harm in a new reverb and it makes sense as they added a new synth and a more sophisticated delay last time round. I have to say I thought that Polytone synth they added was as dull as dishwater, in the current crowded “supersynth” VST market they probably need to up their game with their own devices.

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I was not convinced by the Reason 13 workflow improvements to start with but love them now so I’ll be getting R14 for sure. No doubt there’ll be a few extras in the point updates. The upgrade is £61 on Thomann and Bax right now (R13 but any full version or upgrade bought after March 1st 2026 will automatically get R14 when it comes out). Reason Studios Reason 13 Upgrade Legacy Vers. – Thomann UK

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Christ, that is a very reasonable price!

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