Reason 14 is out of beta now, with faster workflows and a bunch of new effects packed into the new RV-9 Reverb Station, plus Dark Mode. I’ve been testing the beta for a few weeks now. Here’s your snapshot guide to what’s new and how to upgrade.
What’s new
Let’s have a nice little jam with this thing, for fun. In addition to the new stuff in Reason 14, there are also additions like the Osmium Distortion Matrix — really a complete multi-band multi-effect — released last fall.
So the first thing the public beta told you was that you weren’t supposed to talk about it. But …most of the Reason community, sorry, ignored that. And the word has been really overwhelmingly positive from what I could see, at least in terms of the new UI and workflow. What’s missing — complete MIDI implementation for inter-app MIDI, for instance — is still missing. But we’ve all raised this with Reason Studios.
Meanwhile, what they have delivered for Reason 14 is encouraging:
Track Panel consolidates a bunch of access directly in the sequencer — standard channel strip controls, Devices, and one-click Rack access. Reason instantly jumps from the bottom of the heap to one of the best-in-class as far as putting instruments, effects, and channel settings nearby. Part of the idea here is that you don’t have to jump to the Rack. And it does that — especially useful for adding devices (see below.) But oddly, it makes hopping back and forth so much quicker that I found myself switching more.
Inside that Track Panel, you always have access to the Browser and Rack, plus enable/disable.
One seriously compact Region edit pane. Reason has a history of being last with features, but doing things in an unusually economical, uh, Reason-able way. That’s the case here: some of the best of what you get in Ableton Live or Cubase appears in this one ultra-streamlined panel for piano roll, drum, and REX edits.
Updated sequencer and workflow. There are just a bunch of improvements here. If you’re switching between DAWs — which, with Reason, is especially likely — you’ll mainly just notice that a bunch of friction is gone. I honestly ignored most of this and just found myself making more music:
- Track Folders
- Workflow/UI adjustments (particularly in piano roll and clips)
- Automatic tempo detection on import
- MIDI note chase display
- Quicker navigation in the Rack
Looping! You can now loop audio, MIDI, and automation clips.
Dark Mode and refined UI. Yeah, Reason is just easier on the eyes in every way.
RV-9. The rest will make you faster; this is the one feature of Reason 14 that’s exciting sonically. It’s really much deeper than just a multi-algorithm digital reverb or update to RV-7000. The Spectral and Granular modes, in particular, are worlds of their own. That deserves its own deep dive, so join in later this week.
Updated Rack Extensions SDK. See all that extra visual feedback in the RV-9 UI, including the rings around the encoders? That’s thanks to the v5 Rack Extensions SDK tools. More on this in detail if you’re curious.
Full release notes, detailing all the workflow changes and the significant additions in sound content, etc., as well (plus fixes):
https://www.reasonstudios.com/reason/updates/release-notes
Updating and installing
If you have been beta testing, the trick is just to download a fresh installer to get the current stable build. (The beta channel doesn’t automatically update to a new stable build, it seems.) You can do that from the download link on your account > applications page, or open Reason Companion > My Reason > “download the latest Reason installer.” (By the way, it’ll show you as up to date even if you’re on the beta, so just click that link.)
The only real indication that LANDR acquired Reason is when you start the installation or try to login. If you haven’t done so since early May or before, you may need to update your account login. Just enter your current Reason account email, choose “forgot password,” then follow the link in your email to reset the password. Reason Studios indicates that this updated login will also give you access to LANDR and additional plug-ins. For me, it worked without a hitch (once I realized my password manager was causing some mayhem). And I do have a lot of legacy Rack Extensions, including Air Raid Audio stuff that hasn’t been available in over a decade, so it’s good to see this still works.
Reason is available directly from Reason Studios, including subscriptions and permanent licensing.
https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/product/reason-14
Some add-ons and an annual subscription are also available from Plugin Boutique:
Reason Studios at Plugin Boutique
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