Reason 13: Sub vs. Non-Sub... What's the issue?

Love the software. Hate the way they treat their perpetual user base. They need to address this.

I invested a whole lot of money into the Reason ecosystem for each and every update of the perpetual license and each and every rack extension be it from Reason Studios or from 3rd party developers. With the constant pressure of pushing people towards the subscription based model, Reason 12 was the last time I payed for an update. With the release of Reason 13 I left this train not willing to support this business model anymore. I do this with a heavy heart because Reason was always my weapon of choice but I can no longer justify spending money for a product where I no longer agree with the product strategy of the company. Thanks Jef for doing this video.

I have R12 and will stay with it. I was on the last round of Beta for R13 and aside from the things you mentioned there were no groundbreaking advances. The sticker shock of $199 for the upgrade did me in. I may wait till the newness factor of the release subsides and they have a Black Friday special and drop the price. That Polytone synth though was sweet. But then so are the 100 others I have that do the same thing.

You, along with other music production “reviewers”, provide a great service to this community. You deserve all the perks that you can get. The same people that accuse you of being “sold” for a few dollars would probably never give you a penny for your work, yet they benefit greatly from it. That is a sense of entitlement that I simply cannot understand. Your videos are full of useful information that allow us to make difficult decisions. Thank you for the time that you put in to develop this content. Please DO NOT turn down the small perks that you can get because of some hypercritical and ungrateful YouTube consumers. As far as Reason+, it may not be a bad idea for me. I already own everything from Native Instruments and Arturia, so I don’t NEED another suite of instruments, yet this looks really cool. I would mind noodling with it for a month, from time to time. 👍

Hey Jeff, I've been following you for years now and you've helped me a lot. F...k these people you don't have to apologize for anything or to anyone. We're all human. Thanks hope you've been feeling good and keep up the good work.

So polite...so Canadian. Yet, I hear you and the undertones of your frustration. I for one would like to thank you for all of your selfless hard work in informing the audio production community, and "sorry" if some folks have given you grief. PS: We're about the same age, I imagine...watch that sun exposure. You're looking a little burnt, my guy.

I agree. Reason 13 is indeed incredible. The best Reason has felt and looked to date in my opinion. I'm not a subscription guy so I am a perpetual License holder but I couldn't be happier with this update.

Jef, you're DEFINITELY not a shill. Thank you SO MUCH for all of the amazing work you've done for us. Reason Studios is heading dangerously close to the direction AVID/Protools went. They are behind in their offerings yet believe that they are somehow entitled to subscriptions while very vague regarding their languages on offerings. Reason Studios has always been a relatively cool solution. HOWEVER, I (and likely many others) are exhausted by having to parse through all of the "offerings" details, as though we are contracts attorneys who love to subject ourselves to punishing & exhaustive reading, to assure we aren't getting screwed over. If they don't want to provide us what is current when we purchase the perpetual license... then I refuse to buy it. Therefore, they'll get NO money from many of us... which they seem to disregard. Somehow so much focus is on repetitive payments, that they are blinding themselves toward 1x payments. And that's ok. They don't want my money... then I won't force them to take it. Thank again, for ALL you do for us.

It's times like this when GAS pays off in the long run. That impulse buy I did getting Reason 11 suite during covid was the best Reason purchase I made so far. What's stopping me from getting R13 atm is the upgrade price. I only pay $100 or even less during the summer sale for Cubase. I also bought Friktion and couple other things during sales for only $50. Make sure to keep an eye on your reward points. I got chord sequencer for free using mine.

Love your channel, Jeff. Don't let the haters get you down, and keep those brilliant review/tutorial videos coming. Appreciate all your hard work. 🙏❤

Love your channel bro! Thank you for everything! You truly inspired me to start my journey! Keep doing what you are doing🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾💯

Great overview of the perks here Jeff. Thank you for demonstrating this ❤

I'm so glad you say these things here. I've been so angry, and left comments everywhere. But you make the point better than i can. So many people i know are being forced to forget the hundreds (even thousands) of pounds that they have already poured into Reason, bite the bullet, and move over to the subscription model. Reason are acting so badly and not enough people are calling them out on it because we are used to having our consumer rights eroded. And what is the exchange rate like now? Because every number you say in (American) dollars is the same number they are charging us in British pounds. I know it's not a competition, but i feel like we are getting scammed even more than you are!

Nope! No subscription services for me, folks! No Reason 13, no Adobe, no Museo, etc. Either I OWN it or I don't use it.

Just tried Reason subscription and fell in love with it immediatly. Thank you, cool video. Don't mind those a-holes in the comments. Just keep on rockin'.

Great video and alot of help and info. I used Reason in the early 2000s and since then I turned my hand to Ableton, but recently ive had an urge to get back into Reason again, it seems so much more grown up and advanced to when I used it but still looks fun. So maybe that subscription is useful for me. Nice video tho, cheers 👍

I just hate that they charge way too much now to upgrade the perpetual license, which I think psychologically, they are trying to get you to subscribe since that’s where the actual money is. It was $130 for the upgrades to perpetual license for years. Then all of a sudden they go from $130 all the way to $200. It’s not worth it. I could understand $150 but $200 is ridiculous. So like I did last time 12 is when they upped the price to $200 I will wait for a sale.

Jeff, you already pay for your subscription. Doing one demo video should be worth a lifetime subscription.

We don’t think you’re a shill man. We know where to go for that. I don’t think most people begrudge you for getting some “free” stuff while you’re busy covering the constant flow of new releases. The fact is, no one would do this if there were nothing in it for them. You always broach the question “is it right or not for you?” and I believe your sincerity shines through. Keep it 🆙

I think the point here is that many people have invested for years into the Reason ecosystem, buying Rack Extensions and version upgrades and feel like Reason Studios will eventually try to go subscription only, leaving those behind who are already invested. Also, the upgrade price of $199 (US) is way to steep for what they're offering, when it used to be $129 iirc. So, unless you've already accumulated a lot of extensions, the upgrade is not worth it at all. It does become cheaper however if you skip a version (or a few) and then upgrade. I'm still on 11 suite and will wait till v14 to upgrade (unless they offer a discount).