Issue with Transfuser hosted in Reason as VST

[DonaldM]

Well this is interesting. I was looking at AIR Instruments Transfuser VST in Reason. I was hoping to try some things with it in a Combinator to see how it would work. That's when I noticed that some of the important controls and inputs for it are not showing up on the VST screen in Reason.

Here's Transfuser as it SHOULD be, when loaded into Pro Tools: (notice the bottom 1/3 of the screen)
Full Transfuser in Pro Tools.JPG (360.32 KiB) Viewed 8 times
And here is how it appears when loaded as VST hosted in Reason:
Transfuser in Reason as VST.JPG (243.32 KiB) Viewed 8 times
As you can see the bottom 1/3 of the Transfuser screen is white space in Reason, prohibiting access to important features of the VI such as tweaking the fx, using MARIO, editing the notes, slicing audio, getting to the additional audio output switch, etc etc. So far, I've only noticed this issue with Transfuser, but I'm thinking there be others out there with similar issue, where Reason is not "seeing" the whole VST, or somehow prohibiting the VST from fully showing on the screen. I've never encountered this type of issue before when hosting VSTs in anything. I reported it as a bug to the Propellerheads. But I thought I'd mention it here in case anyone else encountered the issue.



Of course, even though Reason 10 is coming soon, it is still the case that you can NO host VSTs with Reason in slave mode, hosted in Pro Tools. There's a workaround I discovered, using virtual MIDI, but I'm hoping a future upgrade will allow hosting in slave mode. If the Prop-heads can add that, as well adding full MIDI functionality, with MIDI IN/OUT routing like you can with audio now, then it will be the most powerful and versatile VI on the planet, because in effect it can be ALL VI's!!

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

.... As you can see the bottom 1/3 of the Transfuser screen is white space in Reason, prohibiting access to important features of the VI such as tweaking the fx, using MARIO, editing the notes, slicing audio, getting to the additional audio output switch, etc etc. So far, I've only noticed this issue with Transfuser, but I'm thinking there be others out there with similar issue, where Reason is not "seeing" the whole VST, or somehow prohibiting the VST from fully showing on the screen. I've never encountered this type of issue before when hosting VSTs in anything. I reported it as a bug to the Propellerheads.

Think you're right that it's a Propellerheads issue - here's some attachments showing Transfuser (version 2.0.7.19000) VST64 working in BlueCat's Patchwork Synth v2 in Pro Tools 11.3.2 (I'll test it in Pro Tools 12 tomorrow).

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by unkJE

Think you're right that it's a Propellerheads issue - here's some attachments showing Transfuser (version 2.0.7.19000) VST64 working in BlueCat's Patchwork Synth v2 in Pro Tools 11.3.2 (I'll test it in Pro Tools 12 tomorrow).

I've already hosted Transfuser in BlueCat as well as Reaper as VST and there's no issues. It definitely resides with the P-heads. No other VST, even from AIR seems to have any similar issue in Reason 9.5.x

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by DonaldM

Reason 10 .... will be the most powerful and versatile VI on the planet, because in effect it can be ALL VI's!!

Not being a P-head (pardon my ignorance - I'm a late starter!), I was wondering what you'll get from Reason 10 - that can't be achieved using PatchWork Synth hosting up to 64 VST, VST3 or Audio Unit plug-ins?

I'll have a look at You Tube ....

[unkJE]

Originally Posted by unkJE

.... I'll have a look at You Tube ....

Announcing Reason 10!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukWiKrTlMzQ

Looks like serious fun ....

[DonaldM]

Originally Posted by unkJE

Not being a P-head (pardon my ignorance - I'm a late starter!), I was wondering what you'll get from Reason 10 - that can't be achieved using PatchWork Synth hosting up to 64 VST, VST3 or Audio Unit plug-ins?

I'll have a look at You Tube ....

Well I can answer some of that for you. First of all, VST hosting came with Reason 9.5, as an update, not Reason 10, which is an upgrade. Here's what you get with Reason that you really can't get with any other hosting application. The Reason rack has a very unique architecture and as such, you can way more easily route audio and CV outputs and inputs to achieve unique sonic results that you just can't do, or do very easily, with any other hosting app. The Reason Combinator makes it possible to create massive, multi-faceted patches using any combination of VI's (VSTs or RE's), plus fx, all in one instrument. I know of nothing that comes close to the ease of doing this as Reason does. In effect, with the ability to host VSTs in Reason, Reason has become probably the most versatile and powerful VI on the planet, because, in effect, it can now be virtually ALL VI's rolled into one!

The limitation right now are 2-fold. 1)You can't host VST's with Reason in slave mode (ie, hosted in PT on an instrument track using Rewire). It must be in standalone mode. There is a workaround I came up with involving the use of virtual MIDI and requiring an audio interface with audio loopback. 2)While Reason boasts amazing audio cable routing, almost anything can be plugged into anything else, the same can't be said for their MIDI. What's needed is the ability to have MIDI routing as flexible as the audio routing. Many have asked for that, so we'll see. If they do add that, along with the ability to use VSTs while in host mode, then Reason will be in a class by itself as a VI.

As a DAW, Reason is just okay. Its real strength is as a VI. And it looks like the P-heads might be thinking along those lines as well, because the new upgrade Reason 10, focuses entirely on VI's. Essentially, all that's really new in Reason 10 are 5 new VI's for the rack (as RE's rather than VSTs), a bunch of audio/midi loops and samples, and one very versatile rhythmic effect called Syncronous. The focus of Reason 10 is entirely on new sounds and VI's for making music, with little to no change on the DAW side of the equation. That, coupled with the addition of VST hosting we saw with 9.5 makes me think the P-heads are seeing Reason's real power as a VI rather than a DAW to compete with PT, Logic Pro, Sonar or any of the others.