Reason Studios has announced the launch of its totally gratis Reason Free Rack, which can be used in any DAW as a VST3/AU/AAX plugin.
It features 15 iconic devices in the free plugin:
- Europa wavetable synth
- Kong drum device
- ID8 instrument device
- Monotone bass synth
- Scream 4 distortion device
- The Echo delay device
- Audiomatic character FX
- RV7000 MKII reverb device
- MClass Maximizer limiter device
- Scales & Chords MIDI chord player
- Combinator macro patch system
- Pulsar dual LFO
- Spider Audio merger & splitter
- Spider CV merger & splitter
- MIDI output device
The company suggests that the full mechanics of Rack are still available, just with a cut down set of devices. It can still be patched with signal flows, modulation and more.
The full Reason Rack currently contains:
- 2x bass
- 7x drums
- 3x piano/keys
- 4x sampler
- 13x synth
- 5x other instruments
- 2x amp effects
- 5x delay/reverb
- 4x distortion
- 9x dynamics/mixing
- 4x EQ/filter
- 8x modulation
- 4x pitch/vocoder
- 2x MIDI chords
- 2x MIDI drums
- 9x sequencers/note FX
- 9x utilities
- Sound packs
Clearly, Reason is hoping to snag more users from other DAWs and gradually entice them into the Reason ecosystem. Reason Rack has already been available as a paid product for some time. Additionally, Reason+ at $169 per year offers the full Reason DAW.
They state: “Every device you would get in Reason+ is visible in the free Rack as a greyed-out slot, so you can always see exactly what you would unlock” so it seems they’re really pushing for people to migrate to the whole Reason DAW experience, though the paid-for Reason Rack is available for about two-thirds the price of Reason+.
Whether users already familiar with their own DAW will want to migrate to another system is questionable — and is surely the reason (no pun intended) the company launched its standalone plugin in the first place.
Is there enough in the full version of Reason Rack to get users to stump up a monthly fee? Even with the promise of new weekly sound packs and other content, it’s a gamble.
