Reason Studios: Difference between revisions

{{CompanyCargo

|Description=

|Founded=1994

|Industry=Music, Software

|Logo=Reason Studios (company) logo.png

|Website=https://www.reasonstudios.com/

'''{{Wplink|Reason Studios}}''' is a music production and performance software company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Best known for its flagship digital audio workstation, Reason, its prominence in digital music production rose decades ago with the groundbreaking ReBirth RB-338 synthesizer modelling and sequencing package.

 

Propellerhead Software was acquired by [[wikipedia:Private_equity_firm|private equity firm]] Verdane in 2017<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reason Studios - Verdane |url=https://verdane.com/portfolio/reason-studios/ |url-status=live |access-date=23 Jun 2025 |website=Verdane |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250912025312/https://verdane.com/portfolio/reason-studios/ |archive-date=12 Sep 2025}}</ref> and renamed to Reason Studios in mid-2019. After decades of sole adherence to a traditional perpetual-license and upgrade-pricing model, in January 2021 they introduced a subscription service. This is not unprecedented, and sometimes welcomed for price accessibility, but also widely resented as increasingly industry-standard practice for production software such as [[Adobe]]'s Creative Cloud subscriptions. Reason does maintain availability of 'perpetual licenses' at this time, and their subscriptions do not employ contracts with early termination fees like Adobe's.

===Reason alters prior perpetual licenses (''2023'')===

In May 2023, Reason Studios switched from a third party DRM provider (Codemeter by WIBU Systems) to an in-house solution, announcing<ref>{{Cite web |title=Upgrade At 60% Off And Say Bye To The Old Authorization System |url=https://reasonstudios.com/blog/offline/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601211140/https://reasonstudios.com/blog/offline/ |archive-date=1 Jun 2023 |access-date=24 Jun 2025 |website=reasonstudios.com}}</ref> the discontinuation of offline activation with no replacement for all versions up to 11.x released in 2020. Information that remains today<ref>{{Cite web |title=Offline authorization is no longer available for Reason 11 and earlier |url=https://help.reasonstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/13879491567378-Offline-authorization-is-no-longer-available-for-Reason-11-and-earlier |url-status=live |access-date=23 Jun 2025 |website=[[Reason Studios]] |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250911233558/https://help.reasonstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/13879491567378-Offline-authorization-is-no-longer-available-for-Reason-11-and-earlier |archive-date=11 Sep 2025}}</ref> about the transition fails to make it clear whether versions prior to 8.x can still be activated online at all, but offline activations do remain active either in continuous installations or reinstallable if you bought a Codemeter dongle and loaded your licenses before the cutoff date in Sept 2023.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Re: Offline authorization will be discontinued for R11 and earlier - This is serious |url=https://forum.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=648071#p648071 |url-status=live |access-date=23 Jun 2025 |website=ReasonTalk Forum |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250708193356/https://forum.reasontalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=648071 |archive-date=8 Jul 2025}}</ref> Aside from that, use cases (such as live performance) that make constant online connection unfeasible would require an upgrade. This move also infringes upon rights conferred in respective EULAs to sell and/or transfer the purchased licenses. The company at least briefly offered a 60% discount for upgrades as part of the transition.

Reason Studios offers temporary one-year offline activations<ref>{{Cite web |title=About offline use and authorization of Reason 12.6 and later |url=https://help.reasonstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/10288581394322-About-offline-use-and-authorization-of-Reason-12-6-and-later |url-status=live |access-date=23 Jun 2025 |website=[[Reason Studios]] |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251101221705/https://help.reasonstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/10288581394322-About-offline-use-and-authorization-of-Reason-12-6-and-later |archive-date=1 Nov 2025}}</ref> for their new products and services. But even those users who upgraded to 12.x+ and are unfamiliar with their DRM practices may be rudely surprised when they bring their computer to a live event intending to perform using the musical instrumentation they "bought", and are forced to find an Internet connection just to start the software, potentially damaging the event and/or their income.