Loading Reason Rack plugin in VM's plugin host is an absolute pain and I can't even search for Reason in this forum

[MC242]

I'm on a Mac with latest MacOS Big Sur and I'm trying to load Reason Rack plugin in the plugin host. But as soon as I try to connect it, VM completely crashes. Every time.
It is absolutely impossible to work with Reason in VM, which is a pity, because it would have been really great to connect these two.

And I cannot even search for Reason in this forum, because the word is too common...

[Rockky]

Don't know if it helps, but I was getting a similar issue in Windows last year and then realised it only happened if I was running VM standalone, I didn't get crashes if I used VM in a DAW like Bitwig. Maybe try the opposite of standalone/DAW than you are currently to see if it's more stable?

[Ade]

You might want to give DDMF Metaplugin a go. It's a real Swiss Army knife in tricky situations. It is a VST plugin which you can run inside the VM host and allows a variety of plugins to reside within it in several formats. It's helped me use the VM host more effectively.
There is a demo available. VERY useful.
https://ddmf.eu/metaplugin-chainer-vst- ... x-wrapper/

[MC242]

Thank you for your help! I appreciate your answers!
Actually I have already tried both, running VM in my host, which is Logic Pro X and as standalone.
First it crashed in LPX and then also as a standalone. That was before I wrote here. I still can't get this running in any way.

@Ade
In fact, I think I have almost every non-daw Mac compatible plugin-in chainer/hosting application there is on the market.
DDMF Metaplugin is great. I haven't tried it with VM, so good advice. I will try it.
I also have Soundigy Midi Lab which I can highly recommend and I can also recommend Plogue Bidule and Kushview Element which I also have.
Unify is great, too as well as Vienna Ensemble Pro and New Sonic Arts Fresstyle.
They are all great in their respective way.

But there is one thing that's unique in Reason: The third party Reason modules like the Players and other third party modules.
I just would like to use these with Voltage Modular. And since there is no direct way, I have to connect both with VM's plugin host.

I will have to try other options, but I guess none of them will be as stable as running the proper third party modules which are manufactured especially for Voltage Modular. This is the same problem as everywhere else in the world, where different standards make it difficult to get things working together, which are actually almost the same but not completely due to the lack of compatibility.

Well, let's hope the bridges and adapters get better with time...

[MC242]

BTW, I just tried to load Softube Modular in the VM plugin host. Guess what... Crashing big time...

[MC242]

I also just tried to load up DDMF Metaplugin in LPX and in Ableton Live and then connecting Reason with a Player and Voltage Modular with a synth patch.
Guess what happened...
It crashed...

[huggermugger]

I seem to be able to load the RRP AU, play it (Subtractor) and modulate it from VM too. But the plugin window looks like this. So it's pretty much useless.

(Mojave).

UPDATE: I rebooted VM, and tried the RRP VST3, and the window looked right, but it crashed VM, and I had to Force Quit. Then I went back to try the AU again, and the window looked wrong, but also it crashed this time.

[cherryaudio Greg]

Hi,

Reason Rack is definitely an issue. Voltage Modular wasn't working in the Reason 10 DAW, and the problem turned out to be on their side, so they included a fix in Reason 11. I don't know that they ever updated Reason Rack to match.

If you're having problems with plugins, check and see if there are any updates for the plugin to grab any possible bug fixes. If one plugin format isn't working, try a different format (like VST2 instead of VST3 or whatever).

We can't guarantee every plugin will work smoothly in the plugin hosts, because we'd be spending all of our time working on the plugin hosts trying to get every plugin to work, and some of them are just plain buggy.

Greg

[huggermugger]

Thanks so much for looking into it, Greg. Understood that you can't possibly account for every possible plugin, and I think the Reason Rack Plugin is an oddball anyways. I'm not surprised that it has difficulties.

[MC242]

Thank you for the informations, Greg!
Let's hope that Reason 12 rack plugin will work better together with Voltage Modular.
Maybe anyone with Reason+ has already tested it.
I will have to wait until September, when I can upgrade my perpetual Reason license.