# Reason Lite Rack Plugin question



## Macrawn (Sep 11, 2021)

Hello, 

I got the reason lite rack plugin from plugin boutique a while back. The rack part works in my daw. I was wondering if this thing allows me to buy Reason synths and run them on my daw or do I need like the full Reason thing to do it. The rack came with Reason lite.

I really don't understand the Reason universe but there are a couple of synths I've wanted to be able to use for a long time and I was hoping this reason lite rack I got for free would run them.


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## Sarah Mancuso (Sep 11, 2021)

You can buy the Rack Extensions you're interested in and use them in it, yes!


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## easyrider (Sep 11, 2021)

“A slimmed-down version of the legendary Reason virtual studio, Reason Lite lets you run the full Reason Rack as a VST3/AU/AAX plugin in any Mac or PC DAW. ... And support for Rack Extensions means your device list can be bolstered with any of over 700 add-on devices in the Reason Studios Shop at any time”


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## doctoremmet (Sep 11, 2021)

I am still confused though ever since I saw people mention that Friktion (my sole real interest to consider using Reason at the moment) - at least certain Friktion “multis” or “combinations”? - MAY require a more serious version of Reason than Lite (which I got last year as a PluginBoutique freebie I think).


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## Macrawn (Sep 11, 2021)

Cool thanks everyone!


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## Sarah Mancuso (Sep 11, 2021)

doctoremmet said:


> I am still confused though ever since I saw people mention that Friktion (my sole real interest to consider using Reason at the moment) - at least certain Friktion “multis” or “combinations”? - MAY require a more serious version of Reason than Lite (which I got last year as a PluginBoutique freebie I think).


Friktion itself doesn't require anything else.

Combinator patches are like multis (though much more advanced) and can house _any_ combination of Reason devices, so they may require more than what comes with Lite. Friktion comes with some Combi patches that may not work in Lite, but you can use Friktion itself, and all of the _.repatch_ presets that are made specifically for Friktion itself.

(You can trial Friktion free for 30 days to check it out for yourself, btw!)


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## doctoremmet (Sep 11, 2021)

Thanks Sarah! I am 99% confident I’m going to pick up Friktion.


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## lychee (Sep 11, 2021)

Yes Doc, join my sect! 
I use Friktion with Reason Intro and everything works fine except the combinator patches containing racks of versions higher than Intro.


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## José Herring (Sep 11, 2021)

Macrawn said:


> Hello,
> 
> I got the reason lite rack plugin from plugin boutique a while back. The rack part works in my daw. I was wondering if this thing allows me to buy Reason synths and run them on my daw or do I need like the full Reason thing to do it. The rack came with Reason lite.
> 
> I really don't understand the Reason universe but there are a couple of synths I've wanted to be able to use for a long time and I was hoping this reason lite rack I got for free would run them.


Which synths are you liking?


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## doctoremmet (Sep 12, 2021)

lychee said:


> Yes Doc, join my sect!
> I use Friktion with Reason Intro and everything works fine except the combinator patches containing racks of versions higher than Intro.


Owww, I am SO tempted Lychee. At this point the only thing stopping me is that I feel BF is rapidly approaching, and I have plenty of new PM synths to have fun with until then (NUSofting SinMad, Expressive E Noisy & Imagine, IRCAM Modalys in MAX for Live). But something tells me I’l join the cult soon  (I also just ordered a Touché).


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## Macrawn (Sep 12, 2021)

José Herring said:


> Which synths are you liking?


The FM one Algoritm is the main one I want to get. I got the demo of it and it only took me a minute to make a massive really nice sound without reading any directions. Only played for a few mins but I knew right away that's my kind of synth. 

Got a couple favs I should check out?


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## José Herring (Sep 12, 2021)

Macrawn said:


> The FM one Algoritm is the main one I want to get. I got the demo of it and it only took me a minute to make a massive really nice sound without reading any directions. Only played for a few mins but I knew right away that's my kind of synth.
> 
> Got a couple favs I should check out?


Algorithm is indeed great. 

Complex-1 is a great Westcoast Buchla style synth. 

Expanse which is an RE is a great alternative to Serum. It also reads Serum wave tables and includes 4 Osc slots one more than Serum 

Scenic is a surprisingly powerful sample manipulation tool.


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## cqd (Mar 19, 2022)

I'm just going to bump this for the sake of it and because I can't actually get over how good complex 1 is..Algorithm and Europa too, but especially complex 1..
Some of the older reason stuff doesn't sound great, but these are really up there..


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## MLaudio (Mar 19, 2022)

cqd said:


> I'm just going to bump this for the sake of it and because I can't actually get over how good complex 1 is..Algorithm and Europa too, but especially complex 1..
> Some of the older reason stuff doesn't sound great, but these are really up there..


If only Complex was polyphonic. Europa IMO is Reasons stand out synth. All three you mentioned Id agree are the best they have put out.


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## José Herring (Mar 19, 2022)

cqd said:


> I'm just going to bump this for the sake of it and because I can't actually get over how good complex 1 is..Algorithm and Europa too, but especially complex 1..
> Some of the older reason stuff doesn't sound great, but these are really up there..


Complex-1 is indeed really great sounding. It's the stand out synth in Reason that gets overlooked the most.

Europa is ridiculously good. The only thing holding it back is no real oversampling which can make the high end a bit harsh. But, for pad stuff I still prefer it over many other wavetable type synths.


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## MLaudio (Mar 19, 2022)

José Herring said:


> Complex-1 is indeed really great sounding. It's the stand out synth in Reason that gets overlooked the most.
> 
> Europa is ridiculously good. The only thing holding it back is no real oversampling which can make the high end a bit harsh. But, for pad stuff I still prefer it over many other wavetable type synths.


If you haven’t already, check out DS Thorn as it’s very similar to Europa and has oversampling for its OSC. It also has much better built in effects.

Its my second favorite synth just behind Rapid (and I own a lot of the big ones). Like Europa, it’s fantastic for pads.


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