VMPC2000XL crashes Reason 13

[soundstruction]

Hi

I am a loyal Reason user - I love that particular DAW.
I am currently using Reason 13.

I recently obtained a copy of your product - VMPC2000XL.
It installed just fine on my PC - manufactured by ASUSTEK Computer Inc.

64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz 1.99 GHz
16GB of RAM

Edition Windows 10 Home
Version 22H2
Installed on ‎4/‎29/‎2021
OS build 19045.5011
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19060.1000.0

So - your plugin loads into Reason just fine - it appears within the program just like any other VST3 plugin.
In fact - in Reason's Plugin Manager page - VMPC2000XL shows up as "Enabled."
It doesn't crash the program on boot up.

However - every single time I try to drag it into the Reason Rack to use it - it crashes the whole program.
Reason disappears out of RAM.

Every single time.

However - I have been able to get your standalone version to work on my computer just fine.

Have you done much work testing your product with Reason?
Reason 13??

I'd love to know if I am doing something wrong.
Is there something else I need to install to get your Product to work in Reason?

Sincerely,

Mitch

[izzyreal]

Hi @soundstruction / Mitch,

Thanks for the detailed report. I can't recall trying VMPC2000XL in Reason.

Here's an overview of some of the DAWs/hosts I've tried, and the results: https://github.com/izzyreal/vmpc-juce/blob/master/plugin-compatibility-matrix.md

Propellerheads doesn't make it simple for developers to see if a plugin works well in Reason. In fact, they don't make it simple for anyone to try their product.

Ableton Live, FL Studio, Bitwig Studio, and Reaper -- of all these products a trial can be downloaded by just going to their website. You don't have to sign up. I just tried signing up for Propellerheads with a temporary email address, hoping to be able to download a trial version of Reason, but I get a payment wall:

So, besides an email address, Propellerheads wants people to hand over their creditcard or PayPal info. On top of that, a minimum payment of $1,- is needed. And the user is apparently also responsible for cancelling their paid trial, if they don't want to continue using Reason.

To say I don't like their approach, would be an understatement.

If someone can provide a legal version of Reason so I can debug, I might look into the issue. Until then, I can only recommend to use a different DAW/host.

Some users run VMPC2000XL standalone, and wire things up with virtual audio and MIDI cables. See for example https://vb-audio.com/ and https://vac.muzychenko.net/en/ for audio, and https://www.sionsoft.com/hubi.html for MIDI.

[soundstruction]

Reason Studios has a developer program where developers can not only get a copy of Reason but also get their SDK and all the code in order to make what they call “Rack Extensions.” So they opened up their technology to third party developers back in 2012. It costs nothing to become a developer. I know this because I myself became a developer in 2012. All you need is a company name. I made one up on the spot. You also have to agree not to disclose any of their trade secrets to the public. No big deal.That would be a perfect way for you to not only get a free debugging and logging version of Reason, you would also get the keys to the kingdom - their code and building blocks.

[izzyreal]

Thanks for the additional information @soundstruction. The outlined procedure and what I read on https://developer.reasonstudios.com/ is not something I want to commit to at the moment. I might reconsider in the future.

In the meantime, since VMPC2000XL is open source, anybody is welcome to debug the issue themselves and suggest a fix.