Reason Studios (formerly Propellerhead) announced today that Reason, its popular digital audio workstation and plugin suite, now natively runs on Apple M1 / M2 chips. After installing the new Reason 12.6 update, users can skip the slower speeds from Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulator and run the DAW natively on non-Intel Macs for “50 percent better performance.”
The update also applies to Reason’s Rack Extension tech. The company says all 750+ extensions will also run natively on Apple Silicon, including older extensions abandoned by third-party developers.
Although the update is a bit late to the party, the (relatively small) Sweden-based studio likely had its hands full optimizing the music-creation suite for Apple Silicon, which Apple introduced in late 2020. Competitor Ableton Live didn’t launch M1 support until February 2022, and even Apple’s Logic Pro didn’t run natively on the company’s chipset until a year after the first M1 Macs’ arrival.
Reason 12.6 also includes a new offline mode, which should be welcome news for frequent fliers, off-grid adventurers or anyone with sketchy internet service. After logging in with an online connection to authenticate, the software will continue working offline without requiring extra third-party software.
The 12.6 update is free for owners of Reason 12 and subscribers of Reason+ (a $20 / mo. service that includes Reason, an up-to-date sound bank and the Reason rack). Finally, the company offers users running old versions an extra incentive to update by offering 40 percent off Reason 12 upgrades through May 8th when purchasing from the developer’s website.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. All prices are correct at the time of publishing.
