run two different versions of reason on same computer, two simple batch files

[sot]

very simple batch files so you can run old and new version of reason without losing preferences on each start,

it just renames the correct pref file when you start reason,

example : you have reason 5 and 8

run reason 5 set the preferences and then close it
go to %appdata%\Propellerhead Software\Reason\
rename the file Reason Preferences.prf to 5Reason Preferences.prf
-
run reason 8 set the preferences and then close it
go to %appdata%\Propellerhead Software\Reason\
rename the file Reason Preferences.prf to 8Reason Preferences.prf


the bat files are ready for default drive C: and default install directories for this example

edit the bat files to point your reason drive and your install directories

[tested on win 7(64bit) admin rights]

[mguh22]

EDIT: See my post further down for an even better way of hex editing Reason 5 to work independently of another Reason version on the same machine.

There's an easier way to do this, using a hex editor, one can edit the Reason binary for version 5 and search for the following stuff to change:

Search for a specific instance of Preferences and change that to Preference5

Search for .favo and change that to .fav5

This will now result in Reason 5 using its own Preferences file and also its own Favourites list. Thus negating the need for your script.

Good luck!

[sot]

nice suggestion it works great, i havent tried it on version 7 but it might work there too with some filename modifications

[mguh22]

On Mac I've found an easy way to run Reason 5 and Reason 7 together. This trick should work for Reason 5 + Reason 6/7/8/9 too and probably on Windows by hex editing Reason.exe files.

On Mac I have Reason 5 installed at /Applications/Reason/Reason 5.app
and Reason 7 installed at /Applications/Reason/Reason 7.app

Reason 5 uses the Reason 7 Factory Sound Bank ReFill, but it still works fine. However it was a pain switching between versions due to prompts and loss of preferences.

To remedy this I used a hex editor to change a string 'Propellerhead Software' that exists within the Reason binary in the Reason 5 application bundle. I changed this string to 'Propellerhead 5oftware' in my Reason 5 binary at /Applications/Reason/Reason 5.app/Contents/MacOS/Reason
In this same file I also hex edited a string 'Reason Preferences' into 'Reason Preference5'.

With these two changes, Reason 5 now uses own its Application Support folder called 'Propellerhead 5oftware' in both '~/Library/Application Support' and '/Library/Application Support', to put its Favourites files and its ReWire Bundle and REX Library respectively. It also now has its own Preferences file in '~/Library/Preferences' that is completely independent of Reason 6/7/8/9.

This allows for Reason 5 to start instantly (without requiring any reinstall of dependencies into system folders, or reconfiguration of its preferences) and it does not touch or interact with Reason 6/7/8/9 at all. It has its own Favourites and Locations and essentially acts completely standalone. It can even be launched simultaneously to another version of Reason and they both work fully and can be switched between.

I now have the ultimate setup, I can use Reason 5 for quick sketches and for loading a light ReWire capable rack. And I can also use the slower Reason 7 for a more fully-fledged DAW experience; all on the same machine without any reconfiguration each time I swap between versions.

All obviously completely unsupported by Propellerhead, but it definitely works better than what they offer out of the box with multiple versions of Reason together on the same system. I hope this knowledge helps someone! Good luck!