Reaper Is Only 28 MBs In My Computer: Question About That

M

Mike Freze

New member
Hi! I really am beginning to love Reaper after I have had Cubase LE for awhile. No complaints about Cubase, just like using Reaper better.

I noticed that after I installed my Reaper program, it says it is about 28 MB in size. My Cubase LE says it is like 150 MBs in size!! Ovbiously, Cubase LE is 5 times bigger file size-wise than Reaper.

Does that mean Cubase LE has a lot more features and editing capabilities than Reaper? In most software programs (games, word processing applications, website design programs, etc.), the bigger the program, the more options you have (or better graphics, more menus, more choices, and so on).

Is this true with recording software as well? It just seems too hard to believe that Reaper could have as many capabilities as Cubase with only that small of a file size. Or am I missing something about program file sizes?

Mike Freze
 
Size is not necessarily an indication of complexity or capability. A large program could be more complex, but it could have lazy, unskilled, or unimaginative programmers developing it. In the very early days of home computing (when people used to program Basic on a Commodore 64), memory was expensive and limited, and so part of a programmer's skill was in making the program as small and resource-lean as possible. As computers became more powerful and memory became cheaper, the pressure to keep programs small was eased. 'Bloatware' is a term used to describe programs that are very big but achieve very little.

Parallels exist in hardware: a notebook is not necessarily any less powerful than a desktop, even though it is vastly smaller. It is just more intensively engineered. Likewise, a motorhome can have all the features of a holiday cabin, yet be far more compact and portable.

Reaper is an exceedingly well written program by gifted programmers.
 
Thanks, Gecko! Great explanation. You said it all. Reaper will be my number one choice. no doubt. Wish I would have known about it before I put so much time into Cubase LE. Why did I? Because it was a free entry level program that came with my TASCAM interface (ha-ha).

Before that, I had Cakewalk Home Studio Version 2 (XL). Remember those days? One thing I do like about Home Studio is it's looping capabilities. I'm sure Reaper has them too. I just need to work with it (I only gort Reaper a few days back).


Mike
 
The Structure Free sample library included with my Pro Tools 9 is 886 MB in size. Just the sample library.

I think if you look carefully at Cubase LE you will also find sample libraries of substantial size that don't exist in Reaper.

Do you know what the size of a program on your disk tells you?

How much disk space is taken up by the program. And nothing else!
 
I can only comment on the two that I've got.
Logic Platinum 5.1.exe = is 11.6mb
Reaper.exe = 6.6mb (version 3.74)
 
Size isn't everything!

In code, size usually means that the writer used shortcuts in compiling the program.
 
Indeed, the size of a program really means very little. A large program could be because of sloppy programming or because of all its features. A small program could be because it lacks features, or has had very compact programming.

The only test is really in its performance.
 
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