What do you think of Reaper?

I simply don't like it very much.

Sometimes people forget that this is a valid reason for not using something. I started with Logic, because that's what came with my first interface. But I found it very hard to use. I also tried Cakewalk and Cubase, and found them equally difficult. I didn't like any of them all that much.

When I switched to Reaper, it was almost like some turning on the lights. It did things the way I expected them to be done. And if I was like, "I wonder if I can do this by doing this", more often than not, I could.

Prior to using a PC, I had an Amiga. There were two programs on the Amiga that I feel have yet to be surpassed in ease of use (for me, not necessarily someone else). The first was Music X, which was a midi program of comparable vintage to Cubase (which, from memory, evolved from C Notater). The second was Deluxe Paint, which suited me way more than Photoshop or Gimp.
 
Switched to Reaper after getting back together with my recording partner, who was already using Reaper, so that we could easily share files/sessions. I've never looked back. If you're coming from some other DAW, it could be a small learning curve just figuring out what's where, but you can always customize it to function sort of like your old DAW if you really wanted to.
 
Reaper is unlike any other major recording software because of who and how it was developed. A lot of HR.com members have been on the forefront and influential of it's advances.

Though he doesn't visit here anymore ( I don't think ) Pipeline (Arron ) was on the later development team.

For the price and the constant and fast fixes and updates it stays on the cutting edge and provides a recording software without the bloat and BS..It is sleek and high performing...

Even Pro studios that use Protools have found that they needed to integrate Reaper into their system to assist on workflow..

I can't imagine any average Homewrecker that could ever need more than what it offers and most ( like myself ) barely scratch the surface and get awesome results.

The uncrippled trial version is exactly what the paid version is so if you're too broke to buy it you still have access to it with the Cockos team hoping you'll do the right thing when you aren't broke...

Justin Frankel ( The originator of Reaper) is a brilliant developer with a great heart and cool attitude towards business....

For us average Joes, Reaper is impossible to beat.
 
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I love it. Fast, lightweight, easy to use, and inexpensive.

What's not to like?

If you want to know what awesome 'improvements' may make it into Pro Tools in a few years, just look at what's in the current release of Reaper...
 
Reaper's support is second to none. When I first started using it and had some questions I contacted Reaper directly. Most DAWs "support" I've worked with in the past would simply shoot me out a "form letter" pointing usually to some general answer that had the operative word of my question highlighted ie "how can I set up my compressor for ducking" and I'd get (maybe) a reference to compression in general. Not with Reaper. Not only did they email me back (usually the next day) with the answer but would usually include links to two or three other sources for info or videos. Since Reaper is so customize-able users are constantly coming up with new themes, tools, efx chains etc and they are posted in the Stash link on Reapers home page for anyone to download and use for free. Reaper is also extremely third party plugin compatible. There are so many free vst efx, virtual instruments, synths etc out on the web to add to your audio arsenal and Reaper will host 99% with no issues at all where some other programs are only compatible with their own or expensive plugins and ,as others before have mentioned, the free upgrades and bug fixes that other DAWs would charge you for. Reaper is the NO Brainer choice of the decade.
 
Reaper has no ilok or other potentially annoying authorization issues, is very stable (any issues I have had can be traced to 3rd party plugins) and continues to get better and better.
 
Reaper has no ilok or other potentially annoying authorization issues, is very stable (any issues I have had can be traced to 3rd party plugins) and continues to get better and better.

The complete absence of intrusive CP is just one of the many, many things I like about Reaper, much of which has already been said: the customization, flexible routing, virtually infinite number of actions and scripts... It can be as simple or go as deep as you want. I am firmly and enthusiastically in the Reaper camp too.

I do wish Reaper had native support for Cubase-like expression maps, as well as bezier, envelope style lines for drawing CC data in the MIDI editor instead of the discrete bars, which are hard to work with. There is a workaround for this using ReaControlMidi, but this is much more cumbersome than native support would be. So for heavy-duty MIDI orchestration & editing, Cubase may still be the best option for some. But I'm sticking with Reaper and hoping a few of the MIDI feature requests are finally implemented.
 
In the last 12 months I've recorded guitar albums in Ardour (in Linux) and Reaper. I love Reaper, having pretty much ditched Ableton and I got rid of my macs so goodbye Logic. I've been able to improve and increase my workflow in Reaper.
The problem I have now is that I want to use Native Instruments with my next project. Reaper has been a problem when I want to use software instruments like Una Corda and Giant in the amount of tracks it creates (had no problems with NI synths though). It's quite an awkward set-up.
So I'm going to see how I go with Cubase Elements 8 which I've used for mastering an album but not for actually recording a whole album. I'm going to trial Elements 9 as well as it's only $A 44 to upgrade.

Music | B J Boyd
 
dustgazer - They're working on Articulation Maps. Keep your eye on their prerelease forum. CC data always happens in discrete steps, and it has always made sense to me to see the individual events. It would be cool to be able to treat them more like a continuous line/curve, though!


bjboyd - You can make all - and only - the tracks you want/need for whatever VSTi you're adding. I never use the "Insert Virtual Instrument..." options. Just add it to a track like any other plugin and route it as necessary. Reaper's multichannel routing abilities are incredibly powerful, and not actually as hard to figure out as it looks at first.
 
I watched the video interview with the original developer, Frankel (?) and I found it amusing that he said that though Reaper has tons of features, he pretty much just does very basic stuff with it and avoids getting to deep into the complicated stuff.
 
I watched the video interview with the original developer, Frankel (?) and I found it amusing that he said that though Reaper has tons of features, he pretty much just does very basic stuff with it and avoids getting to deep into the complicated stuff.

That wouldn't be surprising. A video interview is not a video tutorial. You would only get an overview.

The place to get a real insight into the complexities of Reaper is on the Reaper forum.
 
I used GarageBand and recently switched to Reaper. I'm still in the trial period but will defo be buying! It's great in my humble opinion ?
 
This is my first DAW. I just finished downloading for the 60-Day period. Will definitely purchase at that time.

I started by not even opening a project, just dragging an .mp3 from my Music folder and dropping it onto the track area. Then I added ReaEQ and played around for a minute and I'm sold.

The End
 
Rusty Axe. Sounds like you know what your taking about. I read another post that said the "if you need midi instruments you need to find them separately. I have a cheezy casio piano and am guessing I can hook it up to my computer with a midi to USB cord and somehow open my "Reaper" and record this external keyboard. Do you know if this is true (That I can do this) ?
 
Hi BrownClown,
Reaper's certainly capable of doing its end, but can you tell us the model number of the keyboard?

Some keyboards have a USB interface allow you to record stereo audio, whereas others use USB as a means of carrying midi data. We'd need to know which yours does.

The former just lets you record what you hear and that's that, whereas the latter lets you record midi data; Think sheet music for computers.
That midi data would be used to trigger a virtual instrument in reaper. That could be a piano, strings, drums....more or less anything.
 
Course on Windows Reaper can't run two ASIO devices at the same time without some kind of questionable workarounds. Even if the keyboard does do audio over USB, you won't be able to record from that and hear the output through your interface at the same time. It's usually a lot easier to connect the analog outs from the keyboard to a line in on your interface and record that instead. It's not likely to affect the sound of a "cheesy Casio". Might even be better with a little analog mojo in the mix. ;)

You can have as many MIDI devices as you can find holes for in your computer, though. XP used to top out around 10, but I'm pretty sure they've fixed that in more recent versions. So go ahead and have fun with that. Even if the keyboard sends both audio and MIDI, it's basically two different devices, and you can enable the MIDI part without using the audio.
 
I'm step-sequencing a drum part for a new song using the pre-installed VSTi: MT-PowerDrumKit and Reaper Midi's piano scroll editor.

This is unbelievably easy - and flexible. My history with step-sequencing drums involves a TR-707 and, alternately, older midi software from the late 80's - neither were flexible enough.

With SNAP turned off, I can get those notes exactly where they need to be. So far, for me, this is Reaper's most useful feature.
 
I've bought nuendo, and cuebase and it still amazes me that this $60 DAW out does them in many ways. Out of all the daws I worked with (pro tools, nuendo, cakewalk, cuebase, adobe audition) it seems to be the most efficient and better designed than the others.
 
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