Reaper whips ass. Masterpiece. This is basically a single developer. Compare the breadth and depth of the feature set to the average web app - likely funded by millions of dollars and a big old team of people - and weep!!
"For me, coding is a form of self-expression. The company controls the most effective means of self-expression I have. This is unacceptable to me as an individual, therefore I must leave." - from a blog posting announcing his resignation from AOL
Reaper won me over back in the day with its 3.5mb binary download size and awesome licensing model. Even when it was version 2 it could run more VST instruments, with smaller buffers (lower latency & fewer dropouts), than Nuendo, Cubase, Samplitude, Cakewalk, or Logic. And it was way better at tracking, at less than 1/100th of the download size, with actual multiplatform support.
Made me a Justin Frankel fanboy for life. It's only gotten better and better since.
yes it has so many unique features compared to other DAWs i have a hard times remembering all of them!
being portable was a big selling point to me. on windows at least, you can just make a copy of the reaper folder and then run both at the same time, with completely different settings and UI for each. like have one set up for recording and another for mastering.
its handy being about to run it from a usb stick in a pinch as well.
another underrated feature is how the licence file is stored in the reaper folder. once you add it you don't need worry about it ever again. no annoying login screen like most other programs
I tried LMMS (an open-source DAW) and it was really hard to use. Then I tried Reaper and after bit of a learning curve, it feels much very natural. You can do almost anything and (albeit with the learning curve) simple actions are still simple - exactly how I want a software tool to work.
I wonder how it compares to more expensive software like Abelton or Logic Pro. I'm not going to shell out the extra money but is there actually a big difference?
As with much expensive software, the biggest difference isn't what it does but who uses it. You didn't mention it, but Pro Tools is the dominant (and truly pricey) DAW in professional studios, and so a big reason for using it is if you want to work with those folks and share projects back and forth.
Logic Pro is actually pretty darn affordable as DAWs go ($199, which is more than base Reaper but actually less than Reaper commercial license), and it's essentially an upsell of Garage Band and almost a loss leader for Apple to keep a "creative" tinge (except I'm sure they make money on it, just less than they could if they pushed it - it was more expensive before Apple bought it). It's well worth trying if you have a Mac, comes with lots of virtual instruments that are arguably worth the price alone - but it is opinionated about AU format whereas Reaper is nice and compatible with other things, programmable, etc.
Ableton is a different and interesting beast, a DAW but also oriented towards live performance, electro-DJ-loop stuff, etc. If that's your bag then definitely give it a go (the full version is expensive but you can get Ableton Lite for free or close to it via special offers and hardware bonuses), but if you're working with more sequential music then a traditional DAW is probably more natural. (See also in this space, Bitwig and FL Studio.)
At the end of the day, all modern DAWs can do all the same common/core tasks. It's just a matter of community and workflow/UX - different tools are optimized for different things and entrenched with different users. And Reaper is almost a meta-tool that you can optimize yourself, if you take the time to do it.
I moved to Reaper after Logic X was released. I know it’s a dead meme to decry the X version of an Apple software product (looking at you Final Cut), but in their desire to reduce complexity in the UI, they made what were previously common tasks for advanced user, incredibly difficult to perform.
Since moving to Reaper I’ve feel like I’ve been in a dream land. Things work in their own way, and I can customise it to my hearts content. Programmable too!
The people I know who love working with Reaper the most are audio professionals who have days jobs kinda like mine as a programmer. They have a ton of repetitive tasks which can be automated to a great extent but which still require some human cognitive input. Reaper stands out in the same way as vim or emacs, in that things are customizable and scriptable in a manner that is accessible to people who aren't programming wizards. I think maybe Reaper is the Lotus/Excel of the audio world, where instead of crunching numbers, the user is doing things like spotting and removing all the instances of "umm" and "uhh" in an hour long podcast. Machines can do a pretty good job of removing mouth clicks and noises, but today some human editing still works pretty well, and a tool like Reaper in the hands of a good operator takes a lot of agony out of that process.
Not sure if you're looking for an automated solution (I'm looking for that too!) but as far as manual edits go the following Reaper features will make your life easier:
* Ripple editing (Alt-P, once to enable for one track, twice to enable for all tracks - keeps stuff in sync, prevents gaps)
* Auto crossfade (enabled by default; just split a clip with by hitting "S" and drag one part on top of the other to create a smoothly editable fade)
* Jump to transient (Tab/Shift-Tab for next/previous, Ctrl-Tab for nearest)
* Peaks: Toggle spectrogram and peaks (this one doesn't have a shortcut, but you can find it in the actions palette that opens when you hit "?")
hah I wish I could! I've only done it a handful of times myself, but enough times to realize that if it looks like there'll be more of it in my future, I'll either hire it out or get someone to show me a faster workflow. That being said though, I have learned a few things which might be helpful.
First, during your recording session, record a track with no performance at all, just the mic in the location that you'll be recording, with no noise gate. I usually record about 5 minutes of that and then loop it to create a track. Having this room sound in the background of the track means that if you split out a word or sound from the performance track, there won't be a discontinuity in the ambient room sound.
I also use the Markers feature in Reaper heavily- the first time I listen back to the performance, I'll add markers wherever I hear a mouth noise, click, or an umm/uhh which sounds awkward. If nothing else, I can look at the markers and get an idea of how much work there is to do, and having the markers makes it easy to move the cursor to the next edit.
For the actual edits, I typically just zoom in on the region around the sound, use the keyboard split shortcut to split the region, and then hit the shortcut for toggle item mute for the item with the word. Reaper has an option to automatically crossfade items on split, which I have enabled, and I can drag the volume envelope to keep the previous word from getting chopped too sharply.
I've been using the Izotope Declick/Denoise plugin, which is inexpensive and seems to work pretty well. I suspect that there are some things I could be doing to dramatically speed up the process I mentioned above- fortunately youtube is loaded with Reaper tutorials for this sort of thing, and I look forward to learning some new tricks!
They waste time and lower information density, and also, for the few people who do notice them, they get very irritating. Getting rid of filler words where natural is pretty standard practice for longer-form videos.
If you're using a video to obtain information, you're already resolved to a low information density.
Jumpcut editing - popular amongst some of the youtube crowd - can be way more frustrating for some consumers than hearing a person periodically pause with an uhm / ahh, or insert the word 'like' several times a sentence, or start every sentence with 'So...'.
Often when people are aware they're being recorded, especially for some kind of production like a podcast that they're accustomed to hearing with edits, they'll make far more umms and ahhs than they would in an ordinary conversation. I think maybe its because they're concentrating on the continuity of their speech? Whatever the reason, I usually just try to get the number of these tics down to a level that sounds like casual conversation. I don't think most listeners notice when the tics are edited out, but a significant number seem to find them annoying enough that some judicious editing improves overall happiness with the production :)
descript.com works pretty well, but it's not free. Under the hood, it uses Google Speech-to-Text, so if you were creative enough, you could probably build something similar. I find it easier to pay descript.com when I need it. :) You can export tracks back out to video and audio multi-track editing apps with the Pro plan.
Not a reaper user but I imagine you'd need to run it through a text to speech plugin then mark times with either those words or a duration without dictionary words.
In my experience, Reaper seems to be a favorite of a lot of mastering engineers these days. I don't know any producers/mixers who use it to craft songs. I haven't looked deep enough to say why that is. As I understand it, Reaper is generally full featured and competent with no loss of any fidelity. I think it's flexibility of audio routing and excellent conversion algorithms may be a reason so many mastering engineers turn to it.
Where it's going to differ (and you could say lack) is in the support, integration with other technologies, and unique design features that certain DAWs have chosen to specialize in. Reaper seems to be right down the middle and not specialize in any notable way or offer something that other DAWs do not.
For example, Ableton Live (a full-featured DAW that you can do every part of the production process in) has been designed from the ground up to primarily be a performance tool. It's features prioritize stability of audio, flow, ease of use, speed, and the ability to do powerful gestures with a minimal effort, all without stopping playback of the audio at any point. It's favored by musicians who want to improvise or get an idea as fast as possible and with minimal fuss.
In contrast, A DAW like Pro Tools is rich with features that allow for ultra-detailed tracking, editing, and mixing. It's very powerful in these areas, but lacking when it comes to sequencing or doing anything that favors electronic music.
Logic, on the other hand, is a jack-of-all DAW that sits right in the middle. It also comes with an exceptional array of plugins and instruments and a sizeable sample and loop library to get people started who don't already own a large collection of third-party tools. A great beginners DAW that you would never have to feel like you're missing out on by using.
Each of these DAWs have their niche uses. Reaper seems bland or undefined in this sense.
Reaper is incredibly powerful, no doubt about it. However, as a long time Ableton and Logic user, I would say that both of those programs have a much better UI/UX than Reaper. Personally, I find Ableton more enjoyable to work in, as it has a nice UI and stays out of my way while I work. That’s just my opinion though. In the end of the day, the best DAW is the one that works for you.
I have never hated any program more than I hated Ableton.
It's very good for doing 4/4 dance music - simply terrible for anything else.
For example, for well over ten years, when you stretched a MIDI track, it would stretch _just the notes_ and leave all the other MIDI information where it was.
Which means if you played a performance on any MIDI instrument that has any controllers at all, it's now broken.
I reported it to them and I was told that was how it was supposed to work. I asked them for some scenario where this wouldn't break your track, and instead they asked me why wanted to do this.
I explained that sometimes I'm a little slow or fast in a track and want to tweak it; but more, I compose by playing freely with the metronome turned off, and then editing the result to match bar lines.
They were like, "That's your problem, then, you must always have the metronome on when recording." I said, "But I don't want a metronome. Often I don't even know what tempo I am going to end up in." They said, "You're just trying to be difficult."
And I ran into this over and over again. For example, they hyped Max For Live for years, and when it finally came out, it didn't handle system exclusives AND it didn't handle more than one MIDI channel(!) Hundreds of people complained about this, but it still wasn't fixed over five years later.
Reaper is a great DAW. It had/has features not in other DAWs (folder tracks predated Logic is one I use personally). It's fast, efficient, and can be installed in a portable manner. Agree with simple actions being simple; it's easy to ripple edit or crossfade by dragging in from the edge of a clip -- more UI region based than other DAWs' mode-based flows.
Back when I started using it, when v3 was new, IMO it was held back slightly by -- no judgment, we all start somewhere and can have fun playing with tools -- one user segment of novices using it for free indefinitely against the license since the trial is WinRAR-style -- and another user segment that seemed to be more interested in customizing the interface and trying different skins than hitting the record button (maybe appropriate given its winamp heritage!). But it's used in professional studios; you can see it pop up in youtube music production videos in the background in studio tours where they're going over tens of thousands of dollars in analog gear.
However - I agree with a sibling post's note that Logic in particular comes with a ton of extra content. I never use apple loops but they're everywhere. There's pretty decent organ/piano/synths included in there. There are products built off a Camel Audio acquisition years ago, some of which cost more than Logic itself. The modeled compressors/eqs are sleepers since many people start buying third-party equivalents. I don't think you should choose a DAW based on value, but I believe dollar for dollar Logic beats out anything except where you divide by zero.
Logic has also had seven years of free updates. Reaper gives you two major versions then you repurchase. Both of those are among the better deals in the industry.
All that said, IMO the best DAW is the one you know or enjoy the interface of, and the second best one is the one used by people you're collaborating with. Also IMO I see way too often the temptation that if you _just_ switched to a new DAW or got a new plugin that magically your album would write itself and you'd find an audience.
Or to directly answer your question, IMO no there's not a big difference. They're both worth more than their asking price. Realistically computers are so efficient now and all DAW software is fairly to very good once you learn the interface. It's one of those things that we take for granted these days but would be completely amazing to someone 30 years ago. Pro Tools' 30th anniversary is coming up and back in the first version most processing was destructive and offline. Now you can run dozens of tracks of simulated instruments and recorded audio with studio-grade effects processing in realtime with cycles to spare.
This thread is remiss for not discussing FLStudio, which I think packs in more content than Logic and has free updates over the life of the product, which nobody is really expecting to end sometime soon.
Like Reaper, it was built by one man (gol) and I believe he's still the lead programmer for it. The quality on stock plugins used to range from ok-to-great, but they've updated most everything old to newer tech (while not removing access to these older plugins if you need/like them) and have added tons and tons of features. Pitch correction (like Melodyne), a fully modular DSP platform (like Max or Reaktor), a full-featured WAV editor (like Sound Forge or Audacity), a very good 303 emulator (like Rebirth), a bunch of very high-quality (if sometimes experimental and difficult to program) synths and samplers, and a considerable content/sample library.
(I'm just a happy 15 or 20 year customer, not paid to write this in any way)
Oh, and the Wave Editor (called Edison) is probably my favorite to use, between it, Sound Forge, and Audacity
Likewise FLStudio - thanks to its lifetime license model I have been using it as a paid license DAW for more than 15 years. It has a very active and collaborative user base especially for hip hop and indie game music.
Reaper includes https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ for online jams. Latency is side-stepped by delaying everyone's incoming audio by a set number of beats/bars, recommend trying it out.
The scriptability of reaper is insane BTW. No other DAW even comes close. It is unfortunately full of pitfalls and hacks but if you persist you can pretty much script ANYTHING that you can do manually within reaper.
Sunken cost fallacy and Cubase - I can relate to that! Somehow they are really good at upselling even those users who are not really convinced about their product.
Cubasis 3 (the iPad version of Cubase) came out a year and a half ago and is still so horribly broken as to be unusable for a lot of users. At release it couldn't even have been considered pre-alpha. That was the point I finally gave up on them never to return.
It is also easy to write MIDI and audio effects in JSFX (https://www.reaper.fm/sdk/js/js.php) and there are tons of extensions available that do almost anything you can think of.
I wasn't sure what you were referring to at first since I didn't see a mention of it on the Reaper homepage, but I looked it up. One of the Reaper developers, Justin Frankel, also created WinAmp
Was there ever a relationship between Frankel and Shawn Fanning (Napster fame)? Somehow I remember something about the two together. Could be as trivial as a quote about Fanning in an article, I suppose.
You're probably thinking of Frankel and Gnutella since it was a contemporary of the original Napster (except still exists!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnutella
There seems to be way more 3rd party plugins. Reaper has quite an extensive API while Ardour is open source. There was quite a long discussion about this on the Ardour forum. It seems that the Reaper API and general extensibility gained more traction than Ardour being open source, as counter intuitive as that seems. Having used both pieces of software a reasonable amount, Reaper has a slight edge in terms of usability and customisation of the layout and look and feel. In particular the midi editing is smoother. That said, Ardour is a fantastic piece of software and a great open source success.
Ardour can run VST plugins, so I don't think it's limited in this way at all, as VST is the most common plugin format in the world and there are literally thousands of VST plugins that one can use.
Ardour can also run LV2 plugins, which is another plugin format. It's not as popular as the VST format but gives Ardour users even more options.
So, yeah, I wouldn't say that plugin availability is a limiting factor for Ardour, any more than it is for any other DAW.
It doesn't seem possible to easily write your own plugins or extensions in Ardour? Which is rather trivial to do in Reaper. Also, Reaper automation and customization is limitless.
But, Ardour is free, Reaper isn't, so that is a big difference.
Yeah, of course Reaper also supports all types of plugins, including of course all types of VSTs (32 or 64 bits), and DX, LV2, etc.
But sometimes the thing that you need does not exist. I needed a "MIDI notes compressor" and couldn't find one, so I wrote it (the compressor brings all notes to a chosen range, so for example if the range is A3-A5, a C7 will be converted to C4).
It's been ages since I made electronic music on my PC. I always liked FL Studio and some friends of mine sweared by Reason but I haven't been keeping up with DAWs / sequencers. What are people using these days?
Check out Bitwig, it's cheaper and more exciting (to me) than Ableton despite a very similar core workflow. Bitwig really shines if you like modulation and flexibility.
However, as someone that’s been using Live for more than 15 years, the muscle memory with the workflow is real. And my large collection of custom plugin chains, sample instruments, templates... I couldn’t find enough reason to create the momentum to switch.
The good thing is, Bitwig brought real competition, which forces Live to improve.
I agree, also could be familiarity but I think Ableton is simpler to use. It’s certainly visually cleaner, I find Bitwig’s UI a bit “information overload” whereas Ableton is pleasingly minimalist. I can totally see why others would disagree though!
Ardour and Muse both seem descent. There are a lot more free ones, but it may also be worth checking out making audio in a markup language or using something like csound. Here is a good list of software available by default in Arch:
for electronic music FL studio and ableton are the big ones, IMO. I loved reason back in the day but their lackluster approach to VSTs and audio clips eventually pushed me to Ableton. They've since made improvements to both, but the damage is done.
FL studio also has solid mac support now, thankfully.
Ableton Live is huge in the electronic music space. It really works well for live experimentation and feels a lot more like an instrument you can play and experiment with as you go.
I love Reaper. There's a learning curve like every other specialist bit of software but it has enough power for an amateur like me to produce something that sounds great.
I love Reaper, Avid Pro Tools is too much for my purposes and all the other free or low cost DAWs didn't feel right. The $60 non-commercial license is a bargain.
The license model is exactly how software should be licensed.
> You get 60 days of evaluation free, with full functionality, and no strings attached. All license purchases are final.
No subscription model for a product you don't know and no artificial stess to use the product because you payed for time but use it just 2-3 times in a month.
I have been using Reaper for almost 10 years now and never looked back. I especially love the simplicity and elegance of the everything-is-a-track design. Also, it is extremely fast and reliable. In all those years, I can barely remember that it ever crashed, which is truely remarkable. (I am looking at you, Sibelius!)
HONESTLY, there are already a few good DAWs out there, FL Studio being my favorite, and after playing with this one, there doesn't seem to much here that isn't offered in other platforms . It was confusing when I first attempted to use the program, and I've been messing with DAWs for close to a decade now. I thought it would be a little easy to jump into and the ONLY REASON I am even using it, is because of its compatibility with the Raspberry Pi. Maybe I am not seeing the benefits of the programmer side, but as someone with a mostly musical background whos interested in programming, this was hard and didn't offer much that would make me turn away from other software. ALSO I'm BIG on UI when it comes to these programs. The UI has an outdated look and feel As much as I've been around the local music scene, most people using these programs aren't mixing and mastering rock music and stuff, these are younger people making rap and hip hop beats, sampling, slowing down the tempo (chopping and screwing), recording with what they got. This seems too technical for people that I'm around, and don't get me wrong, I'm around people who have put out quality music. I just honestly can't see any of my homies picking this app up while they are already trying to mimic professional artist with Reason, or FL. It reminds me of the audio recording software Cool Edit Pro, which is laughable because it came out in '03. Who exactly is this program for? I can't imagine Drake, Post Malone, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Mark Ronson, or even the underground scene using this. Is it mostly for people with programming backgrounds, or someone like me, desperate for a DAW on the raspberry pi?
It's an affordable linear daw. It works well and is stable.
Where did you even get the idea that it was for programmers?
Im surprised it runs on a raspberry pi at all, but i seriously doubt that's a major consideration. Most people would think it's insane to run any major production off a pi.
It's not the same kind of workflow as reason or FL studio or bitwig or ableton. It's not meant to work that way.
