According to this poll quite a number of people seem to enjoy Cockos Reaper.
The idea behind the poll was to figure out a little bit more about rekkerd.org readers.
I was actually expecting Ableton Live to be #1, with FL Studio, Cubase/Nuendo and perhaps Logic Pro in the top 5.
Reaper proved more popular than I thought.
So I am wondering, dear Reaper users, why do you use this software? Is it because it’s relatively cheap, the features, workflow, or something else?
Please share, thanks!
Why not? Let’s elaborate a bit. I used ST’s in the 90s and had tried some sequencers back then, and eventually bought Cubase. Late 90s we all moved on to PCs, right. I mean, except yuppies in NY who got into Macs. Hehe. Then I did the logical thing and updated to Cubase for PC. Early 00s I stopped making noises until 06, not completely but almost. Personal reasons, etc… About two to three years ago, I got a newer PC with a then-big CPU and all those VSTs were looking at me with desire, or is it the other… Read more »
After being fed up with Apple’s user/3rd party policy I was looking for some DAW to replace Logic – which I find still amazing in terms of workflow, GUI design and MIDI. Nevertheless, Reaper has some features that are more clever than those of the “big name” DAW’s; to mention routing, 64bit FP signal processing, NO useless “fashionable” plugins (like Ableton), quality time/pitch and lots and more lots of user-assignable and macro-able commands that are getting better and better each week. Plus a fair update policy, the best user forum around, dev’s that seem to listen at user input etc.… Read more »
Didn’t know about the poll, so didn’t vote, but Reaper is my DAW of choice too. Reasons: 1) I record a lot of audio, and Reaper is perfectly suited for the task 2) Not pattern based — so it’s not, as a friend of mine defined FLStudio, “this cool prog, which is great apart from the fact that whatever you want to compose it ends being some sort of techno” (ok, a big big smilie here…) 3) The price is unreasonably reasonable. 4) Last but not least: the attitude. Justin and his mates don’t treat you like you’re an ex-con… Read more »
I’m an avid fan of Ableton Live. I enjoy the workflow, and I’ve found that the setup lends itself to an extreme level of creative versatility. So when I saw that Reaper beat out my DAW of choice, I figured there’s got to be something special about it. There definitely is, and I feel like its virtues are chiefly technical. For one, it’s extremely lightweight. I use a low-powered netbook, so a DAW that’s resource-sipping rather than guzzling is a must. Reaper is tiny, and hasn’t redlined my system yet, no matter what i’ve thrown at it. In addition, I… Read more »
1 – reaper is cheap, but still full featured. 1a – price. $500 for cubase, sonar, logic, etc is just sick. that is more than the hardware price of my pc. no software is worth that. NONE!!! 1b – no pernicious upgrade price gouging. most companies have some annual upgrade, which is usually about 33-40% of the full price. that is pure thievery. 2 – reaper is small (3mb). most other apps come on 1 to 4 dvd’s. the features race just breeds bloatware, and all those crippleware synths that come with the main app are just useless trash which… Read more »
In the past I’ve been trying Cubase, Logic, Live, Energy XT. At the moment I’m using Reaper mainly and when i want to lay down ideas EnergyXT2.
What I like about Reaper, is that it can do so many things but it’s quite easy. Other Programs I know are hard to handle when they are powerful. Thats the main point for me.
Other Things I love:
-Applying FX to items immediatly
-The Mixer
-Usability of Routing
-Reaper’s FX (JS is great!)
-The “Find” Box in the Preferences Window!!!
bye
Mike
I switched from Nuendo to Reaper because I like the workflow better.
There’s a freedom to that program that I haven’t found in anything else. The amount that it lets you customize for your own personal approach is really a treat for me.
They have a great forum and it’s cheap.
I’ve never been happier.
It’s all about price and features. Reaper surpasses everyone else. Cubase, sonar, and logic are mega expensive, and reason and FL are just useless toys that only do techno/disco.
Thanks for comments guys. Personally I love my FL Studio (an no, it’s not just for techno, pretty much all these tracks were done in FL Studio). The workflow is right for me and I can get things done fast. Ableton Live is another favorite. The session view really works well for me for laying down ideas, trying different things. Ableton is great for performing live. I have been recommending Reaper to people mainly because of value for money. It’s interesting to hear that some of you actually prefer Reaper over Cubase, Ableton, etc. The way Reaper has developed in… Read more »
I switched from Cubase SL 3 to Reaper due to:
– Live monitoring of FX on input tracks.
– Starts up in seconds instead of minutes.
– No dongle!
Since then I’ve learned to love the routing, JS, the Forum(super friendly place, love it!)
“Personally I love my FL Studio (an no, it’s not just for techno, pretty much all these tracks were done in FL Studio).” I listened to only a few of your tracks and they all are monotonous loopers. They sound like techno slowed down, but otherwise they still have the same boring repetitive, ineptly arpeggiated death drone. I don’t see how you can distance yourself from techno because you are tied to its methods and use the same basic cliches techno uses. You are not better than techno, you are techno, the spawn of techno. Try this: use a standard… Read more »
Arpeggios? Nope. Techno? I don’t think so… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techno I play guitar, so I recorded some in FL Studio for the first track on this page. Then I made a progression which probably sounds like loops to you, so is that techno as well? Jose, I think we have different opinions on what is techno and “creation” of music is or means. I’m fine with that, but please understand that FL Studio does not limit anyone to doing things with loops. You can use it as a linear sequencer if you like and create a complete track in one pattern, on… Read more »
Oh my… As it was me who thoughtlessly mntioned “FLStudio equals Techno” here… even if I was quoting someone else… First of all, if it’s you who uses the software, not otherwise, you can always over-run any software limitations. Cause you’re human, y’know. I’ve heard jazzy swinging tracks made in FT2 and likes, so what would stop one from making non-4 to the floor tracks in more developed tracker derivatives (like FLStudio)? Second, there’s nothing wrong with techno. Or even with what most people consider to be ‘techno’. Odd time signatures are cool but hey — do we really want… Read more »
Jose – Is Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata Techno? Two out of three movements are 90% arpeggios. I guess Bach’s C Major Prelude no. 1. is techno as well. Ok. Now I’m curious: What are your thoughts on the 2nd Viennese school, Ives, Boulez, Ligeti, Berio, Stockhausen, Partch, and god forbid Cage among others. I’m guessing (and I’d love to be proven wrong about you) based on the rather narrow definition of music you put forth earlier that that music would be as unappealing to you as techno. What’s your opinion on the music of John Williams? (I mention him bc his… Read more »
I switched to Reaper for music and effects creation for simple reasons. Freedom and power. The freedom to route stuff anywhere. The power to process, mix and edit quickly, easily and as fucked up as I like it. I mean, just the macros you can create in Reaper to customize it to serve YOUR needs is second to none. And no limits. I post big feature requests for Reaper, because I think it hits the ball out of the park on more things the other daws ever did. It’s the sound creation and hacking tool I always wanted, that’s easy… Read more »
Harris Camdenthorp FTW.
@ JOSEMUERTA. If You’re going to preach to others about how they should make their music, then first get your terminology sorted out.
You say: “Plus to make it extra interesting use a key signature like 3/4 or 5/4.”
Methinks that 3/4 and 5/4 are TIME signatures. Let us hear your own work soon, made the good old hard way.
simple, i'm a broke teenager who can't afford software, and once i tried reaper, realizing that it can do multiple time signatures and tempos within one song (only free program for mac i've found that can do so, which i need being in a progressive metal band), works great with vst's, simple interface and the mixer is great too. i've never used the big name programs for recording anything, but to be honest, i can't think of anything i need that reaper doesn't have. also it's awesome that it runs on mac and pc since my bandmates all have PC's,… Read more »
the software is stable and deeep and the guys making it are incredible.never seen sumthing liek this before anywhere.mindboggingly great.
Wow… you really did some digging to find this old topic!
For PC and Mac 64/32bit and you can put it on a thumb drive under 10mb Why i like it ReaRoute Ok this did it for me. Finally you can route (something like rewire) Audio from one program to another using this. ASIO driver that allows you to route audio to and from any other ASIO enabled application ex: run reaper run ableton live in rearoute mode and get all audio data playing in live in to reaper. Or vice versa. This process cant be done with Ableton Live using rewire. Audio Quantization in Reaper quantize your audio http://wiki.cockos.com/wiki/index.php/Audio_Quantization_in_Reaper Monitoring… Read more »