Tell Me About Reaper

[gruvjack]

http://www.cockos.com/reaper/

 

I came across it just a couple of weeks ago and I'm very intrigued. I would like to read some first hand reviews of it here before I take the plunge and try it myself. What features do you like/love about it? What are its shortcomings? What makes it different from the others? Is it worth more than the $60/$225 they're asking for?

 

My background: amateur musician (25 years) and former club DJ (15 years), now working in radio broadcasting. I use Adobe Audition and just bought PT M-Powered 8.0 about 5 months ago. Looking to further my career and record some original tunes along the way, maybe make some pocket change recording for others as well. Yes, I know the studio biz is a bust (let's save that for another thread) but people still make music and feel the occasional need to document it.

 

Thanks in advance for your input.

 

V.

[elmertfudd]

Many frustrated SONAR users (still over on Usenet) are moving to Reaper as Cakewalk seems to be just adding more plugins and/or other "ear candy" rather than making the program better (in the opinion of the frustrated users, not necessarily mine). Personally, I tried Reaper but it wasn't intuitive to me-just getting a softsynth working required reading the manuals. However, you can try Reaper for like 40 days to see if it meets your needs/expectations.

 

Good luck!

[Rubber Lizard]

I must agree with Mr. Fudd. Reaper causes me to knit my brows alot, screw up my face, and squint. That said, there was a recent thread started by our esteemed moderator asking "Have You Switched DAWs..?" The thread revealed a huge number of forumites using Reaper. The consensus is that it sounds fine, is still fairly lean without too many extras. I may be checking it out again soon for use on my laptop, though my face has barely recovered from the last attempt.

[MikeRivers]

Reaper is very popular within a different kind of culture. There are a lot of people out there who want to go to their local music store, buy a program, and will use it for years, probably never even getting updates or upgrades. Off-the-shelf programs are pretty well tested for functionality with more or less standard computer systems so they're easy to start using and sort of leave in the background.

 

When you visit on-line forums, though, you start connecting with people who are interested in more than just a competent tool. They want to try different things and spend some of their time budget in finding things that they haven't done before, different ways of working, and in general trying to improve their working tools. Those people tend to be attracted to Reaper (and some Linux audio applications) because there's good interaction between the users and developers, and in general the program keeps getting incrementally better without much marketing glitz.

 

One of the tradeoffs to this approach is that the program keeps changing and documentation is usually never up to date. You tend to get tied in to the community to learn what you have at any moment, and if you try to stick with an old version, you'll eventually discover why it was updated. It's hard to leave alone.

 

While its low price and rich feature set makes it attractive as a first program, it's probably better suited for people who already have a pretty good idea of how DAWs work and what can be expected of them. It's not that it's complicated, or that things aren't as obvious, it's just that there isn't (unless someone has contributed one) a "get started making music quickly" guide for Reaper.

 

But you can use it for free with everything working (no crippled functions like saving your work or limiting you to 30 seconds of recording) so it's only an investment in time to see how it gets along with you and your system.

[D Charles]

I've been going back and forth between the Reaper and Sonar forums a lot lately and must say that the Reaper people talk a lot more about making music where the Sonar people seem to be moaning about features not working. There's a Reaper power book I'd like to check out before I switch platforms, might be a good read.

[Lee Flier]

I'm a Reaper user and love it. And you don't have to buy it right away if you're not sure - you can download it for free and it's fully functional. No real reason not to give it a whirl.

 

But yes, it's worth a lot more than the asking price. Whether it'll do what you need it to do depends on what your workflow is I guess, but they continue to add features constantly and even respond to user requests for features. So the chances are, if there's something you want that it doesn't do, you can just say so and it'll show up at some point. But it's actually very full featured and tweakable. To me anyway, there isn't anything I wish it would do that it doesn't, it sounds great, is extremely resource efficient compared to other DAWs. I'm not sure what's not to like about it.

[Philter]

I'm only using Reaper as a standalone VST instrument host right now. It installed in less time than it takes ProTools just to launch. I didn't need to open a manual to figure out how to make an instrument track- it was really easy. Like any program, it took me a couple of minutes to figure out the routing, both MIDI and audio, but I had it all up and running just the way I wanted within a couple of hours. The timing is reliable and it seems like a stable and processor-efficient VST host. Granted I am not using it as my actual DAW right now- this is just my limited experience.

[ggm1960]

Is it correct to assume Reaper is PC only?

[Lee Flier]

No, there's a Mac version too.

[Mudcat007]

REAPER user here.

 

Pros:

 

1) Extremely stable

2) Extremely flexible signal routing capabilities

3) Virtually completely user configurable

4) Excellent customer support & user forum

5) Has a great set of bundled efx plugins

6) No dongle

7) Upgrades for two version cycles included with license purchase

8) Free uncrippled demo let's you get a real feel for whether it will work for you before you purchase.

9) Rationally priced licensing model

 

Cons:

 

1) It doesn't have a MIDI score editor (yet)

 

I will probably never uses a score editor so there is no downside to REAPER for me.

 

BTW - I know there is at least one user at the REAPER forums who has Protools on his system to get clients in the door then ends up doing his projects in REAPER.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

Amazing software.

 

I am using reaper mostly for batch processing, rendering and mixing. I am not that far experienced with Reaper yet using it as composition and scoring tool, don't even know if it has notation capabilities?

 

will put Reaper is on my USB stick when I travel, fabulous idea, only 6 MB the whole software, amazing

[Mudcat007]

 

...don't even know if it has notation capabilities?

 

 

Not yet. I imagine it will show up at some point in a future release.

[ggm1960]

 

No, there's a Mac version too.

 

 

Thanks Lee, how about Rewire support?

[Lee Flier]

Yep, it does support Rewire.

[spokenward]

The "actions" menu allows processes to be automated in clever and powerful ways. In that way it resembles the CoolEdit/Audition line. Files, especially, large files load in Reaper quickly. Reaper is not hostile to other programs. I can export to Samplitude. There are other interchange solutions as well. There is an active and knowledgeable base of users on the Reaper forum. (You also don't have to put up with the noise of angry dweebs who can't make their cracked copies work correctly. )

 

con:

Many of the shrink-wrapped programs have VSTi's that may be of interest to you.

[Anderton]

You mentioned having a bit of background as a DJ...before committing to Reaper, also check out energyXT 2.5. The executable is 1.4MB - it opens instantly - and works with PC, Mac, and Linux. It is so fast and efficient it even does a credible job with most Netbooks.

 

The program comes on a USB stick and you can run right off the stick, install it on a computer, or because it takes so little memory, you can even copy it into memory on your MP3 player or cell phone so you can carry it around with you.

 

Comes with a nice virtual synth and drum track tone module, but also handles VST plugs (unlimited sends/inserts) and can serve as a VST plug-in for other programs (but only on Windows). So you could, for example, create an energyXT d'n'b machine and load it into other apps. It does ReWire too, lots of Reason owners used it to get audio in the days before Record.

 

It also has a "modular" page which is somewhat like Logic's environments thing. Here you can do things like patch ins to effects to outs if you want to use it as a portable effects rack (or VI rack) for live performance.

 

The company is located in Norway, but it's distributed in the US (maybe world-wide, I don't know) by Behringer which I know will upset some people Nonetheless, you can check out the free demo and if you like it, the price is about $100 street and you can get it from places like Musicians Friend.

[Anderton]

As to Sonar, the only real problem I've had has been with AudioSnap, which even at Version 2.0 didn't work all that well. But I just downloaded update 8.5.3 and it seems they've finally tamed that beast.

 

Not sure what other functions don't work, and I push it pretty hard.

[gruvjack]

Hey thanks for the responses, everyone. Finally, I start a meaningful thread

 

I tried Reaper but it wasn't intuitive to me-just getting a softsynth working required reading the manuals.

 

I imagine there would be a roundabout way of getting to it. It's a damper but not a deal breaker for me. I had trouble learning PT in the beginning.

 

 

..there was a recent thread started by our esteemed moderator asking "Have You Switched DAWs..?" The thread revealed a huge number of forumites using Reaper.

 

Yes, that's the thread that led me to discover it. As I feel fairly comfortable in the company of all you fine folks, I decided to ask y'all about it.

 

 

It's not that it's complicated, or that things aren't as obvious, it's just that there isn't (unless someone has contributed one) a "get started making music quickly" guide for Reaper.

 

How steep would you say the learning curve is, compared to PT?

 

Whether it'll do what you need it to do depends on what your workflow is I guess, but they continue to add features constantly and even respond to user requests for features.

 

That's comforting to know. Thanks. A development team that listens to its clientle...what a concept!

 

 

Cons: 1) It doesn't have a MIDI score editor (yet) I will probably never uses a score editor so there is no downside to REAPER for me.

 

Hmmm, that can be a bit of an issue for me. How would one edit the score then? Export to third party?

 

 

BTW - I know there is at least one user at the REAPER forums who has Protools on his system to get clients in the door then ends up doing his projects in REAPER.

 

Brilliant! So I guess I'll hang on to the PT M-Powered after all

 

 

Yep, it does support Rewire.

 

:love:

 

 

Another question: how taxing is it on your system? What are you guys (and gals) running? I plan on a dual core system with maybe 4GB of RAM and 7200rpm drives. Not sure whether to go PC or Mac.

 

 

I'll be lurking and posting from time to time...I've got MIDI, sampling and synthesis exams coming up on Friday the 12th. I'll need to come up for air once in a while.

 

V.

[Anderton]

Another program you might want to check out is Mixcraft 5. The price is right - $75! - but it has a ton of features, including notation, some really good-sounding bundled virtual instruments, video window support, etc. It's another one of those "anti-bloatware" programs that's very nimble and efficient, but nonetheless has a very full feature set.

 

Again, there's a free demo so check it out. I'm reviewing it for Keyboard, and am quite impressed. I know Dan (Techchristian) had problems getting Mixcraft 4 to run properly, but it's always performed well for me on Windows.

[Lee Flier]

How steep would you say the learning curve is, compared to PT?

 

I don't think it's very steep, personally, although I admit I'm used to switching among different DAWs. It's very intuitive to me and I'm not the only one who says you can do most common DAW functions without ever looking at the manual.

 

As with any complex software that you've never used before, there will be a learning curve... but I don't think there's anything at all nonsensical or unnecessarily complicated about its interface.

 

That's comforting to know. Thanks. A development team that listens to its clientle...what a concept!

 

Yeah, it really is kind of astonishing that way. Granted, I understand why software that's designed for commercial studios would have a slower and more conservative development curve. But I use PT (and/or analog tape ) in commercial studios; for my home studio, Reaper is da bomb, and the developers really are super responsive. There are new updates and new features added seemingly every week.

 

Another question: how taxing is it on your system? What are you guys (and gals) running? I plan on a dual core system with maybe 4GB of RAM and 7200rpm drives. Not sure whether to go PC or Mac.

 

One of my very favorite things about Reaper is how UNtaxing it is on system resources. In fact, I once had to do a remote recording using a 5 year old laptop with 512mb of RAM, and it worked like a champ. Granted, I only had to record 4 tracks at a time, and overdubs would've been an issue due to the latency, but still.

 

My home DAW is a quadcore home-built PC with 4 GB RAM, 7200 RPM drives, and I never have a problem. Same with doing remote recordings on my dual core laptop. Granted, I rarely have more than 24 tracks going, and rarely use more than 3 plugs on any track. But just to give you a random example... I just opened a project with 21 tracks and 31 effects, and it hangs around 15% CPU usage and 75MB RAM.

[spokenward]

 

No, there's a Mac version too.

 

 

The OSX versions are still labeled "beta" FWIW.

 

 

# OS X Intel (7MB DMG) beta # OS X PPC (5MB DMG) beta # OS X 10.5+ 64-bit Intel (8MB DMG) alpha

 

[Lee Flier]

 

The OSX versions are still labeled "beta" FWIW.

 

 

Interesting... I know several folks who are using the Mac version and haven't had any problems that I've heard about, so I guess the beta is actually pretty stable.

[UstadKhanAli]

The thing I keep hearing about Reaper is how responsive their development team is. I hear that over and over. Someone will mention something to them or on the forums, and bang, a day or two, there's a fix.

[Rudolf von Hagenwil]

observed that to, and updates come almost weekly

 

it is amazing how simple and light this software performs on the highest sonic quality

[Lee Flier]

 

The thing I keep hearing about Reaper is how responsive their development team is. I hear that over and over. Someone will mention something to them or on the forums, and bang, a day or two, there's a fix.

 

 

Yep... assuming there's even a bug, which there really aren't many of. The really crazy thing is that often someone will have a feature request and it'll be included an update a few days later. Or if it's a complex feature, a few months later at the most.