Anyone using Reaper?

[Plugin]

Hi,

I'm using Sonar 7 PE right now and what prompted me to start this thread is that I'm thinking of not going the Sonar 8 route. So, have some of you used Reaper after Sonar or vice-versa, and what are your thoughts?

Thanks!

[shanabit]

I may be wrong but I THINK ????? Manning is using Reaper

[psycho_monkey]

haha...yes I think manning1 may have used reaper once or twice...

I've never used Sonar in any depth, am a hardcore PT guy..but just recently I needed to finish up a project, and only had access to an iMac plus whatever free stuff I could download.

Great chance to see what all the fuss is about then. So down comes Reaper and off we go.

Have to say - I didn't find the experience half as enlightening as I was expecting. I found the zoom/scroll setup cumbersome (I want my mouse wheel to move round the project, not zoom in/out when I'm trying to find the first verse). I thought the automation was difficult to get into, I found it difficult to see edits clearly, the included plugins weren't particularly good, and the routing system for busses and sends fairly confusing. It seemed much less like software designed by an audio engineer, than software designed by a computer planner - and the appearance is very basic, anyone who complains PT is plain-looking will think this even more so.

As a free, unencumbered program - obviously it's great value and in theory you can achieve anything you can do in Sonar, PT etc. In practice, I never felt like I was actually doing anything other than working on a computer - with PT I find it much easier to work as if it was a console-based setup.

Obviously I'm making very unfair comparisons here - 8 years PT experience, out of my usual environment, no control surface etc etc, so I don't want to sound as if I'm making a hard and fast judgement, more just some initial impressions. And I wanted to like it, I really did.

But for me this is really a program in development, and those who think it should be a replacement for PT or whatever in pro studios can't have any experience of how those pro studios work.

oh, and manning1 - if I was the teacher, and the student who you recommended show his teacher Reaper instead of PT LE...I think I'd have a few things to say back!

[357mag]

I also use Reaper. It has the best looking interface of any DAW. Plus unlike most DAW's you can change the look of it.

It installs in about 2 seconds and it loads up extremely fast. It's coded very efficiently also. If you choose to use a 64 bit operating system you can still benefit now even though the program is 32 bit because Reaper is Large Address Aware.

The plugs I was using I felt sounded pretty good for the most part except the wah-wah which I just could not get to even work. I'm using different plugs now.

The development team for Reaper releases new versions quite rapidly in comparison to any other DAW. Once you have your license you can download all these updated versions for free.

No dongles either to break or get corrupted.

Pro Tools is over-rated. Any other modern day DAW is just as good. Plenty of other interfaces are just as good. There is no need to buy into the Pro Tools myth.

[Tony Shepperd]

Manning is king of Reaper around GS. All Hail The King!

I just went to the website to look at it again.
IMO the GUI still makes me feel like I've been a the Tilt a Whirl ride to long.

[Solar]

Originally Posted by Tony Shepperd

Manning is king of Reaper around GS.
I just went to the website to look at it again.
IMO the GUI still makes me feel like I've been a the Tilt a Whirl ride to long.

Reaper user here as well and very rock solid DAW i must admit and it's coming long away great!!

Tony i totally agree with in regard of the GUI but all i can tell you, give it a little time because maybe just before we hit the new year, you might be surprised with whats coming. Maybe you won't be all satisfied but you will see it in a different eye for sure but again, it's all about taste rigth? We all know that already...

To respond to the first guy question, it's just like any other Daw out there, has its positive and negative features. The best way at the end is to download it, join the forum where for sure is one of the best (including GS) and give it a try and get the answers yourself!!!

There is no magical DAW out there, there is the man behind the daw who happen to love the DAW he is comfortable with that respond well his or her workflow and get the job done!!

Good luck, Merry Xmas and Happy New year!!!

Cheers!

[bulls hit]

Things I like about reaper - it's fast and efficient, i.e. it loads up quickly, it's multi-core aware. It's easy to use, no delay compensation issues. It's flexible, you can route any track anywhere you like, flexible views. Accurate waveform draws, edit down to the sample, clip editing, folder tracks, takes and lanes. The bundled effects are ordinary and the default UI is buttugly, but you can reskin with one of the bundled themes. It works brilliantly with uad-2. And it's stable as the Greenland ice sheet at -40

[357mag]

Of all the interfaces I've seen I gotta give the Most Beautiful Award to Reaper. Runner up is SAW Studio.

The winner of the Most Horrible Looking Award goes to Ableton.

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by 357mag

Of all the interfaces I've seen I gotta give the Most Beautiful Award to Reaper. Runner up is SAW Studio.

The winner of the Most Horrible Looking Award goes to Ableton.

You're kidding right?

I thought it looked plain and uninspiring. Basic, confusing...lots of check boxes and ugly buttons. With PT I can kid myself I'm using a full on studio. Reaper felt like using a word processor for music.

However

Bulls hit - definitely agree with pretty much all your points - and if you can skin it, then I guess it renders the ugliness argument moot.

Although waveform editing felt much more removed and inaccurate compared to PT (probably my inexperience, although the whole auto-fading thing started to do my head in after a bit - I never felt confident of exactly what I was doing).

BUT - I used it for 2 days. These are just first impressions. I found PT a lot easier to get comfortable on (coming from Logic/Cubase).

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by 357mag

Pro Tools is over-rated. Any other modern day DAW is just as good. Plenty of other interfaces are just as good. There is no need to buy into the Pro Tools myth.

Strongly disagree with all of this. "traditional" studio emulation, compatability with 99% of the commercial studio world, playback to picture, pro-level interfacing, unbeatable multitrack editing (IMO). Those are all reasons to buy into PT.

If none of that sort of thing is important to you (it wouldn't be to most hobbyiests, or singer-songwriter-composer types) then you're right.

But it did get where it is for a reason. Next time you try to sync reaper, or even Logic up to tape or an SSL, let me know how you get on. If you've never had to do this sort of thing....well, you wouldn't understand WHY it's an industry standard.

[Alxi]

I'm with Psycho monkey on this.

To me the interface is confusing and i HATE how the consol is layered. The routing is flexible but don't like how it is displayed. To me PT and Sonar are the most efficient software for my workflow but there sure is a lot of goodies in Reaper.

-Alxi-

[troggg]

Also think the Reaper GUI sucks. That said, lots of people are not visual and could care less. So if you don't care how alluring the GUI is, and you don't already own a DAW, Reaper's the best deal out there cause you get a lot, it all works, and they keep making it better - like almost every day!

[Nahuel]

I like reaper cause I can play mo tracks with mo plugins on my ol ass p4 2.4 and it's in,credibly stable. I like it cause it looks like Vegas, I used to use vegas a few years ago, I like reaper cause it's cheap. I dont think it looks that bad, but I do think Sonar looks like microsoft words... o and ableton live is awesome too, I use it for making music, I use reaper for mixing.

[manning1]

re reaper.@tony.
lol..i dont wanna be king of anything.
n dont wanna get into PT vs reaper for the nth time..lol.
but there are various threads on reaper user forum from
people whove used both, includeing people who point out
advantages of reaper. as well as recent threads comparing reaper
to many other well known daws.
thus to the op plugin , just try it n see if its for you.


there are too many reasons to list why i like reaper.
but the main ones are small footprint and no dongle.

imho the whole gui thing is nonsense n malarky.
ive seen some lovely reaper themes. done by users.
theres a whole section devoted to themes on the user forum.
hundreds of posts etc.

there are also many independent reviews of reaper.(use google.)
i understand one is coming in jan 09 SOS mag ?

to the op you might also find this of interest.
D.A.W Bench : D.A.W Performance Benchmarking

merry xmas to all.

[357mag]

I kid you not. I feel the Reaper interface is one of the most if not the most colorful there is. Certainly not uninspiring, not that a DAW is actually supposed to inspire anyway.

Many other DAW's default to this ugly dark grey with ugly grey buttons. Yuck. As I noted earlier and Manning pointed out, the Reaper interface can be changed to look like many other DAW's if that's what you like. Including Pro Tools. I do like the Pro Tools interface however.

[thedigitalgod]

if you dont like the look of reaper, just choose one of the hundreds of themes for it. . . or, create your own.

i think its interesting when people refer to software as "feeling like using a computer" -- the faster we get out of the analog emulation mentality and use the tools we have as what they are. . .COMPUTERS, the faster we can take full advantage of its abilities instead of trying so hard to make it look and act like its inferior counterpart (inferior in terms of usability, sonically is a whole other can of worms).

[Jidis]

thedigitalgod- A theme name for that jpg might be nice.

I use Vixie Plain v1 on mine. Still haven't gotten much faster with my editing skills in there though.

[thedigitalgod]

Originally Posted by Jidis

thedigitalgod- A theme name for that jpg might be nice.

I use Vixie Plain v1 on mine. Still haven't gotten much faster with my editing skills in there though.

its mostly Stumn201, but i changed a few things and chose elements from each of the Stumn201 versions.

[Jidis]

Got it -Thanks!

[Kyle S]

ive been using reaper for almost 2 years. i have a few complaints but it works for me. i happen to really like the routing. hit alt+r, do a few clicks. the zooming and scrolling is kinda buggy for me, it only goes one way with my mouse. might be my fault i dunno.

[JPeters86]

I use it all the time. Works great. Even use it through Parallels Desktop in Windows. The default GUI is a bit 'cheap' for lack of a better word, but once you strip a proper theme on it, like Vixie Plain 2.0, it looks (and works) stunning.

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by thedigitalgod

if you dont like the look of reaper, just choose one of the hundreds of themes for it. . . or, create your own.

i think its interesting when people refer to software as "feeling like using a computer" -- the faster we get out of the analog emulation mentality and use the tools we have as what they are. . .COMPUTERS, the faster we can take full advantage of its abilities instead of trying so hard to make it look and act like its inferior counterpart (inferior in terms of usability, sonically is a whole other can of worms).

Well, I learnt using analogue desks etc - I'm no luddite when it comes to computers, but for MUSIC I prefer to use PT as a fully automatable console/tape machine/outboard emulation.

I'm happy to step outside that facade when the situation calls for it, but I don't want to be a computer programmer. I want the computer to help me, not for me to be forced to work the way the computer wants.

Besides, PT hardly acts like it's analogue counterpart - how many neves can you think of where anything can be routed to anywhere, paralleled and summed etc without a lead being connected, instantly recalled etc - fully automated outboard, and everything like that. It just happens to work in a complimentary way.

Fair enough point on skinning reaper - I've been keen to stress everything I've stated is a first impression. Doesn't change the routing system but might make it a bit less hideous to look at all day.

Just another thing to think of when moving between systems though.

[manning1]

psycho_monkey
time for a rare rant from me mate.
every technical solution has a price and plusses n minuses.
everything/all daws is in constant change and everything is BETA.
hmm..nice sig line "ITS ALL BETA"..lol.

imho PT is not the earth , the moon and the stars.
you can find fault with anything. if you dig deep enough.
various people post on the reaper forums about various pt aspects
that bug em. viz a vis other daw software.
go read the threads .

for example, and i dont know how true now with new versions of PT,..
so you tell me...
but someone told me once how various things bout pt drove em nuts.
i understand the midi aspects at one point (which is why i used powertraks years ago..)
, and you couldnt split out the
left and right of a stereo file to their own files ??
i dont wanna dredge it all up cos its merry xmas etc lol.
but lets be reasonable here .and fair.

musicians need competition like reaper.
cos without much competition look whats happening in the processor arena right now.
for example i would like an i7 , but i cant afford it.
a few vendors of something = high prices.
competition/variety breeds lower prices and thats good for us.
reaper has introduced another competitive option.

monkey its good to defend a castle, but mankind moves on.
maybe you dont like it cos many of us serfs are simply bypassing the castle ??

fyi heres a reaper users comments (whose also used PT..)
which is nice and refreshing ...
a love letter to reaper and the whole community - Cockos Confederated Forums

we are all different mate.

merry xmas.

ps..you tried reap on a mac ?
its a different version to pc.

[psycho_monkey]

Rant all you like. PT has plenty of flaws, I'm well aware of that.

I'm on the mac right now, that I tried Reaper on. I don't use PCs for music, and if that's the requirement for trying the "good" version of Reaper, that's me out of the running straight away.

If you read my posts, I've very very clearly stated my opinions are the results of a couple of days worth of feeling my way around. I've repeatedly stated that I didn't look into alternate skins or probably got very deep into the program. However, I HAVE used other programs to the same "skin deep" level, and I found Reaper to be harder to get into.

I make a point of not passing comment on anything I've not used, hence the .sig. The only time I generally comment on a Reaper thread is either when someone says "you can't do that using x" and they're wrong, or when someone goes "use Reaper" when it's not relevant to the discussion. Since I've now had a little experience, I thought I'd pass on my comments as a "new user", albeit one who's used a lot of alternative software.

I'm quite happy that there's alternatives to PT, Logic and the like. I couldn't care less what the "serfs" or home recordists use, I'd be the first to agree that PT may not be the best program for them, or lots of others. It's definitely the right program for me - I use it at work and at home, need to move projects between the two easily, and also troubleshoot PT systems professionally. Even if I didn't feel it was the best tape-replacement DAW, I'd still kind of be tied to it.

I DO take issue when you or someone else recommends to someone looking to get into professional recording at a commercial studio that they look at Reaper instead of PT - that is plain simple BAD ADVICE. Nothing wrong with knowing about alternatives, but you need to know the standards first - and at the moment that's PT for the commercial recording industry. You may say "oh, but things move on"...but you need to get in to make the changes. No studio is going to hire anyone who tells them they never bothered to learn PT "because Reaper is just as good".

I don't think we are that different actually. We both seem to be saying "horses for courses", just in slightly different ways.

Merry Christmas yourself

Originally Posted by manning1

psycho_monkey
time for a rare rant from me mate.
every technical solution has a price and plusses n minuses.
everything/all daws is in constant change and everything is BETA.
hmm..nice sig line "ITS ALL BETA"..lol.

imho PT is not the earth , the moon and the stars.
you can find fault with anything. if you dig deep enough.
various people post on the reaper forums about various pt aspects
that bug em. viz a vis other daw software.
go read the threads .

for example, and i dont know how true now with new versions of PT,..
so you tell me...
but someone told me once how various things bout pt drove em nuts.
i understand the midi aspects at one point (which is why i used powertraks years ago..)
, and you couldnt split out the
left and right of a stereo file to their own files ??
i dont wanna dredge it all up cos its merry xmas etc lol.
but lets be reasonable here .and fair.

musicians need competition like reaper.
cos without much competition look whats happening in the processor arena right now.
for example i would like an i7 , but i cant afford it.
a few vendors of something = high prices.
competition/variety breeds lower prices and thats good for us.
reaper has introduced another competitive option.

monkey its good to defend a castle, but mankind moves on.
maybe you dont like it cos many of us serfs are simply bypassing the castle ??

fyi heres a reaper users comments (whose also used PT..)
which is nice and refreshing ...
a love letter to reaper and the whole community - Cockos Confederated Forums

we are all different mate.

merry xmas.

ps..you tried reap on a mac ?
its a different version to pc.

[manning1]

psycho_monkey
yes horses for courses of course.
yes the pc version is different i understand.
now back to my mini castle..lol.

ps...if i had pt hd which many say is the version worth haveing
and i wanted to record a mates lead guitar break at his place
on his system i would need to take hd etc with me.
with reap, i just take a usb baby pen drive with the bed traks on.
this portability is rather nice.

have a merry.

[Plugin]

Hi guys,

thanks for all of your input. My intent was not to cause a war between PT and Reaper, but mainly comparisons between Sonar and Reaper.
I guess I will download a trial of Reaper and see/hear for myself. I don't have much against Cakewalk - except for the fact that version 8 includes Dimension Pro, which I had bought seperately, and they want me to pay for an upgrade???
The included plugins don't concern me since I already have my third-party favourites. For me, it's sound, efficiency, ease-of-use, compatibility, and the lowest CPU hit at any given bit depth/sample rate.

[Nahuel]

Reaper is 50 usd non commercial liscence. You cant go wrong.

[JPeters86]

Originally Posted by Plugin

For me, it's sound, efficiency, ease-of-use, compatibility, and the lowest CPU hit at any given bit depth/sample rate.

I guess you're OK with Reaper then. I think it's the most light-weight DAW available.

[mdjice]

I'm using reaper on my miko and ....I can't wait for Protools 8 to replace it...

[357mag]

So if you want to have someone else who has Pro Tools work on your stuff you have to bring your hard drive with you? If your stuff happens to be on a flash drive it won't work?