
Reaper: Digital Audio Workstation - Tomte
https://www.reaper.fm/
======
Maakuth
Justin Frankel, of WinAmp fame, founded Cockos, the REAPER company, and is
still the leader there
([https://www.cockos.com/team.php](https://www.cockos.com/team.php))

~~~
spacechild1
He's not only the leader of the company but also the lead programmer (together
with a guy called Schwa). It keeps boggling my mind that Reaper is being
developed by only 2 people, especially considering the fast release cycle.

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sramsay
I have used most of the major DAWs at one point or another (including deep
dives into Cubase, Ableton, Logic, and Pro Tools). I switched to REAPER years
ago and never looked back. It's absolutely outstanding.

People often cite it as the "best deal in audio," and it certainly is that.
But honestly, DAWs are not the big expense for us (my studio monitors cost
twice what my laptop cost; the most expensive DAW out there is still one of
the cheaper elements of my studio).

I use REAPER because the answer is always "yes." "Hey, can you? . . ." You
name it. If it has something to do with audio, REAPER can probably handle it.
And it's hands-down the most stable DAW I've used. I can't remember the last
time it actually crashed, but I guarantee you it was a wonky plugin.

I've heard it described as "the emacs of DAWs," and that seems about right. As
with an industrial-strength editor, there's a bit of a learning curve (maybe
an endless one). But if, by some miracle, REAPER can't do what you want out of
the box, you can almost certainly hack something on top of it that will.

~~~
uxcolumbo
What type of music are you producing?

Is Reaper suitable for all types of music or more suitable for music you
record from live instruments, i.e. traditional band music vs electronic music.

I was looking into Bitwig[0], because I like its modulators and the way you
can automate things.

PS. I'm a total beginner.

[0] [https://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-
studio.html](https://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio.html)

~~~
sramsay
Honestly, if you're a total beginner, you almost can't go wrong with DAWs
these days. All the mainstream ones are superb. After awhile, you may well
find that one or another is more to your taste, but that's the kind of thing
that can only reveal itself gradually over time.

You'll hear lots (and lots) of talk about which DAWs are best suited to which
types of music, but honestly, I've written symphonies using Ableton Live and
electronica using REAPER (and I'm hardly alone). It's true that some
communities of composers/producers gravitate toward certain DAWs, but --
especially if you're starting out -- that fact isn't as important as it might
seem.

Here's my advice on the matter: Pick a DAW (Bitwig is amazing), and commit to
_not buying a single third-party plugin_ for at least a year.

The problem beginners have is that they think there's something wrong with
their software, when the reality is that they don't yet understand how
compressors, and EQs, and reverbs, and delays, and filters (and all that
stuff) work. And they think that if they drop a fortune on fancy third-party
versions of those things, all their problems will disappear. They won't. Truth
is, the "stock" versions of these things that come with DAWs nowadays are
absolutely fantastic.

I have close to 300 third-party plugins in my plugin folder. That gives me all
kinds of shades of color and nuance that I can use to create certain kinds of
sounds and moods. But if someone asked me to make a record using _only_ the
stock plugins in Live, or Logic, or Studio One, or REAPER, that wouldn't
bother me in the slightest. Wait until you _really_ understand how those
components work before you start chasing down "that sound." And remember that
some of the best records ever made were made using equipment that is
startlingly primitive in comparison to the audio facilities _of your phone_.

Everything on the internet says otherwise, but it's all about the music and
your knowledge. It is almost never, in the end, about the gear.

~~~
uxcolumbo
Thanks for your advice - especially regarding not buying plug-ins until you
fully understand the DAW.

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abaga129
Reaper to me is the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to DAWs. I
purchased it about 7 years ago for $60 and I'm still receiving updates to this
day. They just added linux support not long ago and I was thrilled. Also the
Reaper installation is tiny compared to most big DAWs probably due to not
being bloated by huge sample libraries and virtual instruments.

It also comes the the ReaFX plugins which may not be pretty but damn are they
useful. I believe you can get them for free to use in other DAWs.

On the other side of the coin it probably isn't the easiest to get started in
and it's not the best for making Electronic Music IMO (FL Studio and Reason
are much better adapted for this).

~~~
supercollision
I'm another REAPER fan. It's wonderful if you're looking for a reliable, slim,
portable, cross-platform DAW.

A few notes:

+1 that you can get most of Reaper's plugins for use in other DAWs (maybe only
for Windows though?):
[https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/](https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/) \- almost
any DAW seems to have decent stock plugins these days but Reaper's do some
nice stuff like a clean N-band multiband compressor.

Upgrades do go on for quite a while - though @abaga129, unfortunately your
free update train just ended a couple weeks ago. Purchasing a license at
version N gets you all updates for major releases N and N+1, but N+2 is a paid
upgrade (and would come with all upgrades through N+3). Version 6 was just
released this month, so it's a great time to jump in and get a license if
anyone's been running that trial past the intended period.

Reaper is absolutely worth $60 (for studios with a decent amount of revenue
it's $300 or so IIRC), but for some musicians I think other, more expensive
DAWs can be a better deal, for example Studio One when it's on sale, or Logic
Pro X for Mac users at $200 - it has a huge amount of stock plugins and
instruments that Reaper really doesn't match. Perhaps you don't need them. And
many people likely end up with tons of third-party plugins anyway so it won't
matter. And of course there are plenty of good, free third-party plugins
online.

Though elephant in the room (for me) for Logic is whether Apple will continue
to support the pro line. Having a nice MBP refresh and the new new Mac Pros
out is a good signal.

Students can grab Apple's Final Cut Pro X + Logic X + other stuff bundle for
$199: [https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/BMGE2Z/A/pro-
apps-...](https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/BMGE2Z/A/pro-apps-bundle-
for-education) For everyone, you can likely purchase iTunes gift cards at a
discount and use that for apple's pro software.

Reaper has a fully-functional 60-day trial and is a well-behaved app on your
system (no USB dongle drivers for example). Totally recommend trying it out.

~~~
vonseel
Apple has added so much functionality to Logic in the past few years that I
would be surprised if they stopped supporting it anytime soon.

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boblebricoleur
Reaper is awesome. I've made a lot of my (bad) music sound very great with it
!

I've used it for more than 10 years, and it's my go-to DAW ever since.

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harel
I've been a Cubase user since the v1.0 for PC arrived on one floppy disc. Over
the years I've tried to switch to Logic, Ableton and Reaper but found I cannot
be as fluent as I am on Cubase. I also noticed it's like a religion - users of
one Sequencer/Daw are unlikely to switch to another permanently and will swear
by their platform of choice. Pretty much like the old Amiga/Atari or PC/Mac
arguments. I wish it was an easier learning curve to switch because I'd love
to diversify but every time I try it's comes to a point where I'm either
creative right now or learning. But not both, so I revert back to the church
of Cubase (albeit an old version I still use).

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conradfr
I installed the new version the other day and I'm a bit puzzled by the
enthusiasm about the new dark skin. I'll have to test it more as I've reverted
for the 5.x look for now.

Reaper is amazing. Some of its default behaviors regarding tracks management
(especially multi-takes tracks) are a bit weird coming from another DAW
though.

The most impressive features for me is the a-track-can-be-anything and the
routing capabilities.

It's hard to describe all the reasons why but to me it really feels like a DAW
made for developers.

------
daemonna
I have tried ProTools, Cubase, and few others but after finding Reaper I never
looked back... my second option would be probably Bitwig, but pricetag is too
much crazy.

------
LocalH
Fun fact: if anyone is a fan of Guitar Hero or Rock Band, REAPER has been used
by Harmonix Music Systems since the beginning for song authoring.

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gexla
I don't know why a link to this site would be on the front page of HN. Is
there something more interesting about this DAW over the others?

I happen to use this one myself though. I have found it to be relatively easy
to use and one of the more affordable options available at $60 for non-
commercial use. They just released 6.0.

EDIT: Removed Audacity mention as an alternative because Audacity isn't a DAW.

~~~
toupeira
Audacity is more of an audio editor though, not a "real" DAW. The most well-
known open source DAW I'm aware of is Ardour.

~~~
tialaramex
One of the things on my TODO list that I never get around to is getting back
up to speed with the Audacity codebase and making its PCM waveforms look like
the actual wave rather than join-the-dots.

So many random people use Audacity because it's zero cost, and every one of
those people is an opportunity to implicitly teach what's actually going.

Yes, they could all go watch Monty's excellent video showing what's going on,
but they needn't do that if the tools we give them show everything properly in
the first place, they'd just assume "Right I guess it's magic somehow" and
only need Monty's video if they needed to actually understand (or argue with
people who are wrong on the Internet).

Everything else about Audacity is pitched just right for an audience that
doesn't need a full-blown DAW anyway.

~~~
gexla
Thanks for this. Could you provide more info about Monty? Maybe a link?

~~~
tialaramex
[https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml](https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml)

~~~
dTal
That video is top-tier educational material - engrossingly entertaining even
though I knew the subject matter already. If only high school had been like
that.

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harrylepotter
is this the same Cockos that built Licecap?

