Would you still buy Reaper if it will cost you as much as the other DAWs ?

[hibidy]

then again, no DAW is ever perfect

Couldn't be more correct

[hibidy]

As for Cubase I don't know enough about it but ... I'm pretty sure the interface is quite messy with lots of windows

I wonder how many computer programs have features that you can access without having to see any window at all?

Sorry, no offense but that's some serious fanboi shit right there.

Really? Can Cubase have all vst windows in one FX window and switching through the various GUIs all in one window? This would mean that it's not necessary to have dozens of windows open or that you have to close them all the time.
Years ago that was the way Cubase worked: Tons of windows open that I always had to jog through or have to close them. Did that change?

Not from what I gather. I wonder if they fixed the "not full screen" bug when launching projects from the folder.

[Fritze]

Are our needs dictated by the endless options offered by the Developers, by our gadget mania or by the pursue of making better music? Reaper seems to me to be in the first option (daily updates!!!)

The other side of the coin is that I remember Cubase users waiting for the fix of some serious bugs FOR MONTHS. This is it when it comes in pretty handy to have devs that show up on their very own company forum and ask for details to get the shit fixed for the next version which might be only a few days ahead.
If you would experience this only one time you would be quite happy about the frequent updates. (Which are not as frequent anymore as they used to be.)

[Fritze]

I don't wave flags or get religious about any of them.

Good point.

As for if the others DAWs would cost $60: I would have a serious look at
Logic (if it would be available on the PC),
Live seems to be very cool in many ways,
StudioOne seem to still have several starter problems from what I read.

[Fritze]

Have we come to a conclusion yet? No?..mkay..

Nice one!

[Fritze]

Yeah!

[como baila]

Really? Can Cubase have all vst windows in one FX window and switching through the various GUIs all in one window? This would mean that it's not necessary to have dozens of windows open or that you have to close them all the time.
Years ago that was the way Cubase worked: Tons of windows open that I always had to jog through or have to close them. Did that change?

There are key switches with the dreaded 'toggle' switch design, so that you can open and close all the GUIs of the VST inserts when you open the channel editor. If you logically place the GUIs on the screen, you can open/ reopen them for each selected channel in an organized fashion.

It would certainly be welcome to simply have them appear and disappear as you chose successive channels ... with the ability to over ride their automatic closing when needed.

Window management is probably Cubase's greatest flaw for easy work flow ... but it can be overcome with proper window sizing and use of good templates with 'Workspaces' to create different layouts for different purposes.

Como

[gpunk]

I also think there was a lot of promise early for Reaper to be innovative, which I don't think has happened in the program itself, although the new extensions to Reascript might change all that. In other words Reaper itself as it is now is a fairly conventional DAW

Actually that is completely wrong, we have all gotten used to Reaper now and forget it's innovations very quickly, for one example it's API has been a revelation and Reaper would be nothing without the extensions from the SWS team

[lotus2035]

But, I love Cubase, hope the lousy non-docking windows scheme will someday be updated ...

Imagine Cubase 7 with full screen and every window dockable and resizeable...

Cubase 6 is a step in the right direction but the window setup belongs in the 1990's.

[gpunk]

In a lot of ways it became the same big mess that I was trying to stay away from when I found Sonar and the other hosts. It became so, IMO, because the loudest voices on the forums drove the development. And maybe that's the way it should be. But it seems to me that all they did is try to make Reaper into the same mess that they were trying to leave in the first place.

As far as i can tell from being a long time user of Reaper this is what happened
It went from being a labour of love to a commercial enterprise, another coder came on board to tackle a bunch of the work because the original dev just doesn't have the huge interest in it any more because it already does what he want's.

The new dev has zero innovation in himself and takes pointers from a forum that really has no idea at all about innovation or usability, features get added by the new dev and never really finished but that's OK as long as the new feature exists it can be written on the web page as a selling point, the new dev loses any sense of reality and isolates himself from the community as much as possible (Up his own a*s) and loses all respect from that community other than the die hard "Bois"

Where it goes from there we will have to see, a UI designer on board who knows nothing at all about designing UIs or usability but can draw the "Shiny shiny" so that's OK then hahaha, a user forum that becomes more and more a stomping ground for dead heads who give out the wrong information and make people think Reaper is capable of much less than it is, devs who more and more are isolating themselves from the community that has defined their brand.

Normally you could say the future isn't bright, however everybody has ups n downs, Reaper is just in a down right now (A few of us know exactly why that is, but you can work it out for yourself) it will go on the up again at some point

[gpunk]

Reaper with his $60 has not made an impact as it should. Its amazing features at that price should have seriously bite off a huge chunk of business from the big players

Actually that is complete nonsense, Reaper has made a huge impact (Threads like this just go to prove it) and it has taken a huge chunk out of the big players and has in fact become a big player now itself.

[gpunk]

Reaper is not worth the $60 I paid for it or $225 considering the workflow, midi and interface it currently has...

How much do you want for it, I always know somebody willing to buy a copy

[deleted]

DELETED

[Fritze]

I also think there was a lot of promise early for Reaper to be innovative, which I don't think has happened in the program itself, although the new extensions to Reascript might change all that. In other words Reaper itself as it is now is a fairly conventional DAW

Actually that is completely wrong, we have all gotten used to Reaper now and forget it's innovations very quickly, for one example it's API has been a revelation and Reaper would be nothing without the extensions from the SWS team

That reminds me of the fact that I wanted to dive into the SWS extensions for a long time now. And Reaper is quite amazing to me feature wise without it, so...

[Astromann]

Reaper is a conventional DAW - it has very little that is not available elsewhere and certainly does not have many of the interesting features that were suggested both by myself and many others who no longer frequent the Reaper forum.

Interesting points, and innovation is good...no doubt, but its not everything.
Even the most crazy innovative products eventually get old and tired and wherever there is fire created there will be some smoke as well (the fire provides warmth and the smoke chokes you), its just the way things are, we are constantly looking for perfect software...and this and that to be perfect and satisfying, but it never is, and our happiness fluctuates according to circumstances.
I mean if you do a great composition on Reaper (or whatever else) you will probably be very warm and favourable to the app at that time, have a struggle and you will be cursing it...same app, different attitude.
As far as innovation goes...well personally I would go for flexibility and stability above innovation any day...but thats me.
There are many musicians that attempt to be innovative but fail, plenty of players in jazz are very difficult to listen to, as they try to find the lost chord or something, sometimes innovation pays off tho, its a double edged sword.
As far as Reaper goes, I never really take part in the forums, I read them occasionally, as long as Reaper works solidly, is flexible and reliable I am happy, and it is all that I need from it, the rest is up to me.
Of course there is a lot of room for improvement, but that also applies to Logic, and no doubt Cubase, so I am gonna lose no sleep over it.
I dont really care how many users an app has (Logic has tons...and I left that behind) ultimately composing in a DAW is a subjective experience, and whatever works for you is a good DAW, even if its not for someone else, because its not innovative enough or sleek enough.