Is REAPER the current best long term choice?

[SomethingSomeone]

Using Mixcraft, I'm beginning to feel it's limits, mostly with how (not well) it handles large projects. I love the simplicity of it and overall I'm happy with it, but I'm tired of it performing like I'm using a PC from 2002 when using lots of tracks with lots of plugins.

SO...I'm slowly looking to introduce something else. I'm trying out Studio One and it's okay so far, but I'm seeing a lot on Reaper and honestly my gut feels better about Reaper.

I haven't read many downsides yet about Reaper, being stable and low cpu are big ups for me. I may get into the customization and personalization features, especially with tweaking it's interface. I really just want something simple and intuitive.

I guess I just feel like whatever daw I pick and invest myself into, I want it to last and I want the community to be growing and the company to be on the rise. And from what I'm seeing, Reaper is that.

I do not work mostly with synths. I use them but only lightly, I'm more into traditional composing, instrumental, piano, pads, etc. Reaper may not be the best choice for this type of composition, but that is also something I guess I'm asking about here. Is the piano roll/midi editing one of the best with Reaper?

I do want something more traditional, basic, yet on the rise and has the potential to be the "go to" daw a decade from now, with a large community base and great support hub and continuing features and updates.

[gryzor]

you cant go wrong with reaper.
i switch from cubase 10 to reaper during the first covid lockdown and i never regret to let down cubase.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

If you switch to Reaper, which I love and moved over to fulltime a few years ago, then I'd recommend starting with the Reaper Blog series called something like "the defaults are wrong". Kenny Gioa/Reaper Mania recently did a similar, less comprehensive series aimed more at total beginners, but the Reaper Blog one is the key one to watch IMO. Once you have it setup well, and understand the myriad of preferences, Reaper becomes a breeze to work with.

Reaper has the fewest cons of any major DAW when it comes to functionality (IMO) and performance is great. But does Reaper present everything it offers in the prettiest or slickest way? Usually not. Does it offer tools to help you compose out of the box like Chord Tracks and Step Sequencers built right in? Not built in, no (but there are scripts/extensions). Will Reaper have some quirks that annoy you? Yeah, all DAWs do. But overall, I think it's best the DAW on the market for experienced users.

[ghettosynth]

Yes. I have always maintained that no matter your first DAW, that Reaper is the best second DAW that anyone can use. It's a swiss army knife of audio production. Over the years it has become my first choice because of various decisions that my other first choices have made. So, if you are somewhat risk averse and like a certain level of a particular kind of stability, then I think that Reaper is your best long term bet. I have never had long periods of buggy operation or surprising releases that just break things irrevocably. I guess that is really what I like about Reaper is that Cockos seems to have a mature and reasonably transparent development process. You have a good idea of the things that they are considering and you can even try some of them out with their pre-releases. They don't run dumb sales and, for as long as I've been using it, which is longer than I've been on KVR, there price/upgrade policy has remained the same. They don't have stupid licensing bullshit that will lock you out. As long as you can maintain a machine to run it then you can run the software. While most people don't care, Reaper runs well on Linux.

[Danilo Villanova]

If you change the defaults as someone said, and configure it to your taste, it will be the most intuitive DAW ever because it’s tailored made for you. I have other DAWs but keep getting back to it. It opens in 1 second and you can abuse it with plugins.

[skijumptoes]

If you get onto REAPER earlier it's a lot easier as you can ignore the bloat that you think you want.

I love it, but have become over comfortable with the tools an integrate suite like Cubase offers that I immediately miss all the "go-to's" that I'm used to. Integrated media libraries, built-in channel strips, chord pads, chord tracks etc.

If I never got in that method to start with I think I would actually prefer the more blank canvas of REAPER, I say that as I'm super productive when using it, mainly as there's so very few distractions and you develop your own workflow/interface as you grow with it.

[whassup]

It's tweakable to your taste to make it YOUR DAW. There is very few that I wish that it can't do. It required quite some tweaks until it became what it's at it's current state for me. Compared to the standard behaviour it is quite different here now. I can't work with it out of the box. Mine here has my key commands, my macros, my tweaks, etc. etc.
Too much to meantion here.
If that sounds interesting, make a list of what you want your DAW to do for you. Then find out. Wouldn't be surprised if you can do most of what you want and some of it better, easier and more customized to your preferred workflow than other offerings. YMMV.

[whassup]

Ah, and you were talking about stability: That was the reason I looked into other offerings on the market back then (like ten years ago?).
Reaper is stable.

[hyperdeath666]

Just to go against the grain a bit, I tried Reaper and found it extremely counterintuitive and frustrating to use. I'm sure it gets better - lots of people love it, and seeing how powerful and customizable it is, I do understand why (the JSFX ecosystem is also incredible). But my free time is scarce and precious, and I didn't want to spend it figuring out Reaper's quirks. So, I ended up going with Bitwig, which I found intuitive almost immediately. YMMV.

[ghettosynth]

Just to go against the grain a bit, I tried Reaper and found it extremely counterintuitive and frustrating to use. I'm sure it gets better - lots of people love it, and seeing how powerful and customizable it is, I do understand why (the JSFX ecosystem is also incredible). But my free time is scarce and precious, and I didn't want to spend it figuring out Reaper's quirks. So, I ended up going with Bitwig, which I found intuitive almost immediately. YMMV.

Yes, I also found this at first. It was only after about three years of having it installed as my second DAW that I started using it enough to overcome that feeling.

[kidslow]

In my opinion, learning and becoming comfortable in multiple DAWs is the best long term choice. Reaper being an essential one of those.

[gryzor]

learn to make your icons and create your perfect daw.
i dislike the main GUI but if you took a few hours to look the action list and to place it you will have something suited for you

[vurt]

it's certainly an option, but like any of them, only using it will tell you if it works for you.
i know lots of people who love it, can get stuff done in it with no hassle, others and myself, it just didn't click.

[EnGee]

Reaper never clicked with me as I hate the navigation and midi editing in it. However, I still like it and keep trying to like it! It's a lightweight DAW without any sacrifices. It's the best in performance and under active updates. The price is very reasonable and the two versions upgrade is generous.

So, my last try is a little bit different than before! I'm using the minimum of what I can from Reaper! So, I treated like multi tracks recorder! Controlling navigation by my midi controller (Keylab mk ii) and trying to edit midi as little as I can. Not learning to master it, but just the core functions to be able to record.

Of course I have my drums, instruments and effects. In drums, I use internal sequencing in XO and the new Korg Electribe-R then just drag and drop the sequence on their tracks.

Well, I find it less frustrating now. The key is just don't customize anything for me! I just don't want to waste any time in customisation! I think it is a good alternative way to use that mess by not making it more messy

[skijumptoes]

I ended up going with Bitwig, which I found intuitive almost immediately. YMMV.

Yeah, that's understandable as it suits different purposes better.

I wouldn't recommend it to someone who's MIDI heavy and wanting synth/articulation control and modulation - even though it can do all that, it's not pretty and does take knowledge on how to build a workflow that works.

Where it's strong is in it's ability to work with audio tracks and processing/routing them... Similar to pro tools. It's so simple in it's methods that when it clicks it really is powerful.

Interestingly, I went to a REAPER meet up near me a few years back and it was full of metal heads, dare I say it would be very different to a bitwig or ableton meet up.