Is REAPER the current best long term choice?

[ghettosynth]

This thread needs some popcorn.



Reaper has always been the best second DAW for anyone. Yeah, if the past is any indication of the future, Reaper is going to be your most stable bet for the next two decades modulo cancer or some other depressing shit hitting Justin up side the head.

[TheMaestro]

I'm still holding onto and rooting for energyXT.

[wakax]

yes.

[Songwriter101]

Yes, and in terms of price politics even more so today.

[Ginger_Snap]

I just recently got into making electronic music and and started with Reaper due to a friend's recommendation. I've been loving it so far. It was very easy to pick up and has a surprising amount of depth to the customization options. My friend described it as, "over time it molds itself to your workflow," and I wish more programs shared that philosophy.

My only complaint so far is that even with theming, some ui elements do look quite ugly. The sidebar Fx chain is functional, but I hate how plain it looks sitting next to a beautifully designed plugin. As far as I can tell, there isn't a theming option for that particular element. Definitely in the category of first world problems, but hey, getting distracted by that kind of thing is just how my brain is wired.

[lfm]

Reaper is probably lighter on computer resources than any other daw, so nothing wrong with the technical skills of devs.

What is lacking is designer skills, and it tend to be hacker level in many ways. Full control of many things absent in other daws, but maybe not the best workflow.

Yes, you can load 3rd party themes but they are seldom fully implemented. It should have the same level of attention as Cockos did getting a good writer for manual. Reaper manual is excellent in my view. And constantly updated too.

So how about 1st party themes for Reaper that stand the test. My eyes hurt looking at mixer colors and too little contrast to separate slots and columns, I really have to gaze(if that is the word). Trialing Reaper v5.4 five years ago or so, i spent three days locating the bitmaps for mixer and alter colors in a graphic editor to even see clearly the channels and slots. To me it was just big black blob before doing that. And my monitors are adjusted with gray scales and stuff for photo and video work too. So don't think I have some obscure settings there.

Reaper 6.78 right out of the box:
http://cloudmanfilms.ownit.nu/ReaperTheme.png
makes me puke.

But Cockos is not alone in this.

Presonus StudioOne is just some global color controls, also in Reaper, for colors all over. But StudioOne is basically dark gray on even darker gray or black. Clips on tracks is just single line drawn around and looks really plain compared to competition. Attention to such details is absent.

Blackmagic Design and their Da'Vinci Resolve video editor you can do just about anything with a video you are working on, down to pixel level on every frame. But when it comes to alter gui with theme that you find looks nice at the same time as easy to use with good visibility they have nothing to alter theme looks basically. Less than most software.

Even Microsoft Windows 11 in particular is ugly and plain looking with huge whitewashed interface.

I spend 6-12 hours a day in front of daw software, in my case Sonar Artist 2015. Newer Cakewalk by Bandlab has theme editors and loads of skins to pick from. But really like Sonar looks as they were by default.

You really need something that you feel is beautyful spending so much time using it. It's in front of you so many hours a day.

I find that Cubase looks really good too. Among the best for visibility and looks.

[enroe]

@lfm: This thread is about "the long term choice" and not about "the
beauty of the GUI". So maybe you're in the wrong thread?

[Jkist]

I use the FL studio theme for Reaper, with some tweaks. Its plenty beautiful to me.

[GaryG]

Blackmagic Design and their Da'Vinci Resolve video editor

That's ironic, I've been working on a theme to make Reaper look more like Resolve.

[ghettosynth]

@lfm: This thread is about "the long term choice" and not about "the
beauty of the GUI". So maybe you're in the wrong thread?

Right, also, long term, you just get used to it. Frankly, I find it mostly benign and I find Cubase to be too dark in places.

[gryzor]

dont be fool by the GUI , there is no daw better than reaper

[lfm]

@lfm: This thread is about "the long term choice" and not about "the
beauty of the GUI". So maybe you're in the wrong thread?

Yeah, maybe, or is that I bought Reaper 2010 and now looked 13 years later and still lack the looks, long term enough?

[lfm]

Blackmagic Design and their Da'Vinci Resolve video editor

That's ironic, I've been working on a theme to make Reaper look more like Resolve.

Some like the dark on dark looks, and that's alright.

With age though I find that unusable. I need lighter and brighter.

And it's also a fashion thingy, when windows 95/98 came everything were to look 3D, then after some years everything were to look flat and so on. Now with Windows 11 everything is to look washed out whitish, nothing to rest eyes on.

[liquidsound]

Long term as long as you never, ever, join KVR

[jonston1]

Best is obviously FL Studio.