Long term Reaper user, thinking of Logic Pro -there are reasons :)

[heliacal]

I was in your situation in January of this year and wanted to move to Linux but for my two interests, photography and music, Linux is still behind. So I got an M4 Mac Mini. For music I always used Reaper and Ableton in Windows. I tried the 3 month demo of Logic and am surprised at how good and versatile Logic really is. I like Reaper for audio based projects and Ableton for MIDI based projects, and Logic does both well enough for me. If I had to use just 1 DAW I would use Logic. If you also are into photography and video, I can suggest first doing the 3 month demo of the Apple Creator Studio bundle. I ended up purchasing the subscription because it is rather economical for my needs. You have to decide for yourself. But you lose nothing and a 3 month demo is rather generous.

Linux has been behind for some 30+ years. I used to compile source code for my Palm Pilot and had no idea what I was doing but after a month it worked, partially. Nothing has changed. The best thing about Linux is the relief you feel after going back to a standard OS...

[heliacal]

If you’re curious about Logic Pro, it’s a well-known DAW, so it’s worth trying. Otherwise, you’ll probably keep wondering about it. The trial period likely won’t be enough to fully judge it, and you may end up buying it anyway.

And once you get a decent sense of what Logic Pro can and can’t do, you might feel a bit disappointed by the gap between its reputation and reality—especially if you already know how to use REAPER fairly well.

I use REAPER on Mac, and I’ll probably keep buying new Macs just to continue using REAPER.

Since I’m familiar with both Logic Pro and REAPER, I could strongly argue that you don’t need Logic Pro if you already have REAPER and a solid set of plugins. But people use DAWs differently, so in the end, if you’re interested, the only real way to know is to try it yourself.

Reaper is just like Linux. The relief you feel going back to ANY standard DAW is like a good orgasm, the release is intense...

[Amberience]

The issue really is workflow. Are you going to get on with the workflow of Logic? Are you going to miss all of the features and customization that Reaper offers you? Are you going to be able to get your stuff done, ultimately?

For me, Logic has really subpar multi-mic editing; so when I'm editing drums, there are certain elements of the workflow I expect. Waveforms always visually clear and responsive, slip editing, excellent transient detection. Logic is pretty sub-par in those areas.

There's also concerns in other areas for me - the mixer is difficult to read, there's no proper meter bridge, the bussing system is very manual, the mixer workflow is ultimately stuck in about 2008.

When I use Reaper, I don't really enjoy using it. But it does do absolutely EVERYTHING I could ever want to do. I just tolerate it. When I use Cubase, I genuinely enjoy it. It feels very slick, offers almost every feature I could ever want, and is very stable.

I wouldn't really worry too much about benchmarks all that much.

[keys_au1]

As for Reaper, I very rarely use SWS extensions or scripts, use it mostly for creating my own live backing tracks, and the occasional original stuff. It runs pretty much as the default install for me. I never could get into all the "tweaking" of the Reaper operations that some Reaper pros do haha!

The only thing stopping me really is that LP down here is $299, so it is on the exxy side. Not as bad as cubase though which is well over $400. Still both are MUCH more than Reapers $69 for personal use/

[Papuzzo]

There is no fire behind you. Reaper is an amazing DAW for the price and most people never use the full capabilities of Reaper. Stick with what you know best until you hit a brick wall then choose the solution that gets you over the wall. Save your money to spend on the things that are so much more important, like beer.

[pdxindy]

I use Logic as my second DAW, Bitwig as my first. Logic fills in some gaps. It's a bit old fashioned.

The Step Sequencer is amazing! Best I've used anywhere. Far better than any 3rd party plugin, or any of my hardware.
Besides Alchemy being excellent, so is Sculpture.
Also, Sampler and Quick Sampler are quite good.

I also like Drummer. Though I end up changing it, it's solid for making a quick backing while I compose other parts.
Logic includes so much content.
AutoSampler is also super useful!

[Starbright]

Ok, here is my take as someone who has done it:

For 99% of music making I tend to use Logic. Only when it comes to a session where I have to record more than 15 vocals or a live band I prefer Reaper.

Also Logic has a midi bug where every first midi note sometimes goes on forever (which is prettty annoying. Also as of now: no ARA Support.

Apart from that is that logic has some nice features and better variety of build in fx and instruments. Same goes with the take system and track alternatives (where you can record multiple versions of apart and switch between them on one track. Flex is an amazing tool and I wish Reaper had it.
Some other points are the loop browser (which is better than in Reaper imho), the project notes (which are more accessible), the the arranger lane, automatic chord detection, automatic and variable tempo detection (it literally can detect multiple tempos in a performance and create a click track to it), stem splitter (not just great for creating tracks but also as a denoiser) and the session players (which I barely use but are great for everything).
Also Smart controls comes in pretty handy. And sampling in Logic is just so awesome: you can take any sample or lopp a drop it towards the track and it creates a one shot, sliced samlpe or, if you choose Alchemy sampler, a granualar synth (it's almost as good as in Ableton).

I recently (3 days ago) came across PlugTool which is similar to SWS in Reaper which gives you a lot of the functionality of Reaper.
That being said: Reaper has an eddge when it comes to handling latency in bigger projects and in UI flexebillity.

What really made the biggest impact though has been having garage band on the iphone and doing short ideas with it and being able to drop them directly into logic.
Plus if you connect your iphone wit your mac you can sue your iphone as a mic (and the iphones mic is incredibly good for what it is).

[Starbright]

As for Reaper, I very rarely use SWS extensions or scripts, use it mostly for creating my own live backing tracks, and the occasional original stuff. It runs pretty much as the default install for me. I never could get into all the "tweaking" of the Reaper operations that some Reaper pros do haha!

The only thing stopping me really is that LP down here is $299, so it is on the exxy side. Not as bad as cubase though which is well over $400. Still both are MUCH more than Reapers $69 for personal use/

Yeah, that kept me also once from using it permanently - but luckily it's a one time payment for life and you don't ever have to pay for any update or a new version (similar to FL Studio).
But what you can do if you don't have the money is to get the three months of the creator subscription (which is reasonably priced for 12,99).

[keys_au1]

Yeah, I am starting to lean towards just forking out the $'s and getting LP. Only thing after that would be converting Reaper projects to LP. But I guess that is for another topic hahaha!

[Starbright]

Oh, I totally feel that! I was switching from Windows to Mac and I'm still in the transfer process due to some older vsts. But luckily I've finally managed to recreate my favourite instruments and fx chains.

[keys_au1]

It's a pity Apple don't have some scheme whereby if you subscribe for 12 months or more you get to buy any of the packages in the Studio giving some discount based on the amount of subs paid. Too awkward to implement I suppose.

[keyman_sam]

Logic at $199 is a bigger steal than any other daw at any price point. Once you go logic you won’t look back.

[ksandvik]

I think I purchased Logic 20+ years ago.... No upgrade pricing!

[keys_au1]

Logic at $199 is a bigger steal than any other daw at any price point. Once you go logic you won’t look back.

Thanks, I hear ya , BUT , down here it is $300

[machinesworking]

I think the only other DAW that might be less like Reaper than Logic is Ableton Live.
Sort of surprised this isn't stressed more? I've used both as exclusive DAWs, Logic for about 7 years, Reaper for a solid year.

First off Logic is not customizable, there's a workflow, you learn it, you use the parts of the DAW you need. It's got a shit ton of features, best instrument collection of any DAW. Logic has fantastic drum comping, decent auto detect tempo features, and pretty much any feature you would need. The isue again is it's lack of customizability can be a bit frustrating at times, you either like how they implemented a feature or you don't, nothing can be done about it really.

Reaper is bare bones, but very strong bones, some features like articulation mapping and Ableton style clip firing are third party scripts, it looks like Windows 95, and pretty much only looks like a good application on Win95 even with a theme. That said I prefer the way Reaper does track assignments, bouncing is a dream, on Mac it's CPU friendly and never really crashes. I like the way Reaper deals with frames or chunks of a song,

So yeah, they present vastly different ideas on workflow. Which you should decide to use? hell if I know I'm on Digical Performer.