Is REAPER the current best long term choice?

[machinesworking]

Show me a few examples pls

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have. There’s a piss poor script that costs money to use, that gives less than half the functionality of Live or Bitwig. This is every DAWs downside but it’s exaggerated in Reaper, it “has” the ability to almost do it, but not nearly as fleshed out and with many many more steps. The same is true with articulation mapping, there’s a mediocre script for it that doesn’t come close to the ease of use and functionality of Cubase, Studio One or DPs articulations management. I would argue this is true of its Comping, and retrospective record as well.


There are plenty of areas where Reaper beats the snot out of everyone else, CPU management, audio rendering options, GUI customizability, I love the various containers for parts of a song on the timeline, the wet/dry mix built into every plug in window the ability to customize the interface etc etc. but like every daw there are areas where it’s behind the competition with, that’s life.

[ghettosynth]

Show me a few examples pls

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have. There’s a piss poor script that costs money to use, that gives less than half the functionality of Live or Bitwig. This is every DAWs downside but it’s exaggerated in Reaper, it “has” the ability to almost do it, but not nearly as fleshed out and with many many more steps. The same is true with articulation mapping, there’s a mediocre script for it that doesn’t come close to the ease of use and functionality of Cubase, Studio One or DPs articulations management. I would argue this is true of its Comping, and retrospective record as well.


There are plenty of areas where Reaper beats the snot out of everyone else, CPU management, audio rendering options, GUI customizability, I love the various containers for parts of a song on the timeline, the wet/dry mix built into every plug in window the ability to customize the interface etc etc. but like every daw there are areas where it’s behind the competition with, that’s life.

I'm a Reaper fanboi and I agree with this. The thread isn't about which DAW can do everything, because I can answer that, none of them. The thread is about what is a good long term choice. Reaper is an excellent long term choice for many reasons. I also think that it's the best second DAW for anyone and the best first DAW for many. However, it's not the only DAW that I use exactly because it isn't Live/Bitwig, or frankly, even Reason. I have less faith in all three of those long term though, probably, in decreasing order of faith, Live, Bitwig, Reason.

Reaper goes on every single one of my machines. It gets used on non music machines for any audio task that might need a DAW. Live and Reason only go on specific studio machines and only get used for specific music tasks.

[jonljacobi]

Though there are a few things you can't completely customize about the look (remove the tool bar altogether, the look of the dialogs,etc.), when it comes to customizing menus (including context menus), keystrokes, mouse actions, etc., nothing can touch Reaper. Also, I've never had a single crash with it, and it's super light on system resources.

I don't really mesh with it, but I do admire many aspects. As to long term? Try them all and see which one you like. Reaper doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so from that aspect, you'll likely get decades of development.

[machinesworking]

The thread is about what is a good long term choice. Reaper is an excellent long term choice for many reasons.

Sure, I think the main reason is it's an excellent choice is because Justin is the CEO least likely to sell Reaper to Gibson. I seriously think he would rather open source it than sell it. I remember a DP guy years ago was convinced the donation-ware style of Reaper was an indication that it was eventually going to be sold to someone else after getting a large user base, a ridiculous claim IMO.

Against it is the same as the other "newer" DAWs. There are four DAWs I can think of that are over 30 years old: Pro Tools, Cubase, Digital Performer and Logic. That says something. I mean if your main worry is longevity those are the ones to look at. Capitalism is weird though, and any DAW could tank next year for frivolous reasons.

[EmRysRa]

Here we go: in Reaper there's ALWAYS a preference to interfere with your intended task...
I once learned about a preference to tell Reaper that 1 bar of Midi should remain 1 bar after changing the song Tempo...

I do not understand what the problem is ... so it can be done. Obviously to make more jobs the user needs to change the preferences. Maybe there are users who want to use midi items with fixed time not beats.

[EmRysRa]

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have.

For what ? A DAW is to make music in the simplest way. You don't have experience with an user friendly DAW and Reaper structure. With the Reaper structure don't need this, have other easy ways.

You learned a difficult way to make music and you stuck on it. It is hard for you to see how it can be made simpler.

[dellboy]

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have.

Is this a feature which is necessary in a serious DAW?

In Pro Tools, Studio One, and Cubase it is noticeable by its absence.

[ghettosynth]

The thread is about what is a good long term choice. Reaper is an excellent long term choice for many reasons.

Sure, I think the main reason is it's an excellent choice is because Justin is the CEO least likely to sell Reaper to Gibson. I seriously think he would rather open source it than sell it. I remember a DP guy years ago was convinced the donation-ware style of Reaper was an indication that it was eventually going to be sold to someone else after getting a large user base, a ridiculous claim IMO.

Against it is the same as the other "newer" DAWs. There are four DAWs I can think of that are over 30 years old: Pro Tools, Cubase, Digital Performer and Logic. That says something. I mean if your main worry is longevity those are the ones to look at. Capitalism is weird though, and any DAW could tank next year for frivolous reasons.

Sure, but in addition, as long as you're on Windows or Linux, whichever version that you have now will continue to work for years, perhaps decades to come. So one of the strongest long term markers is that its copy protection is a simple serial. Even if the company does go out of business. it's still a safe and reliable bet for a long time.

[machinesworking]

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have.

For what ? A DAW is to make music in the simplest way. You don't have experience with an user friendly DAW and Reaper structure. With the Reaper structure don't need this, have other easy ways.

You learned a difficult way to make music and you stuck on it. It is hard for you to see how it can be made simpler.

This is classic moving the goalpost debate fallacy here. You asked what parts of other DAWs were better or not represented in Reaper I named some.

Plus, please do not assume I don't know reaper, I spent a couple years with it, I still update it regularly, and honestly I probably know parts of it better than you do, that's how it goes with complex DAWs.

[machinesworking]

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have.

Is this a feature which is necessary in a serious DAW?

In Pro Tools, Studio One, and Cubase it is noticeable by its absence.

Yes, those DAWs are also missing that feature. That's how features work. If you can call the clusterf*ck that is the script for Reapers articulation management a "feature of a serious DAW" so be it, or the sloppiness of Reapers comping...

Every "serious" DAW has it's shortcomings, and strong points, it's not the end of the world if you're happy with Reapers, but it's tiresome hearing people claim that it's absolutely perfect etc. They update it with new features for a reason.

[machinesworking]

Sure, but in addition, as long as you're on Windows or Linux, whichever version that you have now will continue to work for years, perhaps decades to come. So one of the strongest long term markers is that its copy protection is a simple serial. Even if the company does go out of business. it's still a safe and reliable bet for a long time.

Sure, but I don't 100% buy into the decades to come part. Any computer old mac or PC can be frozen and work forever, I just don't buy that Windows or Linux with newer versions of the OS on newer hardware will always support old software, too many stories of people having deprecated software fail on their PCs etc. Best to freeze, and yeah it makes even more sense in that way to use Linux, since you won't be tempted to use some VST with sketchy copy protection.

Yeah simple serials are the best. Along with companies that won't sell to Gibson.

[skijumptoes]

Show me a few examples pls

It's integrated functions where it lacks, as so much is added via third party actions.

An example is if you look at Cubase and the chord track and variaudio functions, this cannot be replicated in Reaper as the chord track runs throughout the entire project for song composition.

Likewise there's no articulation system, so you have to rely on a third party solution which involves editing text files and hacking in program changes which get injected into the timeline as so.

Same with controller support, third party solutions that try to hack functionality in place all have their cons and leave you either with a huge amount of time wasting to set them up, or functionality that you can't adjust as it's another users workflow that you're having to fit into.

So yes, while it may be able to do everything (and more) thanks to third party/community support, it's to what standard and how useable they are which is the question.

[EmRysRa]

other DAWs were better or not represented in Reaper

What you mentioned here is not "better", is only complicated and useless feature.

[liquidsound]

Easy, Reaper has no Session/Launcher view like Bitwig and Live have.

For what ? A DAW is to make music in the simplest way. You don't have experience with an user friendly DAW and Reaper structure. With the Reaper structure don't need this, have other easy ways.

You learned a difficult way to make music and you stuck on it. It is hard for you to see how it can be made simpler.

And you use Reaper as an example for making the process easier?
This is awesome

[audiojunkie]

Sure, but in addition, as long as you're on Windows or Linux, whichever version that you have now will continue to work for years, perhaps decades to come. So one of the strongest long term markers is that its copy protection is a simple serial. Even if the company does go out of business. it's still a safe and reliable bet for a long time.

Sure, but I don't 100% buy into the decades to come part. Any computer old mac or PC can be frozen and work forever, I just don't buy that Windows or Linux with newer versions of the OS on newer hardware will always support old software, too many stories of people having deprecated software fail on their PCs etc. Best to freeze, and yeah it makes even more sense in that way to use Linux, since you won't be tempted to use some VST with sketchy copy protection.

Yeah simple serials are the best. Along with companies that won't sell to Gibson.

Linux, with its compatibility layers and emulation, and virtualization can run most OSes from the past better than the current versions of the same OSes. You have a better chance on Linux than pretty much anywhere else. As long as you are using serial or keyfile authorization and your software doesn’t need to call home to a no-longer-existing company to authorize, you have a good chance it will work.