Maybe I got a bit bit too much in that post...trying tp decide between reaper and ableton live

howdy

don't know much about ableton. it seems pretty cool, and comes with the whole included samples, loops bit. but, it is a lite version of a complete package, and i'm not sure what the extent of the liteness is. you'll have to do the comparison and go from there, i suppose. i am sure it's a very capable product - it wouldn't be as popular as it is if it weren't.

reaper, on the other hand, will give you just about the depth of some of the biggest, baddest recording software out there. of course, for simple guys like (i assume) you and i, this might end up being too much depth. that said, it is incredibly stable.

a reaper licence will cost you (i think) about $60 or so, and last you through two complete versions and point updates. the reaper development team is constantly looking at it, and updates, while relatively frequent, are not a waste of time, and come with a full log. the cockos reaper forum is a wealth of info, tips, tricks, etc, and there are also plenty of reaper users on this forum. so if you're ever really stuck...

you can download and evaluate reaper for 30 days with no limitations - NO - limitations. after that a nag screen comes up every so often reminding you to purchase, but from what i understand there are still no restrictions/limits. it took me precisely two weeks to see the value in reaper and purchase it.

i'd suggest you download and try it against ableton, which you already have, and maybe make your decision from there? maybe there's also someone on the forum who's worked with both and can provide more insight. me, i've only used reaper.

good luck
dh|

Reaper sounds promising indeed. I jyst wanted some opiniobs before commit. Rene (Renesong cape town) provides private tuition in Reaper as well so that might also be a factor.

Try em both out - the toughest thing (I found anyways) when I was starting with a DAW was workflow - What I regard as a structured approach to getting consistent results. I started on Ableton, went over to Reaper and then back to Ableton. And now I'll use either depending on what I'm trying to accomplish - I'm still learning how I like to work though.

• For a quick sketch and idea jam, I think the "Session" view in Ableton is genius.
• But on Windows, Reaper is a rock solid performer, especially on lower end hardware & \has a slightly lower RTL (on my setup). - Ableton just isn't as stable and can munch resources
• Ableton comes with a lot of builtin sounds/effects/etc and the ease of integrating a midi controller takes some beating. But Reaper + Bedroomproducer blog nets you a lot of cool toys and a few hours of reading and experimenting can get Reaper to play nicely with midi too.
• Stretching/warping a clip/sample is Ableton's "thing" and when you start getting into it, it can be rrrreally creative tool, not just a DJ thing - Reaper has similar functionality, but it's (imho) much tricky to use

The one thing I wish Reaper would do is something similar to Ableton's Session view, being able to set it up like a live looper and jam with your idea's. It is possible in Reaper apparently, with a fair amount of setup and hacking...

The two things I wish Ableton would do is : Work like Reaper when it comes to takes in clips - it's really nice to be able to lay in 5 takes spontaneous and then choose which one was the keeper.. Crashes less often on Windows (Though I'm using a few dodgy plug-ins...But I also use em in Reaper and it crashes far less).

Try the demos and see which suits your workflow best. Both are good programs.

doc-phil wrote: Try the demos and see which suits your workflow best. Both are good programs.

+1. essentially what i took half a page to say.

Thanks for the advice