Reaper

TomCat

Hi All

Ive been playing around with Reaper on a Macbook over the weekend and am really impressed with the software.

We are looking at recording an album for Mariann shortly and so have been trying out different options.

Basic Setup:
Main Preamp: dbx 376 Tube strip with digital out.
Interface: Tascam FW1884 (8 x mic pre - essential for mic'ing live drums, optical and SPDIF I/O, word clock, 4 x MIDI etc)
Monitoring: JBL LSR 2325P
Mics..still working on that one....depends on what I can BBS (Beg, Borrow and Steal).... ?
ETC...ETC....

A couple of test recordings yesterday came out really good. Most of the Reaper plugins also seem to perform well.

Any thoughts/comments out there......?????

MikeM

I use Reaper, with Guitar Rig. But ya, faaaaaar more basic stuff :?

racman

As much as I would like to add something constructive to this thread I must confess the only experience I've had has been of the "Grim Reaper" variety ? ?

TomCat

racman wrote: As much as I would like to add something constructive to this thread I must confess the only experience I've had has been of the "Grim Reaper" variety ? ?

LOL.....You getting into the Terry Pratchett again......

Renesongs

I teach composing and recording techniques so I have to keep up with all the popular DAWS Sonar 8, Cubase 5, Reason 4. When I work on my own stuff it always boils down to Reaper because of its simple versatile and has a very small memory footprint that allows me to go mad with plug ins in real time without having to freeze or render down tracks. Reaper - FTW ?

Warren

Music Radar had an article a while back about the best DAW software available. I think that the packages were voted for by users, I can't remember, but Reaper was at the top of the list:

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/the-11-best-daw-software-apps-238905

ParadoximA

I'm not a professional musician (definitely not!) but I do like to mess around with recording; a few months ago I did quite a bit of reading up on recording software, and from what I read you can't go wrong with Reaper.

I really like their business model too; you can try the full featured version before you buy, it's a tiny download, the pricing is pretty good, and there isn't any confusion over "which version of the package" is suitable for your own needs, one payment gives you full functionality. Not like some other companies that have several different versions of their software, all intentionally crippled in different ways...

The only similar software I've tried is an old version of Sonar LE, and there isn't much that I miss about it after changing over to Reaper.

TomCat

Worked a little more with Reaper last evening and really like it. Very powerful and stable....... ? ?

BTW the manual is huge.....over 400 pages...... ?...very well written and easy to follow..... ?.......also takes plugins well...... :EDIT......The software, not the manual... ?

WantzChas

TomCat wrote:
racman wrote: As much as I would like to add something constructive to this thread I must confess the only experience I've had has been of the "Grim Reaper" variety ? ?

LOL.....You getting into the Terry Pratchett again......

YAWN...Death yawned

BMU

Renesongs wrote: When I work on my own stuff it always boils down to Reaper because of its simple versatile and has a very small memory footprint that allows me to go mad with plug ins in real time without having to freeze or render down tracks. Reaper - FTW ?

I downloaded Reaper because Cubase 5 is so full of s*t with plugins. And generally buggy. Played with Reaper for a short while and realized I don't want to go through the learning curve again... caught between a rock and a hard place.

I used PODFarm in Cubase but I've now regressed to using my POD XT to do the amp sims externally. It's like the past 5 years never happened.
This is exactly because of freezing issues Rene refers to. So I lose the ability to re-amp. Not cool. Sometimes I hate Steinberg. Their disdain for their customer base is only rivalled by their ability to make things worse with every update.

Manfred-Klose

yeah reaper is cool.

The studio i work at is moving to reaper soon, cant wait.

Gareth

Yeah, at least +1 REAPER, really good program, learning curve is worth it IMO, huge plus for me is the macros one can setup for frequent repeated edits and the fact that I can either pause (Enter=stop where I am) or stop (Space=go back to where I was)... it's the little things :? .

I also run it in Linux (where I spend most of my PC time) and only need to reboot for some win plugins / rewire.

Truely this is a cool program, and how they can get all it can do AND fit a demo song into ~6Mb is beyond me.

One last thing their forum rocks, 8) if you need to know anything check that out first.

LooneyAtTheGate

Yes i LOVE Reaper, can't believe i was using Cubase all this time >☹
I use it with Reason.

Anybody know which are the best free EQ, compression and reverb plugins, and their links? ?

guitarboy2828

Quick Question...

Everyone says Reaper is free, but when I downloaded it, it says it's not free and I need to buy a license? Did I download the wrong one?

IceCreamMan

Dont fear the Reaper

ok , sorry.

Warren

Paul E wrote: Quick Question...

Everyone says Reaper is free, but when I downloaded it, it says it's not free and I need to buy a license? Did I download the wrong one?

It's not free beyond the trial month. But it's cheap!

Squonk

Warren wrote:
Paul E wrote: Quick Question...

Everyone says Reaper is free, but when I downloaded it, it says it's not free and I need to buy a license? Did I download the wrong one?
It's not free beyond the trial month. But it's cheap!

The trial never seems to end....

DonovanB

Warren wrote:
Paul E wrote: Quick Question...

Everyone says Reaper is free, but when I downloaded it, it says it's not free and I need to buy a license? Did I download the wrong one?
It's not free beyond the trial month. But it's cheap!

trial month? I've been "evaluating" it for 88 days... although the licence is $40.... thats cheap enough.

What I like especially is that if you record different takes, they are stacked in the track itself so you can split and enable parts of different takes to make up your best track. It is very visual, I love working with it.

As for Protools, the amount of plugins that cost so much, not to mention that Protools 9 needs an iLok to run and all other versions required specific hardware to operate is just madness. It's like they don't like us and want it to be an exclusive club of Porotools users....

DonovanB

Warren wrote: Music Radar had an article a while back about the best DAW software available. I think that the packages were voted for by users, I can't remember, but Reaper was at the top of the list:

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/the-11-best-daw-software-apps-238905

I see they have Magix Samplitude higher than Protools.. wow! I LOVE that program. I started using Samplitude 6 and it just grew and grew. It is amazingly easy to use.

Then I started on another item on their list, FL Studio... That is amazing software as well.

Warren

This is from the Reaper website:

"If after 30 days you decide that REAPER is not for you, simply delete it.

If you decide that REAPER is for you, you must purchase a license."

So, not free, despite the fact that the eval doesn't disable after 30 days.