A number of years ago I transitioned from Mac to Windows, so I had to leave Logic behind. I downloaded Reaper to give it a try. In the first 10 minutes I had the following experience about three times: "I wonder how to... Oh! That was easy!" I've been with Reaper ever since. :)
This is Reaper Reality for me also. It's so intuitive to work with, anyone can talk about what they use and every time I wonder if they even know how Reaper works.
the fact that the daw can go on a thumb drive and do literally everything protools does is AMAZING i’ve been using it since the start and i make music like second nature with it
Reaper just plain kills everything else. I've used it for sync on the Sicko Mode video, to control lighting on a mixed media installation, for live recording on a raspberry pi, soundtrack and foley for a VR game, and to edit podcasts for NPR. No DAW can do everything Reaper does, but Reaper can do everything all the other DAWs do. Best media production tool on the market. Much gratitude yall!
U can't record with the vocal plugins already enabled. And u can't route tracks to record vocals or creating reverb busses. U also can't route them for sidechaining
Reaper is great… I love it. but Logic is better. has more features, more plugins, apple loops, its own drummer…. and for $200… you get life long updates. no re-paying every 2 version updates. $200… DONE. it’s nicer to look at…. Reaper has that air of Windows about it. Logic is beautiful on the eye. but i’m a massive fan of Reaper. i love that it uses less CPU… is more efficient than any other DAW.
Other DAW users (mostly Pro Tools) suffer from Normalcy Bias - thinking things are fine when they're not. Example: I work for weeks (mostly months) in Reaper without a single crash. Edit 1: I've switched to Studio One two years after making this comment. Nothing against Reaper and I don't think Studio One is beter or worse than Reaper. Edit 2: I switched to Cubase 3 years after my initial comment. Feels like home.
It's THE best. I've recorded our weekly podcast for years... more than an hour straight at a time - using so many different pieces of hardware and never even had a stutter.
@@ettiennelane9173 its very stable purely because it is the opposite of reaper (open source access style) whereas reason is very (in house and closed). I don't comment on the reliability of reaper though as I dont have experience, it more a comment on vst platforms
I can make Reaper freeze without even trying. The other day I deleted 5 or 6 tracks that weren't needed and it completely froze up. It happened a couple of times before.
Glad to hear so many references to Acid Pro. That DAW was my bread and butter back in the day then I painfully switched to Pro Tools because I kept hearing it was the industry standard. I just purchased Reaper last week and I hope I can find creativity with Reaper like I used to with Acid Pro. Great video. Thanks man !!
Well the fact that reaper co founder stole some features from Acid pro or soundforge and put it in Reaper and make more features with the frequent updates its a huge plus! One thing Reaper can't copy on Acid pro is the acidized loops feature. Acid Pro has a better form of coding/ algorithm in these department! You can't just easily pick and paint loops , chop it in pieces and it sync in Reaper! So im sticking to ableton and acid pro still.. (for a quick fast rough sketches), since im composing tunes mostly in loops & midi! Anyway good luck with your music making journey on Reaper dude
Another great reason why Reaper is the best DAW is that it is completely accessible for blind users. With extensions/plugins, such as "Osara", Reaper can be accessed by screenreader software which reads screen texts to blind people. Other DAWs don't support that feature at all. I even tried to talk to the companies like Presonus, Steinberg, etc. about the need of accessability in their DAWs but they just say it might be on the list for updates in the future. Reaper already has an entire working environment which is perfectly designed for blind people and the community develops it further.
yesss got my license just a few days ago completely blind and ive been able to create tracks record audio add fx adjust volume its so cool every other thing i tried just didnt want to work with a screen reader still got much more to learn but i love it so far.
@@iamqaisermunir Actually Ableton 12 now shall be made accessible for us but I'll stick to Reaper. Nice that you found your way to a workflow that suits you. If you have any questions about Reaper and/or screenreaders, you have someone here you can ask anytime.
@@niclasnightflame i didn't get a notification sorry about that and thank you i was having some hickups but found out that it was just a narrator issue since i use that more installed and configured nvda and now it works a bit better its been crazy accessible so far im so happy.
4:14 why are you putting that arrow on for additional sounds (idk what that means tho) but ableton itself is nearly 3 GB and when you set up files its 6 GB sth on my computer when I checked the total file size.
Reaper has been the only DAW I’ve used I barely used a laptop before but I was able to start putting tracks together instantly. It feels very intuitive I’m like blindly stumbling along and it still gets the result I’m going for. Well worth the money it’s a steal.
ok the first thing absolutly insane, just when u start it for the first time, it scans all your vst plugins, which is SUPER AMAZING, when I was coming from FL to Ableton it took me quite a long time to even find where to scan VSTs :D
Hey man, today was the day when I finally made my full switch to Reaper. It took me quite a while to set it up the way I wanted it (and this will keep on forever) but it was so satisfying and entertaining to watch your video. I have used Slow Tools, and Logic for the longest time and until now Studio One but that's now history. What a great video, youn took every word out of my mouth! Subbed and "bell-ranged" and look forward to seeing more stuff from your upcoming channel. All the best, Andy
@@reapertutorials1947 Hey, thanks for asking! Like every other Reaper user I haven't looked back ever since. Melting and molding Reaper's functionality around my needs will still take time and I'll come back to you're videos when I'm ready for creating icons and toolbars. I have tiny issues here and there but that's nothing compared to the walls I had run into when using PT, Logic or S1. But the "always learning new things-feature" along with the constant cost-free updates were worth the switch alone. Thanks for your videos and your cool channel. Wherever you go, I'll follow! :-) Cheers, Andy
I don't really need convincing, I'm already a huge reaper fan and user. Just here to pat my back for choosing reaper in the first place. Shoutout to Kenny ✨✨✨
So, by paying only $60 I can own the program.... is not a subscription or any of those nonesense that DAW's companys have lately. Just like in the early 2000's...you bought a DAW and there you have it like forever?
I completely agree with your list. Especially number 1! Brilliant support from other people using Reaper. It was a very different story when I was using Cubase - other users would just tell me to read the handbook more carefully. Also the Reaper Mania videos are fantastic.
I spent over a decade using nuendo until my system crashed. When rebuilding my DAW I needed a more affordable substitution and at 60 bucks it was a no Brainer. I had no intention of using Reaper long term but after spending time using it I simply fell in love with the program. It does everything I need it to do at a fraction of the price that I would pay for the newer version of Nuendo.
Im so glad that I went with reaper back when I chose a daw. Like you said, its $60 for the full version, isn’t cpu intensive at all with a ton of plugins enabled and has grown with me as I’ve gotten deeper into mixing and production. I honestly couldn’t be happier, and to anyone on the fence about it, don’t hesitate. Its so versatile, and the learning curve is so small.
@@hold_me_close Ill be honest, my use of Ableton is very limited, I used 10 when it first dropped. Id say that if your recording live instruments then reaper is the way to go, but for anything electronic Ableton is a powerhouse. Best of luck friend!
@@hold_me_close Reaper and ableton are garbage. You're better off using fl mobile if you dont want to crack fl or pay for the full version. FLStudio does everything this does and more and it's all intuitive and makes sense visually. In FL it takes me a few seconds and i'm putting an idea down, then i'm immediately tweaking everything without having to look up guides. You couldn't pay me to use this, I tried for a few hours and all it gave me was a headache. It's so bad.
Well, you definitely sold me on Reaper! I used to make music in DAWs many years ago, I started out with Cubase....but they have just lost touch with their users and ease of use these days. I used to be a ACID pro user, Studio One, Cakewalk, and Mixcraft Pro user, I still like Mixcraft, but now looking to get back into making music and looking to get into something more robust, was thinking of Ableton, but since I saw your video....I will defiantly check our Reaper... and a new Subscriber here, thank you for your videos! Cant wait to get started with Reaper!
The "free" version IS the "full" functional version... no limitations, and no time expiration... this is class! I will say this is not "freeware" nor "shareware": this is "at-your-goodness-ware"! (I never found a better spent 60 dollars...)
Not knowing anything about recording with Daw's I I am so glad that I chose to go with reaper ! ! Was able to use it for free while I was learning to use it, plus the knowledge that you get from Kenny at reaper mania and all his video tutorials it is the best $60 that I ever spent it is truly a great product !!!
I've been thru the same process of choosing a new DAW. Reaper is quite good. But... Very complicated to work around and " optimization " to your needs is no simple task. The HUI plugins and setup is way to ancient and not user friendly at all. Reaper sessions can't easily be exported cross-platform with AAF or integrated options. No integrated Autotune or Melodyne - like software. No drag and drop FX directly on tracks. No mastering integrated setup. And many othet editing options not mentioned in this video. That is why as a 35 yo veteran in the business I chose Studio One 5 .
I drag and drop effects all the time. I think you need to go back and learn where such things are. I have yet to find something I cannot do with Reaper
@@notmybadd Ahhhh.... I like challenges ! 😉😉 Lets say track 3 is the snare. At one point in the song few shots sound thinner but you already got Eq and compression on track 3 which is perfect for every other shots. Can you select just those weaker parts, drag another Eq and additionnal compression on directly on those parts to match them with the rest , and keep it on track 3 so you still have the track 3 setup on those parts ? Other question: Melodyne is integrated in Studio One so you can adjust every notes real time while the song plays and in the same window like a plugin... Is it in Reaper now ? Can you import/export any session cross platform with integrated AAF yet ? Could not 2 years ago and since I do lot of mix for other clients it was complicated... Later !
@@ranajoyshil Hey Ranajoy, Thanks for your kind reply. I was using SoundScape, a Daw from Belgium built in the late 1990 till 2012. By far the most unknown and underrated Daw at that time. I have Reaper. I worked with it. But since I was looking to replace SoundScape, Studio One is the most similar to SoundScape of them all. Studio One advantage is its quite " young" and developers are very active at ramping it up. The HUI is much better than Reaper and it has integrated AAF cross-platform software which Reaper lacks big time. But the thing is it depends on what you lije and how you feel using a Daw... I have tried them all... And choose Studio One because it felt good for me... But it needs lots of tuning and I think they are watching the competition closely so they know where to put the extra efforts. Cheers.
Reaper is so intuitive, I've only been working on music for about 2 weeks now but I feel like I can find out how to do anything I want to do without even looking it up online.
damn. as someone who has used audacity for 8 years, i find it quite the opposite. effects sends and routing are driving me crazy at times....but having these options are the reason im using reaper now
@@fuckcensorship69me too, with FL studio though. I had a 2yr run of FL studio. Then tried Cubase, Reason, Ableton and Pro tools... even MML but that drum pattern window on FL is just 🤌🔥. Familiarity pulled me back
A friend of mine told me to try Reaper...years ago...and I was like, "Yeah, yeah...I don't want to have to learn a whole new way of doing things..." Well, not only was the transition super smooth...but I quickly found myself able to do things that were a nightmare to pull off in my old program. Bravo Reaper! Never turning back
I have to admit you're right. Daw's before Reaper didn't follow my mind flow. Constantly searching how to find what I need... uninstall was the option when I met Reaper (demo). I'm not lying to say that it took me less than a week before I paid the 55 euros. Also, the help you mention is true: whenever a problem occurs, I'll find a clear answer within a few hours (but that's because I have other things to do also... ;-)
Mate, not blowing smoke but its refreshing to see and hear a concise clear and well produced message, and from a RUclips creator. Not being funny or nothing, just alphabet media moguls can't Mike a reporter or just ruin the production and it's common to have high school students who know better than these glorified salespeople. I am aware you're promoting something but it doesn't feel that way, and you convinced me, I am getting the nicest package available, and I am very comfortable with my usual DAW caustic, I have wanted to get live as it seems like the industry standard but I got everything I ever needed from caustic and my process and mastering to presentation all bounce on my apples. Do I need a PC to get it man? Cheers, new sub jctzee
this vid helped me a lot, and i already bought reaper months ago. i use it for voice over and thought for music i would need a "real daw" like ableton. im gonna try to use reaper more, thanks!
Yep, easily just drag and go, you can also use mouse modifiers to change how you like it to feel. There are options for whatever way you like to work, Reaper will allow you to change most anything to work the way you prefer.
Hey man, I use Studio One and it works like a charm for what I do. But I've heard great things about reaper and I do really wanna try it. But the interface... yk man it's not..it's like.. not inviting or inspiring me to try it. I feel like It's missing those colours and all those visually pleasing stuffs which you can see in Studio One, which feels so iconic, And those long drop down menus in reaper makes it more overwhelming for me. I just feel like I'm lost when I'm tryna do something in reaper, might be because I'm not used to it. I guess I should've started to use reaper in the first place. Too late.
@@yakshrajsingh8121 Yes I think there a Pro Tools Reaper theme that looks and works like Reaper does.. I started off years ago on a budget version of Cakewalk, then Samplitude Music Studio I couldn't afford the flagship version. I was just trying to send midi from one track to another and Samplitude couldn't do it in the budget version. I got down Reaper demo and it could do it. I stayed with Samplitude, using the demo version of Reaper to do the things Samplitude couldn't. After a while, I was using Reaper so much, I paid for it and have been using it ever since. Version 3 I think it was I started on. That version gave me free updates for about 10 years to version 6. I paid another 60 dollars. So over 10 years or so, Reaper has cost me 120 dollars.. I haven't found anything it cannot do. When I was using Samplitude, that was always glitching and crashing. Reaper virtually never does.
I felt like you about S1 being better 5 years ago... BUT, I finally dug in and customized Reaper's workflow to match S1 and look better (colors the works) 4 or so years ago. Then I took it further and made Reaper's workflow even better than S1. I tried the S1 V5 trial a month ago. Now S1 feels super limited, high on CPU (I could not mix) and it crashed 4 times by the time I got to 25% of the mix. I closed it up. Fired up Reaper and mixed the song without maxing out the CPU or even one crash. Weeks/months go by without a single crash from Reaper.
Thanks! I'm really looking into Reaper to replace my Cubebase. I like Reapers GUI and that to me is one of the most important elements in a piece of complex software.
I made rap music as a teenager back in 2008 to 2011. I started in Audacity but soon discovered Reaper. It was so intuitive and easy to use. I got back into making music over 10 years later, so I also went back to Reaper. Just amazing how easy and fun it is. I think it's an overlooked software, I'd recommend it to any beginner, no matter how young you are!
I’ve used cakewalk since version 3, and changed over to Presonus studio one after Gibson killed Cakewalk sonar for me. I run Windows, Mac, and recently Ubuntu Linux. Reaper is the only DAW that runs on all three platforms without hiccups. Reaper loads up faster and it’s so easy to work with that I made the jump. I still use Sound Forge for Editing, and Acid pro for Looping-Syncing wave files to a click. But Reaper is my DAW of choice now. Thanks for the video
Well I have to say, I have been a Hard core Cubase User for a long time and I am now trying Reaper and I am thinking of buying it and using it next to Cubase for some projects i do it is truly a great DAW And Kenny's videos explaining the program are great too
Thanks for this..I started using Reaper several years ago...and even as an 'occasional' user have loved having such a great software package to learn wtih. Community is indeed awesome. I also love the ease of customising midi controllers etc..I can change any controller to anything...there always seems to be a way to do anything you need to. Still lots to learn...and discover...saw in another DAW a very eay 'drag and drop' vst template feature...searched this..and it looks like someone has made a script to do it. This is certainly a great thing with Reaper..it is an open toolbox of possibilities!
I would like to know do you ahve a copy of the exact theme that you are using with all of the stuff in it that you are explaining already installed in it?
Yea but its all spread out its not exactly a drag and drop type thing so it'll take more time explaining how for you to swap out the theme than you just create your own lol 😆 one of the very few irritating things in reaper... I'm sure they'll be a patch for it in the near future 😅
The main issue I notice with proprietary software is that each application wants to be the centre of your universe. They assume that any other functionality will be done as “plugins” to their platform. Contrast this with the component-based approach on Linux, centred around JACK or PipeWire, where each application is just another component, and it is the user that controls how they connect together.
A friend at work told me about reaper. It looks amazing. I haven't tried it fully yet but I am going to soon. The only downside is the lack of mainstream use. For instance as a noob I often look up how to make certain genres of music and the tutorial uses fl studio and never reaper and even Ableton is a bit rare.
The answer is yes you can release your music.....if you earn less than $20,000 a year (from music) get the $60 License, if you earn more than $20,000 a year then the License is $225, it says this on the Reaper site, where you get to choose your License.
Thanks for your videos! Reaper is all you say it is in audio and workflow. Not so in Midi. Every two or three years I try it again to see if midi for film scoring is up to the Cubase/Digital Performer/logic/Studio One standard. Three years ago it was not. Just starting the process again - we'll see. Been a Reaper user/not user since the .9 days.
I bought the producer edition of FL Studio and have been using it for like 15 years. I've never paid for an additional plugin from them or an update. Any other plugin I need is usually free. As a producer I don't really worry too much about size of files and being able to transport my DAW with me. If I record at a friends house I bring my track stems and then we mix them as a rough draft using whatever DAW is available, then I just take the recorded tracks and the rough draft version home with me and mix in the vocals in FL Studio. And now that they have AI mastering it's kind of a no brainer. Reaper looks cool but even if I was new I'd go with FL Studio if I had the money.
Thank you for this informative video. I have been wondering which DAW to go for. You have helped me to make my mind up! It's funny... I tried Reaper before, bought a license and then my PC died. I am now about to purchase another PC geared towards music and video creation. Do you have any more tips? I am planning on buying an AMD based PC, with a 2 GB graphics card... Is that any good? Cheers!
I’ve just installed Reaper on my Mac, used it for only 2 hours, and I’m already sold! There’s so much goodness and intuition looking at me here, that all I can think of is, why haven’t the developers of the more outrageously priced DAWs thought of this and that! Greatest surprise… the project startup time. What the heck??? A software starting with C that shall not be named here sometimes takes 2 minutes just to load for me… I look at the many prompts and load up screens, waiting… and waiting… but with Reaper… Clicking on open… Vooom there it is! 🎉
Using Reaper since 2010 and still love it so much for music production! Next step will be to use Reaper for editing my videos (yes, you can do this as well). 😁
After doing my first RUclips video with Da Vinci Resolve, I got pretty fed up with the massive bloat of this program - it took ages to load, was a fickle to use and liked to occasionally crash. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Reaper I had been using for years for audio was just as capable (for what I needed) in _video_ editing. So the next videos after the first, I made in Reaper, and I dare anyone to spot the difference. 😉 I once looked for a really niche application of a control surface mixer with automation and got an answer in the forums within a day, and the guy replied _several times_ until I was able to do *_exactly_* what I intended to do. Reaper is so friggin' OP in every aspect that if I was religious, I would call it a miracle. It is the direct opposite of corporate greed: it is the perfect product for a fair price, for everyone's enjoyment. I cannot thank the developers and the community enough!
Haha this is great Lol I’ve never seen this. I use hitfilm express to edit videos (2021 version cuz new version sucks) but I’d look into it if I were u
The support, community, approach to pricing and customization is what keeps me loyal to Reaper. I not only don't believe in brand loyalty but I despise it. In Reapers case I just haven't found another DAW that can pull me away. The only advantages I can give any other DAW is a couple were more intuitive to a beginner like myself when I was starting out. I stuck it out with Reaper for all the reasons above and I'm glad I did.
At the beginning of this video, you state that it is free(which implies that it is not a trial version, when in fact..it is.) Reaper comes with no plugins and I did not find it to be intuitive. Cockos is out of its mind, to charge $60 and not to provide built-in VST's. Cakewalk BandLab is absolutely free, has continued updates and great user support and has everything you need(plugin-wise)...to get started and there are automatic pop-ups as you are installing the program and you can choose which plugins you want to install. As for paid DAW's....Reaper has some competition....such as Acoustica Mixcraft 9(it has customization, supports video, it's very stable, very intuitive and unlike Reaper, there are included instruments & effects and it's only $75(& no exorbitant commercial license fees)...for professional use. Then there is MUTOOLS MuLab(which also has an unlimited time span for demo)...and has a killer modular synth engine and an impressive sampler built-in and is the most intuitive DAW on the planet, as you just extract the file and open it( no installation required)...and hardware set up is the easiest I have ever encountered and within 10 minutes from the time of download, I was recording tracks & having the time of my life(as there is no other DAW in the cyber world, quite like Mulab.) It costs $20 more than Reaper, but when you use MuLab....you'll be happy you spent the extra $20.
it looks like reapers a keeper... i am a newb but an educated one (astrophysics degree with a lot of digital signal processing)...i am using bandlab as the training course until i get set up...i find the cut and paste aspect nice but after only a few days, limiting... was a very easy learning curve... what's reapers initial learning curve? like bandlabs or will i have to study the manual with a 1-800 operator to understand how to lay a high hat track? i wouldn't mind the latter, it was like going to school, but i would like to be prepared... i can bet a personal licence for 60...which is awesome...
I used Reaper exclusively for a while, but since moved to Logic for music, mostly for the included software instruments. Even still I prefer Reaper's editing tools and still use it for voiceover/podcast work.
It surprised me a bit the first time I began hearing that ppl think Reaper is “ugly”, lol. Maybe I’ve got bad taste, but “ugly” hadn’t ever crossed my mind while using it. Aesthetically, the look of it is pretty good. And I have dicked around in changing between the various “styles” available, and I even downloaded a few from a site featuring others’ custom..I think “skins” is what I’m meaning..I’m a 63-year-old in remote small-town west TX, so I doubt I’ll win any Oscars on how current my slang is, or anything..Lol, so one I liked and used for a minute before my last PC got too full of AIDS to use anymore was this “orange” skin which had the features laid out very snugly, and some other cool-looking ones. But since getting this PC, I haven’t remembered to switch out from the default skin, because I don’t really need to. I’m jumping subjects bizarrely out of nowhere, but I loved Mixcraft for similar reasons; it’s laid out where everything is obvious enough for even a Sid Vicious wannabe hillbilly like me to readily grasp. That is, until one day circa 2018ish, some “update” some genius up at Mixcraft decided to impose, turned it, overnight, into a crashy CPU whore which uses ludicrous amounts of RAM, and ever since, it’s utterly unusable, because it will reject plugins and just vanish from the screen. Bringing it back up, I’ll see “We apologize for sucking mole-covered, oily dicks, but the crash was due to (name any plug-in). Trying to resume the project, I’ll see that half the plugins are “blanked out”, and Mixcraft are unable to handle them. I’ll try Mixcraft again once in awhile, and puzzlingly, they seem to prefer the embarrassingly unprofessional mode they’ve now been in for half a decade. It would have been my favorite over Reaper, by a microscopic margin. Another thing since this new PC, is although I do own Reaper and have paid for it, I’m not keen on the headache of jumping through the hoops involved in obtaining Reaper “legitimately”. I never have and never will master “copying my pasties”. Yeah, yeah, someone else yet again come preach to me re how “simple” it is; I’ll do that for you: “You just put your finger on the serial number while reciting The Encyclopedia Britannica backwards in Portuguese, then you go over to another spot to diddle its clit, and Mr Spock will cause the serial # to reappear”; yeah, yeah, I already know. I’ve emailed Reaper apologizing to them for “stealing” their demo, explaining that I really do actually own it. Getting the actual version of software is always a billion times more complex than using the demo…Which loads effortlessly. 🤔 But that’s just how woke everything is now.
It's ugly, not intuitive to the point where they change terminology for no reason forcing you to spend an insane amount of time looking at guides for things you already know how to do. The hotkeys are atrocious, the entire process fights you every step of the way. It's like it's set up to be as frustrating as possible, nothing about it makes any sense. FL is the only daw as far as i'm concerned. There is not a single thing it can't do, half of the stuff people say it can't do, i've done with vsts. I can make any sound with any technique needed, what else would I need?
I downloaded it a couple days ago and tried to see if I could do anything without a tutorial and I couldn't, It was very intimidating and it made me sad because I want to make music. Took a day to reset and today I'm going to do it, I'm going to reaper school today. The template thing sounds like a good idea, everything is so grey and confusing.
Tremendous overview and review of Reaper software. I agree totally with your Top 10 reasons why Reaper is the best DAW. After using Roland VS-880 & 1600 hard disk recordings since the 1990's, my journey lead me to Reaper. With a few easy programs to prepare my Roland backup files from CD, I was able to work with all my Roland recordings in Reaper. It was magic at the time and I have continued with Reaper for close to 8 years now. Love the software. Great video. Long live Reaper!
switched from Mac back to Windows and was looking for something similar to logic that would run on my machine. Gave reaper a try and never looked back - really slick and easy to use. Never gets in the way. The stock plugins sound great and barely use any system resources. Took a little while to find a layout I like, but now it's just exactly perfect. Can't say that about any other DAW.
I’m fed up with Avid for so many reasons and I’m heading into all new territory as I abandon Pro Tools after many years. Thank you for this video. You’ve helped me make a decision! I’m going for Reaper!
Silly question : I'm about to do a podcast, do you think Reaper would fit for podcasting and if so what plugins will I need in order to control my audio FX Or do you think is too much?
No reaper is a great option for podcasts. The audio recorded for this video was done in the same way you would record a podcast. There are some free reaper plugins that will act as a noise gate and bring good vocal warmth. Just search for "Podcast recording in reaper" or "eliminate room noise in reaper"
Alright Im getting it tonight new to the channel I am sick of having issues with fl studio (on mac and windows) I didnt know if I could use my mpc studio controller with it and will it discover the mpc beats software? I have a ton of tracks saved in projects so plenty of loops and midi / pad edits. I am hoping I can play them into reaper and organize them. FL and Ableton have me totally annoyed.
11:13 ooh broo you got to be a little faster than at delivering speech. But what an impersonation of Kenny🙌🙌. Marvellous . Loved the video and subbed. I will definitely look out for Reaper at discounted 60 Dollar price . Just one question folks:- Would I be able to use Reaper for a different device or does it work only for 1 particular device (Laptop to Pc or a old Laptop to a new one)?
I'm getting an 'iPhone vs Android' kind of vibe. As a bedroom producer who works in Ableton, I've never felt the urge to change shortcut key combinations or add personalization. So far, I've noticed that MIDI editing capabilities in Reaper feel like a workaround upon workaround. For instance, with scales: in Ableton, you just click once on a 'scale' button to activate it. In Reaper, it seems you need to create custom actions/scripts, use obscure key combinations, and so on.
I've been trying to get used to Reaper for a couple of months and find it to be really a pain in the ass to use. Every time I want to just do something simple I have to search and look for tutorials etc. Yes it does some cool stuff but it seems more for people who like to fuck around with menus and options than make music.
@@ChaBawbe I'm sure it's a great DAW once you understand it. I've been doing music on computers since the Atari Cubase 1990 era and I stayed with Cubase but stopped with upgrades at Cubase SX because every uprade had things that I knew I would never need. It still works fine. Reaper has a plethora of unecessary options. For example, a track can be for midi, vst, FX or whatever. And you can change their colors whenever you want. How is that productive? What if you want to collaborate with someone who also uses Reaper but it's completely customised differently. How do you work together? Ok, I'm a ranting old school guy now lol. How 'bout we all tune our guitars differently...how fun would that be?
Looks powerful, but one major negative is the juvenile penchant for eschewing contrast: black text on a gray background makes reading the labels a chore; and if you want to post a tutorial, the text menus are unreadable. For all the touting of customization, there is nothing in Preferences to modify the colors. Is the only alternative hopefully finding a skin (theme) that offers more readable text? If an option exists for, say, changing the colors in the GUI, it is well-hidden.
I've been using Ableton for years. I used to dj with Traktor ages ago, and then moved to Ableton for live performance. I'm finally going to give Reaper a fair shake.
Reaper being extremely lightweight and performant, along with its very direct and hands-on workflow is what convinced me that it was a good program. I tried it based on a friend's recommendation and it really upped my audio editing capabilities. Most people use Reaper for music stuff, but I tend to use it more for editing audio for tv/film... while you can technically do this in video editors, you simply don't get the same level of control. After all these years I'm finally just now getting into the music production aspects of reaper.
I’ve found it great to edit my music videos, or make a music video using just the recorded audio then add-in video and graphics. Much easier than the free tools my Mac provides.
nice bro bro ... i have just tried reaper few days ago .. editing is allmost same as Acid pro ( use to work on it ) but in reaper i cant draw the media item again once i delete it ,, can u help me with it .. and how can i render to new track like acid pro
I grew up with analog - when 2" tape was THEE medium.. Transitioning, the only real alternative then was the bloatware known as ProTools and then it was Mac only. I too stumbled through every known DAW, and finding Reaper (v3) was a game changer. I'm happy you covered the forum - unlike the 'other' snob DAW, the help you'll find with thre forum members. Nothing less than friendly help there.
Does anyone know a good virtual drums/bass? I tried some but i couldnt get them to work well, all i got working atm is Helm, adding loops/samples/fx and having to manually key in drum sounds on the virtual keyboard
I love Logic Pro X, but I'm switching to Windows 11 soon for 32gb ram, 4tb ssd, and an i7 cpu..... Cubase and Ableton pro are both £400-500..... So expensive
Hi am blind. Word is, reaper is very accessible. Do you have any tips or lessons to refer me to where I could learn the key commands for using reaper without vision? Much appreciated.
I just can't wrap my head around reaper running a yamaha and a dante just want to use the plug in function but I can't even seem to get the damn channels to line up I feel like I have become too old😅 use to hardware set ups but why can't the figure this out
I only use FL Studio because in my opinion it feels like a “game” to me, but if I ever have to switch DAWs, you’ve convinced me that Reaper should be my second choice!
I have a specific issue I have a Yamaha S08 and windows and my problem is MIDI clock - I can speak to my keyboard via DIN 5 and USB but I prefer DIN 5 MIDI but again the MIDI clock between keyboard and software doesn’t sync or stay locked to software between MIDI songs - any ideas to solve this issue? I keep my keyboard set at MIDI sync not Int sync…….. help
My biggest problem with Reaper is the lack of stock instruments. I started with Reaper as my first daw and had no idea where to start when it came to choosing instruments. That problem is gone now. Thank you Spitfire and all the other free plugins
Maybe record two tracks at the same time one processed one clean. A DI box is handy if I'm understanding what you're saying.LOr learn to mix,reaper is capable,same with mastering(Mastering is very easy)
A number of years ago I transitioned from Mac to Windows, so I had to leave Logic behind. I downloaded Reaper to give it a try. In the first 10 minutes I had the following experience about three times: "I wonder how to... Oh! That was easy!" I've been with Reaper ever since. :)
Thats my boat currently. Nice to hear!
This is Reaper Reality for me also. It's so intuitive to work with, anyone can talk about what they use and every time I wonder if they even know how Reaper works.
Im getting into recording my own music for personal use. Ive been playing guitar for 18 years. Its been my dream to record music
@@kz6713 With a decent interface and Reaper, that will not be a problem. Success!
@@Yu2beFool i set it up finally cant wait to get home from work!!
the fact that the daw can go on a thumb drive and do literally everything protools does is AMAZING i’ve been using it since the start and i make music like second nature with it
Reaper just plain kills everything else. I've used it for sync on the Sicko Mode video, to control lighting on a mixed media installation, for live recording on a raspberry pi, soundtrack and foley for a VR game, and to edit podcasts for NPR. No DAW can do everything Reaper does, but Reaper can do everything all the other DAWs do. Best media production tool on the market. Much gratitude yall!
can reaper fuction as a tracker too? (renoise)
U can't record with the vocal plugins already enabled. And u can't route tracks to record vocals or creating reverb busses. U also can't route them for sidechaining
Bro you recorded on a raspberry pi 😂 Respect
I'm sold 👊🏿🔥
Reaper is great… I love it. but Logic is better. has more features, more plugins, apple loops, its own drummer…. and for $200… you get life long updates. no re-paying every 2 version updates. $200… DONE.
it’s nicer to look at…. Reaper has that air of Windows about it. Logic is beautiful on the eye. but i’m a massive fan of Reaper. i love that it uses less CPU… is more efficient than any other DAW.
Other DAW users (mostly Pro Tools) suffer from Normalcy Bias - thinking things are fine when they're not. Example: I work for weeks (mostly months) in Reaper without a single crash.
Edit 1: I've switched to Studio One two years after making this comment. Nothing against Reaper and I don't think Studio One is beter or worse than Reaper.
Edit 2: I switched to Cubase 3 years after my initial comment. Feels like home.
It's THE best. I've recorded our weekly podcast for years... more than an hour straight at a time - using so many different pieces of hardware and never even had a stutter.
Reason never crashed on me in 10years
@@raedius_music I am glad to hear. I will check out Reason. Thanks.
@@ettiennelane9173 its very stable purely because it is the opposite of reaper (open source access style) whereas reason is very (in house and closed). I don't comment on the reliability of reaper though as I dont have experience, it more a comment on vst platforms
I can make Reaper freeze without even trying. The other day I deleted 5 or 6 tracks that weren't needed and it completely froze up. It happened a couple of times before.
Glad to hear so many references to Acid Pro. That DAW was my bread and butter back in the day then I painfully switched to Pro Tools because I kept hearing it was the industry standard. I just purchased Reaper last week and I hope I can find creativity with Reaper like I used to with Acid Pro. Great video. Thanks man !!
If youre anything like me you will Love the switch to Reaper
Well the fact that reaper co founder stole some features from Acid pro or soundforge and put it in Reaper and make more features with the frequent updates its a huge plus!
One thing Reaper can't copy on Acid pro is the acidized loops feature. Acid Pro has a better form of coding/ algorithm in these department!
You can't just easily pick and paint loops , chop it in pieces and it sync in Reaper!
So im sticking to ableton and acid pro still.. (for a quick fast rough sketches), since im composing tunes mostly in loops & midi!
Anyway good luck with your music making journey on Reaper dude
Another great reason why Reaper is the best DAW is that it is completely accessible for blind users. With extensions/plugins, such as "Osara", Reaper can be accessed by screenreader software which reads screen texts to blind people. Other DAWs don't support that feature at all. I even tried to talk to the companies like Presonus, Steinberg, etc. about the need of accessability in their DAWs but they just say it might be on the list for updates in the future. Reaper already has an entire working environment which is perfectly designed for blind people and the community develops it further.
yesss got my license just a few days ago completely blind and ive been able to create tracks record audio add fx adjust volume its so cool every other thing i tried just didnt want to work with a screen reader still got much more to learn but i love it so far.
@@iamqaisermunir Actually Ableton 12 now shall be made accessible for us but I'll stick to Reaper. Nice that you found your way to a workflow that suits you. If you have any questions about Reaper and/or screenreaders, you have someone here you can ask anytime.
@@niclasnightflame i didn't get a notification sorry about that and thank you i was having some hickups but found out that it was just a narrator issue since i use that more installed and configured nvda and now it works a bit better its been crazy accessible so far im so happy.
Just updated DAWs to Reaper and it’s a breathe of fresh air in regards to the ease of using VSTs and working across both audio and midi tracks.
4:14 why are you putting that arrow on for additional sounds (idk what that means tho) but ableton itself is nearly 3 GB and when you set up files its 6 GB sth on my computer when I checked the total file size.
This video is such a breath of fresh air. I can't stand the videos that list 6 different applications and just say 'they're all good'.
Reaper has been the only DAW I’ve used I barely used a laptop before but I was able to start putting tracks together instantly. It feels very intuitive I’m like blindly stumbling along and it still gets the result I’m going for. Well worth the money it’s a steal.
ok the first thing absolutly insane, just when u start it for the first time, it scans all your vst plugins, which is SUPER AMAZING, when I was coming from FL to Ableton it took me quite a long time to even find where to scan VSTs :D
Hey man,
today was the day when I finally made my full switch to Reaper. It took me quite a while to set it up the way I wanted it (and this will keep on forever) but it was so satisfying and entertaining to watch your video. I have used Slow Tools, and Logic for the longest time and until now Studio One but that's now history.
What a great video, youn took every word out of my mouth! Subbed and "bell-ranged" and look forward to seeing more stuff from your upcoming channel.
All the best, Andy
Any updates, how's it working for you. Any questions or concerns?
@@reapertutorials1947 Hey, thanks for asking!
Like every other Reaper user I haven't looked back ever since.
Melting and molding Reaper's functionality around my needs will still take time and I'll come back to you're videos when I'm ready for creating icons and toolbars.
I have tiny issues here and there but that's nothing compared to the walls I had run into when using PT, Logic or S1.
But the "always learning new things-feature" along with the constant cost-free updates were worth the switch alone.
Thanks for your videos and your cool channel. Wherever you go, I'll follow! :-)
Cheers, Andy
I don't really need convincing, I'm already a huge reaper fan and user. Just here to pat my back for choosing reaper in the first place.
Shoutout to Kenny ✨✨✨
So, by paying only $60 I can own the program.... is not a subscription or any of those nonesense that DAW's companys have lately. Just like in the early 2000's...you bought a DAW and there you have it like forever?
@@JoeyRam. Correct
I completely agree with your list. Especially number 1! Brilliant support from other people using Reaper. It was a very different story when I was using Cubase - other users would just tell me to read the handbook more carefully. Also the Reaper Mania videos are fantastic.
I spent over a decade using nuendo until my system crashed. When rebuilding my DAW I needed a more affordable substitution and at 60 bucks it was a no Brainer. I had no intention of using Reaper long term but after spending time using it I simply fell in love with the program. It does everything I need it to do at a fraction of the price that I would pay for the newer version of Nuendo.
what is the difference between a discounted license and a commercial license ??
@@khalilturjman2010 it’s on the website check it out
Im so glad that I went with reaper back when I chose a daw. Like you said, its $60 for the full version, isn’t cpu intensive at all with a ton of plugins enabled and has grown with me as I’ve gotten deeper into mixing and production. I honestly couldn’t be happier, and to anyone on the fence about it, don’t hesitate. Its so versatile, and the learning curve is so small.
have you used Ableton? which one do you like better?
@@hold_me_close Ill be honest, my use of Ableton is very limited, I used 10 when it first dropped. Id say that if your recording live instruments then reaper is the way to go, but for anything electronic Ableton is a powerhouse. Best of luck friend!
@@clunt2548 thanks！
@@hold_me_close Reaper and ableton are garbage. You're better off using fl mobile if you dont want to crack fl or pay for the full version. FLStudio does everything this does and more and it's all intuitive and makes sense visually. In FL it takes me a few seconds and i'm putting an idea down, then i'm immediately tweaking everything without having to look up guides. You couldn't pay me to use this, I tried for a few hours and all it gave me was a headache. It's so bad.
just started getting into music. I was thinking about using protools until this video, thank you!
Well, you definitely sold me on Reaper! I used to make music in DAWs many years ago, I started out with Cubase....but they have just lost touch with their users and ease of use these days. I used to be a ACID pro user, Studio One, Cakewalk, and Mixcraft Pro user, I still like Mixcraft, but now looking to get back into making music and looking to get into something more robust, was thinking of Ableton, but since I saw your video....I will defiantly check our Reaper... and a new Subscriber here, thank you for your videos! Cant wait to get started with Reaper!
Easily my favorite DAW. I still use Ableton for live stuff, but for everything else, it is reaper
Theat green logo from your channel cand be changed in my reaper?
New to Reaper, loving it so far, no issues and I'm using the free version, I will buy the full and support the developers.
The "free" version IS the "full" functional version... no limitations, and no time expiration... this is class! I will say this is not "freeware" nor "shareware": this is "at-your-goodness-ware"! (I never found a better spent 60 dollars...)
@biula3278 wait wtf did you spend 60$ on then?
12 years using ableton, and finally move to reaper.
A truly awesome tool❤
good to read
I’ve been a Reaper user more than a year now and have to experience it crashing yet!
“Reaper doesn’t tell you how to behave, you tell it how to.”
Not knowing anything about recording with Daw's I I am so glad that I chose to go with reaper ! ! Was able to use it for free while I was learning to use it, plus the knowledge that you get from Kenny at reaper mania and all his video tutorials it is the best $60 that I ever spent it is truly a great product !!!
I actually got up and running in Reaper quicker than other DAWS -already purchased a license after only a few days evaluation-it's that good....
I've been thru the same process of choosing a new DAW.
Reaper is quite good. But...
Very complicated to work around and
" optimization " to your needs is no simple task. The HUI plugins and setup
is way to ancient and not user friendly at all. Reaper sessions can't easily be exported cross-platform with AAF or integrated options. No integrated Autotune or Melodyne - like software.
No drag and drop FX directly on tracks.
No mastering integrated setup.
And many othet editing options not mentioned in this video.
That is why as a 35 yo veteran in the business I chose Studio One 5 .
it has autotune, called reaTune in the cocos plugs. "complicated" i agree ;)
I drag and drop effects all the time. I think you need to go back and learn where such things are. I have yet to find something I cannot do with Reaper
@@notmybadd Ahhhh.... I like challenges ! 😉😉
Lets say track 3 is the snare. At one point in the song few shots sound thinner but you already got Eq and compression on track 3 which is perfect for every other shots.
Can you select just those weaker parts, drag another Eq and additionnal compression on directly on those parts to match them with the rest , and keep it on track 3 so you still have the track 3 setup on those parts ?
Other question: Melodyne is integrated in Studio One so you can adjust every notes real time while the song plays and in the same window like a plugin... Is it in Reaper now ?
Can you import/export any session cross platform with integrated AAF yet ?
Could not 2 years ago and since I do lot of mix for other clients it was complicated...
Later !
@@ranajoyshil Hey Ranajoy,
Thanks for your kind reply. I was using SoundScape, a Daw from Belgium built in the late 1990 till 2012. By far the most unknown and underrated Daw at that time. I have Reaper. I worked with it.
But since I was looking to replace SoundScape, Studio One is the most similar to SoundScape of them all. Studio One advantage is its quite " young" and developers are very active at ramping it up. The HUI is much better than Reaper and it has integrated AAF cross-platform software which Reaper lacks big time.
But the thing is it depends on what you lije and how you feel using a Daw...
I have tried them all... And choose Studio One because it felt good for me...
But it needs lots of tuning and I think
they are watching the competition closely so they know where to put
the extra efforts.
Cheers.
Reaper is so intuitive, I've only been working on music for about 2 weeks now but I feel like I can find out how to do anything I want to do without even looking it up online.
damn. as someone who has used audacity for 8 years, i find it quite the opposite. effects sends and routing are driving me crazy at times....but having these options are the reason im using reaper now
@@fuckcensorship69 maybe its just to do with the fact i dont have any prior experience so i dont have names or places for things that im use to
@@fuckcensorship69me too, with FL studio though. I had a 2yr run of FL studio. Then tried Cubase, Reason, Ableton and Pro tools... even MML but that drum pattern window on FL is just 🤌🔥. Familiarity pulled me back
A friend of mine told me to try Reaper...years ago...and I was like, "Yeah, yeah...I don't want to have to learn a whole new way of doing things..." Well, not only was the transition super smooth...but I quickly found myself able to do things that were a nightmare to pull off in my old program. Bravo Reaper! Never turning back
I have to admit you're right. Daw's before Reaper didn't follow my mind flow. Constantly searching how to find what I need... uninstall was the option when I met Reaper (demo). I'm not lying to say that it took me less than a week before I paid the 55 euros. Also, the help you mention is true: whenever a problem occurs, I'll find a clear answer within a few hours (but that's because I have other things to do also... ;-)
I personally prefer Waveform, but Reaper is a close second. The fact both of them have free versions with very little limitations is mind-blowing.
Mate, not blowing smoke but its refreshing to see and hear a concise clear and well produced message, and from a RUclips creator. Not being funny or nothing, just alphabet media moguls can't Mike a reporter or just ruin the production and it's common to have high school students who know better than these glorified salespeople. I am aware you're promoting something but it doesn't feel that way, and you convinced me, I am getting the nicest package available, and I am very comfortable with my usual DAW caustic, I have wanted to get live as it seems like the industry standard but I got everything I ever needed from caustic and my process and mastering to presentation all bounce on my apples. Do I need a PC to get it man? Cheers, new sub jctzee
this vid helped me a lot, and i already bought reaper months ago. i use it for voice over and thought for music i would need a "real daw" like ableton. im gonna try to use reaper more, thanks!
Is there a way to drag in midi 📝 like the pencil tool in pro tools?
Yep, easily just drag and go, you can also use mouse modifiers to change how you like it to feel. There are options for whatever way you like to work, Reaper will allow you to change most anything to work the way you prefer.
@@reapertutorials1947 thankyou for getting back! this community rocks!
Hey man, I use Studio One and it works like a charm for what I do. But I've heard great things about reaper and I do really wanna try it. But the interface... yk man it's not..it's like.. not inviting or inspiring me to try it. I feel like It's missing those colours and all those visually pleasing stuffs which you can see in Studio One, which feels so iconic, And those long drop down menus in reaper makes it more overwhelming for me. I just feel like I'm lost when I'm tryna do something in reaper, might be because I'm not used to it. I guess I should've started to use reaper in the first place. Too late.
Try the Reaper stash and forum for themes that look like whatever DAW you use...
Thats why i use pro tools the most it looks cool and makes me energised btw you can customise reaper interface
@@yakshrajsingh8121 Yes I think there a Pro Tools Reaper theme that looks and works like Reaper does.. I started off years ago on a budget version of Cakewalk, then Samplitude Music Studio I couldn't afford the flagship version.
I was just trying to send midi from one track to another and Samplitude couldn't do it in the budget version. I got down Reaper demo and it could do it.
I stayed with Samplitude, using the demo version of Reaper to do the things Samplitude couldn't. After a while, I was using Reaper so much, I paid for it and have been using it ever since. Version 3 I think it was I started on. That version gave me free updates for about 10 years to version 6. I paid another 60 dollars. So over 10 years or so, Reaper has cost me 120 dollars.. I haven't found anything it cannot do. When I was using Samplitude, that was always glitching and crashing. Reaper virtually never does.
I felt like you about S1 being better 5 years ago... BUT, I finally dug in and customized Reaper's workflow to match S1 and look better (colors the works) 4 or so years ago. Then I took it further and made Reaper's workflow even better than S1. I tried the S1 V5 trial a month ago. Now S1 feels super limited, high on CPU (I could not mix) and it crashed 4 times by the time I got to 25% of the mix. I closed it up. Fired up Reaper and mixed the song without maxing out the CPU or even one crash. Weeks/months go by without a single crash from Reaper.
I agree it's adaptable and so user-friendly! Great video
Thanks! I'm really looking into Reaper to replace my Cubebase. I like Reapers GUI and that to me is one of the most important elements in a piece of complex software.
Nuendo is the best DAW. No other DAW can match all the features that Nuendo has.
Totally agree with all you say mate. I've been using Reaper a long time now and just love everything about it. Great channel. Cheers.
I made rap music as a teenager back in 2008 to 2011. I started in Audacity but soon discovered Reaper. It was so intuitive and easy to use. I got back into making music over 10 years later, so I also went back to Reaper. Just amazing how easy and fun it is. I think it's an overlooked software, I'd recommend it to any beginner, no matter how young you are!
I’ve used cakewalk since version 3, and changed over to Presonus studio one after Gibson killed Cakewalk sonar for me. I run Windows, Mac, and recently Ubuntu Linux. Reaper is the only DAW that runs on all three platforms without hiccups. Reaper loads up faster and it’s so easy to work with that I made the jump. I still use Sound Forge for Editing, and Acid pro for Looping-Syncing wave files to a click. But Reaper is my DAW of choice now. Thanks for the video
Well I have to say, I have been a Hard core Cubase User for a long time and I am now trying Reaper and I am thinking of buying it and using it next to Cubase for some projects i do it is truly a great DAW And Kenny's videos explaining the program are great too
Thanks for this..I started using Reaper several years ago...and even as an 'occasional' user have loved having such a great software package to learn wtih. Community is indeed awesome. I also love the ease of customising midi controllers etc..I can change any controller to anything...there always seems to be a way to do anything you need to. Still lots to learn...and discover...saw in another DAW a very eay 'drag and drop' vst template feature...searched this..and it looks like someone has made a script to do it. This is certainly a great thing with Reaper..it is an open toolbox of possibilities!
I would like to know do you ahve a copy of the exact theme that you are using with all of the stuff in it that you are explaining already installed in it?
Yea but its all spread out its not exactly a drag and drop type thing so it'll take more time explaining how for you to swap out the theme than you just create your own lol 😆 one of the very few irritating things in reaper... I'm sure they'll be a patch for it in the near future 😅
The main issue I notice with proprietary software is that each application wants to be the centre of your universe. They assume that any other functionality will be done as “plugins” to their platform.
Contrast this with the component-based approach on Linux, centred around JACK or PipeWire, where each application is just another component, and it is the user that controls how they connect together.
A friend at work told me about reaper. It looks amazing. I haven't tried it fully yet but I am going to soon. The only downside is the lack of mainstream use. For instance as a noob I often look up how to make certain genres of music and the tutorial uses fl studio and never reaper and even Ableton is a bit rare.
You can watch these tutorials to find out which Elements these genres consist of and apply that to reaper.
Kenny Goia Reaper mania
I don't really get it, if I buy the 60$ version, can I upload on youtube and release on spotify or labels ? then what is the 225$ prize version ?
The answer is yes you can release your music.....if you earn less than $20,000 a year (from music) get the $60 License, if you earn more than $20,000 a year then the License is $225, it says this on the Reaper site, where you get to choose your License.
@@SirEggbertfartalot tysm
Thanks for your videos! Reaper is all you say it is in audio and workflow. Not so in Midi. Every two or three years I try it again to see if midi for film scoring is up to the Cubase/Digital Performer/logic/Studio One standard. Three years ago it was not. Just starting the process again - we'll see. Been a Reaper user/not user since the .9 days.
I bought the producer edition of FL Studio and have been using it for like 15 years. I've never paid for an additional plugin from them or an update. Any other plugin I need is usually free. As a producer I don't really worry too much about size of files and being able to transport my DAW with me. If I record at a friends house I bring my track stems and then we mix them as a rough draft using whatever DAW is available, then I just take the recorded tracks and the rough draft version home with me and mix in the vocals in FL Studio. And now that they have AI mastering it's kind of a no brainer.
Reaper looks cool but even if I was new I'd go with FL Studio if I had the money.
Thank you for this informative video. I have been wondering which DAW to go for. You have helped me to make my mind up! It's funny... I tried Reaper before, bought a license and then my PC died. I am now about to purchase another PC geared towards music and video creation. Do you have any more tips? I am planning on buying an AMD based PC, with a 2 GB graphics card... Is that any good? Cheers!
I’ve just installed Reaper on my Mac, used it for only 2 hours, and I’m already sold! There’s so much goodness and intuition looking at me here, that all I can think of is, why haven’t the developers of the more outrageously priced DAWs thought of this and that! Greatest surprise… the project startup time. What the heck??? A software starting with C that shall not be named here sometimes takes 2 minutes just to load for me… I look at the many prompts and load up screens, waiting… and waiting… but with Reaper… Clicking on open… Vooom there it is! 🎉
Using Reaper since 2010 and still love it so much for music production!
Next step will be to use Reaper for editing my videos (yes, you can do this as well). 😁
just use premier pro for video editing
great stuff brother
After doing my first RUclips video with Da Vinci Resolve, I got pretty fed up with the massive bloat of this program - it took ages to load, was a fickle to use and liked to occasionally crash. Imagine my surprise when I found out that the Reaper I had been using for years for audio was just as capable (for what I needed) in _video_ editing. So the next videos after the first, I made in Reaper, and I dare anyone to spot the difference. 😉
I once looked for a really niche application of a control surface mixer with automation and got an answer in the forums within a day, and the guy replied _several times_ until I was able to do *_exactly_* what I intended to do.
Reaper is so friggin' OP in every aspect that if I was religious, I would call it a miracle. It is the direct opposite of corporate greed: it is the perfect product for a fair price, for everyone's enjoyment. I cannot thank the developers and the community enough!
Haha this is great Lol I’ve never seen this. I use hitfilm express to edit videos (2021 version cuz new version sucks) but I’d look into it if I were u
The support, community, approach to pricing and customization is what keeps me loyal to Reaper. I not only don't believe in brand loyalty but I despise it. In Reapers case I just haven't found another DAW that can pull me away.
The only advantages I can give any other DAW is a couple were more intuitive to a beginner like myself when I was starting out. I stuck it out with Reaper for all the reasons above and I'm glad I did.
What is the theme you use in 7:44?
At the beginning of this video, you state that it is free(which implies that it is not a trial version, when in fact..it is.) Reaper comes with no plugins and I did not find it to be intuitive. Cockos is out of its mind, to charge $60 and not to provide built-in VST's. Cakewalk BandLab is absolutely free, has continued updates and great user support and has everything you need(plugin-wise)...to get started and there are automatic pop-ups as you are installing the program and you can choose which plugins you want to install. As for paid DAW's....Reaper has some competition....such as Acoustica Mixcraft 9(it has customization, supports video, it's very stable, very intuitive and unlike Reaper, there are included instruments & effects and it's only $75(& no exorbitant commercial license fees)...for professional use.
Then there is MUTOOLS MuLab(which also has an unlimited time span for demo)...and has a killer modular synth engine and an impressive sampler built-in and is the most intuitive DAW on the planet, as you just extract the file and open it( no installation required)...and hardware set up is the easiest I have ever encountered and within 10 minutes from the time of download, I was recording tracks & having the time of my life(as there is no other DAW in the cyber world, quite like Mulab.) It costs $20 more than Reaper, but when you use MuLab....you'll be happy you spent the extra $20.
it looks like reapers a keeper...
i am a newb but an educated one (astrophysics degree with a lot of digital signal processing)...i am using bandlab as the training course until i get set up...i find the cut and paste aspect nice but after only a few days, limiting...
was a very easy learning curve...
what's reapers initial learning curve? like bandlabs or will i have to study the manual with a 1-800 operator to understand how to lay a high hat track?
i wouldn't mind the latter, it was like going to school, but i would like to be prepared...
i can bet a personal licence for 60...which is awesome...
25 years ago i started with music as a teenager. today i am a proffesional software developer .. looks like REAPER is for me :D
I used Reaper exclusively for a while, but since moved to Logic for music, mostly for the included software instruments. Even still I prefer Reaper's editing tools and still use it for voiceover/podcast work.
It surprised me a bit the first time I began hearing that ppl think Reaper is “ugly”, lol. Maybe I’ve got bad taste, but “ugly” hadn’t ever crossed my mind while using it. Aesthetically, the look of it is pretty good. And I have dicked around in changing between the various “styles” available, and I even downloaded a few from a site featuring others’ custom..I think “skins” is what I’m meaning..I’m a 63-year-old in remote small-town west TX, so I doubt I’ll win any Oscars on how current my slang is, or anything..Lol, so one I liked and used for a minute before my last PC got too full of AIDS to use anymore was this “orange” skin which had the features laid out very snugly, and some other cool-looking ones. But since getting this PC, I haven’t remembered to switch out from the default skin, because I don’t really need to.
I’m jumping subjects bizarrely out of nowhere, but I loved Mixcraft for similar reasons; it’s laid out where everything is obvious enough for even a Sid Vicious wannabe hillbilly like me to readily grasp. That is, until one day circa 2018ish, some “update” some genius up at Mixcraft decided to impose, turned it, overnight, into a crashy CPU whore which uses ludicrous amounts of RAM, and ever since, it’s utterly unusable, because it will reject plugins and just vanish from the screen. Bringing it back up, I’ll see “We apologize for sucking mole-covered, oily dicks, but the crash was due to (name any plug-in). Trying to resume the project, I’ll see that half the plugins are “blanked out”, and Mixcraft are unable to handle them. I’ll try Mixcraft again once in awhile, and puzzlingly, they seem to prefer the embarrassingly unprofessional mode they’ve now been in for half a decade. It would have been my favorite over Reaper, by a microscopic margin.
Another thing since this new PC, is although I do own Reaper and have paid for it, I’m not keen on the headache of jumping through the hoops involved in obtaining Reaper “legitimately”. I never have and never will master “copying my pasties”. Yeah, yeah, someone else yet again come preach to me re how “simple” it is; I’ll do that for you:
“You just put your finger on the serial number while reciting The Encyclopedia Britannica backwards in Portuguese, then you go over to another spot to diddle its clit, and Mr Spock will cause the serial # to reappear”; yeah, yeah, I already know.
I’ve emailed Reaper apologizing to them for “stealing” their demo, explaining that I really do actually own it.
Getting the actual version of software is always a billion times more complex than using the demo…Which loads effortlessly. 🤔
But that’s just how woke everything is now.
It's ugly, not intuitive to the point where they change terminology for no reason forcing you to spend an insane amount of time looking at guides for things you already know how to do. The hotkeys are atrocious, the entire process fights you every step of the way. It's like it's set up to be as frustrating as possible, nothing about it makes any sense. FL is the only daw as far as i'm concerned. There is not a single thing it can't do, half of the stuff people say it can't do, i've done with vsts. I can make any sound with any technique needed, what else would I need?
I downloaded it a couple days ago and tried to see if I could do anything without a tutorial and I couldn't, It was very intimidating and it made me sad because I want to make music. Took a day to reset and today I'm going to do it, I'm going to reaper school today. The template thing sounds like a good idea, everything is so grey and confusing.
Tremendous overview and review of Reaper software. I agree totally with your Top 10 reasons why Reaper is the best DAW. After using Roland VS-880 & 1600 hard disk recordings since the 1990's, my journey lead me to Reaper. With a few easy programs to prepare my Roland backup files from CD, I was able to work with all my Roland recordings in Reaper. It was magic at the time and I have continued with Reaper for close to 8 years now. Love the software. Great video. Long live Reaper!
What did you use to transfer vs files to reaper?
Its cool that you can code your own plugin, but with Max for Live in Ableton you can do pretty much the same but without any knowledge in coding
Is there a short cut to bring up the mixer window?
Ctrl-M should be default, but you can easily change this to any hotkey you want in the Actions List
switched from Mac back to Windows and was looking for something similar to logic that would run on my machine. Gave reaper a try and never looked back - really slick and easy to use. Never gets in the way. The stock plugins sound great and barely use any system resources. Took a little while to find a layout I like, but now it's just exactly perfect. Can't say that about any other DAW.
I’m fed up with Avid for so many reasons and I’m heading into all new territory as I abandon Pro Tools after many years.
Thank you for this video. You’ve helped me make a decision! I’m going for Reaper!
May i ask what script or mod are you using in reaper to have those plugins loading with logo? like FLstudio plugin picker?
Silly question : I'm about to do a podcast, do you think Reaper would fit for podcasting and if so what plugins will I need in order to control my audio FX
Or do you think is too much?
No reaper is a great option for podcasts. The audio recorded for this video was done in the same way you would record a podcast. There are some free reaper plugins that will act as a noise gate and bring good vocal warmth. Just search for "Podcast recording in reaper" or "eliminate room noise in reaper"
Alright Im getting it tonight new to the channel I am sick of having issues with fl studio (on mac and windows) I didnt know if I could use my mpc studio controller with it and will it discover the mpc beats software? I have a ton of tracks saved in projects so plenty of loops and midi / pad edits. I am hoping I can play them into reaper and organize them. FL and Ableton have me totally annoyed.
Got REAPER yesterday, loving it!
11:13 ooh broo you got to be a little faster than at delivering speech. But what an impersonation of Kenny🙌🙌. Marvellous . Loved the video and subbed. I will definitely look out for Reaper at discounted 60 Dollar price . Just one question folks:-
Would I be able to use Reaper for a different device or does it work only for 1 particular device (Laptop to Pc or a old Laptop to a new one)?
I'm getting an 'iPhone vs Android' kind of vibe. As a bedroom producer who works in Ableton, I've never felt the urge to change shortcut key combinations or add personalization. So far, I've noticed that MIDI editing capabilities in Reaper feel like a workaround upon workaround. For instance, with scales: in Ableton, you just click once on a 'scale' button to activate it. In Reaper, it seems you need to create custom actions/scripts, use obscure key combinations, and so on.
Is there any way to sandbox the vst plugins likr bitwig so that if external vst crashes reaper session stays intact?
Going to be giving this a shot tomorrow. Sounds like what im looking for...
I've been trying to get used to Reaper for a couple of months and find it to be really a pain in the ass to use. Every time I want to just do something simple I have to search and look for tutorials etc. Yes it does some cool stuff but it seems more for people who like to fuck around with menus and options than make music.
Reaper isn’t intuitive, it has a harsher learning curve than most daws but once you understand it, it becomes one of’the best daws imo
@@ChaBawbe I'm sure it's a great DAW once you understand it. I've been doing music on computers since the Atari Cubase 1990 era and I stayed with Cubase but stopped with upgrades at Cubase SX because every uprade had things that I knew I would never need. It still works fine. Reaper has a plethora of unecessary options. For example, a track can be for midi, vst, FX or whatever. And you can change their colors whenever you want. How is that productive? What if you want to collaborate with someone who also uses Reaper but it's completely customised differently. How do you work together? Ok, I'm a ranting old school guy now lol. How 'bout we all tune our guitars differently...how fun would that be?
can you not configure the mouse wheel to scroll up and down in the session? It seems like I can only have one action for mousewheel scroll wtf
Looks powerful, but one major negative is the juvenile penchant for eschewing contrast: black text on a gray background makes reading the labels a chore; and if you want to post a tutorial, the text menus are unreadable. For all the touting of customization, there is nothing in Preferences to modify the colors. Is the only alternative hopefully finding a skin (theme) that offers more readable text? If an option exists for, say, changing the colors in the GUI, it is well-hidden.
I've been using Ableton for years. I used to dj with Traktor ages ago, and then moved to Ableton for live performance.
I'm finally going to give Reaper a fair shake.
how does you Ableton look like that? mixer down bottom, piano roll on side?
Great video!! Where can i find your theme, its really beautifull!!
Reaper being extremely lightweight and performant, along with its very direct and hands-on workflow is what convinced me that it was a good program. I tried it based on a friend's recommendation and it really upped my audio editing capabilities.
Most people use Reaper for music stuff, but I tend to use it more for editing audio for tv/film... while you can technically do this in video editors, you simply don't get the same level of control. After all these years I'm finally just now getting into the music production aspects of reaper.
I’ve found it great to edit my music videos, or make a music video using just the recorded audio then add-in video and graphics. Much easier than the free tools my Mac provides.
nice bro bro ... i have just tried reaper few days ago .. editing is allmost same as Acid pro ( use to work on it ) but in reaper i cant draw the media item again once i delete it ,, can u help me with it .. and how can i render to new track like acid pro
I grew up with analog - when 2" tape was THEE medium.. Transitioning, the only real alternative then was the bloatware known as ProTools and then it was Mac only. I too stumbled through every known DAW, and finding Reaper (v3) was a game changer. I'm happy you covered the forum - unlike the 'other' snob DAW, the help you'll find with thre forum members. Nothing less than friendly help there.
Many thanks. This is an outstanding overview and comparison.
Does anyone know a good virtual drums/bass? I tried some but i couldnt get them to work well, all i got working atm is Helm, adding loops/samples/fx and having to manually key in drum sounds on the virtual keyboard
Really great video !!!!!!
I love Logic Pro X, but I'm switching to Windows 11 soon for 32gb ram, 4tb ssd, and an i7 cpu.....
Cubase and Ableton pro are both £400-500.....
So expensive
Is there an FL theme for Reaper and does it have the FL rec button??
Hi am blind. Word is, reaper is very accessible. Do you have any tips or lessons to refer me to where I could learn the key commands for using reaper without vision? Much appreciated.
Is reaper also an audio editor or just strictly daw?
I just can't wrap my head around reaper running a yamaha and a dante just want to use the plug in function but I can't even seem to get the damn channels to line up
I feel like I have become too old😅 use to hardware set ups but why can't the figure this out
I only use FL Studio because in my opinion it feels like a “game” to me, but if I ever have to switch DAWs, you’ve convinced me that Reaper should be my second choice!
Can someone help me? when I playback in reaper of my recording, it doesn't play sound at all.
I have a specific issue I have a Yamaha S08 and windows and my problem is MIDI clock - I can speak to my keyboard via DIN 5 and USB but I prefer DIN 5 MIDI but again the MIDI clock between keyboard and software doesn’t sync or stay locked to software between MIDI songs - any ideas to solve this issue? I keep my keyboard set at MIDI sync not Int sync…….. help
I was looking for DAWs that run on Linux, and Reaper was recommended. I'm glad to see that it's a quality DAW.
Hey can you drop a link where I could download your 'smooth 6' theme for reaper? Or if you could paste the link in this comment
My biggest problem with Reaper is the lack of stock instruments. I started with Reaper as my first daw and had no idea where to start when it came to choosing instruments.
That problem is gone now. Thank you Spitfire and all the other free plugins
been looking 4 ever for a daw ty ty
When recording vocal only, how to get it's unproccesed stems? It only records as one wav file. Mixer/Master guy is asking me to send the vocal stems
Maybe record two tracks at the same time one processed one clean. A DI box is handy if I'm understanding what you're saying.LOr learn to mix,reaper is capable,same with mastering(Mastering is very easy)
You could turn off the FX and then render...
@@Lamp-zk2kg thanks. Do you know why audio is recording at 48 khz even its setting on 44.1 khz
The only DAW I have ever been even slightly productive in has been ACID Pro. Will I get along with Reaper?
Does Reaper have linked/ghost clips?