Twelve and a half years of REAPER

Dannii · 10-10-2021, 11:38 PM

Out of curiosity, I just went back and checked my history of using REAPER and wow, has time gone by FAST!

Twelve and a half years ago, I was looking for an alternative to Protools for recording important, one off live gigs. I needed something that would be a rock solid, portable multitrack recording rig rather than carting around my entire Mac G4 Protools rig. I had hired stand alone hard disk recorders for a couple of gigs and that worked but I wanted my own portable rig.
After much research, I decided to set up a dedicated laptop with REAPER and give it a thorough workout in my studio before taking it on the road.
REAPER was solid as a rock recording 24 tracks of audio at 96/24 so I decided that was the system I would use and it never let me down.

My initial plan was to do the live recordings with that rig and then transfer everything to Protools in my studio for mixing. I did just that for a couple of gigs and then decided that I might as well learn REAPER properly and just do everything from recording to mastering in it.
The more time I spent with REAPER, the more I loved its workflow and I soon switched to REAPER for everything and haven't looked back!

Fast forward to today and I am about to remix some of those gigs for commercial release..... In REAPER of course!

I still have the Mac G4 Protools rig which I bought at the end of 1999 and it still boots and runs. I took it with me to this month's Adelaide Retro Computer meet last Friday night and it was amazing how much I had forgotten regarding Protools and the keyboard shortcuts.... and I used to know them inside out! It was a fun nostalgia trip though!

Long live REAPER! <3

ivansc · 10-11-2021, 12:32 AM

(grin) you just made me realise how OLD my studio PC is! Admittedly, it was something like a Core 2 back in those days & it`s an i7 4770 now...

I got to Reaper via Cakewalk`s Sonar & prior to that, my Amiga 500/1200 running Bars n Pipes Pro & have never regretted the move.
Oh and of course with BPP I was using Fostex SCSI hard disk recorders hooked up to my A&H 56 channel desk & "controlled" by the Amiga!
Pre that, I was using a 4 track Otari & a cheesy little Tascam desk with six whole inputs!!

Maybe it`s time I updated my studio computer, but if it ain`t broke, don`t fix it has always been my motto. Nice to hear from you again, Danni. My mob in Australia are all still hale & hearty, so I hope you are keeping safe & happy too.

Tod · 10-11-2021, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

(grin) you just made me realise how OLD my studio PC is! Admittedly, it was something like a Core 2 back in those days & it`s an i7 4770 now...

I got to Reaper via Cakewalk`s Sonar & prior to that, my Amiga 500/1200 running Bars n Pipes Pro & have never regretted the move.
Oh and of course with BPP I was using Fostex SCSI hard disk recorders hooked up to my A&H 56 channel desk & "controlled" by the Amiga!
Pre that, I was using a 4 track Otari & a cheesy little Tascam desk with six whole inputs!!

Maybe it`s time I updated my studio computer, but if it ain`t broke, don`t fix it has always been my motto. Nice to hear from you again, Danni. My mob in Australia are all still hale & hearty, so I hope you are keeping safe & happy too.

Yeah like you my old friend, I came from Sonar too. I had checked out Reaper several times prior and since Midi was very important to me I stuck with Sonar. Then came Sonar 4 with all kinds of problems and that was it for me. So I turned to Reaper again and by then it had improved a lot with the midi and I've been here ever since.

Plus, there just aint no other DAWS where you can customize anything and everything.

Glennbo · 10-11-2021, 07:22 AM

I switched to REAPER sooper lucky 13 years ago!

Was working on a bass part for a song, and had Sonar looping that section when the now pointer went past my loop point and got stuck, where no key or mouse click could gain control. I had not yest saved and lost an hours worth of bass I had just written parts for, and this problem had happened to me with Sonar before, so . . .

I downloaded REAPER right then and recorded all the parts I had come up with while they were still fresh in my mind, then I saved it, put REAPER into a 16 bar loop like I had done with Sonar, and then I left the house for three hours.

When I came home, REAPER was still happily looping that section so I bought a license the next day and haven't looked back.

serr · 10-11-2021, 07:33 AM

I wonder what percentage of former Protools HD users jumped ship for Reaper? Appears to be a common theme anyway.

Looks like 12 years of Reaper happiness and light here.

I was using MOTU firewire interfaces and Digital Performer to remote record and initial track because Digi hardware was stupid expensive to get more than 2 channels into Protools. So dueling rigs. DP had a rough time transitioning from OS9 to OSX. I just kept a laptop with a OS9 install and kept moving. I think the problem was trying to upgrade laptops sometime later. That started a search for new remote recording software. Protools did their big crash and burn with the v9 debacle right around the same time. Reaper just took over and did everything better and faster with a thousand more features. And it had stability at low latency to the point you could run live sound! Kind of unheard of in 2009. (Protools always had to be set to the highest buffers everywhere for the least amount of struggle. There was no low latency.) The 1st iPad came out and I realized that was a remote control for a computer.

Over ten years later and people are still struggling with PT HD and the like?! Not sure why when we have these modern conveniences! On the other hand you can buy a X32 Rack interface/mixer and run live sound with an iPad right out of the box now. I even bought one and the expensive mic pres and AD converters and the Mac Pro stay home now.

serr · 10-11-2021, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glennbo

... then I saved it, put REAPER into a 16 bar loop like I had done with Sonar, and then I left the house for three hours.

That reminds me of testing Reaper for live use initially. I armed all 36 tracks from all the inputs from the 2 connected interfaces. I had one digital input from a 2nd computer with 6 hours of music cued up. Hit record and went about doing other stuff. I'd hear any obvious crash with my house music up. I'd grab the control surface and dub out with one of the delays here and there just to poke at it.

At the end I could line up the recorded copy of the music track and compare it to the original to see if even one single sample was dropped. There was not even one single sample missing. One hell of a sales pitch there!

Glennbo · 10-11-2021, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by serr

That reminds me of testing Reaper for live use initially. I armed all 36 tracks from all the inputs from the 2 connected interfaces. I had one digital input from a 2nd computer with 6 hours of music cued up. Hit record and went about doing other stuff. I'd hear any obvious crash with my house music up. I'd grab the control surface and dub out with one of the delays here and there just to poke at it.

At the end I could line up the recorded copy of the music track and compare it to the original to see if even one single sample was dropped. There was not even one single sample missing. One hell of a sales pitch there!

After getting burned once, you quickly learn to hammer on all new stuff to make sure it ain't gonna break when you absolutely need it to work!

richie43 · 10-11-2021, 01:40 PM

About 12 years for me, too!
My journey with Reaper is different than what I am reading so far. I had zero experience with recording on what I call "the other side of the mic and console". I was a live performer (had one band that toured extensively from 2000-2009), and was a very fortunately busy session musician. My non-music job, when needed, had always been as a professional gardener who also did enough of the heavier landscape work.
In 2009, at age 45, I learned that my life of hard work and tireless music (and jumping from drum risers with my very heavy 79' hard-tail Strat) had ushered in an extremely problematic spine issue, so 2 spine surgeries later, no more performing for a while, and no more session work (I couldn't hall my gear, or barely carry more than an acoustic without a case...).
Instead of despairing, I went out and bought an inexpensive MXL ribbon mic, a used SM57, and installed Reaper. Because of the deep connections I had with various studios in the area, I was blessed with countless hours of free help. The BIGGEST gift for me, though, was this forum. I was floored at how much expertise there is here, how giving people are, and how fast a person can learn this when determined.
Fast forward to now...I had been running an unusually great home based studio up until 3 years ago, have done entire albums with almost zero hardware besides a good interface, mics, instruments, amps, etc (no mixer or fancy selection of outboard processing hardware), and have learned enough that I am able to help others that are in developmental stages that I recognize from my beginning.
Everything about what I consider the "Reaper culture" fits right into my mindset and lifestyle. I am super grateful for Justin, his amazing staff, and especially for this forum community.

bigtop · 10-13-2021, 01:12 AM

REAPER is a tightly coded, adaptable user friendly DAW.

ProTools is a Proprietary Ecosystem.

ivansc · 10-13-2021, 02:21 AM

Wow! I just realised I joined reaper at version 1.xx initially, which means I must have been using it for about 14 years!!!

You`d think I would know how to use it better than like a giant tape recorder by now, wouldn`t you?

bigtop · 10-13-2021, 03:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Wow! I just realised I joined reaper at version 1.xx initially, which means I must have been using it for about 14 years!!!

You`d think I would know how to use it better than like a giant tape recorder by now, wouldn`t you?

Lol. Me too!

chip mcdonald · 10-13-2021, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

You`d think I would know how to use it better than like a giant tape recorder by now, wouldn`t you?

Early on, when a certain person had quibbles about a lot of things, as those things were addressed I became more and more settled into what most would consider a "restricted" utilization of the feature set. Looking at how it's evolved with extensions, what some people seem bent on utilizing, I'm using it more and more "marginally" despite having used it practically every day since the start.

I haven't changed my theme in years, and probably haven't integrated a new Reaper feature in years either, save putting VSTs on the TCP. Get off my lawn.

Glennbo · 10-13-2021, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Wow! I just realised I joined reaper at version 1.xx initially, which means I must have been using it for about 14 years!!!

You`d think I would know how to use it better than like a giant tape recorder by now, wouldn`t you?

What's wrong with a big tape recorder if you can play?

endorka · 10-13-2021, 02:15 PM

It's great to hear these histories. Just checked back in my projects and it was 2011 for me. I had to send someone in another part of the country some double bass parts for an EP, so downloaded the Reaper trial version. Still here 10 years later, a relative newbie :-)

Cheers,
Jennifer

dea-man · 10-13-2021, 07:17 PM

Hey, friends!

12 years for me, too.

Except I came from a Roland VS-2480.

Still have that, too, but I haven't fired it up in years.

plush2 · 10-13-2021, 07:37 PM

I had to go to my statistics to see, it seems I've been around here for 15 years. It was cool to read at the time that the creator of Winamp had decided to build a DAW. The hook was once you tried it and saw it could record arm, change input routing and even signal type (audio or midi) with the transport rolling. That was at the earlier alpha stages. I tried out many breakout DAWs around that time, some of them still exist and some don't but this one seemed on a completely different trajectory.

I don't know if this forum existed yet but it wasn't much later than that.

uksnowy · 10-14-2021, 03:08 AM

For me it was 2008. I was tired of using hacked copies of whatever and was looking for an affordable DAW. I found Reaper via a search and decided to give it go. I think it was later releases of V2. I confess I didn't like it at first. It was very far removed from I had grown up with. I was using it to produce a podcast and some tunes. It didn't take long for it to become the central point in my setup.

Mercado_Negro · 10-14-2021, 04:03 AM

15 years and counting here!

What a great journey!

karbomusic · 10-14-2021, 07:12 AM

Looks like I'm a twelve-point-fiver too. Previously it was Logic for PC when it was owned by Emagic (Pre Apple), then bailed for Nuendo when Apple bought out Emagic, then Reaper since 2009.

airon · 10-14-2021, 07:33 AM

Using for 15 years.

Full on professional use for six years. Post production audio and game audio design.

siniarch · 10-14-2021, 11:31 AM

Well, seems like I'm th noob around here. Was working on some independent films and the budget ran out before we got to audio post production. So I started my search. I know Protocols is the standard when it comes to post audio but I took one look at it, read about all the issues and I knew there had to be something better. I must have looked at all the big players, but REAPER just made sense. Been a huge fan of customization and shortcuts to control software.
Today, I build my own studio, and beginning to record bands and make music. Lots of fun. Been using Logic as some people wanted to start with that, but other than the Virtual Instruments it comes with (specially the drums ai), there is nothing that I think Logic does better than Reaper.

Super glad I found this software and this forum!!!

Thanks everyone, from the creators to all the contributors.

siniarch · 10-14-2021, 11:32 AM

Well, seems like I'm th noob around here.

4 years or so, so far.

Was working on some independent films and the budget ran out before we got to audio post production. So I started my search. I know Protocols is the standard when it comes to post audio but I took one look at it, read about all the issues and I knew there had to be something better. I must have looked at all the big players, but REAPER just made sense. Been a huge fan of customization and shortcuts to control software.

Today, I have my own studio, and beginning to record bands and make music. Lots of fun. Been using Logic as some people wanted to start with that, but other than the Virtual Instruments it comes with (specially the drums ai), there is nothing that I think Logic does better than Reaper.

Super glad I found this software and this forum!!!

Thanks everyone, from the creators to all the contributors.

Jed · 10-14-2021, 11:49 AM

I'm an OG too

Fair to say that I can't imagine my music life without Reaper (and all you guys) in it

Cheers
Jed

chip mcdonald · 10-14-2021, 12:42 PM

16+ years? I remember when the forum only had a couple of posts on it. I came from Cool Edit Pro.

bladerunner · 10-14-2021, 04:01 PM

14 years for me.. yikes how time flies. Wow..

stormformer · 10-14-2021, 11:17 PM

1996 - Fast Tracker II
2002 - Fruity Loops 3
2003 - Renoise (1, 2 and 3)
2011 - Reaper 4 onwards...

With some bits of work on Cool Edit Pro, Audition, Goldwave, ReBirth, Soundforge, Live, probably others I've forgotten...

I still dip into Renoise regularly to extrapolate many unfinished ideas into Reaper-land. Despite being an old 'tracker' at heart, I'm most happy with Reaper.

nicholas · 10-15-2021, 12:56 AM

Been here since early 2007 ... another ex Cakewalk/Sonarite!

Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?

Karmoon · 10-15-2021, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormformer

1996 - Fast Tracker II

Absolutely love Fast Tracker II. Had a ton of fun with it, and also learnt a ton.

From there I went to Jeskola Buzz, which was totally mental, a lot of fun - and very buggy haha.

Then I started learning guitar and using Guitar Pro more.

I had an apple laptop with Garage Band for a little while. I was about to go for Logic, but the laptop got stolen. After comparing prices, I opted instead to upgrade to windows + Reaper + SM57 + Superior Drummer. For roughly the same price as an apple and Logic, I came out really far ahead.

That must have been about a decade ago now.

Now I make my living with audio work, and that's largely down to how great Reaper is. I joined this forum thinking that I'd be needing to ask tons of questions and get help. But I have like under 50 post in over a decade. Reaper is so damn intuitive, I really didn't need much help at all.

I've tried many other DAWs over the years. But as you all know, the difference between fighting against your software, and working with it cannot be underestimated.

sqkychair · 10-15-2021, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chip mcdonald

16+ years? I remember when the forum only had a couple of posts on it. I came from Cool Edit Pro.

Im at 12 1/2 myself. I guess a lot of us found a reason to switch right around that time.
I came from Cool Edit Pro as well. What a shock! I thought I was in heaven with what I could do.
I even wrote a converter to convert the CEP files to Reaper.

plush2 · 10-15-2021, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sqkychair

Im at 12 1/2 myself. I guess a lot of us found a reason to switch right around that time.
I came from Cool Edit Pro as well. What a shock! I thought I was in heaven with what I could do.
I even wrote a converter to convert the CEP files to Reaper.

How many old CEP forum members do we have here? I followed them to Audition but rapidly switched to Reaper once I realized it could all be done realtime more or less.

I wrote a converter awk script to go from n-track to Reaper (another pit-stop along my journey) but then Michael/runaway came along and I didn't need anything like that anymore.

mhuss · 10-15-2021, 01:43 PM

> I had to go to my statistics to see
Me too... Join Date: 06-10-2009, so a bit over 12 years -- and I still don't understand or use most of the features, lol. And I can't even remember the name of the software I was using before, but it had gone unsupported, so I tried REAPER, and after a bit of a learning curve, never looked back.

MRT · 10-15-2021, 03:01 PM

Funny and odd that Twelve years seems to be so common.

Had to go into the archives, but I purchased my first Reaper serial Key, August of 2009. Had been with Cakewalk then Sonar prior to that.

zeekat · 10-16-2021, 12:19 AM

My first license confirmation has oct 20 2008 timestamp, but now when statute of limitations passed I can admit of having "evaluated" a bit long, first files in oldest projects are late march 2008, so it's Reaper 2.1x times.

I wouldn't be here if it wouldn't work smooth right from the beginning, my Athlon 2000something didn't have a problem with it at all, with about the same sized projects as today (I did guitars with POD 2.0 tho). Was shocked "wait, you could run dozens of effects IN REALTIME?".

I think 2008 was the time when Reaper got feature rich enough that word started to get out - I learned about it in some mundane place like some blog comments.

Naji · 10-16-2021, 12:44 AM

First logic, then Pro Tools, now PT and Reaper. What I like about Reaper is the fact it's customizable and stable and some stock plugins get a lot of use.
I use an older version of Reaper, because in V6 all of a sudden, Reaper started scanning plugins each time I opened a new project and it just takes too long. Current version still does it., unfortunately

karbomusic · 10-16-2021, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naji

I use an older version of Reaper, because in V6 all of a sudden, Reaper started scanning plugins each time I opened a new project and it just takes too long. Current version still does it., unfortunately

There is a setting to turn that off.

Naji · 10-16-2021, 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karbomusic

There is a setting to turn that off.

Thanks for not telling whete these settings are

karbomusic · 10-16-2021, 08:13 AM

I almost always post precise information, but I was in bed and only up for a few minutes.

I didn't know where it was either, so I opened preferences and in the search box I typed the word scan and clicked the find button.

You are welcome.

studio1602 · 10-16-2021, 08:22 AM

Another happy user with around 12 years. I got on board with REAPER 3 sometime around 2009 or 2010. The number of bugs/problems in SONAR had reached critical mass for me, so I began evaluating other DAWs. Having been a heavy WinAmp user back in the day, REAPER was at the top of shortlist.

I still remember my initial evaluation session with REAPER - REAPER did a lot of things in ways I wasn't used to, so my first impression was not good. But after working with the program for a while, there was that magic moment when everything clicked into place, and the workflow was so simple and elegant! Never looked back.

Fantastic program!

Frank van Helvoirt · 10-16-2021, 08:42 AM

Here from Reaper 0.x, back and forth between Reaper and Cubase but last years only Reaper, best daw for me. Big hands to the developers and Justin in particular.

Regards,

frenq

Naji · 10-16-2021, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by karbomusic

I almost always post precise information, but I was in bed and only up for a few minutes.

I didn't know where it was either, so I opened preferences and in the search box I typed the word scan and clicked the find button.

You are welcome.

Thanks