Why did you switch to Reaper?

[brainwreck]

from cubase

routing
logical layout
performance/stability
features matched my needs (or were coming along at the time)
responsiveness of cockos developers
fair business model (which has only improved, in my opinion)
awesome forum/people

[rossh]

I came to Reaper from Audition 3.

The big glossy adds for Audition said "now supporting MIDI/VSTi."
They lied. It does in principle but is crashy and near impossible to work with. The Adobe Audition forum is loaded with frustrated MIDI users.

I too like everything about Reaper. From it's business model, it's mad update schedule (an absolute counterpoint to Audition's total lack of updates) and of course Reapers pricing.

Having said all that, I've been playing with Ableton Live over the last couple of months and I've got to say, it's a little different. A bit of a different twist on the usual linear approach to audio recording. The thing is, if you lined up all the DAW's out there with nothing more than their screen shot, an unbiased eye would say they're all the same. Which of course they are in their basic paradigm. It is the little things that make the difference hence our preference for Reaper.

But Live is different. Aside from it's obvious maturity as a DAW, it has the Session view that allows you to mix'n'match clips in whatever way you like. All done on the fly. It's a different way of thinking.

I saw earlier someone say that nobody has come to Reaper from FL Studio or Samplitude. I actually think I have seen a few people say that they used to use those programs BUT

I've never seen anyone say "I came from Live".

[DerMetzgermeister]

Originally Posted by rossh

I've never seen anyone say "I came from Live".

I have.

A few say that they compose with Live but track and mix with Reaper.

The workflow in Live is really something else. I'm just demoing it and I'm very surprised.

[drakeblood]

I was FL poweruser since FL3.0... and now i'm a Reaper user since 3 weeks.
I used nearly all most known daws, at least 1 year each before stick forever to FL... and then now i'm with Reaper and is pure love.

[bretrooks]

Hobbyist, rank amateur, and long-time part-time lurker here...just chiming in to express my appreciation, if for no other reason.

My first recordings were made 4-5 years ago using Audacity and/or Kristal, using the 1/8" input jack on a SB Live card. After upgrading to a decent sound card, I bought Acid 6...and discovered Reaper 0.8-something about a month later.

I was impressed with the development speed, the community, the efficiency of the program, the price and business model (once those kicked in), and the way Reaper just got out of the way and let me record audio. I jumped on board and never looked back.

It's always been far more powerful than I need it to be, but all those things that impressed me then impress me all the more now. I don't have many pieces of software that I go out of my way to recommend, but Reaper is one.

Bret

[WH studios]

i switched from FLS to CUbase before switching from cubase to REaper

[pjk]

I came from N-Track, when it got into the 4 days.

I've used FL studio all along, and still use FL studio along side Reaper, for different tasks.

I love the guerrilla mentality of Reaper, being small, lite, and agile in it's flexibility, and adjustability.

It doesn't monkey with my system, keeping it's hands off the internals of my PC. It can undelete without residue, if you know what I mean.

Plus, Reaper is way more stable then N was (after 3.3). And the kick-itty-ass plugs are a real bonus.

Low price for hobby work is very nice as well.

[stk]

I came from SX2. In order of importance (to me):
1) Business philosophy
2) Routing flexibility
3) Price

I also use FLStudio for main production on midi+audio projects. Conveniently, it conforms to my priorities listed above, plus (unlike rpr).. 0.5) Hands-down the best pianoroll in this galaxy.

I also use Live 7, purely for (duh) live shows.

[henge]

Logic 5.5 > reaper. One word....BUBINGA!!

[Glennbo]

Originally Posted by twistedbluesstudios

Did you switch to Reaper from another host?

Yep. I switched from Sonar.

Why did you switch to Reaper?

I got tired of their throwing a bunch of 3rd party plugins and recycled code of their own in with essentially the same buggy DAW software, and calling it the *new* annual release. It was when I had a section of a song I was writing in a loop, so I could rehearse a guitar part, and Sonar's now time indicator went past the loop point, and off to la la land that I said to myself, "this has been a bug through three or more versions, and I've had it!". I downloaded Reaper and put it into a similar loop that put Sonar to sleep, and then I left the house. When I came back, Reaper was still playing the looped section, so I finished the song in Reaper. Within a week I paid for a license, and haven't looked back.

[TheArchitect]

From Cubase SX3 to Reaper

1) Steinberg was too interested in adding things I didn't need and never fixing the things I did. Fluff over core functionality doesn't get it done

2) The arrogance of Steinberg's representatives on their forum.

3) And this is really the most important. Reapers's routing flexibility and other features that matched my workflow better than Cubase. I got the feeling most of the Cubase users were doing 90% midi stuff with a few vocal tracks. I am the opposite. I track about 95% real instruments with an occasional midi/softsynth for instrument I don't have.

4) Its very clear that the developers of Reaper are listening to what the users need and provide it incredibly fast. If they can't or it will take time because of the complexity that is communicated. This is not at all common and is greatly appreciated.

[smallbutmighty]

To Reaper from Sonar.

I had been with Sonar since way back in the Twelve Tone days when it was purely MIDI. I stayed with them through Pro Audio, and then up to Sonar 6. By that time the program seemed completely bloated with old code. Each new version was basically a couple new third party DX effects and few new things that I really never used (anyone remember "Widgets"?) There were a lot of buggy things that went on and on through several version numbers. When they finally did get fixed, Cakewalk called it a new version number and you had to pay.

The first time I tried Reaper I was amazed. Small, spry, stable. It worked flawlessly the first time out of the "box". It sounded great, and was super easy to get started with...so much more intuitive for me than Sonar. The developers were intimately involved with the user base, and responded to requests/bugs/suggestions super fast.

I've almost completely abandoned Sonar at this point. The only reason I keep it installed is for the UltraFunk plug-ins. (Wish I had a separate license for them!)

[gavriloP]

I migrated from Tracktion 1.6. The biggest reasons were better use of my then-new dualcore PC (it was crashland with Tracktion) and the ability to use video. But it didn't take long to realize the huge greatness of Reaper! Well, actually there is always something new to found with Reaper. Stuff like unbelieveable routing and great plugin delay compensation that just plain works! And the ability to name plugin instances and save everything, ctrl+up and down arrows, and... it just keeps giving.

To me this is almost perfect already. I don't need anything more than performance tweaks and stability (not that they present any real problems even now). But I'm sure that cockos team will come up with stuff that will seem essential once established.

[thormes]

I`m not yet ready to make a full transition to Reaper since it doesn`t have an internal editor. Everything else is a big + for Reaper.

[kelldammit]

Originally Posted by synth

We have yet to see people dumping Samplitude or FL Studio and switching to REAPER

actually, i dumped samp and the pc altogether for dp on a mac. i added logic, and was really really happy. then the mac got lifted, and a new project came along with a pc user friend, so i needed to find a cheap pc, and something we could both afford to run for the sake of easy collaboration/support. so i found a cheap laptop, and right on cue...reaper! what a blessing!

as soon as i can afford the new machine, though, i must admit i'll totally go back to macland. i just didn't realize how much i disliked windows till i had to come back to it. the pc and reaper will most likely continue to see serious use for field recording projects, though...which says a lot about how much i trust the reliability of this setup. we'll see how far along reaper/mac has come along by then!

kell

[apozaf]

poah! so many people here switched from cubase to reaper. well, i did, too cause sx3/nuendo was so buggy. but i bought cubase 5 a while ago and i'm really happy with it, haven't had any crashes with v5. yes, it is the most expensive daw out there but i really love it. still reaper is a very good daw, too. i still use it.

[FunkyBeat]

Originally Posted by nym

what's up, funky....good to see you still kickin it over here.

Hey nym,

You still hang out at the mpc forum? I haven't been there in ages. Now that I have an Open Labs NeKo LX5, I don't have a need for my mpc anymore.

Good to see you, bro. You are a genius with that mpc1000!

[FunkyBeat]

Originally Posted by pjk

I've used FL studio all along, and still use FL studio along side Reaper, for different tasks.

Same here. I use FL Studio for all things midi and Reaper for all things audio. Some would say I should abandon FL completely and just use Reaper for everything. Can't do that because I love FL's midi workflow to no end.

And to me, it's all about workflow. That's one of the biggest things that attracted me to Reaper.

[Xenakios]

Originally Posted by apozaf

but i bought cubase 5 a while ago and i'm really happy with it, haven't had any crashes with v5. yes, it is the most expensive daw out there

No it's not, SAW Studio and Magix Sequoia are far more expensive. Steinberg's own Nuendo is also more expensive than Cubase...

[pjk]

I love FL's midi workflow to no end

Yep, me too. I purchased the sound font player, and sytrus as well, and am really happy with how they work. Plus sytrus has a ton of possible sounds, plus presets.

I VSTi'ed FL inside Reaper once, but it crashed after an hour of work, so I just seq in FL now, then render and import into R.

Works great for me, and keeps my tasks separate.

[apozaf]

Originally Posted by Xenakios

No it's not, SAW Studio and Magix Sequoia are far more expensive. Steinberg's own Nuendo is also more expensive than Cubase...

you're right. dunno why sequoia is so expensive, i personally hate it. and saw studios gui is from the 80ies.

[Shredder]

Originally Posted by apozaf

... and saw studios gui is from the 80ies.

Yes sir - I still have an old version of SAW - still looks DOS..

[Oxytoxine]

magix music studio --> samplitude SE --> cubase studio 4 --> reaper ==> cubase 5 ( + reaper)

and now i cannot forget reaper and always come back to it for the reasons others have mentioned above. in brief, i'm simply much faster in reaper, it's kind of laid out more logical IMO. however, it's still lacking a lot from the competition, so i could not (yet) switch fully (again).

if reaper had "normal" integration of midi/multi-out vsti tracks (faders controlling volume etc.), score, clip-based automation, a broader palette of instruments and fx (with presets etc. i would not hesitate to use it exclusively, in fact i desperately would like to.

especially the guitarist soul in me always cries for reaper when i'm firing up cubase, but unfortunately, for the reasons mentioned above, the keyboarder and "producer" soul calls for cubase..

[FunkyBeat]

Originally Posted by pjk

I VSTi'ed FL inside Reaper once, but it crashed after an hour of work, so I just seq in FL now, then render and import into R.

I sequence in FL and then rewire it to Reaper. Works like a charm.

[vibedog]

I'm from live. I have more than one version of "live lite" and a paid for version of "live le".

I am a noob hobbyist without time to figure out a ton of stuff, I like making music, and enjoy an easy to use DAW where "making music" goes beyond the performing and into the mixing. No professional ambitions.

My complaint with live le or live lite is the same as everyone else's- they are crippled. The specific crippling that drove me to try reaper is controlling a synth with midi out.

The full version of live is well beyond my hobbyist budget meaning I'd rather forgo a feature (such as midi out) than pay a huge chunk of change. I don't blame ableton for this, I have written them about it and they have been kind enough to explain their situation. Their business model is of the live "package" which includes a lot of live specific instruments and effects. I think they are losing the hobbyist with the crippling though.

Ableton gets a user's foot in the door with packing the software with hardware, but when a user run's up against a crippled feature, it is either fork over a huge chunk of change, forego the feature, or go elsewhere. I put this in the context of the Gibson Dark Fire (which I don't own but followed when it came out.) It came bundled with a version of live that allowed recording simultaneous recording of each of the guitar's 6 strings. Anyone who has invested the time and money to actually record all 6 strings from such an expensive guitar will be very annoyed when they run up against a crippled feature. I bring up this specific example because it probably would have been much better for Gibson (and Cockos) to just bundle reaper with the Dark Fire. No crippling.

The other inexpensive ones I've considered are:
Bremmers Audio Design Multitrackstudio 5.2 $69
Mackie Tracktion 3 $50
Mixcraft 4 $75
but I'm happy with Reaper so I'll stick with it for awhile.

Also, I am totally amazed at the business model, very smart cookies, with some humor too (assniffer).

[jamester]

Originally Posted by DerMetzgermeister

I have.

A few say that they compose with Live but track and mix with Reaper.

The workflow in Live is really something else. I'm just demoing it and I'm very surprised.

+1

Reaper and Live, Yin and Yang

[spinlock]

Cubase SX3 -> Reaper

- Reaper just seems to let me do the little things that I want to do: FX re-ordering, for example.

- It gives me all of the features of a modern DAW at an affordable price

- the routing is insanely powerful and makes much more sense to me

- It's light-weight, cpu-efficient. makes use of multiple cores better than SX3

- It's completely self-contained (kind of like Reason, minus the synths). Comes with most of the fx you'd ever need.

- The biggest reason is that it feels incredibly natural to me and fits my workflow style better

[The-Zeronaut]

cool edit pro -> adobe audition -> Cubase sx3 -> cubase 4 -> Pro tools LE (in class) -> And finally REAPER...

i want pro tools HD for the multitrack Beat detective for drum quantizing
and i dream with reaper having something like that in the future
but i dont want to spent thousands of dollars for only ONE thing
i like in a daw...

besides that i think reaper is the greatest daw in the market

best price
DEFINITELY best costumer support (this forum is awesome)
really fast updates and fixes

[bassmunkee]

From Cakewalk Sonar 6.
I got fed up with all the dropouts, and I wanted something with more flexibility.
So far Reaper seems more flexible, more intuitive to use, it has a much lower footprint, once you get the hang of it the MIDI implementation isn't half bad, the updates are a lot better, the GUI is much more flexible, it seems as if - (so far) - it's more robust and more able to handle high workloads - (last recording had 25 + tracks on it), the VSTs it comes with are very good too, etc...
Again, I've just started using it, but I like enough it so far to have bought it, time will tell but it definately seems better than Sonar at the moment.

[snebenan]

Cubase SL 2->SL3 -> Energy XT -> Reaper 1

My main reasons for switching was:
- Startup time is seconds compared to minutes.
- mean and lean installation, no bloating all over my HD.
- monitoring on input (you needed SX to get that in cubase)

Since then, I've really come to appreciate the routing options. The way you can side chain stuff in Reaper is simply awesome.

Also the included plugs are really great quality.
I could probably do 90% of my mixing just with the included tools if I needed to.
//s

[wakkaman]

i moved from cubaseSX+FLS to reaper+FLS and slowly i'm making the final transition to reaper as my only DAW!
i'm going to miss the flexibility of FL's midi stuff but i'm managing to achieve the same results with reaper, it takes some getting used to but i'll get there eventually and FL will be out off the picture forgood

[OrenS]

Came from N-Track, when it became a bug machine and tech support was just plain useless ("we can't understand what the problem is. Sorry"). Actually, I found out about Reaper when looking for a solution in the homerecording.com N-Track forum and found out everyone deserted the ship and switched to Reaper.

[Bubbagump]

Originally Posted by OrenS

Actually, I found out about Reaper when looking for solution in the homerecording.com N-Track forum and found out everyone deserted the ship and switched to Reaper.

Whoever could you be talking about?

[Diogenes]

LOL...

I'm one of the rats that left the sinking n-Track-tanic also... Reaper was my Carpathia!

D

[plamuk]

You still hang out at the mpc forum?

nope. a recent battle showed me that MPC-forums' alphabet starts with A and ends with Jay Dilla. it is a waste of time and it's been a long time since i've learned anything from that place, and despite the love that i get there, that audience is simply not mine

[brownte]

I'm an old timer in the n-Track world. Got on board around v1.3.3 and couldn't have been happier at the time. I had (have) an old Ensoniq SQ1+ which has a built in sequencer, so I had no need of MIDI in the program at the time. I thought it was the bee's knees.

Kind of sad to hear that it went downhill after that. I liked the program originally and thought Flavio seemed like a pretty cool guy with a great idea. I kept meaning to check it out again once a year or so, but the real world kept getting in the way of me and playing music so I just never did.

I found Audacity a little over a year ago and got excited because it's free. But it falls woefully short of being a full fledged DAW and that's when I found Reaper.

[manning1]

i got reaper cos i liked the logo..lol.
seriously..
small footprint got me n too many other reasons to list.
i hate bloat.

[Cyrokk]

Originally Posted by synth

We have yet to see people dumping Samplitude or FL Studio and switching to REAPER

Now you have. I dumped Samplitude 6.0 because it can't handle VST-i drum software, the midi capabilities were extremely limited, the metering wasn't very clear, and the constant micromanagement of objects became a pain in the ass.

I gave FL Studio two days before I got sick of the ugly interface.

Despite the unholy battle I had getting the routing configured with my analog setup (which has more to do with my components than the software), Reaper hasn't pissed me off. Yet.

[Runaway]

I'm Audition through and through - run a professional multitrack studio with it and it suits me down to the ground. Multitracking excellent - editing & restoration - 2nd to none.

However, if I was to change I suspect v3 of Reaper would get my vote.

Everything else (and I've seen a few) has the look and feel of a Fisher Price toy :-)

[dub3000]

samplitude/pro tools/dabbling in some other things ---> reaper.

every daw is ideally targeted to a different set of tasks. reaper happens to do all the stuff i want better than everything else i've tried.