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28 Reaper Reviews
Reaper was one of the first software that I started using as a student. As time went on and my business started to scale up, I was able to switch to a commercial license. The best thing about Reaper is that there are no limitations placed on anyone using the software for the first time. All installations come with a 60 day evaluation license that does not limit the software even after the time period is over. The folks at Cockos even offer a discounted license for students that is a fraction of the cost you would pay for a full copy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Honestly, there are no downsides. There are constant updates that help with this. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The flexibility to configure absolutely all the available functions in the program, from shortcuts, function combinations, aesthetics, changes are implemented quickly and effectively, they present updates constantly correcting minor details and implementing new functions. I haven't used the technical support, but it has a very active user base that helps with corrections or advice. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Visually, sometimes it is not very attractive and coming from another program, it can be somewhat confrontational due to previous shortcut habits. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Reaper has many different advantages over other DAWs. The price is unbeatable starting at the unlimited free evaluation, to $60 for the discounted license, to the commercial license which is $225 at the moment. It's lightweight; I was able to handle a lot more plugins on a chain than I could have on FL Studio. It's also extremely customizable almost to a fault but not. Also, every action within the software can be mapped to a keystroke. You can customize your screen to include these actions as buttons so that you don't have to reach for your keyboard or go layers deep in your menus. The web midi interface lets you control your daw using a browser on a phone, tablet or additional computer and these can also be customizable. I've never seen that in any other daw. I could really go on and on because there are 10 or so features that make Reaper pretty powerful if you have the time to learn and customize it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The main weakness that Reaper has is that it doesn't come with any virtual instruments and the sampler is pretty basic (though very functional.) Luckily there are many free virtual instruments out there including Vital, Keyscape, etc to have enough to get started if funds are very tight. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I don't know where to start, honestly!
It's easy to use, has so many features, the user interface is pretty modern and user friendly, at the same time containing all the features. You can record and work on actual full songs in the studio quality. It's so generous that such software is available for evaluation license for people who want to make music at home.
Reaper is the first audio recording software I tried to record my guitar. It blew me away how easy it is to record and master tracks nowadays in excellent quality. It just works. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
I can't find a single thing that I dislike. Reaper is just genuinely perfect, and I don't know what could be better at this point. I'm so happy with Reaper and the features it provides.
There was not a single moment when I thought, "What a pity, I want that feature, but it's not there.". Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Reaper is just a lightweight fast working software, you just launch it and it works fast, just adding tracks and start making music, the UI can be a little complicated to first timers but it's easy to get used to it, supports most types of plugins which are easy to add, and it can add plugins and effects to either the input of the track or the track itself which i find super handy sometimes while recording and live monitoring, using search for finding any plugin or instrument is a super handy feature, working with midi is different that other DAWs but it's not complicated, and the functions are great as well, the software handles the audio driver very good and very few issues occurred due to audio interface problems, the software is very reliable and rarely crashes, i consider reaper to be on of the most stable DAWs out there, you can rely on it to record really long multi-track sessions with no problems, i love the integration they have done with ReaRoute ASIO, it made going live with software like OBS possible, which i found this is to be very hard to do on Windows because of the way how Windows handles audio devices Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
routing audio between tracks is so complicated, audio editing is not a strong area for this software, creating aux tracks for routing audio or for adding effects like reverb or delay is complicated as well, i don't like the way it handles recording as files to save and especially when recording twice in the same area in the grid Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
The Reaper digital audio workstation, has something that no other sequencer has, which makes a lot of difference in many sectors of the program and its user base. Ask anyone that uses Reaper and you will get a different question why they love it. But all answers have something in common.
Reaper is open-ended and engineered with love.
The team behind Reaper are not salesmen and public relations experts, to be able to create promotional material that shows what is in essence music production porn. They focus on making a program that performs the same in all major operating systems used for media creation and scientific research on sound. They focus on maintaining this program, by continuously updating the quality of their already awesome codebase. They focus on interacting on a daily basis with their community. Finally, they focus on the arts of sound themselves, so they remain true to the vision.
Engineered with love, means that Reaper not only features quality on the technical side (has the highest quality pipeline by far), but it also features "quality on use" as it is called, or perceived quality as I like to call it. Quality in use, is the holistic quality in all domains, from having smoothly calculated faders that perform intuitively for the user in any screen resolution, to behave so transparently as a program, that it's never going to stand between you and your creations.
The open-ended nature of Reaper, stands for the extensive support of programming languages and sockets for other people and the community, to create tools and interact with the program's internal functions. The publicly available effects and extensions is massive and well documented. Just check on the thousands JSFX plugins that come for free with the installation and many more that can be downloaded from open repositories (http://reaper.fm/sdk/js/js.php), and the same goes for tools and extensions that even have a community driven tool to manage them and update them called ReaPack (https://reapack.com/).
Really, to write about all the features that make Reaper a unique audio tool, I would need several volumes of text-heavy books.
To give you an idea, here are some sectors that Reaper excels: film sound, sound design, scientific measurements, multichannel and ambisonics, efficient use of system resources, skins, slot for room correction plugins that don't render, interoperability with game audio engines like Fmod and Wwise, the most advanced exporter on the market bar none, and many-many more. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
There is nothing to dislike, I'm sorry, you won't find information here. You have to ask someone to dislike Reaper, or even better, get on their website and download Reaper which offers a completely open version for one month, so you can see for yourself if it fits your psychology.
Things that you may dislike are not because there are bugs or bad functions, Reaper is excellently engineered. It's just that not everyone likes the same things. Some people like Reaper, some Logic, some Cubase. It's the same like any other tool we use or the choices we make on our home decoration and utilities.
Give it a try, and pay a visit at the forums. You can find me too there as Joystick. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
Reaper is incredibly accessible and has all the inbuilt modules to create a professional experience. It can do everything that you expect it to do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
At first, using the reaper was a bit daunting, needs getting used to it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
