Anybody really give Reaper a test drive?

[The dman]

I own it and have toyed with it and was very impressed but it seems scattered to me, too many addons etc. To be honest I also haven't had the time to sit down and learn it proper as it seems to require a little more time investment right out of the gates than other DAW's. After coming back to Cubase it just seems like the work flow is more streamlined in C4.

Anybody else?

[olamo]

Something mysteriously that keeps me away from it too.
Although I find it quite impressive, at least on paper. A combination of bad GUI/workflow I guess..

Ola

[Daryl]

I tried really hard to like it. Never happened. God awful thing to use, and pretty much as bad as ProTools for MIDI as far as I could see.

D

[The Guru]

I never tried the demo as it's shareware. :icon_mad:

[Audiocave]

I never tried the demo as it's shareware. :icon_mad:

It's probably the safest demo other than maybe SAW since it doesn't really require installation in the classic sense. You can install it to a USB key and it doesn't hit the registry even if you install it to your system drive. It's very efficiently coded.

It's a pretty powerful audio daw but it's not for everyone. Other features aside, I could make a reasonable argument that it's audio engine is better engineered than Cubendo's.

It takes time to get used to it. I'm still not quite there after over a year of casual use.

Anyway, try it. It won't hurt anything on your system.

[shelter]

Read about it in the gutter press about 3 months ago and out of curiosity
test drove it. Found it it to be quite compact but didn't see any more
value in it than Audacity. I think the asking price was $50 which is more
than Audacity as well.

Apparently new ideas and requirements are integrated into Reaper at the
drop of a hat which can't be a good thing anyway and might account for
the "scattered" impression that it gives.

For those with little to nothing spend it might be a good starting point but
I wouldn't put a commercial project at risk by using it.

Definately not one of those things that I would want to have with me if I
were to be stranded on a desert island.

[BJF]

I tried really hard to like it. Never happened. God awful thing to use, and pretty much as bad as ProTools for MIDI as far as I could see.

D

Same situation here. I think (as "mac-y" as it sounds) I don't like the look of it, however I've heard lots of good things about the features.

Also for Midi, video, and tempo tools, it's not as good as Cubendo. So until some work is done there I don't think I'll be using it.

B

[Captain Caveman]

I have given it a couple of whirls in the past but was severely underwhelmed by really basic things like crackling faders and its inability to loop record audio.

I've downloaded the latest v3 (2.99) alpha though and the loop record appears to be working. I'm going to give it a fair crack of the whip over the next couple of weeks unless I come across another doozy.

[LEX]

It has some nice features.

Elastic Pro is one of the best time stretch algos I have heard. Beats MPEX by a mile.

You can also do it is real time.

Editorially, I don't like it. Cursor based editing, instead of clip based editing is a major workflow issue.
It is basically like ACID is editing, which I never liked.

Plugins are pretty decent. Very low CPU usage.
Small footprint and no installed. Just run the exe. Basically, you could put it on a flash drive and run it from there.

I am sure if I spent some more time with it, I would get use to its editorial behavior.

LEX

[kdm]

Installed it on my main DAW once and it somehow killed ASIO in Nuendo. Uninstalled it and all was back to normal. Weird.

Impressive feature list for tweak-a-holics; but same as others, workflow, GUI, midi etc just don't work for me. Something tells me many of those aspects won't, or can't change within the current design.

[Audiocave]

It has some nice features.

Elastic Pro is one of the best time stretch algos I have heard. Beats MPEX by a mile.

You can also do it is real time.


LEX

Cubendo uses Elastique Pro also, maybe for warping, not sure.

I do find Reaper's realtime pitching to be better than Cubendo's quite artifacted realtime algo but the actual render quality is about the same.

[LEX]

Cubendo uses Elastique Pro also, maybe for warping, not sure.

I do find Reaper's realtime pitching to be better than Cubendo's quite artifacted realtime algo but the actual render quality is about the same.

I wonder if SB is lowering the quality for realtime PB to lower the CPU useage.

Anyone compare the 2 in realtime CPU useage?

LEX

[Jonesy]

I had to check out a mastering compressor today, and my Nuendo dongle was downstairs, so I booted Reaper and used it instead to load mixes into. I must say that it did everything that I needed really well and quickly, no fuss, no need to look at a manual. I am going to buy it today, seems like a no-brainer decision for the price for a quick, no fuss DAW to have available with no dongle hassles.

[shanabit]

Load up some diff themes for REAPER and youll even like it better. I love skinable apps