Reaper Audio as DAW?

Mr. Grinder

Hey all,

Back for more...

What are you thoughts on Reaper Audio as a DAW?

I've been using Fruity Loops (also a bit of Reason) in the past. I got a decent sound out of reason (but personally I'm not too keen on the synths sounds in it). Fruity never really gave me the sound I was after. I know poeple can get some really decent stuff out of it, but me and FL studio just don't see eye to eye.

I noticed on the "Dogs on Acid" forum, a lot of people were saying how good "reaper" was, However, I've no experience with it - what do you guys think of it?

Thanks in advance,

G.

Neurojazz

The Dogs on Acid forum has a nice Trojan for any Adobe flash users

Reaper is ok, and free. Depends what you want to do.

Many DAWS have individual features.

Some people swear by different ones, all are able to get tracks 'out there' and comes down to what you are happy with.

If doing dance music i'd recommend looking at the demo of Ableton and looking at it on youtube - but is way deeper than Reason, some find it a bit weird as it is pretty unique as DAWS go.

Other people swear by Logic also. Another serious app.

Cubase and Cakewalk also on the table.

I've owned used most DAWS and haven't loaded anything up since getting Ableton... shockingly fun

Mr. Grinder

Cheers, for the advise man. I've heard really good reports about Ableton alright. Could you get away with using "live intro"? Or would you have to shell out for the full version?

Neurojazz wrote: »

The Dogs on Acid forum has a nice Trojan for any Adobe flash users

Err... what do you mean by "trojan" btw?

I always liked the idea behind reason, but I want to be able to use better synths. FL Studio bugs the bejesus outta' me as I said previously ... The Piano roll is very cool, but the FX sound very weird and sound a bit naff. However, it's kind of subjective, as I've heard guys who make cool music with Fruity. Also, I'm driven mad by all the demos that lurk in the program.

Cheers,

G.

PS - Reaper is no longer free. But you can get a personal/small business license for $60 and a full business license for 220.00. I've just been hearing really great stuff about it. So it's peaked my interest.

Neurojazz

Mr. Grinder wrote: »

Err... what do you mean by "trojan" btw?

Their site has a lot of adverts that try to inject virus - last one was a Trojan - fun! - admins should really only be running text only ads if they can't be arsed to ban dodgy advertisers. So never really wanted to lurk on there - some good posts if you can stop your eyes watering with the lovely site design [/sarcasm]

Mr. Grinder

Jebus!! Freaking virus....Thanks for the heads up - wont be going back there then.

Yes, the site design is absolutely wonderful too... and definitely does not make my eyes bleed.

electrogrimey

I'd go for Ableton too, or Logic. Haven't used Logic, but it's also supposed to be great. Look up Sonic Academy, they've loads of Ableton tutorials, so just watching one or two would give you an idea of how it works before you bought it or whatever.

mordeith

Mr. Grinder wrote: »

Hey all,
Fruity never really gave me the sound I was after.

Are you talking about the preloaded synths and FX that come with Fruity? If so then I woudn't change my DAW on that basis alone. There are loads of free VST synths and FX that you can get for FL that can produce widely varying sounds. Of course there are also the paid for versions of synths from the likes of Native Instruments. Might be worth trying alternative plugins first rather than jumping ship to another DAW. Just my two cents

Mr. Grinder

Thanks mate.

I'll definitely be using Native Instruments "Massive" as my main synth, as it has that large punch I'm after. I never really liked the synths in Fruity or Reason. I mean they are okay, but don't have that "big sound" that I wanted.


My beef with FL studio is that the effects that it has are "troublesome" to get any decent sounds. I've never really had a problem with any other effects in other programs. So right now, I'm just looking at other options.

I've been playing with the demo of reaper and I'm finding it darn nice at entry level, and pretty ez to use. I'm under no illusions - I know there's a huge side to it..

Cheers,

G.

LeBash

I found Ableton a bit mad at first when i was trying to use it to get samples.

Now that I have the hang i think its the best DAW out there. I use it rewired through Protools for warping as well. But getting Reaper to use for the sake of how handy somethings are on it wouldnt be a bad idea, but the mapping is a bit crappy on it.

Grad a demo of Ableton and watch a few videos on youtube and give it a fair crack of the whip to get used to it as its a little different to everything else out there. The best discription ive heard of it so far is that its like an instrument.

condra

Another shout here for Ableton Live. Fantastic software, especially if you like sampling, experimenting, working with loops, or grooves.

If however the question was, "Is it possible to make great music with Reaper", the answer is "yes, absolutely".

I never liked the workflow in Reason. If there was no such thing as Live, I would use Logic.

Just like Neurojazz, I settled with Live after stints with lots of other DAWs.

Mr. Grinder

Thanks for the reply condra.

Reaper seems like a good DAW - after some research and listening to some tunz that were made in it. I've been using it a wee bit, but in all honesty, I'm finding it quite unintuitive especially the whole "routing matrix" lark.

So I tried a demo of Ableton Live for about 20 mins "I was thinking what the hell is going on here?". Then I looked at a few tutorials on youtube and BAM! Everything clicked... It's an awesome DAW! and pretty damn easy to use even for someone like me. So I bought it in the end.

I'm still fiddling with it, but the whole creation process is very unique and so easy to tweak.

So Ableton get a 2 thumbs up from me (plus if you buy it you get a partner instrument free).

Thanks for everyones input!