How did you decide on the DAW you're using?

[velvetkevorkian]

Reaper was the only one I could afford when I got tired of trying to get my cracked copy of Cubase to work

 

[gabito]

Back in 2005 or so I was looking for something that's very common nowadays: software guitar effects. What I found was something called Jesusonic, made by a company called Cockos Incorporated.

It turns out this software was made by the same guy that made Winamp (remember Winamp?), and he and his team also created Reaper which included Jesusonic in plugin format. Also I think I was using some pirated version of Adobe Audition (previously know as Cool Edit / Cool Edit Pro), and Reaper was free, way less demanding hardware-wise, and supported VSTs and some stuff that Audition did not, so I made the switch and never looked back.

Also:

It works and I am too lazy to learn something new.

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I've been using Reaper because the bassist in my old band taught me how to use it. I get lost pretty quickly trying to do much beyond playing with the EQ curve or setting up a click, but then again I tend to err on the side of minimal processing so that suits me just fine.

If the units weren't so damn expensive I'd probably go analog and record to one of those Tascam tape dealies. Digital is great for capturing practice though, and my friend put me on her google+ account so I have an assload of cloud storage for uploading practice recordings.

 

[Kaura]

First DAW I used was Reaper and found it super difficult to navigate around and really turned me off for music production for a while until I learned about Cubase so I bought it and found it way more practical. Funnily I found the latter Cubase versions just getting worse every year so I'm still using the one I bought initially. Cubase 6.5 Elements 4ever <3

 

[crushingpetal]

First DAW I used was Reaper and found it super difficult to navigate around and really turned me off for music production for a while until I learned about Cubase so I bought it and found it way more practical. Funnily I found the latter Cubase versions just getting worse every year so I'm still using the one I bought initially. Cubase 6.5 Elements 4ever <3

+1

Spread the word. If your DAW and plugins are working, just leave it alone. No reason to upgrade if things are working.

 

[Moongrum]

For everyone saying Reaper, do you do anything with midi? I thought Reaper kind of sucked balls for anything but recording audio, stock instruments/effects were really lackluster as well imo.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I went to audio school in 2003-04 and learned that ProTools is the most bloated, cumbersome, slow, buggy piece of software I'd ever used (after doing demos and fucking around with Cool Edit Pro for years) so when I left audio school I wanted to find the least bloated, cumbersome, slow, buggy piece of software I could to do the job and I thought that was Cubase, but shortly after that I discovered Reaper and the stock workflow and layout just clicked and I'm still using it.

 

[tedtan]

First DAW I used was Reaper and found it super difficult to navigate around and really turned me off for music production for a while until I learned about Cubase so I bought it and found it way more practical. Funnily I found the latter Cubase versions just getting worse every year so I'm still using the one I bought initially. Cubase 6.5 Elements 4ever <3

Reaper can be configured to do pretty much whatever you want it to do, you just have to be experienced enough to 1) know what you want it to do, and 2) know how to configure Reaper accordingly. This is great for more experienced users, but does make it more difficult for beginners.

For everyone saying Reaper, do you do anything with midi? I thought Reaper kind of sucked balls for anything but recording audio, stock instruments/effects were really lackluster as well imo.

Reaper is fine for MIDI. Something like Cubase, that started out as a MIDI-only app back in the 1980s may be a bit more streamlined, but Reaper is fine.

Also, keep in mind that Reaper costs $60 for two major version (roughly six years), whereas other DAWs can get expensive (Studio One is $400 for one major version, Cubase Pro is $579 for one major version, Pro Tools is a $300/year subscription) so with Reaper, you aren’t paying for the fancy VSTi’s that aren’t included; you pay for them with the other DAWs (though Pro Tools doesn’t really come with VSTi’s, either).

 

[Moongrum]

Reaper can be configured to do pretty much whatever you want it to do, you just have to be experienced enough to 1) know what you want it to do, and 2) know how to configure Reaper accordingly. This is great for more experienced users, but does make it more difficult for beginners.



Reaper is fine for MIDI. Something like Cubase, that started out as a MIDI-only app back in the 1980s may be a bit more streamlined, but Reaper is fine.

Also, keep in mind that Reaper costs $60 for two major version (roughly six years), whereas other DAWs can get expensive (Studio One is $400 for one major version, Cubase Pro is $579 for one major version, Pro Tools is a $300/year subscription) so with Reaper, you aren’t paying for the fancy VSTi’s that aren’t included; you pay for them with the other DAWs (though Pro Tools doesn’t really come with VSTi’s, either).

I see. I kind of like the daws that force a user into a workflow, as I'm dumb. I also prefer having good stock effects/instruments as I find a lot of stock stuff uses less cpu and I don't have to worry about it being supported/updated by a 3rd party.
I can definitely see why others would feel the opposite, though. It's good to have choices

 

[ArtDecade]

I didn't choose this DAW life... DAW life chose me.

 

[crushingpetal]

I went to audio school in 2003-04 and learned that ProTools is the most bloated, cumbersome, slow, buggy piece of software I'd ever used (after doing demos and fucking around with Cool Edit Pro for years) so when I left audio school I wanted to find the least bloated, cumbersome, slow, buggy piece of software I could to do the job and I thought that was Cubase, but shortly after that I discovered Reaper and the stock workflow and layout just clicked and I'm still using it.

I'd totally jump on Cubase except it is so pricey (for me).

 

[Crungy]

For everyone saying Reaper, do you do anything with midi? I thought Reaper kind of sucked balls for anything but recording audio, stock instruments/effects were really lackluster as well imo.

I use an old M Audio Oxygen 8 keyboard into an M Audio Fast Track Pro. I mostly use Flow Motion for synth sounds, or other free ones I come across. It works fine for me but I'm not doing anything too complex.

 

[Drew]

I honestly don't even remember what I was using before Reaper, some version of Sonar, maybe? But I downloaded it out of curiosity because it was free to try, I'd heard really good things about customization and user support, and I liked their egalitarian pricing model with the same exact software having a "personal use" and "professional use" license. I used it for a couple songs, didn't live a few of the default behaviors (scrolling behavior mostly) but it was easy to change them, and then over time found myself firing up Reaper more than whatever I'd been using more often.

 

[Crungy]

I used it for a couple songs, didn't live a few of the default behaviors (scrolling behavior mostly) but it was easy to change them, and then over time found myself firing up Reaper more than whatever I'd been using more often.

That's something that I got used to but still instinctively try to use other motions. I need to figure out how to change that!

 

[Drew]

That's something that I got used to but still instinctively try to use other motions. I need to figure out how to change that!

Pretty much anything can be mapped to do anything in Preferences. I wanted the mouse scroll wheel to move up and down between tracks, and not forward and backwards in time. I switch the default, but I think left CTL-mousewheel to move forward and backward (or, re-assigned it to this, since I believe this wasn't assigned to anything), though in practice I never use this.

 

[Crungy]

Pretty much anything can be mapped to do anything in Preferences. I wanted the mouse scroll wheel to move up and down between tracks, and not forward and backwards in time. I switch the default, but I think left CTL-mousewheel to move forward and backward (or, re-assigned it to this, since I believe this wasn't assigned to anything), though in practice I never use this.

If anything slows me down in Reaper it's memorizing the scrolling stuff. Though "slow down" is nothing compared to the hours lost troubleshooting Pro Tools

 

[lurè]

I'm fairly new to mixing and recording, so anything above free Reaper would be a total overkill for me.

 

[Drew]

For everyone saying Reaper, do you do anything with midi? I thought Reaper kind of sucked balls for anything but recording audio, stock instruments/effects were really lackluster as well imo.

Missed this earlier - I do drm programming in MIDI in reaper, usually by hand in the piano roll, but nothing else.

Reaper is definitely a platform that prioritizes digital audio over MIDI, but, well, that's most DAWs, and for good reason - they're digital audio workstations. There are a few that have their roots more firmly in MIDI that might be a little better, but Reaper supports MIDI perfectly fine, if unremarkably.

As for the stock plugins - I use ReaComp and ReaEQ a lot. They're not my favorite instance of either, but they're very transparent and CPU efficient so I use them a lot as "clean" processing. I have other tools I like for "color" - the Sonimus Burnley 73 is something I ise te shit out of as much for saturation as for broad EQ, and I really like the Waves CLA2A and opto compression in general, enough that I finally bought a good 500-series opto compressor. When I want to change the sound of something, those are the sorts of tools I reach for - when I want to leave the overall sound the same but maybe transparently notch out around 450hz or control stray peaks over -12db, I'll reach for Reaper.

 

[Moongrum]

Missed this earlier - I do drm programming in MIDI in reaper, usually by hand in the piano roll, but nothing else.

Reaper is definitely a platform that prioritizes digital audio over MIDI, but, well, that's most DAWs, and for good reason - they're digital audio workstations. There are a few that have their roots more firmly in MIDI that might be a little better, but Reaper supports MIDI perfectly fine, if unremarkably.

As for the stock plugins - I use ReaComp and ReaEQ a lot. They're not my favorite instance of either, but they're very transparent and CPU efficient so I use them a lot as "clean" processing. I have other tools I like for "color" - the Sonimus Burnley 73 is something I ise te shit out of as much for saturation as for broad EQ, and I really like the Waves CLA2A and opto compression in general, enough that I finally bought a good 500-series opto compressor. When I want to change the sound of something, those are the sorts of tools I reach for - when I want to leave the overall sound the same but maybe transparently notch out around 450hz or control stray peaks over -12db, I'll reach for Reaper.

Yeah, i really liked Reaper's stock compressor!

I think what I'm getting from those who use Reaper on this forum is different than I how I use my daw (Ableton). I use my daw like an instrument/modular synth, I like to open it up and make weird sounds, make a short loop and just experiment.

 

[Drew]

Yeah, i really liked Reaper's stock compressor!

I think what I'm getting from those who use Reaper on this forum is different than I how I use my daw (Ableton). I use my daw like an instrument/modular synth, I like to open it up and make weird sounds, make a short loop and just experiment.

Ableton is definitely one that gets recommended a lot for that use case.

I like to use my DAW to write and record guitar music, and I'm enough of a luddite that I even still use real amps. For me, the things that make Ableton the right fit for you would just be lost on me.