The Entire History of Reaper 

Join the squash discord: discord.gg/gpbTJJBRQG thank you guys for watching, davinci resolve next weekend!

The 60 dollar license CAN be used for commercial use. The $225 is only if you make more than a certain amount of money with your music.

Great overview of the program. Reaper is my DAW. You missed out on mentioning Reaper's secret weapon. Kenny Gioia {Reaper Mania} who offers endless first class instructional tutorials that are priceless and that truly speeds up the learning process. Nice work.

A really important part that I think you really missed is the Reaper community with third party scripts and actions through reapack which opens up the daw in an insane way, just look for Sai'ke's effects or Geraint Luff, Sexan, MPL, and more! you'll be blown away, for me that community of people sharing incredible high quality tools is a winning point. Kind of like Ableton's Max devices but native and free. It's awesome 😎🤙

I had never been involved in music so reaper was one of the first DAWs I ever used. Didn’t know he created Winamp. I loved that player back in the day.

After a few months of using REAPER, I can feel how devoted the developer of REAPER is. It is just like someone had built software to be used by himself. I find all controls to be intuitive and easy to remember but I got to admit I watch lots of youtube videos since this is my first DAW (maybe 2nd if you consider AUDACITY a DAW.)

Great! I was waiting for this one! Reaper is the daw for me, it helped me to start making music without having to worry about money from the start. One thing about the prize is that you can technically have free trial for life. You are not obligated to buy it and can still use all the features of the daw! But I recommend to people to buy a license when you can to support reaper if you are gonna use it, it is worth it!

I've recorded on a pro level since 1995, and after years w/Logic, I switched to Reaper in 2018 - it is AWESOME.

Reaper has the most stock plugins out of all DAWs, when I used it, the amount of plugins fried my brain

Reaper is too unbelievable in every aspect. it's out of this world and i am sooo sooo lucky that i even found it, great video btw.

Absolutely love these documentaries.

Awesome video, who would've thought that the same guy created winamp of all things lol also non scalable windows are the worst thing ever!!

Yeeah you really did my "whish", thank you so much! As a longtime Reaper nerd, there were few important things missing for me like the unbelievable community (SO many tutorials channels like Reaper Mania or whatelse), customisation (user actions) & themes, and maybe as well the fact that more and more big names (Spectresoundstudios, White Sea Studio, etc) switching and swearing to Reaper, what makes me so happy after everything several ProTools nerds were saying about Reaper without knowing anything 😄 Thanks for your video! 💪

08:51 Actually this is the REAPER 5 logo, not the REAPER 4 (see in your title bar how desaturated was the V4 logo) 😉 Maybe already reported but JSFX can be run outisde reaper with ReaJS by cockos ^^ (and ysfx project someone on the reaper community) For v5, the game changer feature was adding Lua for scripting which opens the softwares to thousands of reascripts other the year. Anyway, well done for the video, software history is always facinating :P

It's my go to DAW. For recording audio and it's Midi functions are getting better and better. The ability to stretch Audio and quantize audio are unmatched it just works awesome.

Really wonderful video, thanks for making it!

It's sorta bitter sweet. I'm a creative, I like to create but with reaper you really need to take some time to get it setup the way you want. However the fact that you can change everything to your liking ultimately building the most efficient work flow for you makes it simply the best!

I was waiting for this all this time. Thank you!!!!

I really love this whole series. Thank you

Reaper is what I started on. Absolutely amazing DAW. Everything I learned there translated over to Logic and Pro Tools very quickly. I still recommend it to people everyday. Its sad the amount of people who just downplay this DAW...

I missed some credits to Kenny Gioia as part of Reaper's always growing community (maybe in a future video, I guess)

This video randomly popped on my feed. You just earned yourself a sub! Great content!

Nicely done, dude! Respect!!

Thanks ! Very nice vid to catch up on the history for new users. I’m learning reaper as a protools power user for over 15 years. Everyday I’m blown away with reaper and while I’m still using pro tools for work I find myself opening reaper first as much as I can.

As someone who uses Reaper, I have to agree that it's certainly one of the most easy to use DAWs. I tried out the trial versions for FL and Ableton and those DAWs are a bit too confusing for me, which is funny because my keyboard came with a free copy of Ableton Lite. Reaper is just less confusing to me because everything is just... there.

I have recorded, edited, mixed and mastered full albums that saw a commercial release, sometimes all in just one project using only reaper. I paid the 60$ license and would easily pay the 225 one even though I don't generate that level of earnings with my productions. I just love it and I'm so biased towards it.

Man, this video is awesome

Great Video series

Dude awesome! My friend in high school got me into Reaper back in 2014. It's my favorite and I feel I'm quite proficient with it now :)

Thanks for the video

Well done - thanks!

The Reaper inventor, team & community are the best by a mile

You really missed probably one of the biggest thing about Reaper, and that's ReaScripts. Reaper has the most powerful and intensive scripting capabilities which is why there are 1000s of scripts created for Reaper to emulate workflows and features of other DAWs and also features that don't exist so you can have some truly unique workflow and tools in Reaper.

As long as you’re doing new kids on the block, please consider a history of Bitwig. I’ve recently discovered (after years of Cubase and Studio One) and am blown away by its uniqueness. I’d love to learn more about its original development from ableton-land. Thanks - and great series!

Love your videos

Thank you! Bro I love these vids, it be cool to see Universal Audio’s history!🙂

Lol I absolutely did not expect Camellia to show up here. Now it’s strange to know that all those Nanahira songs are from Reaper haha

I bought it😊

Please do Studio One next.

Love this DAW, it's so smooth and very rarely crashes, still runs perfect on an old laptop from 2012!

Best DAW on linux, bar none. I was tech support for a company that shipped reaper as standard on our workstations, it's actually stupidly powerful, but you have to really spend some time on tutorials and such. FL rewired into Reaper is pretty incredible. Today i use it just for audio tracking, trying to keep computers out of the creative process as much as possible.

goat pulled thru again

Good stuff.. I've just got into reaper, love the UI. BTW: 'Porridge' not soup.... 😉😉

Can't wait if you decide to make one for Cakewalk... these Videos are great!

Yeah relatable, I think all of us chose REAPER for its name

Great video. I tried Reaper but as a first time newbie who's not as tech savvie as many others, I found the interface and all the options a bit troubling. I wanted to get straight to recording and editing. However, it may still be a DAW I come to later. Love the ethos as well as its system efficiency. Maybe I'll revisit sooner rather than later!

oh god this takes me back!

yay new video

it’s the seemingly endless personalization possibilities that got me to adopt Reaper

Thank you so much for this videos. What do you think about an idea of "History of plugin companies", for example Waves, Fabfilter, Soundtoys etc. ?

I love everything about Reaper including its appearance.

Best DAW ever! I started use DAWs 20 years ago.

reaper is insane with flexibility and the stuff you can do with it plus its super cheap but the ui...

I am waiting for Justin Frankel to reach the status of someone like Lord GabeN, although he's quite humble, his approach and vision is very commendable

Used both Cakewalk and REAPER and switched to REAPER only when Cakewalk went bust. Happily making music, writing automation programs X32ReaperAutoMate and WingReaperAutoMate for X32, M32 and WING, using only REAPER since then! Best DAW for me :)

Great video. I would like to highlight v5.20, where they added a MIDI notation editor!!!

thanks to the all reaper team ... & thanks for this information

Best DAW

Being a long time Reason and Pro-Tools user, I was a bit confused in the beginning of my Reaper journey. Then I found Kenny Gioia and his tutorials. I would recommend anyone considering Reaper checking them out. :)

I like when everytime he said the word "absurd amount" on the app size and updates

Reaper is so efficient, lightweight and effective, highly appreciated. It's top tier. I can't remember it ever crashing, except maybe for external plugins. And it runs on Linux as well as raspberry pi. And there is no subscription paywall kind of shit going on, customers are treated well and fairly.

you can run JS plugins in other daws in the reaplug wrapper. but sometimes they don't compile properly 😔

I got my first professional sequencer in 1992: Cubase 2.x That was the standard at the time, and it was capable (MIDI-only, of course), but not very user-friendly. In the early 00s, I acquired some, um, "unlicenced" software that let me make a different kind of music (glitchy, droney, looping noisescapes). This is where I got into using the relatively new VST (and DX! Remember those?) plugins? A few years later, I was making real, adult kinds of money and committed to paying for the software I used. I tried every then-available DAW I could find in KVR Audio that had a free trial. Many powerful apps, with amazing features...and workflow that made little sense to me (the idea that a track could only have MIDI or audio in it seemed a particularly unnecessary limitation). Tracktion had the workflow most like what I wanted. Then Mackie bought it, and it went a bit off the rails. Then I found REAPER, some time in 07 or so. (I looked it up: I registered my COCKOS forum account in mid-08 to make a feature request. A request Justin and the boys incorporated a few releases later!) and it made total sense to the way I wanted to work in a DAW. A little later, I bought a v4 license at the non-commercial level, and enjoyed almost weekly application updates (COCKOS's philosophy of shipping the code when it was ready, rather than when a Marketing department determined there was a holiday or other event to tie it to remains one of their best company features.) That $60 purchase would see me through 6 years(?) until version 6 came out. Name one other commercial DAW that gave you free updates for 6 years! (Ok, yes, FL Studio. My point still stands! :) ) I bought a v6 license when it was released, because it's the right thing to do, and it's an incredible investment. Updates happen closer to monthly than weekly, but that's a mark of the product's maturity. 10 years ago, 2 acquaintances of mine, both Mac users (I'm a Windows user, though I had an Intel iMac from 06-09, and only then because it would dual boot) and LOGIC die-hards laughed at me when I told them I prefer REAPER. I get it: they were paying 100s of $ every few years to upgrade (and they HAD to upgrade, because Apple would leave older users in the dust every few generations!), and REAPER cost less than a decent dinner for 2, came in an 11MB(!) installer, but didn't include some world-class, commercial, bought-by-Apple-to-keep-for-themselves synths and FX. "How good could REAPER be?" They're still using LOGIC, and good for them, they like it, know it, it works for them. And I'm still using REAPER, AND VSTs that were released in 2002(!) and every VST I've purchased since the mid-00s (if I want to, if the registration server still works :( ) Ok, that was a whole essay, wasn't it? But, you get it: COCKOS made a brilliant product, at a fair price, with an amazing development philosophy. And it inspires people to stay with them and stay engaged with their products.

REAPER is the only DAW I've worked in - so I don't know how other's compare. But when I watch mixing videos - with people working in others DAWs - they seem clunkier than REAPER. Setting up Sends and Buses in REAPER is super simple by comparison. I love the Actions menu - the custom 'skins' available. The resource videos available are insane (Kenny Gioia: I'm looking at you). Love REAPER

I use Reaper now after using Cubase. Both are great but Reaper just suits my thing more. Such a good bit of software. The parts of the interface, especially the plugins, can look a bit windows 5 and needs a tidy up but other than that it's great. Though I disagree that it's simple to learn, once you get your head around the configuration and how to develop your own set up then it feels more simple and easier but for beginners it will be tougher, but worth the effort.

I currently use Reaper on one of my systems on Win 7. I have used other DAWS since 1996 and found Reaper is really intuitive to use and the price is really inviting when you don't have a lot of spare cash to splash. Thanks to the Reaper guys for a Fantastic DAW.

YESSSS!!!!

I would love to see one of these about tracktion aka Waveform

Great video man but I think you should've mentioned the actions list as it is definitely the most powerful tool that sets reaper apart from its peers

very good ............. and it is a great DAW - efficient, customizable, stable,

Good stuff, was curious about the exact history of Reaper. For people considering downloading here's some extremely useful features to point out: - user scripts and even a user-made package manager called reapack drastically upgrades workflow and performance. Think Max4Live but free and open-source. -can freely remap shortcuts and build macros via the action list (Ctrl + ?) - Reaper can do video editing alongside audio editing. Can even do visualizers - the Rearoute ASIO driver let's you send audio from other DAWs, trackers, synths, and audio programs into reaper. I use it with Renoise and VCV rack. Great for recording live jams. - reaper's routing matrix is extremely helpful for mixing, audio sends, etc. - Reaper has a portable installation that can be stored and booted from a flash drive, custom themes, scripts, and all. - never have to specify "midi" "audio" or "fx" track. All tracks can hold any media item and any effect.

Very good video, interesting all the way through

REAPER is one of those DAWs that has that feel of other DAWs like Avid Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, Cubase, Adobe Audition and FL Studio for that matter. The first version of it was like Garry's Mod 9 back in the days, technically a sandbox program that could let you get the job done right as long as you can master it. As time goes by, updates come out where more features are added within, as well with their popularity growing exponentially, people would come together and work on things for it, whether it be themes, plugins, whatever that may be, while still keeping at an affordable price for commercial use, or for free. I find it a bit odd as to why I have Pro Tools and REAPER installed on the same hard drive, and on the same computer of mine, since REAPER can do a lot of things that Pro Tools could do, and either way, I still recommend those that are starting out to use REAPER as the possibilities for REAPER is not only endless, but it's also lightweight and more optimized with plugins like Spitfire LABS, Kontakt, Ample Sound, Perfect Drums in comparison to Pro Tools where it'd go to a halt immediately, or with FL Studio constantly lagging because of how many effects there would be. All in all, it's cool to see how REAPER has gone far over the years, while REAPER doesn't limit you after the 60-day Evaluation Date, since it's best to go for the customer having the time in the world to use it for free, or to use it for a commercial/personal license instead of limiting the person to forcefully pay them to continue using the software, AND I'M LOOKING AT YOU, ADOBE!!! Viva la REAPER.

I know you're mainly into music production software. But I would love to see these detailed videos for programs Blender, adobe, or other visual art related software. Not many channels with these type of videos are so detailed while easy to listen to as yours.

Hell yea, my favorite daw ;D

I used Cubase for 10 years. The Steinberg license price push me to Reaper and... I knew it 5 years ago and fell in love with it. It is the most ridiculously useful, complete and flexible music tool in this world! Ps.: I'm fan of Winamp since 1997 and still using it today!

You should do a history of Mixcraft. Since I'm using Mixcraft as my main DAW & Mixcraft 10 is in development, You should also do a history of Bitwig Studio as well. That would be very cool, So consider doing both of them separately.

what would merit mentioning is that within the version 3 cycle support for scripts was added, then it was Python, and in version 5 EEL2 and Lua support was added which saw explosion in user creativity and expanded REAPER functionality manifold

omg, he is the same guy who made winamp. i used to love winamp

My first contact with daw was ableton live lite. I switched to Reaper because of the price, Camellia had also to do something eoth my decision, but damn, only 15mb and there is so much you can do with the software!

Could you do a complete history of sonar

How do you resize plugins like shown at 9:42? I can't get that to work

Reaper is the best DAW nowadays

You should do mix-craft or studio one next

any chance of doing Reason? please?

1:19 WAIT NULLSOFT???? THE GUYS THAT MADE WINAMP????

as someone who has used pro tools, cubase, logic and ableton extensively Reaper is amazing and I think it's the best and fastest for mixing & recording. I don't think any other Daw loads as fast as Reaper! nor shutdown. it's unreal! for production i would still give the edge to ableton... it's just simple. I wouldn't say reaper is easy to learn though. because it's default settings are not good, you have to make it your own... there is a learning curve...

Justin was also the guy behind the Gnutella P2P file sharing network which became huge after Napster was shut down.

Pls do history of studio one. I like your content

Reaper> every other DAW and its not even close, the versatility, the stability, the minimal HD space taken up, the ability to run on almost any system, the customisation of the skins/work flow, the cost. Pro Tools is currently the "industry standard" but I think in the next 10 years Ableton and Reaper will become the industry standards, because SOOO many people start on these programs, and they both can do plenty if not more than other DAWS.

Wow.... I didn’t know he wrote Winamp. I wonder where reapers midi implementation is versus cubase

Tried them all and stick to Reaper. Full love

I understand it is a figure of speech, but you thank god a lot for things you know exactly who to thank for actually. :)

I haven't watched this yet...Excited to see if the two thirds of the original developement team who are usually forgotten are mentioned

now i am definitely looking for the bitwig episode xD

We Await Silent Trysteo’s Empire. If you know, you know. Ah, Justin, if you see this, I hope you’re doing well. I still remember that night at The Redwood Room witn Paul oakenfold. What a strange time that was back then.

Reaper is very underrated I used the software still

Idk if you’ve heard of this app called Auxy Pro but that app was how i got into making music at the start before switching to FL Studio for good That could be a fun topic for a vid if you’re interested. Considering how unknown the app is id understand if that doesn’t sound interesting, but Auxy Pro was an amazing mobile DAW and i managed to make some pretty good stuff! Definitely recommend at least checking it out

I love you Reaper 💚💙♥

I watched the other history of daws and really loved them, believe it or not I first used Reaper in 2008, I was a long time cubase and FL user but I'd recorded something at too slow a tempo and needed something with varispeed...that thing was Reaper, and even at that time it did it flawlessly! I never made a conscious decision to switch but a year later nearly all my new projects were in Reaper...I feel like you can do pretty much anything audio related that you can imagine in this thing. When I first started using it it looked terrible, now I think it looks pretty decent plus of course you can customise it to look like anything if you wish. I already had a lot of plugins that I was using but it's something to factor in if you don't, the stock ones can be great really but I think visually they're unispiring whereas other daws like Logic come loaded with very high standard plugins so in that sense Logic works out much cheaper.