Why Reaper is the Best Home Studio DAW 

why reaper? - tons of actions - actions can be stack as macros - tons of themes - sws extension (specially the cycle action and screen sets) - scripts and jsfx via ReaPack (MPL, Lokasenna, X-raym, Kawa scripts, Amagalma, Zaibuyidao and Saike tools by Joep Vanlier and much much more!) - extremely customizable - light weight (tightly coded) - 60 bucks for personal use best plugins/scripts by the community: Sonic Anomaly (amazing GUI) MK Slicer (destroying all daws stock slicer) MK Shaper Stutter (new but its the best) LKC Variator (for sound design/game audio) I barely scratch the surface of reaper. Its deep and overwhelming in such a good way. 😃

Reaper is also not bloated software, has a great community, and many many excellent free tutorials.

This is exactly the kind of thing I want to watch, so much knowledge

Mark, your video on Reaper is becoming my go to. Dedicated to your channel.. Lots of good stuff. I AM going nuts trying to figure all this out. Everyone seems to make it more complicated than easier to understand. I am hoping that I can at LEAST record ONE song following your instructions. Thank you for for this.

PERFORMANCE. The reason why I use REAPER on a Threadripper is PERFORMANCE. Nothing comes close.

Damn. This is one of the best explanations I have come across in years 😂

I have used Reaper in the past and as well as it being low cost it can score in manuscript as well as piano roll! I was taught to read music at a early age and means I get a good idea when composing how something will sound in my head before I touch a keyboard etc!

You can use reatune in the manual pitch correction tab as a kind of melodyne, works fine for small details

Love your T-shirt!

Thanks. What I was looking for 😊

Ueaaaash,,,,Reaper n Jenny Gioa,,,,No 1 💪💪💪. Tq Kenny, I'm on Reaper and I'm a newbie,learning alot from you. Your Reaper God.

Great video! thanks for posting

Good info here! Very useful.

very well done. Reaper is terrific for so many reasons.

I don't remember how I got started with Reaper, but as of now, I like it and it's easy to use. As for the sound, about 60 years ago I bought an Ampeg amp, the last thing it said in the instructions was This amplifier was designed an built by professionals,,, if at any time your not pleased with the sound it puts out,,,, "we suggest you practice". I've found this still holds true with Reaper

Great overview and music producing history insight

Right to the point. Thank you

Looking at retiring my Sonar Producer X1 after more than a decade of using it. I think I'll give Reaper a try. Thanks.

Just saw your video, I've been using Sound Forge along Vegas for a long long time, guess I'm gonna try it, it time for me to update LOL.

Thanks. Good info

informative and to the point

Your t-shirt is amazing!

found this video really helpful

Mark thank you for all the advice, I haven't tried Reaper yet. I am very pleased with Studio One, but I am open minded and would love to try Reaper considering that everyone agrees that is stable and crash free.

ProTools vs early DAWs reminds me of the differences between Rockwell Automation and Siemens PLCs. Rockwell was electrician focused, Siemens was engineer focused. Now they meet in the middle.

Thanks for the info. I have Studio One Two Six Four Pro or whatever it's up to now. I originally bought it because it was easy for me to understand, but it's a lot of files. I've been looking for something smaller that does the basics. I have an RME Fireface UCX so I should be able to use anything.

I used to do a lot of video and audio editing years ago, and just recently got back into it, and much to my surprise, all the high-end software I used has all gone subscription based forcing me to look for less expensive alternatives. Reaper and Cakewalk are what I decided to try for audio. Reaper is a great DAW once you get it set up to your personal workflow, and it's very customizable. Cakewalk was a little easer out of the box for me because its workflow was a little more like I was used to with Pro Tools. However, now that I have Reaper customized to my taste, I like using them both equally. There is a learning curve to using any DAW that you are not already familiar with. However, I don't believe there is a "best DAW" but there is a best for each individual person. Use what works for you!

9 years reaper user, never looking back!

Very well scripted video, truthful and on point👍

Thanks sir🙏🏻

Thanks for this Mark, thinking to switch to Reaper from Garageband

I love the shirt!

I really appreciate your review and pragmatic presentation. After quite some time (months or years) using different DAWs e.g. Cakewalk/Sonar - when using Windows, and (for Mac): Audacity, Logic, Protools, or more recently Adobe Audition (exclusively for voice over), I never really got proficient/comfortable with any of them - well, other than moderately with Audacity. From what I gathered here, it seems that I can finally commit to a single software to manage all of my sound recording needs - electric guitar and voiceover. That along with the VERY reasonable price point including updates, seems well worth it. Thank you. Have an awesome day. 😊

Thanks dude. I'm an amateur self taught on recording and mixing for about 1 year. After trying studio one, cubase, pro tools. Reaper is the only daw i could use bcs of the ease. Can't believe how easy it is and user friendly as someone who isn't familiar with gain staging with mixer. And the most important thing is there are no track difference. No midi track, instrument track, audio track. Midi or audio track is just a track in reaper and that's safe me from cubase and studio one to use virtual instruments without thinking what track should i use lol. Just insert a track to import midi and add fx for whether it's midi or audio

You are forgetting the major thing around Pro Tools in the past. We had weak computers back then, so to be able to use effects without bringing the computer to it’s knees, Pro Tools had outboard rack equipment to lessen the load and reducing latency, which was to expensieve for the small studios. Then Cubase and Cakewalk came along, but there where still limitations with computer resources to do full scale tracking, hence why many still tracked to tape and used the daw’s for mastering, just like we can do with modern digital mixers that have multitrack recording.

good sound quality.

I've only tried a few daws and reaper is the best and easiest to learn. I came into daw recording from 4 track tape 20 years ago and zero computer knowledge. I've only scratched the surface because of limited time but recording and mixing is pretty simple to figure out.

I‘ve been using Cubase since 1997, and I will do so for many years to come. But I do recommend anybody new to the space to learn Reaper.

4:56 what theme is this?

What make and model is the silvery guitar front and center on the rack? Dayyyyuuummmm that thing is sick

I love reaper!

I´m using Reaper since last year I´ve found that it manage better the multiple CPU cores, than others.

I use reaper and I am very happy. The only other DAW that I would plan to buy in the future is Mixbus 32C. It is also cheap but midi is still not as good as other DAWs but it sounds awesome.

I tried so many softwares and I tried Reaper. Felt in love with it and never looked back at other DAWs Warning:- the more you use Reaper the more you'll use it xD

Reaper Features 1. 128 audio channels per mixer track 2. Advanced routing features 3. Advanced "side chaining" & modulation for All parameters on any plugin 4. Built-in pitch correction (both auto & manual) 5. Great stock (fx) plugins plus use any 3rd party plugin format {including CLAP, LV2} 6. Extremely Advanced render options & render queue with flexible naming options when rendering multiple items. 7. 32 customizable tool bars 8. Create your own keyboard shortcuts 9. Create custom macros which automates multiple commands into 1 action then map that to a keyboard shortcut 10. Portable install 11. Advanced multiple layered "track freeze" with the ability to go all the way back to the original state even after closing the project 12. Load project in offline mode to troubleshoot buggy vsts 13. Extremely low RAM & CPU usage 14. Amazing noise removal 15. Vocal alignment function built-in 16. Versatile time Stretch options 17. Open & switch between multiple sessions 18. Remote session collaboration tools (NinJAM) 19. Online repository with over 2000 community based enhancements including plugins 20. Sub-project linking. Great for Mastering workflow 21. Remote control daw via any web browser ON ANY DEVICE 22. ChordGUN for Key/chord degree music theory workflow 23. MIDI key lock 24. Save "undo" as a part the project for unlimited "undos" even after closing & reloading sessions 25. Loop record & create take lanes for both audio & midi to capture the perfect performance or use comping to achieve the perfect take 26. Tempo lock samples to your project with built-in sample browser 27. Delta solo 28. Ara support 29. Agnostic tracks... Meaning there are no specific track type. 30. Put Midi, audio, mono, stereo, video or image files, all on the same track 31. Media browser can show 🎶 notes (C, C#, Gb etc) being played in the sample being previewed 32. Video editing & rendering 33. Oversampling for any individual plugin 34. Oversampling for any plugin chain 35. Spectral audio editing 36. Separate GLOBAL slots for Monitoring FX 37. Parallel & multi-band processing for any plugin 38. Advanced automation clip editing & manipulation 39. Midi side processing workflow for any plugin available for any plugin 40. Support for CLAP plugin format 41. MPE Support 42. Markers & Mult-layered Region Marker Reaper 7 43. Create & save plugin containers 44. Track spacers 45. New parallel signal workflow on a single track. Both with plugins & plugin containers 46. New take lanes workflow with new "swipe comping" tool., while still retaining the old comping workflow 47. Gain reduction read out for compressors & limiters that support it 48. Supports 512 physical inputs & 512 physical outputs 49. Advanced Surround sound panning 50. Retroactive midi recording 51. Advanced time stretch algorithms

Hello thanks for this vid really helps. Got a question really appreciate if you can help with.My Reapers is connected to a Allen & Heath Q 16.If I press 'Mute' on any channel will reaper still record?.Or will that particular channel be muted?.

is it a big difference between the purchase version and the free one?

Did you ever check out Mixcraft? and if so your thoughts?

Is it going to be a headache to get izotope plugins to work on reaper?

What plugins, samples and instruments and presets you get is also impprtant. You get a lot more with cubase than with reaper. The daws May be the same, but the whole package if you Just want to start is better.

I don't see many videos comparing Reaper with BandLab Cakewalk which is indeed totally FREE. I am relatively new to DAWs so I admit and don't know the ins and outs of each, but to my untrained viewpoint, they seem very similar and capable. Could you do another video comparing the two, please?

Reaper > Cubase > Studio one😅 Studio one is something like all in one.

When does the video start?

Still trying to customize my reaper layout to fit my EDM/DRILL/Hip-hop production workflow. Any suggestions reaprr community?

So does this mean reaper is as professional as pro tools and logic? Like it sound the same rite?

Hello, i saw that there are 2 versions that I can buy Reaper with. I want to make music and after some time to make money of it. Am i safe with the personal version or do i need the commercial?

ProTools is not only producing software but also extreme interfaces to allow literally 100s of tracks to play back. Something required for movie productions. And that’s where protools is different. But we as “home” musicians or even a band doesn’t have a 42 piece orchestra that’s mic-Ed up with half a dozen of mics per section. So we can do with a nice simple daw.

Did you ever get that t-shirt?

Music With Marky Please 4:56 what theme is this ???

Does it have drum tracks?

The only thing that makes me remain a cubase client for over 10 years is the logical editor feature that comes with the pro versions. Otherwise i would jump ship in a heartbeat. Only 60$?! That is a bargain for what you get.

Great video! Subbed. I also made a Top 10 List of why Reaper is the best DAW

I'm a Cubase user but before I committed to Cubase I tried Reaper and it didn't work for me at all. BUT... I do agree, the pricing of other DAW's (yes, I'm looking at you Steinberg) is very often ridiculous. Every single update costs money and in many cases a lot of money.

I am going to buy a laptop almost exclusively for reaper. Can you suggest minimum specs for the laptop?

What laptop would you recommend for reaper

I hope it's never bought out and buggered up like Adobe buying Cooledit back in the day, then turned into bloatware. Sometimes I like to keep an archive of old versions of software just in case.

So it can run all the plug-ins and 3rd party plugs that ProTools can?

Wait what’s the difference between the $60 and $225 version of reaper?

Don't forget that reaper has the most comprehensive and comprehendible video manual of any software, period.

Very lightweight for the PC, and does the same other pro DAW's do.

so is not Ableton best for live and effects plus VI's? Studio one gets a lot of love. Bitwig only in passing. Cubase few talk about . Logic is popular, a Garage Band upgrade. Bandlab is okay. Mixcraft maybe a little basic. Digital Performer gets forgotten as does FL Studio, Magix is pretty powerful and lastly Pro Tools, sucks at midi & live but is excellent for big sessions and mixing, only one with massive processing power due to outboard processing.

When budget is in consideration i would say Cakewalk by bandlab is biggest competitor for Reaper since it's free. Reaper has more customisation options but CWBBL is little bit easier to approach for new users, in my opinion. Both are great options for recording artists but if you need virtual instruments or sample libraries you need 3rd party options.

you left out the new Sonar that is free by Band Lab

Reaper doesnt hammer the CPU like Ableton. Very Well coded for certain.

How nice it would be if all DAWs could do the same in just a matter of a few updates. In reality, these softwares behave way different from each other, and people are jumping back and forth in them because of features, workflow, stability, compatibility etc... Try to make a beat in Pro Tool, try to import AAF to Reaper for post prod, try to edit a multitrack drum recording in Logic, try to do film scoring in FL, fine tune /align a vocal in Ableton, you get my point. I know most of those differences are irrelevant for (most) home studio users, but once you get into production and collaborations, you'll (at least) have to know Pro Tools, Logic and Ableton. Also I'd argue why Reaper is actually not the cheapest production suite out there, and why it is Logic Pro instead. In order to make music on your own, and you don't play and have every instrument (and the recording gear) you'll need in your arrangement, you'll need quality sampled instruments, virtual synths maybe a couple of easy to use effects and vintage hardware emulations, which Logic Pro is packed with, and the UX is well thought out, it's very user friendly. Reaper on the other hand is like a well written host, there's really no "default" way of using it (or it is just very inconvenient for 99% of people), comes with next to no quality sounds, synths and virtual instruments, (i.m.o. it's free downloadable stuff doesn't even sound anything close to usable) and as a beginner, you will need to invent, setup a workflow which you have zero experience in. Considering the additional costs in thirds party plugins and the time it takes for you to learn Reaper, I'd say it is more towards a specific type of audio professionals who work mostly alone, doesn't really use MIDI, mostly work with audio, and would like to customise their workflow to the last detail. But definitely not a home studio owner.

Where are my FL Studio and Ableton Live

I'm a home pirate, for Reaper I would make an exception, reasonable price.

HAHA I love your T Shirt!!! NEVER FORGET!!! WHAT ABOUT URNAUS! .... jk.... Anyways, I malice long Multi Instrumentalist and have recently started to get back into recording on at first PC, but then I justgt this Mac MiniM2. ( Base Model Sadly... 8gig ram or whatever and I am going to get a dock with a extended SSD drive for it... But sadly the RAM is way to expensive even when buying it used.. its like $200-300 more for 16gigs! I wish I could have swung the 16gig version but I couldn't.. le sigh) Anyways... With hat all said.. I ave been using Traction Waveform Pro. And I have REALLY been enjoying how intuitive ( for me at least) its been... I am a person who is coming from the like.. Analog Studio and a big ass mixing console point of view on a Micced up Marshal and so my mindset when I realized how amazing and wonderfully the modern stuff like Amplitude works.. Anyways, I REALLY WISH there was more videos about Waveform.. I did pay for license because I truly enjoy it and have found way easier to use than retool Lite or whatever that came with some Mackie monitors I bought..( The Routing and just... it was frustrating to use and figure out just how to record my guitar amp on a mic and I gave up on it quickly..) I wish there was some Videos that could go fairly in depth and cover why or why not and what the major functional differences and ease of use and work flow differences are between Reaper and Waveform... waveform is Free for the most part and I just got 13Pro which I think is a pay version but was fairly affordable compared to most DAWs. I really dig it myself.. but then I am fairly "new" to recording... again..lol. I have a sub to UA Spark and don't have an Apollo or any Satelliteds ( took me a bit to realize that the "DSP" chips were being used to process the PLUGINS... pretty awesome.. I always think of some smaller cheaper mixing consoles on board "MULTI-FX DSP" processor unit that his essentially useless for anything but a half descent delay or reverb fr lifve sound.. but I do utilize a UA Spark 276 interface... I'm contemplating wether the Apollo interface is worth getting to achieve being able to utilize the DSP powered UA studio plugins , and if the Mic Preamps are worth, ( I don't really have any nice mics yet and I operate on a fairly low budget.. a very low budget actually lol) or is I should just try to utilize a UA Satellite for DSP ( if I can without the Apollo...ive been told yes I can as long as I have the Spark or some UA interface... id tnt know... I asm going to be buying this stuff on eBay anyways..used.) so... anyways. Ice love it if ANYONE if not SEVERAL FOLKS would try Traction Waveform Pro and the free version ( not a big difference form was I understand) and make some more in-depth comparison videos to especially REAPER!!! Since I want to be using the most common and best DAW...( but I must admit, I'm a bit intimidated to try and switch with all the experience ive accumulated using Waveform since last year about midway when I began this home studio in my Appartment and a Roland TD-07 and a Orange Micro Terr and a single 12" speaker hooked up to a used Carvoin MTS 3200 I got at a pawn shop and repaired... to record on some cheap ass condenser mics and a Sterling PG-10 ( great analog for a Sure sm-57 btw, although I still need a couple SM-57s!) * anyways.. sorry for the rambling as hell comment. Please compare Waveform to Reaper for me!!!?? Anyone???

Hey suggest me best mixing headphone under $50.

I stand for reaper number one with it price better than other studio. 2 cubase. then fuck other daw waste of money. but i haven't tried pro tools or logic pro so they are exceptional.

Your shirt is hilarious

Good information Keep it up sir Make a daw tutorial

Why didn't you mention FL

But, the instructions for Reaper are long and difficult to troubleshoot problems. after spending over 40 hours just reading the manual, I still run into problems such as sound no longer coming out of the DAW. Then, after hours of creating a backing track, the sound shuts off. The manual does not help with resolving problems and I have spent many hour to end up with nothing. Time is money and Reaper with its advanced features does not address the basics.

Unfortunately it needs quite some development for people making electronic music, especially when you look at the competition (Albeton, Bitwig, FL, etc)

I just switched to Reaper. I was a long time Cubase lover until my dongle intermittently stopped working and it stops working. Worst customer serviced even there at Steinberg! So 5 or 6 years ago I changed to FL Studio. And it worked fine! One time fee nice plugins (best ever to edit drums). But then after Apple went to Big Slur, I had FL Studio randomly stop recording. Or hanging! Very frustrating! And last week it happened again in the middle of a great tale of a guitar solo. And I was so fucking furious that I have reaper a try. It’s very Spartan, no bells whistles, it’s like Linux vs MacOS and I am a Unix guy so I feel at home 😂And just like Unix/Linux it’s so fast! Starts up in an instant! And it never had a hiccup! In the 8 hours straight usage. And FL Studio the sudden recording stops literally happened every 15 minutes. And my god, the MIDI just works! The routing is simple unlike Cubase where hardware synths are a pain! With FL Studio with device numbers port numbers and channels it’s a hassle. Here I just select the midi in, the midi out and the channel and it just works!

The best Daw is…the one “you” like.. whatever one that turns out to be

6:33 THAT SAID = BLAH BLAH

did this one with ableton all stock sounds. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tdX503WEt5c.html you can tell most of the sounds are stock but it showcases some pretty good ones you can use

Reaper is a good daw but the zooming sucks.

The weird side of the thing is the worst is Pro tools...used by many professional studios...and you have to pay every update...

Calling it a "home" studio daw is an insult as far as I'm concerned. Reaper trumps them all

I dont agree at all about they all sound the same. Actually, the way they calculate, the algorithm that they use is different. I have all of them, plus the mixbus, and i assure they sound all different. The pretty same wave sounds different. They do color the signal. Reapper and protools sound pretty close studio one is another kind of sound, complety different, the daw thar better sounds is the mixbus, but its not as advanced as others and takes a lot of processor. Some people use it just for steam mixing.

I can’t stand Reaper. It’s cumbersome and doesn’t have any VST instruments. I find zero use for the software. I use Logic and Cubase. Both have a lot of VST stuff. Great when making arrangements and trying things out.

Yeah Reaper is cheap, but you only get a DAW no samples, loops, instruments it's a completely empty DAW something the holy Reaper community is always forgetting to mention. Reaper is really the worst choice you can make when you were starting off. Just please stop using this utterly annoying argument that it's cheap. For Reaper to be on par with any of the other platforms you at least have to invest in Native Komplete standard that'll cost you 600. Ableton, Logic, Cubase, Studio One Sphere they all come with massive libraries, you're instantly good to go with one of those. And they look a lot prettier.

i don't like reaper, it always attenuates my recording sound especially when i export tracks

Reaper is cheap cause it lacks proper stock content and decent plugins. Only reason. Im a reaper user myself btw

Reaper is notoriously hatefull to any loop producer.

Ableton gang

Wrong title. What a DAW is? 👎