Reaper - Why NOT?

[sentinel72]

Hello,

Reaper seems to get a lot of praise. And now and then we'll see threads where people are looking to move from Reaper to something else.

At $59 Reaper is unbeatable. (assuming you are paying for your DAW)

If you have actually used Reaper, and then decided to go to something else, what was it about Reaper that led you elsewhere?

(so, what I'm looking for here are reasons NOT to use Reaper but instead use ____ and here is why I think that _____ )

Thanks for any replies.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

I think most people move from Reaper to Protools because it's the industry standard (so they're more compatible) and because of Beat Detective. I'm still really happy with Reaper and can get everything I want done faster than in PT.

 

[Zozobra]

I moved from SX3 to Sonar Producer 7 to Reaper

At this stage the only reason I can see me going to something else is if, for some reason, I have to send mixes/tracking sessions to someone else/receive them from someone and need to use protools for its standardness.

That said, given how ghetto and n00bish I am at recording and mixing, something else will probably be standard by then, and that something likely doesnt even exist yet. Vulcan mind mixes or some shit, tracked telepathically and mixed directly by your auditory cortex, at the rate I'm going.

 

[cloy26]

I use reaper and am getting a pro tools capable rig in the next month. I will still use reaper to track drums and export the tracks into PT. Reaper just seems way more efficient and also beat detective is great.

 

[sentinel72]

why Reaper for the drums and not use PT for that too?

 

[FloridaRolf]

Reaper is pretty unstable in 64bit, made me rage many times

 

[AdamWathan]

Reaper's editing is absolutely useless. Even like copy and paste won't work properly. If you have two regions near each other and you drag one so it overlaps the other one, it'll either autocrossfade them or play both simultaneously depending on your preferences. You have to manually trim the overlapped item underneath so that it doesn't start until the other one finishes. So twice as many steps any time two regions touch each other compared to Pro Tools or any other DAW. Look for the feature request about "Tape-style Editing" on the Reaper forum for more information on what I'm talking about it if this is unclear.

Track based edit groups are not available in Reaper. You have to group items. So if you want to edit all your drums at once (which you always will), you have to manually group all the recorded media items after every take. Huge pain in the ass.

Those are the two things that eventually drove me away from Reaper. There are tons of awesome features, but the fact that it lacks even the most rudimentary editing functionality kills any hope for an efficient workflow when tracking/editing. It's still my DAW of choice for mixing.

 

[Zozobra]

Reaper is pretty unstable in 64bit, made me rage many times

Odd. Mines 64 and is very stable.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

Reaper's editing is absolutely useless. Even like copy and paste won't work properly. If you have two regions near each other and you drag one so it overlaps the other one, it'll either autocrossfade them or play both simultaneously depending on your preferences. You have to manually trim the overlapped item underneath so that it doesn't start until the other one finishes. So twice as many steps any time two regions touch each other compared to Pro Tools or any other DAW. Look for the feature request about "Tape-style Editing" on the Reaper forum for more information on what I'm talking about it if this is unclear.

Track based edit groups are not available in Reaper. You have to group items. So if you want to edit all your drums at once (which you always will), you have to manually group all the recorded media items after every take. Huge pain in the ass.

Those are the two things that eventually drove me away from Reaper. There are tons of awesome features, but the fact that it lacks even the most rudimentary editing functionality kills any hope for an efficient workflow when tracking/editing. It's still my DAW of choice for mixing.

Yo can easily make a macro that will automatically group items on record stop, so everything that's recorded together is grouped together.

 

[AdamWathan]

Yo can easily make a macro that will automatically group items on record stop, so everything that's recorded together is grouped together.

Tried this but couldn't find the actions to properly do it, how did you manage it?

 

[TheDriller]

I moved from Reaper to Logic just over a year ago.

i just found the overall workflow in Reaper to be sluggish, especially for editing.
also, i got sick of the cluttered menus and functionality buried beneath those menus. im also not a fan of the whole "perpetual work in progress" thing that Reaper has going on.

i found Logic (version 8 at the time) to be a breath of fresh air, much more effecient and a faster, more creative workflow.

but if Reaper works for you then thats great

 

[cloy26]

why Reaper for the drums and not use PT for that too?

I have 2 fp10s and they won't work with PT. I *assume* that's how I will work things out, but who knows. I may use PT to edit and then reaper to mix like Adam said. Although I doubt it. haha. Only time will tell.

 

[sentinel72]

So far 90% of my experience is with Sonar.

I'm tired of the costly upgrades and honestly performance hasn't been as good as I had hoped.

So I'm considering moving to something else.

I picked up a Mbox2 with Pro Tools 7.? used for like $250 or so... I needed an interface anyway so I figured that was a decent deal.

(come to find out the mic pres in that are awefully high impedance and may not be worth using with a pair of SM57s for guitar tracking so that may be money wasted. )

Pro Tools, from what I have read is ideal for people moving from the traditional hardware workflow to software. And you know what? Thats backwards for me. I never worked with this stuff a la hardware. So right of fthe bat ProTools "feels" shitty. But I haven't given it time. I imagine anything will feel awkward after using Sonar for years....

I sense an expensive upgrade path with Pro Tools also.... And I'm having second thoughts about the Mbox2 so I'm considering Reaper.

The purpose of this thread is to find out why people ditch Reaper and go elsewhere.

To prevent a possible problem down the road.

 

[sentinel72]

I have 2 fp10s and they won't work with PT. I *assume* that's how I will work things out, but who knows. I may use PT to edit and then reaper to mix like Adam said. Although I doubt it. haha. Only time will tell.

I've never used Beat Detective but if you like Reaper perhaps you can track in reaper, export to PT, beat detective your drum wavs and then export back to Reaper an go from there.

 

[punkrockacademyfightsong]

Tried this but couldn't find the actions to properly do it, how did you manage it?

pretty easy:

-go to action list
-new custom action

then add:
-stop (save all recorded media)
-group items

press OK and add your own shortcut

 

[Jind]

I'm a Sonar user that tried the move to Reaper but went back to my comfortable workflow in Sonar. I noted in another thread on this subject that it was just small issues that had impacts on the way I work. I'd experience something, try to adapt, hope it would get changed, an update would come out, other useless crap would get added, I'd find something else that bugged me, wash, rinse, repeat.

Here is my quote from the other thread about Reaper updates:

These are the reasons that I have been leaving Reaper alone and focusing on Sonar (at least for my use.) My experience with Reaper - I try it, I like it, I find a shortcoming in a basic feature, I see something totally unrelated added, I try it again, I find another shortcoming in basic function, I see something totally unrelated added, ... You get my drift.

While Sonar is in no way perfect, it's at least steady in what Cakewalk appears to be producing, it is expanding, it seems to have a consistency that for me Reaper does not. This is not a my DAW is better than your DAW post, it's just me agreeing with others that share my opinion about how one DAW impacts my use.

I don't want to search for solutions to the way I work, I don't want to have people tell me oh just do this, this, and this - if it is not obvious, or easy, I'll stick with what I know - and that's Sonar. As for pricey updates - I'd rather pay for updates (only $99.00) for the latest 8.5 that have generally well thought out ideas and direction than what I see as Reapers scatter shot updates where random stuff is added at the whim of a small development team. It's just my opinion, not trying to ruffle the feathers of the flocks of Reaper users, it was just not for me.

 

[plague_rider]

Used PT for a few years now, even before I bought it, I used it in college quite a lot

Reaper I have on my none recording laptop for tracking ideas, making samples (ringtones lots of metalocalypse message tones)

I don't really use Reaper often for the more serious stuff, not saying its a bad DAW, just seeing as i have PT i use it mainly for ideas

 

[Dexter_prog]

Reaper's editing is absolutely useless. Even like copy and paste won't work properly. If you have two regions near each other and you drag one so it overlaps the other one, it'll either autocrossfade them or play both simultaneously depending on your preferences. You have to manually trim the overlapped item underneath so that it doesn't start until the other one finishes. So twice as many steps any time two regions touch each other compared to Pro Tools or any other DAW. Look for the feature request about "Tape-style Editing" on the Reaper forum for more information on what I'm talking about it if this is unclear.

Track based edit groups are not available in Reaper. You have to group items. So if you want to edit all your drums at once (which you always will), you have to manually group all the recorded media items after every take. Huge pain in the ass.

Those are the two things that eventually drove me away from Reaper. There are tons of awesome features, but the fact that it lacks even the most rudimentary editing functionality kills any hope for an efficient workflow when tracking/editing. It's still my DAW of choice for mixing.

True. I find editing in Reaper to be quite annoying too. I also dislike the fact that I have to use and external editor. I used to like the way Cubase (and I asume every other DAW) worked: if I double clicked an audio track it would zoom up and I could do my editing there. Why is this not possible in an easy way in Reaper? I don't know.

 

[Nectar-and-Fuel]

The main thing that pisses me off about Reaper is that when I have a lot of tracks/plugins loaded the editor windows sometimes turn black so you can't see what the hell's going on. Sometimes docking/undocking fixes it, but usually I have to re-open the project. Other than that I'm not really bothered by its quirks, except that MIDI is a pain in the ass.

 

[AdamWathan]

True. I find editing in Reaper to be quite annoying too. I also dislike the fact that I have to use and external editor. I used to like the way Cubase (and I asume every other DAW) worked: if I double clicked an audio track it would zoom up and I could do my editing there. Why is this not possible in an easy way in Reaper? I don't know.

Hmm I don't see the need for any destructive editing in Reaper, I can do all my editing in the arrange window just like I do in Pro Tools. That was actually one thing that drove me insane about Logic. What do you need a destructive editing window for that you can't do in the regular arrange window to your regions?