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Reaper DAW. Tiny executable, rock-solid reliability, low RAM and CPU usage, effortlessly configurable. It's closed source so it's just a gut feel but it gives t

Reaper DAW. Tiny executable, rock-solid reliability, low RAM and CPU usage, effortlessly configurable. It's closed source so it's just a gut feel but it gives the impression of being 'well made' under the hood. I call it my 'Vim of audio'. It was written by the creator of Winamp.

JeremyMorgan 10y ago
Yes, recently discovered Reaper after using Audacity for a while. Works so much nicer and no surprises.
Joeboy 10y ago
Haven't tried Reaper, but Ardour is pretty solid for me these days.
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  I try to use Ardour every couple of years (and I think I still have a monthly donation setup for Ardour). So far, I've always gone back to Reaper. Partly that's because audio on Linux still kinda sucks, and often requires a lot of kernel fiddling and other crap, but partly it's because Ardour is bigger, slower, and generally less capable than REAPER. But, it's been a couple of years, so I'm due for another stab at using Ardour for my primary DAW.
  - mwcampbell 10y ago
    What OS do you run REAPER on?
    - SwellJoe 10y ago
      Windows. It is the only thing I reboot for, now that Steam has so many Linux games.
chowes 10y ago
Not sure if you're playing music or just recording, but have you ever tried http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ ? Also made by the same people and a lot of fun!
tomc1985 10y ago
Reaper was written by the Winamp people? No wonder! I love Reaper too, it's a bitch to figure out how to use for ITB production though
- SwellJoe 10y ago
  It is pretty focused on multitrack recording, rather than on being a sequencer. So, ITB production is probably better served by other tools (I use Renoise and Fruity Loops, mostly, both of which suck for multitrack recording; lots of folks like Ableton Live). Reaper has a sequencer, but if what you want is to compose ITB or the remix with loops, there are better tools. But, if you're recording live instruments and mixing and mastering the resulting multitrack recording, Reaper really is among the best in its class, and comparable to tools costing many times more.
SwellJoe 10y ago
Agreed. I've used nearly everything, in professional and home environments, and REAPER is a compelling alternative to all of them. ProTools might be better for some special use cases...like audio for film and video, and post-production. But, for general purpose multi-track recording, REAPER is a practically perfect implementation of the traditional DAW model. It's so fast, so lightweight, and so powerful, and priced fairly.
squeaky-clean 10y ago
Reaper is amazing, as well as a lot of Cockos' software. People will probably recognize Licecap which is also them. Their WDL library is also great. It can be a great "batteries included" start for realtime audio apps (and other purposes I'm sure), or you can just grab individual classes if you need a Mersenne Twister, or fast sine waves, or image format conversion, or... http://www.cockos.com/index.php http://www.cockos.com/index.php
tedyoung 10y ago
OMG, +100 on this. Even on their "pre-releases", I've never had any stability/reliability problems. It's super-efficient and the community that's grown up around it is just awesome.

JeremyMorgan 10y ago

Yes, recently discovered Reaper after using Audacity for a while. Works so much nicer and no surprises.

Joeboy 10y ago

Haven't tried Reaper, but Ardour is pretty solid for me these days.

SwellJoe 10y ago
I try to use Ardour every couple of years (and I think I still have a monthly donation setup for Ardour). So far, I've always gone back to Reaper. Partly that's because audio on Linux still kinda sucks, and often requires a lot of kernel fiddling and other crap, but partly it's because Ardour is bigger, slower, and generally less capable than REAPER. But, it's been a couple of years, so I'm due for another stab at using Ardour for my primary DAW.
- mwcampbell 10y ago
  What OS do you run REAPER on?
  - SwellJoe 10y ago
    Windows. It is the only thing I reboot for, now that Steam has so many Linux games.

chowes 10y ago

Not sure if you're playing music or just recording, but have you ever tried http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ http://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ ? Also made by the same people and a lot of fun!

tomc1985 10y ago

Reaper was written by the Winamp people? No wonder! I love Reaper too, it's a bitch to figure out how to use for ITB production though

SwellJoe 10y ago
It is pretty focused on multitrack recording, rather than on being a sequencer. So, ITB production is probably better served by other tools (I use Renoise and Fruity Loops, mostly, both of which suck for multitrack recording; lots of folks like Ableton Live). Reaper has a sequencer, but if what you want is to compose ITB or the remix with loops, there are better tools. But, if you're recording live instruments and mixing and mastering the resulting multitrack recording, Reaper really is among the best in its class, and comparable to tools costing many times more.

SwellJoe 10y ago

Agreed. I've used nearly everything, in professional and home environments, and REAPER is a compelling alternative to all of them. ProTools might be better for some special use cases...like audio for film and video, and post-production. But, for general purpose multi-track recording, REAPER is a practically perfect implementation of the traditional DAW model. It's so fast, so lightweight, and so powerful, and priced fairly.

squeaky-clean 10y ago

Reaper is amazing, as well as a lot of Cockos' software. People will probably recognize Licecap which is also them. Their WDL library is also great. It can be a great "batteries included" start for realtime audio apps (and other purposes I'm sure), or you can just grab individual classes if you need a Mersenne Twister, or fast sine waves, or image format conversion, or... http://www.cockos.com/index.php http://www.cockos.com/index.php

tedyoung 10y ago

OMG, +100 on this. Even on their "pre-releases", I've never had any stability/reliability problems. It's super-efficient and the community that's grown up around it is just awesome.