Reaper: I'm cheating on Cubase.....

OK, fed up with swapping my dongle from my DAW to my laptop, I bought Reaper ($40) as a cheap ‘host’.

The 64 bit version of Reaper hosts 32 bit VST’s perfectly and I can run twice as many heavy VST’s as I can on my main PC with Cubase (I checked, Reaper is spreading the load of my VST’s evenly over 4 cores). I can put Reaper on as many PC’s as I like, no dongle, it has ‘fx teleport’ type of DAW networking built in…It can sidechain any VST
I’m strating to like the ‘one window’ interface.

Oh god, is this how it starts…I’m thinking about Reaper more than Cubase…it’s a DAW affair!

Cubase 6 better loose 20lbs and shape up, Ive taken every upgarde since Pro24…I’m realy thinking of switching to the younger model…but I have such a history with Cubase, I want to stay togeater…

I know where you are coming from.
There is no such thing as a “one thing does it all perfectly” software solution. So I say, find what works best for how you work.

Reaper is sweet depending on your needs for some of Cubase’s (subjectively) more advanced features. It was pointed out to me yesterday no less, and correctly so, that a person buying a first daw might be much better off spending $450 on Kontakt 4 + Reaper than spending $499 on Cubase 5.

Reaper’s price and power ratio kinda changes the game a little.

But I’m a cheat also. :laughing: I cheat with Studio One and Reaper. Cubase is on my bastard child list. :mrgreen:

Deformed Choruses!

I kinda started steppin out with a little number from Cupertino CA last year.

Cubase looks on from the PC across the desk disapprovingly at the big shiny iMac with her Logical ways, and I’m only human so when she whispered Space Designer. I was hooked. :laughing:

Ok, now I have put a cubase skin on Reaper, that’s like getting your mistress to dress up as your wife… :astonished:

Some thoughts out loud.
Reaper is great. Amazingly it’s a kind of DAW that allows you first to imagine your workflow and then choose how to achieve it. In this process Reaper goes further than any DAW I know, but this comes at a price.

A generic GUI (probably in order to remain flexible) without some conveniences like a track inspector with multiple tabs (which can be mimicked in a few ways to a certain extent and is balanced by clever docker tabs ), the lack of dedicated tools incorporated into the GUI, which dictates learning lots of key commands (which on the other hand can speed up your workflow together with macros), the lack of MIDI tools and functions incorporated into the key editor (which on the other hand is balanced by about a hundred of JS MIDI plugins which allow you to do almost anything Cubase MIDI plugins do and maybe more), no score editor, no vst expression (which can be somehow helped by the ability to name the graphical keys in the key editor) etc. You see? Almost anything can be worked around in Reaper.

On the other hand there are huge advantages like flexible routing, screen sets, macros, actions, mixer snap shots, and above all stability and reliability (vsty plugin bridging anyone?). Do the advantages overweigh the disadvantages? This is what everyone decides for himself.

I check Reaper regularly to see what’s new, but those tens of changes that come with every new version seem to be so minuscule that I don’t always understand what they are and what they are for. Experience shows you can wait for a new feature to be implemented in Reaper as long or even longer than in Cubase.

I think Cubase is as convenient to use as it is inflexible in choosing the workflow. On the other hand it’s well designed. So far it suits me much better than Reaper. What I like about Cubase is that you don’t have to be a hacker to achieve something. It’s there, it’s convenient and it’s well thought out. Cubase’s audio and MIDI finesse is probably unsurpassed and it’s going to get even better with new versions. Can you remember how you edited vst articulations before vst expression came out? Arranger track, Transpose track, VST Instrument track, VariAudio, Time Warp, Audio Warp - aren’t they ingenious and innovative?

Do you think Reaper will come up with anything like this? I think It’ll rather offer you a piece of code to change in order to suit your workflow instead, which for me is not an option so far.

Sorry, guys, I didn’t follow the mood of your thread.

But reapers just so cheap and she will do almost anything for the cost of a good drink :smiley:

(back on mood :wink: )

I love Cubase, been there since the beginning, but I also like the fun and free wheeling way of the Reaper, they chuck major release candidates out to users at Alpha so it’s fully tested before release…it’s very open and I think they actually listen to what users want. V4 (alpha) looks pretty cool, and you are correct about customisation (hacking) they have produced a skin editor so you can have it (Ehem) any way you want it :wink:

Suspect there will be a maschine based DAW from NI to rival my Ableton Live wife in 2011 also!

I just got a REAPER license for $40
I also bought a bottle of Milagro Single Barrel Select Silver Tequila for about the same amount

happy ending I think :wink:

I have a Reaper license as well. I only run the x64 version. The performance and stability is excellent. It’s what C5x64 should be but isn’t. However, I’d rather be drubbed on the head with flaming bricks than edit MIDI in Reaper. I don’t like the interface at all. I don’t like have to write all my own macros to do simple things like autosize the selected track. I could go on about the things I don’t like, just like I can with Cubase and Samp.

But, if you’re gonna have some on the side, it’s not a bad choice.

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

What about comparing the current version of Reaper to Cubase 4.5.2? I don’t have Expressions or any of the new features. Is it still as one sided as you mention compared to Cubase 5.x?

Reaper has a great engine and it’s very powerful and stable. I own a copy (on my second paid license actually) and it’s the best general purpose audio app I’ve ever owned, it’s damned convenient. I keep a copy on a USB credit card key in my wallet so I can run it anywhere there is a PC and and audio card… anywhere… without installing it. Great.

Justin is arguably one of the most talented independent developers out there. If he keeps going for another 5 years Reaper will (at those prices) really screw some things up in the host market. It’s already causing some ripples.

But … (imo) … the one to watch is Studio One. It’s already my favorite host but give it another 18-24 months to mature a bit more and I think it will be something even more special, if they keep focus on the current direction. I mean, it’s missing a lot of advanced midi features, missing a lot of advanced audio features, but… and it’s a big but… It does just everything right that annoys me about Cubase. From some of the stuff I already talked about down to the very simple little things like switching a track stereo/mono.

I’ve found my host for the next decade. No looking back. We’ve had recent releases of PT9, Sonar X1, Reaper 4 is not too far away and I assume Cubase 6 will arrive early next year. Keep your eye out for Studio One 2.0 sometime next year… my guess (and it’s only a guess) next spring or summer.

Watch these ex-Steinberg developers closely … they’re making the new Cubase (from scratch). :slight_smile: It’s gonna take a little while longer though.

http://www.presonussoftware.com/en_US/index.php?id=company-team

That team is a lot like Reaper’s dev team of 3, small team (4 devs), tight focus, fast updates, very nimble.

I also use Reaper, mostly on a laptop. I’m not keen on the midi side of things or the handling of audio takes and comping.

For purely mixing audio it’s pretty darn good. :wink: :smiling_imp:

I’m not sure it is so one sided against 5.5, both sides could list unique features, pro’s, con’s etc. It is the fact that REAPER costs $40 that changes things in terms of the law of diminishing returns ( i.e. is CUBASE 10x better than REAPER?). I own CUBASE, so it isn’t an issue; but I bet I have spent over $1000 on it with all the updates since the origonal VST…she is a high maintenance wife!

(I think I have this analogy the wrong way around, isnt it the mistress that is supposed to be expensive!)