Reaper: Digital Audio Workstation
reaper.fm
reaper.fm
People often cite it as the "best deal in audio," and it certainly is that. But honestly, DAWs are not the big expense for us (my studio monitors cost twice what my laptop cost; the most expensive DAW out there is still one of the cheaper elements of my studio).
I use REAPER because the answer is always "yes." "Hey, can you? . . ." You name it. If it has something to do with audio, REAPER can probably handle it. And it's hands-down the most stable DAW I've used. I can't remember the last time it actually crashed, but I guarantee you it was a wonky plugin.
I've heard it described as "the emacs of DAWs," and that seems about right. As with an industrial-strength editor, there's a bit of a learning curve (maybe an endless one). But if, by some miracle, REAPER can't do what you want out of the box, you can almost certainly hack something on top of it that will.
Wow, that's up there in pro studio territory. I hope you've invested in appropriate room treatment.
Having also used Logic, Cubase, Ableton, and Reaper, I can't say I was too impressed with Reaper. Logic Pro X, OTOH, is amazing, and Ableton is excellent in conjunction with Push 2 (the only reason I use it).
there's a bit of a learning curve (maybe an endless one).
Ah, there's the catch. Yeah. Reaper seemed clunky to me.
Is Reaper suitable for all types of music or more suitable for music you record from live instruments, i.e. traditional band music vs electronic music.
I was looking into Bitwig[0], because I like its modulators and the way you can automate things.
PS. I'm a total beginner.
You'll hear lots (and lots) of talk about which DAWs are best suited to which types of music, but honestly, I've written symphonies using Ableton Live and electronica using REAPER (and I'm hardly alone). It's true that some communities of composers/producers gravitate toward certain DAWs, but -- especially if you're starting out -- that fact isn't as important as it might seem.
Here's my advice on the matter: Pick a DAW (Bitwig is amazing), and commit to not buying a single third-party plugin for at least a year.
The problem beginners have is that they think there's something wrong with their software, when the reality is that they don't yet understand how compressors, and EQs, and reverbs, and delays, and filters (and all that stuff) work. And they think that if they drop a fortune on fancy third-party versions of those things, all their problems will disappear. They won't. Truth is, the "stock" versions of these things that come with DAWs nowadays are absolutely fantastic.
I have close to 300 third-party plugins in my plugin folder. That gives me all kinds of shades of color and nuance that I can use to create certain kinds of sounds and moods. But if someone asked me to make a record using only the stock plugins in Live, or Logic, or Studio One, or REAPER, that wouldn't bother me in the slightest. Wait until you really understand how those components work before you start chasing down "that sound." And remember that some of the best records ever made were made using equipment that is startlingly primitive in comparison to the audio facilities of your phone.
Everything on the internet says otherwise, but it's all about the music and your knowledge. It is almost never, in the end, about the gear.
It also comes the the ReaFX plugins which may not be pretty but damn are they useful. I believe you can get them for free to use in other DAWs.
On the other side of the coin it probably isn't the easiest to get started in and it's not the best for making Electronic Music IMO (FL Studio and Reason are much better adapted for this).
A few notes:
+1 that you can get most of Reaper's plugins for use in other DAWs (maybe only for Windows though?): https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/ - almost any DAW seems to have decent stock plugins these days but Reaper's do some nice stuff like a clean N-band multiband compressor.
Upgrades do go on for quite a while - though @abaga129, unfortunately your free update train just ended a couple weeks ago. Purchasing a license at version N gets you all updates for major releases N and N+1, but N+2 is a paid upgrade (and would come with all upgrades through N+3). Version 6 was just released this month, so it's a great time to jump in and get a license if anyone's been running that trial past the intended period.
Reaper is absolutely worth $60 (for studios with a decent amount of revenue it's $300 or so IIRC), but for some musicians I think other, more expensive DAWs can be a better deal, for example Studio One when it's on sale, or Logic Pro X for Mac users at $200 - it has a huge amount of stock plugins and instruments that Reaper really doesn't match. Perhaps you don't need them. And many people likely end up with tons of third-party plugins anyway so it won't matter. And of course there are plenty of good, free third-party plugins online.
Though elephant in the room (for me) for Logic is whether Apple will continue to support the pro line. Having a nice MBP refresh and the new new Mac Pros out is a good signal.
Students can grab Apple's Final Cut Pro X + Logic X + other stuff bundle for $199: https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/BMGE2Z/A/pro-apps-... For everyone, you can likely purchase iTunes gift cards at a discount and use that for apple's pro software.
Reaper has a fully-functional 60-day trial and is a well-behaved app on your system (no USB dongle drivers for example). Totally recommend trying it out.
I've used it for more than 10 years, and it's my go-to DAW ever since.
Reaper is amazing. Some of its default behaviors regarding tracks management (especially multi-takes tracks) are a bit weird coming from another DAW though.
The most impressive features for me is the a-track-can-be-anything and the routing capabilities.
It's hard to describe all the reasons why but to me it really feels like a DAW made for developers.
I happen to use this one myself though. I have found it to be relatively easy to use and one of the more affordable options available at $60 for non-commercial use. They just released 6.0.
EDIT: Removed Audacity mention as an alternative because Audacity isn't a DAW.
So many random people use Audacity because it's zero cost, and every one of those people is an opportunity to implicitly teach what's actually going.
Yes, they could all go watch Monty's excellent video showing what's going on, but they needn't do that if the tools we give them show everything properly in the first place, they'd just assume "Right I guess it's magic somehow" and only need Monty's video if they needed to actually understand (or argue with people who are wrong on the Internet).
Everything else about Audacity is pitched just right for an audience that doesn't need a full-blown DAW anyway.
ReaScript: can program high level UIs/project manipulation/etc in Lua or EEL2
JSFX: can write realtime signal processors in EEL2
Video: can write/edit video FX in EEL2 (a ton of included presets are there which can be tweaked on the fly)