Reaper
Reaper is a focused digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Cockos. In the creation of the software, the digital audio technology company intended to make audio editing accessible to the masses.
- Hundreds of FX are built-in, and endless more can be added with VST and VSTi support.
- This is an all-in-one DAW that works with both MIDI and audio files.
- Reaper is also available as a portable version to keep on a USB drive and use it on any computer.
- The program is lightweight in terms of storage space used and CPU workload.
- Users can customize Reaper to their liking through flexible options and support for third party plug-ins.
- At $60, you cannot go wrong with this price for this caliber of a program.
- A pitfall of its deep customization is that it takes a long time to build one’s dream rig.
- Some of the terminology used would familiar only to those who already have DAW experience.
- The layout looks boring and dated by about a decade.
After years of toying around with Audacity, usually to make simple mash-ups or comedically speed up my favorite songs, I eventually decided to get serious with my audio editing. Hours of research into good DAWs for beginners led me to discover Cockos’ Reaper. When I read what people said about this software, I expected to go in empty handed in the effects department. To my surprise, Reaper comes with practically a whole studio of FX. Everything from the FX rig to the system UI is packed with the robustness of a $200 DAW for a little over a quarter of the price. Anyone who has tried Audacity or other waveform-based will find Reaper easy to understand. Even someone who has vague knowledge of simple video editing software like Windows Movie Maker will find their way around easily. As an experienced audio editor, this software feels like the most intuitive one to record, cut, fade, and apply effect chains to audio tracks. It’s fast, sleek, and packs a punch.