Curious if anyone has used both, and what your preference ended up being. I’m on the hunt for a free DAW, and I never used anything like it before, so the more beginner friendly, the better. Any input on other options is also much appreciated.
Audacity really isn’t a DAW. It will do recording and editing, but it really isn’t designed to do the same thing as a true DAW.
I use Audacity for stuff, but not for recording my bass playing. I used Cakewalk like 20 years ago for stuff (so long ago it came on a disc with a massive book), but haven’t used it recently.
ETA: Reaper isn’t actually free, but they are very lenient with their free trial (basically you just get a 5 second nag screen when you first open it), so you could use it for free as long as you want/need to figure out if it will work for you.
2 Likes
Oh, that’s good to know, thank you. I’m really only looking to record my playing (and possibly singing) and be able to play it back to myself at the moment, but I’ll likely want to do more eventually, so I’m wondering if Cakewalk or Reaper (on the WinRAR license lmao) is a better choice so I don’t end up starting over with something new later.
Right now, I’m wanting to set up something in my bass space with a monitor and dock and such and be able to take my PC (handheld) to it when I want to record. I’m wondering too though if it would be easier to find something on Android to fill that capacity, but I don’t know much about what (if anything) is on Android that is close to fully featured.
And even then, it’s a $60 license and is well worth it IMHO. But again to your point, @Vader , their evaluation policy is exceptionally tolerant.
1 Like
The other guys covered it well; Audacity is a track recorder and audio file editor, not a DAW; Cakewalk is fine but he company that currently owns it is annoying (IMO); Reaper is as good as you can buy in terms of raw power and is super cheap.
2 Likes
And only Reaper has Kenny Gioia’s “Reaper Mania” YouTube channel. If there is something you’re are trying to do, but can’t figure it out, chances are excellent that Kenny has posted a video on that subject.
Regarding the $60 registration fee…in my opinion, it’s the best bargain in music gear, period. It’s good for 2 whole major releases. Given the voluminous minor releases (that’s a misnomer, since they add tons of new and useful features and still call them minor releases), my experience, since Reaper v2, is that I get about four years of free updates before I “need” to buy a new registration license. Studio One and Bitwig cost me about $150/year. Cubase might even be more than that. Reaper distribution files are tiny compared to the other DAWs. It installs fast and runs fast. I just ran Reaper to check the current version number. There was a update available to v7.57. 16 MB. That megabytes, not gigabytes. E’ffing amazing. Even if you buy a license now, it should be good for almost 3 years.
In case you don’t know, the main Reaper developer, Justin Frankel, created the original Winamp and Gnutella (a peer-to-peer file sharing network). He sold Winamp to AOL (I think), took the money and eventually debuted Reaper, first released in 2006. Reaper development is still going strong, even 20 years later.
3 Likes
With this statement you’ve made Reaper interesting too me.
Love (and still use) Winamp … cause of Milkdrop!
3 Likes
Yup. They keep throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks. So far, only the shit sticks. I bought a lifetime license for SONAR right before the original Cakewalk went toes-up. Cakewalk 8.5 was a great DOS-based DAW. Then it took them almost three major versions of SONAR (X1-X3) to stabilize the new UI. Then SONAR Platinum came along. It was a damn-good DAW before SPlat when splat.
1 Like
So, it sounds like Reaper is the way to go, for a full feature set, room to grow, inexpensive, a WinRAR license, and at least two releases of major updates. Sounds like a grand slam!
2 Likes
Just to be clear, the two major releases are the one they’re on, plus the next one. That’s why I checked the current version (v7.57). The minor releases tend to third-digit point releases, so the next one will be v7.58. I would expect v7 to go another year, so buying a license now for v7-v8 will still get you about 3 years. When v9 is released, you’ll get v9 & v10, about 4 years. I’ve been doing this since v3. V2 was at v2.8 or 2.9, so I waited for v3, and used (and abused) their generous try-it-out period.
1 Like
Thank you! Is it still usable after the second release, or do you have to get the newer license for it to keep working? That’s probably a dumb question, I just don’t buy a lot of software outside of video games and android apps.
Edit: that was a dumb question, considering the nagware angle now that I think about it, which isn’t to say that I would wanna sit on it for too long without paying.
It’s usable forever, you just won’t be able to update to v9.0 on the current license.
FWIW the versions are generally 2-3+ years each. 4 and 5 lasted four years each, and 6 was five years. I bought it in 2019 and I’m still on my first $60.
In contrast, Bitwig (my other DAW) has a $100/year upgrade plan (you pay $100 and get a year of major versions).
Reaper is a bargain for pro level software.
1 Like
The best low cost DAW I have found is Reaper. I messed with Ableton lite (free with gear) and it is complicated and feels better for live performance. I haven’t touched Audacity for 15yrs but even then it seemed like not much was going on.
I bought Studio One on sale for $130. Out of the daws I tried and used it just feels the nicest. Most things you need are easy to find or to find with a right mouse button click.
S1 is also scaled down enough that it is easy like Reaper. I fought buying a DAW for a long time but $130 is cheap when you think about the time you spend wrestling software instead of making music.
But yea Reaper for trial or $60 is hands down your best bang for the buck.
3 Likes
The odd thing is that Reaper is actually probably the most powerful DAW of them all and is anecdotally the second most commonly used DAW (behind Pro Tools) for engineers in studios (for its workflow automation). And yet the price is amazing.
2 Likes
There’s nothing forcing you to upgrade to v9. You can continue to use v8’s final release forever with the license/registration you paid for. If you want some of what v9 adds to the features list, and you don’t want the nag screen? $60.
One more thing about Reaper point releases…they come fast and furious. Every time they fix something or add something, boom!, new release. Compare that to Studio One where you “might” get one or maximum two updates before you have to pony up another $100 to $150. Since Fender bought PreSonus, they killed their forum. Just killed it. If it weren’t for Lukas Ruschitzka starting and maintaining the Studio One User Forum , users would have no place to go for community help. That’s one reason I hedged my bet and bought a license for Bitwig Studio. BTW, the Reaper user forum (Reaper User Forum) is very active and the developers participate in it. It’s just fantastic support.