Category: Jam Session
Didn't see a ton of discussion out here on reaper and/or ReaAccess, so wanted to check in and see whose using it, perhaps we could all share some tips.
I've used it now for about two months and am in love with what I'm able to accomplish over audacity and garageband ETC.
I use it pretty often, though I admittedly don't get on here very often. A good place to ask questions and discuss things is the ReaAccess mailing list. As far as I know, this is linked to from the main reaaccess.com website. If not, bug me and I can get you a link.
There is also a course from www.cavitraining.com which teaches audio fundimentals, including some reaper usage. I help out with that aspect of the course. Just thought I'd mention it.
I'm going to be starting to use it very soon. I downloaded the trial after taking my second digital audio engineering course, because while I love audacity, it lacks some features such as automation which I would find very helpful. it was also the only other high-end Digital Audio workstation I've come across which is acccesible to me.
What is it? is it accessible?
I currently use goldwave, why should I change?
Bob
I've never used goldwave. Perhaps you could compare? Reaper is a multi-track digital audio workstation which is, as far as I know comparable to other industry standard DAWs. It's extensively deep as well as customizable to a degree I've never personally encountered. You can choose what you want visible, and what you want to ignore. You can automate with it (such as doing a gradual speed change, fade or pan.) It's also a great deal cheeper than most DAWs, coming in at around $68 for a full license, plus 60 days free trial. It's also got a pretty active forum, and a whole crap ton of keyboard and mouce customization options. You can also use a software plug-in like asio4all to remove latency when you're recording into the program. I haven't played around with it too much yet, so I can't say more than that. But it's the closest thing I've seen to an accessible audio editor aside from the free, more or less accessible and yet quite limited audacity.
Reaper is a nice reasonably accessible multi Track DAW. Unfortunately, there has been no real progress with RaeAccess and I'm not even sure if folks are still using it to access reaper.
In my case, after making the move to Pro Tools and a mac, yes something I'm well aware most folks are unable to do, I'd never go back.
The level of professional sounds and plugins are unmatched IMHO in PT.
I'm using Reaaccess right now actually. I have enough sight that it gives me just the little extra keyboard and voice feedback I need. So far I'm loving reaper for its power and vercitility. I haven't used Protools, but it's one I'd like to try one day. I'd like to try a trial, but it's my understanding you need a box as an interface, and if I'm going to buy something, I want to try it first. Reaper was nice for me because it has a full trial, and once that expires and I like it, the DAW is only 68 cdollars. For a professional workstation, that's a steal.
From a strickly getthing things done point of view, I found reaper ok. I hated with the passion there setup for affects and sends. I found more advanced features like loop record, and punch record nearly impossible to accomplish quickly and easily. As far as PT goes, no need to have an avid device any more as it takes advantage of the core audio, in the mac. You would however have to have an Ilok usb device to get a demo of PT. They are about 35 bucks.
Well, having now been using Reaper for a bit I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. It's really complex, and I'm by no means even remotely adept at it, but so far so good. I love that you can open your tracks in an external editor such as audacity. it allows me to fine-edit things a bit. Editing in reaper is really good, though I'm not sure how it would be without any sight at all. I'd still like to try protools, but given that I ahve a PC and don't know about its accessibility, and given how inexpensive reaper is, I think I'm pretty happy.
Unfortunately it doesn't appear there's a lot of support for Reaaccess other than that Cavi course. Not even any youtube tutorials. I've had to figure things out on my own which has taken considerably longer.