Normally I don’t go out of my way to post about specific software tools, but this one is really worth a mention. REAPER (Rapid Environment for Audio Prototyping and Efficient Recording) is a DAW program that rivals the functionality of even the most expensive tools like Sonar, Cubase and Logic, and today it has been upgraded to version 3.

REAPER made waves when it first started development as it offered an extremely low price point for the non-commercial license ($60) and a very competitive price for the full commercial license ($225). However, most notably, it was updated constantly, being the brainchild of Winamp creator Justin Frankel, and had an unlimited, fully-featured demo version.

All of these things are still true in REAPER 3. The software is still being updated very frequently, taking into account user feedback from the REAPER community. The non-commercial license is still $60, but it’s even more broad than before; it’s now the “discounted license” and applies to anyone generating less than $20,000 per year from music as well as educators, students and academic institutions.

The program has made massive strides since its first release and is absolutely worth a try if you’re on Windows XP or Vista (the Mac and 64-bit Windows versions are still in beta, but looking very promising.) REAPER is very stable and hardly eats any resources; plus, if you’re on a multicore computer, you can expect incredible efficiency, moreso than DAWs like Cubase or Sonar.

Personally, I’m a big fan of how REAPER handles audio editing. The interface is highly customizable and once you settle into your setup, you can work extraordinarily fast. I actually used it extensively to edit a new sample library for Impact Soundworks, a vintage drum kit collection called Groove Bias. I think I created at least 3,000 individual WAVs with this program!

Cockos Reaper [reaper.fm]

Tags: reaper, software

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 10:56 pm and is filed under Stuff for artists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.