KVR Audio

RLSguitar · Post by **RLSguitar** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:53 pm

If you have and use Reaper for your own music only and not for clients, do you also use any other DAWs? If so, which one(s) and why?

I'm consider getting Sonar X3 upgrade (basic) since it's only around $20 at JRR Shop with in cart discount. I have enough plugins so I don't really need Sonar Studio or Producer (I don't have the money either). But even though it's at very low price, I wonder if I ever would need to use it, or any other DAW for that matter, as a backup or complement to Reaper.

What are your thoughts?

Note: I'm also cross-posting this on the Repear forums here:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?p=1398687

Z3R0T0N1N · Post by **Z3R0T0N1N** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:55 pm

My experience in Sonar is limited to the pre 'x' versions, and not extensive at that time, so it's probable that I am not aware of / experienced with some of its killer features. It is, clearly, a powerhouse of a DAW.
However, IMHO, if you are comfortable w/ Reaper, I am not certain how Sonar would compliment it rather than duplicate it. It may be a better, or more complete DAW in some respects -- or maybe not -- but it is basically the same paradigm.

I primarily use Reaper, since it's the compromise DAW for a project I am involved in. As a secondary DAW I use FL Studio, which was my primary environment before Reaper. I feel that this is a good combination if one wants to use two DAW softwares, because they are so different in so many respects. Neither one has much in the way of practical limitations when you get down to it, but they come at things from such different angles that it seems complimentary to me.

I would, if you really like Sonar, seek to replace rather than compliment Reaper with it. Working in two standard linear-style DAW softwares like Sonar and Reaper will, I suspect, divide your creativity rather than enrich it.

Best,
g

manducator · Post by **manducator** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:34 pm

I use FL Studio besides reaper.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 10:37 pm

FL11 and Renoise are the only daws you could rewire into Reaper, correct? Sonar only rewires in.

Shangsean · Post by **Shangsean** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 11:38 pm

I've been a Reaper user for years and I recently bought Sonar X3 Producer during the sale. I'm loving it, but the main thing that makes it so good for me is the ProChannel and you're not getting the full thing in the standard edition. I sort of agree with Z3R0T0N1N that Sonar X3 is possibly not different enough to Reaper, at least with the standard version, but the price is right and it's certainly a nice product.

RLSguitar · Post by **RLSguitar** » Mon Sep 01, 2014 11:53 pm

Great replies, thanks! For channel strips I have iZotope Ozone 5 and Alloy 2, and I also took advantage during the free period of Eventide UltraChannel. I have other DSP effect plugins too.

Shangsean · Post by **Shangsean** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:12 am

I also have Ozone 5 and Alloy 2, but I've hardly touched Alloy 2 since getting Sonar. I'll still use it in Reaper though. I Still use Ozone 5 in Sonar though. I think that's what I was alluding to. You'll basically be doing the same thing in Sonar as in Reaper if you don't have the full ProChannel. The only other thing to consider is if there are some plug-ins that don't work so well in Reaper that you have been wanting or using. I've heard Waves products aren't so stable in Reaper, but I don't have any so I wouldn't know.

RLSguitar · Post by **RLSguitar** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:42 am

I occasionally have problems with my Roland OctaCapture ASIO driver crashing in Reaper which requires me to do a full reboot of my PC to get it working again in Reaper. Though the audio driver does work in other apps even when it crashed in Reaper. An occasional plugin or two might crash Reaper also, especially when doing multiple instances or having long FX chains.

My PC is a Sweetwater CS400 v2 with an Intel QuadCore i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz and 16GB RAM, running Win7 x64 Home Premium. So I don't think it's a case of compute power and I've optimized its configuration for DAW use.

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:39 am

I use Reaper only for ReaNINJAM and subsequent mixing of NINJAM jam sessions. I use Audacity heavily for handling the audio in these sessions and master in Audacity.

Everything else is done in MuLab. I find the workflow and possibilities in MuLab allow me to get closer to what I'm trying to do, most of the time. I'm a lot more comfortable with its user interface, too -- most of Reaper I find just scares me witless and I lose any creativity. (Sadly, due to a lot of other commitments in the last couple of years, I've not had the time to sit down and just make music -- a few months and I'm hoping my current major project will be done, though, and I'll be free!)

Mace404 · Post by **Mace404** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 7:47 am

Not considered as a full daw but I use Maschine as standalone next to Reaper (Rearouted into Reaper).
Also I have Renoise (with Rewire) but not using that much lately.

morelia · Post by **morelia** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:44 am

I use FLStudio if I want to make something completely electronic. FLS is all I've used for that type of music and although it's not often I like it for midi programming and song creation. Can't stand the audio recording though.

I use Reaper most of the time (guitars, bass, drums and maybe a synth track once in every 20 songs). I also use Tracktion. Main reasons for that are that I used to us it exclusively and loved the work flow. When Mackie ruined it though I couldn't use it and moved to Reaper. Although it was hard to make the transition I'm a happy Reaper user. I still use Tracktion to work on old songs but can't see me getting back into it as my main DAW again unfortunately.

Musical Gym · Post by **Musical Gym** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 10:53 am

I use Studio One mostly now. I'm amazed at what you can do with it and it's pretty simple so far.
Many of my older projects were done in FL.
I use Reaper sometimes for midi guitar. It handles midi better than FL for me.
I never got the knack of Sonar, but some people like it a lot.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:21 am

Reaper for almost everything. Learning my ways around Studio One, but I don't think I'll ever fully move to it. Also want to get into Reason but I don't really like Props, they're way too similar to Apple.

RunBeerRun · Post by **RunBeerRun** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:08 pm

No others, just the "Pear". Although my new cat doesn't let me plug into a computer for longer than 10 minutes at a time.

GaryG · Post by **GaryG** » Tue Sep 02, 2014 12:44 pm

Mainly Reaper though finding Studio One a lot nicer for chopping audio up (y'know, grabbing and rearranging bits of a field recording or performance etc).

Strange as Reaper is meant to be designed with this kind of thing in mind. Seriously, if anyone has any tips on this then please share. I kind of have a workflow that involves custom actions, modified mouse behaviour etc that still isn't as quick as S1. And the loop markers don't get moved either in S1.

But I digress, also have Ableton Intro which is fun if I want to play with loops. Generally like the gui too, can do pretty much anything I want to without floating windows.

But Reaper is the one I come back to, know it pretty well now, light cpu on my old laptop (s1 ain't), rarely have issues with plugins.

Reaper users: Do you use any other DAWs for your own music in addition to Repear?