Is Reaper a non-destructive DAW? Also - 32 or 64 bit general question

[TBman]

Just curious. I'm paying about $20 a month for Audition and wondering if there is something I can just pay for once and be done with it. $240 a year seems like it might be overboard for what I do, but at the time it looked good.

Edit....

64 bit or 32? Other than some plugins aren't available in both formats, which do you favor for a DAW and why?

[Rudy4]

If you like Reaper then you can pay $60 once and be done with it. It depends on how you use a DAW and why you would want cloud service.

Reaper is a non-destructive editor. You can render your work in total or as stems to make permanent wavs but you always have the original source material to work with later.

[Joseph Hanna]

I'm curious what you understand of the phrase "non destructive" is? It doesn't seem to reconcile with your question?

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

If you like Reaper then you can pay $60 once and be done with it. It depends on how you use a DAW and why you would want cloud service.

Reaper is a non-destructive editor. You can render your work in total or as stems to make permanent wavs but you always have the original source material to work with later.

Thanks Rudy, I'm going to check it out.

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

I'm curious what you understand of the phrase "non destructive" is? It doesn't seem to reconcile with your question?

Non-destructive means that the original wav file is untouched. The application of plug-ins/effects are like "filters" that the wav file is processed through and the output can be saved to another sound file.

[rick-slo]

No way would I pay monthly for Audition. I use Ableton Live. The lite version is currently $99 (a one time payment) and it will have more functionality than you will ever need for what you are doing. This or some lite version of some other DAW should do fine. There is a learning curve though.

[Chipotle]

Reaper is completely non-destructive. Not just wrt to plugins, but also editing, splitting, trimming, takes, etc.

It's available in both 32- and 64-bit versions. I use 64 bit simply because that's the architecture of my PC. It has no bearing on sound quality.

What you do get with 64 bits is the ability to address more memory: a 32-bit system can only access 4GB of RAM. So if you are loading memory-intensive plugins (virtual instruments) or making large numbers of high-sample-rate tracks, or maybe have other programs running at the same time, more RAM can be useful. Note that more RAM may not actually help performance speed, since that is often an issue of processor power.

A personal Reaper license is $60, good for free updates until the next major revision (e.g. if you buy 6.13 now, you get all updates through 6.99). Then you have to re-purchase if you want the next version (e.g. 7.X). When I bought version 5.1 in Nov. 2015, I got updates for four years until 6.0 came out in Dec. 2019. Pretty good deal IMHO.

[Fran Guidry]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

...

A personal Reaper license is $60, good for free updates until the next major revision (e.g. if you buy 6.13 now, you get all updates through 6.99). Then you have to re-purchase if you want the next version (e.g. 7.X). When I bought version 5.1 in Nov. 2015, I got updates for four years until 6.0 came out in Dec. 2019. Pretty good deal IMHO.

Just a niggle, but you actually get two major versions for your $60. So you'll still have a valid license for v7 and won't be on the hook for another $60 until they put out v8. And along they way you'll get free updates/bug fixes/improvements/new features continuously.

Fran

[pieterh]

I love Reaper. Editing is non-destructive unless you make an edit where you join together two sections of a track (“glue”); it is then saved as the new wave file for that track. The original may still be untouched, I’m not actually sure about this. One way around it is to save all the files again before editing in a new location after recording and use those as your source files for editing.

I use Logic as well for a lot of editing depending on where the files will be ending up (eg on a Premiere project) but I prefer to do live recording on Reaper. It is much more stable for live multitrack recording; I’ve had instances where Logic has maxed out during what should be fairly light live recordings whereas Reaper has managed the second half of the show (after the break) with the same channel count, same resolution (48/24) and same MacBook Pro with audio input via Dante.

Incidentally, although you can choose different formats to record in I would recommend always using full-resolution format like wave. You can always export or bounce to MP3 or whatever later if needed.

[Rudy4]

Reaper does indeed provide updates through two major versions. Here's the info from the Cockos website:

"A new REAPER 6 license includes unlimited free updates through REAPER version 7.99. Frequency varies, but updates are typically released every few weeks."

When your license finally "expires" you can still use the software, it's just not eligible for automatic updates. I love Reaper's business model, and there are very few companies that place trust in users to the extent that they do. It's worthy of our support.

I haven't used many DAW software applications, but Reaper is the only one I use because the few others that I've tried ended up lacking in stability or usability on my PCs. Cakewalk was the worst, as I dropped almost $200 on Sonar and worked for 3 months trying to get it to work on two different PCs. Their customer support was virtually zero, telling me to "keep trying other things".

Reaper can be initially overwhelming until you figure out the basics. They allow so much customization of the system that it requires more time when you first start using it, but it's a hugely capable DAW. For most users it's super-easy once you save a few template projects to define how you want to work.

As an example, I have a "Video template" set up to open with the video window sized and positioned, and my normal number of audio tracks already established and ready to add media files to. It's very easy to open your saved template and save your new project with a new name so your template never gets changed.

[MikeBmusic]

One other note - if you are using the 64 bit version of Reaper, most 32 bit plug-ins will work in a 'bridged' configuration automatically in it.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by TBman

Non-destructive means that the original wav file is untouched. The application of plug-ins/effects are like "filters" that the wav file is processed through and the output can be saved to another sound file.

Holy cow, I wasn't aware that Audition was a destructive DAW. Your question, in that context, makes total sense. For that kind of money I'd be running (sprinting) towards another solution. Plenty of options as others have mentioned. I'd down load a couple of demo's and see which appears to be the most intuitive to you personally and just get to it. In the end they're all good.

On a side note there are a handful of Post Audio pro's here in town that use primarily audio suite plug-in's (destructive) as it can, in certain scenarios, speed up work flows. I worked with a really great engineer a few years back and I adopted a lot of his templates and work flow ideas. I'm in fact about 75% destructive in my workflow now depending of course on the project. That said for the home music solution destructive only editing would be unacceptable for me.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

Just a niggle, but you actually get two major versions for your $60.

Even better deal, then! I had to re-up from V5 to V6, but I figured $15 a year was still a steal.

[stevecuss]

I love Reaper. I was using Garage Band previously so my learning curve was steep, but the Reaper community is generous with knowledge sharing and there are lots of YT videos.

Can't think of a single downside to Reaper, honestly.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Holy cow, I wasn't aware that Audition was a destructive DAW. Your question, in that context, makes total sense. For that kind of money I'd be running (sprinting) towards another solution. Plenty of options as others have mentioned. I'd down load a couple of demo's and see which appears to be the most intuitive to you personally and just get to it. In the end they're all good.

On a side note there are a handful of Post Audio pro's here in town that use primarily audio suite plug-in's (destructive) as it can, in certain scenarios, speed up work flows. I worked with a really great engineer a few years back and I adopted a lot of his templates and work flow ideas. I'm in fact about 75% destructive in my workflow now depending of course on the project. That said for the home music solution destructive only editing would be unacceptable for me.

Audition is non destructive. I just want something cheaper.

[Joseph Hanna]

Originally Posted by TBman

Audition is non destructive. I just want something cheaper.

Big ole curveball although at this I concede, I confuse with utter ease