Hi, I'm still trying to decide which DAW to migrate to mainly for the purpose of EDM production. I just wanted to ask, as far as the big DAWs that are often used for EDM are concerned (Ableton, Cubase, Studio one, Bitwig, and so on), which one is the closest to Reaper in its design and general workflow? For example, I tried the FL Studio demo and quickly found that right clicking on an element seems to erase it. In Reaper, it opens a context menu. Things like that. I'd be curious to hear your opinion if you've used Reaper and several of the other DAWs.

 

I'd say the handling of Cubase and Reaper is ~ 90% different and since Studio One is similar to Cubase...

 

Last edited: Nov 29, 2018

I think its kind of similar to Logic or Protools in terms of routing and handling. Reaper is the best I've seen with freeze function however, you can freeze and then add more plugins on top without unfreazing. I love how there are so many mods you can implement, really one of a kind imo.

 

Why is it ya wanna change? Are you really super familiar w/ Reaper? Virtually everyone uses Ableton for EDM, it's usually gonna be an adjustment to switch DAWs, maybe try em all? I think that Reaper is similar to Cubendo / S1 in terms of (in-depth) functionality, but not much else?

 

Reaper is an oddball, plus you can highly customize it and personalize stuffs...I doubt two people use it the same way, unless they use exactly as it is out of the box, which I doubt anyone does. It can be close to Ableton or to Cubase afaik. There is no daw as versatile, which is why it's hard to figure out for a lot of people, usually most daws give less margin. If you like Reaper you'll have trouble switching to another. Maybe couple it wwith other(s) like I do ? Reaper for mixing for example ? Another one for producing ? I don't know...
For the freezing part, it's indeed one of the best. I think samplitude is still ahead on that, and I also still prefer samplitude for its object editor. Reaper has a "mod" system (kind of, but you can build on that) and it has better automation, pattern automation, recording are on par for the two (well samplitude already has Ara so for Melodyne and vox editing it's better), I prefer how reaper handles sends auxes and buses.
Reaper and Cubase are very different in how they work but very close in how versatile they are. They are both workhorses, you can throw much, much at them. I prefer Reaper on most aspect except the midi and the chord track.
Studio 1 has a better workflow, but a lot less functionnalities. Few things he has since v4 are damn interesting and fun.

Bitwig and Live 10(and FLS) are just something else. Probably ideal for EDM, but if you like Reaper and want that workflow they aren't for you.
Which is a shame cause Bitwig is the bomb, better than ableton imo for most things (mainly mod system) and freaking insanely efficient on ressources management. And I mean right now it does better than Reaper which is something I have never seen from any daw (that's something great with reaper, ressources and plugin handling)....I mean even the Acustica Audio stuffs, Bitwig will just handle them like a boss.

 

Reaper

 

Try Bitwig for EDM.

 

I use Reaper and Bitwig, Bitwig is great for EDM

 

It is possible to use more than one DAW on a project. Some DAWs will work together and share audio ect. I have used Reaper With Harrison Mixbus using rearoute. Also I think FL studio can be used as a plugin, it has been a long time since I have used FL I'm not sure if that is true now. Or you could bounce stems to use the features of multiple DAWs.

 

Yep, Reaper is so much like Reaper you won't notice the difference. I changed from Logic to Logic and the learning curve was non existent. So happy to have made the change.

 

That explains why I get along with it so well...

 

@tooloud, i know you're free to have whichever avatar you choose and i'm sure you mean no harm, (she DOES have lovely eyes) or perhaps know her/story behind it. i'm not here to shame you and not an accusation.
i find myself feeling a bit uncomfortable with you having a young girl as your avatar, knowing as i do that you're an older guy..what about changing it to something cooler?
you post some pretty cool stuff and you seem to have really useful recording world experience and i'd feel much more easy about getting stuck in with your threads knowing you're a straight-up guy. hope that makes sense.

 

Last edited: Nov 30, 2018

I don't know, but I moved to Reaper from Sonar and the learning curve wasn't that bad,
that said, Reaper is hands off best DAW, why don't you just go for it?
if you need beefy composer rig setup, definitely check Vienna Ensemble Pro network virtual instrument host solution

 

As pointed out by Pronto, Reaper.

Reaper is unique because it's core design allows it to be constrained to Reaper specific functions or, to become a hybrid DAW.

The closest in features would be Pro Tools & Samplitude. All three allow object based editing, FX and automation just to name one likeness.

 

Last edited: Dec 1, 2018

Is that you in your avatar? Is it somebody who inspires you? Or are you actually Sly Stone? No, probably not. Well, same here. My avatar is a singer/guitarist called Addison Grace. Her cheerful enthusiasm inspires me. Her love of music inspires me. So what ever lines you think you're reading between, you are wrong.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 1, 2018

+1 Presonus Studio One. I have been using it since version 2 and its a good, solid DAW and quite similar to REAPER (in many ways easier if not more customisable than REAPER)

 

Do you NEED to change your DAW for EDM production?

 

thanks for filling in the blanks...you think i was unfair and off-target? i see your point and i might have asked who she was first, i apologise. i don't want to spam the thread.. i looked her up and she DOES seem to have that youthful exuberence about her.. i see how a person could be inspired by that

 

Ive been through them all lately, from havin protools 7->12 for years (i wonder why i didnt changed sooner - its an outdated daw thats just is a simple harddisk recorder) reaper is shit ("ooh the option isnt there? okay then "i" (some person from the net) make a script")
nearly half of cubase protection goes to the cpu

most of them have some weird layout that annoys the flow, i could go on, but the one that stands out is cakewalk bandlab

 

For a Reaper user who likes more and more options would like Bitwig over Ableton. In Bitwig, midi plugins and synths can be on same track like reaper but Ableton's got a bad workflow for this.

If you don't use session view ableton is one of the most simplest DAW. Bitwig is Ableton on steroids. But GUi of Bitwig is very cartoonish. Ableton's GUI is very easy on eyes.

Ableton is simple and Bitwig is more on creativity side. Bitwig gives you option to put any plugin between their delay plugin's feedback path. Who does that.

No DAW is like Reaper. Reaper is like any DAW.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 7, 2018