Switch DAW: Logic to Pro Tools to REAPER (Pt 1)

In this series, I describe eight major benefits that REAPER brought to my music production workflow, and how they pushed me toward a full switch from Pro Tools.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my own personal opinions, which are related to how I use a DAW. It’s not meant to judge any of these software. As a matter of fact, I still own and occasionally use both Logic and Pro Tools.

Logic

After starting out with Cubase in 1995 and using it until v4, I moved to eMagic’s Logic in 2002. Transitioned to Apple’s Logic Pro X a bit late, I stayed there until last year. All in all, it’s been 18 years with Logic.

2002: Logic Audio Platinum 5

Pro Tools

I used plenty of other audio software over time and had always felt like Logic was never the best choice for post-production. After a problematic job, last year I finally jumped ship and paid Avid for 12 months of Pro Tools subscription. Despite being already familiar with the program, it substantially changed my workflow for the better.

I see it as a brilliant computer metaphor for someone who learned the craft in the analog world. The management of the I/O, the way it handles sends and returns, and above all, the powerful and fast audio editing. Yet, there’s something about it that always felt awkward to me. I didn’t enjoy its distinct lack of personalization, the difficult compatibility, and the unpredictability software-wise. Too many random crashes and obscure error messages that never quite stood up to its price.

Not very useful: a Pro Tools error message

Now, with my subscription about to expire, and irritated by the idea of another hefty payment during a harsh pandemic, I decided to jump ship, again.

Enter REAPER

Over the past ten years, I’ve been following several professionals who switched to REAPER by Cockos. Moreover, during my recent rekindling with game audio, I’ve discovered that REAPER has become a de facto standard in that industry.

After the Wwise certification, learning REAPER was next in my pipeline. I thought: let’s try it now, and see if it can successfully replace Pro Tools and save me some money too.

Benefit 1: Cost

Initially, I was seriously attracted by two factors. In order of importance:

• The open architecture, which leads to endless customization possibilities and translates to efficiency.
• Cockos’ business model.

REAPER is not free. The trial lasts for two months, after which the software keeps working anyway, fully functional. As Cockos says: it’s up to your conscience. No iLok, no authentication required. If you use the software, pay for it. They trust you to do the good thing. As a matter of fact, I tried it for about a week: that’s how long it took me to decide. There are two tiers available: discounted and commercial, depending on how you use it — a very sensible distinction.

License	Description	Cost
Discounted	You are an individual, and REAPER is only for your personal use, or you are an individual or business using REAPER commercially, and yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000, or you are an educational or non-profit organization.	$60
Commercial	Every other case.	$225

Each license includes two major releases. For instance, I bought it now, at v6.x, which gives me free updates until v7.99 included. To put things in perspective, Logic Pro X costs €199, no exceptions.

With REAPER’s discounted tier, it takes 6 major releases to reach the amount of money Apple charges. That could translate to many years.

I won’t go down the rabbit hole of Avid’s pricing policy. As a frame of reference, Pro Tools regular is €340 per year (including VAT). Avid also offers a “perpetual” license at €682: it doesn’t include all the goodies reserved to subscribers, it only comes with one year of updates and it’s so well hidden in the website I suspect they’ll remove it sooner or later.

Just consider this: over the average years it takes REAPER to release two full major updates, I would have spent up to €3400 on Pro Tools alone. Pandemic or not, I seriously struggle to see why would I want to pay that much money when I can do the same things with a different software.

Benefit 2: Multi-platform

I can install my copy of REAPER on Mac, Windows or Linux. If I need to, I can have it on all three at the same time, using the same serial I already bought.

Side note

Since the video game industry is oriented towards Windows, it’s clear to me why a multi-platform capability is one of many reasons why REAPER became a standard. Given how easy is to export and re-import all the settings and customizations, I can easily keep my setup in sync on all systems.

Import and export REAPER’s configuration

Tracks

This was a biggie for me. I was stunned to discover that REAPER doesn’t have track types. In other words: it’s track agnostic. Despite an initial WTF moment, I’m now absolutely in love with the concept. In all the other DAWs I know, when I create new tracks I must at least select a type, along with some other information. Usually, a choice is requested to set the track as:

• Audio
• External MIDI
• Virtual MIDI instrument
• Auxiliary bus
• VCA
• Mono
• Stereo

Create new tracks in Pro Tools

Create new tracks in Logic Pro X

Imagine having to double click in the track area and not worry about any of the above. Since a track is just a track, I can decide later on its routing based on what I need. Of course, I can add multiple tracks at once and more if I want, but the basic action is built for speed.

As for pretty much everything in REAPER, a track can be created in three ways: double click in the track area; keyboard shortcut; right-click in the track area (opens a contextual menu with more options).

REAPER: create new track(s)

Drag an audio file, whether mono, stereo or multichannel, and the track accepts it; do the same by dropping a MIDI file. It also doesn’t care if the audio files are at different sample rates. Later, you can decide if it has to be mono or stereo, assign outputs and/or sends and whatnot. Also, and this is utterly cool: I can have a mono audio, a stereo (or surround) audio and a MIDI sequence all in one track:

It’s a different metaphor, and it leads to a whole new workflow. It’s become an unbelievably efficient timesaver to me. Reproducing all my Logic or Pro Tools templates, including creating groups of track presets first, only took a few minutes.

Routing

There are several ways to manipulate the signal flow. Each one serves a purpose depending on the situation. For instance, clicking the route icon in a track the following appears:

The routing window from a track in REAPER

For sends and returns, I can either use the basic routing window pictured above, or drag the route icon from one track onto another: the cursor changes into a patch cable, symbolizing the connection.

Create a send from one track to another by dragging the route icon (“IO” in my skin) to a track

I can also select multiple tracks at once, hold SHIFT and drag from the same icon to re-route them all. Technically, all these actions create a bus/aux, but again, I don’t have to worry about it. I usually assign a custom colour to my busses so that they’re easily recognizable, and work it out later.

The fastest way to create a bus is to create a folder. It’s as easy as clicking the folder icon in the track: the ones below will indent and be instantly re-routed. Once a folder is created, a “ghost clip” is generated at the top level, so that when the folder is collapsed its content is still visible.

A folder in REAPER, with its ghost clip at the top

The routing matrix window can be used to apply elaborated signal flows to the whole song. As an example, I always send my mix to four groups (see: Brauerizing) depending on the material; these A to D groups feed a mix bus where I apply my top-level processing.

Finally, it goes to the master output which holds meter readings. In addition, I have my external DAC for headphones, routed to output 7-8 of my interface. I can do all this in seconds, as demonstrated by Kenny Gioia in the following video:

Grouping

Similarly to Pro Tools, I can group tracks together, for mixing or editing. However, REAPER supports temporary groups too, as Logic does. Select multiple tracks, quickly manipulate them — volume, pan, solo, mute, etc — and unselect to go back to normal. It works in the track panel as well as in the mixer, and it’s awesome.

Same as for the routing, there is a grouping matrix window, where more complex connections can be applied quickly to the entire project.

REAPER grouping matrix

Related topics

APPLE

FEATURED

GAME AUDIO

MUSIC PRODUCTION

PRO TOOLS

REAPER

SOFTWARE

SOUND DESIGN