Thanks for the responses. Yes, I've been watching the videos by dfizzbom and will watch a few more today. But, okay, so I take it that some folk must not be pleased enough with RealBand to use it for recording and opt for "Reaper" instead. If I might ask WHY? Easier to use? More things to tinker with? I'm a newbie and haven't recorded ANYTHING through the computer yet but will soon (I just purchased my Line 6 UX1 interface and got it installed) so I'm just wondering as I'm almost ready to do so. (I already have tons of songs to work on and record). Anyhow, I've been to the "Reaper" website (just read it more carefully) and, apparently, the "discount license" can be obtained for $60. (I was thinking it was gonna cost $299):

"$225: full commercial license. $60: discounted license. You may use the discounted license if any of the following is true: You are an individual, using REAPER only for personal use. You are an individual or business, using REAPER for commercial use, and the yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000. You are an educational or non-profit organization."

Guess I'll go for it.

No, No, NO. You haven't recorded your first lick yet. Real Band is perfectly fine for 95% of the people on this forum. What it doesn't do and something like Reaper or Sonar does is way, way above your head right now. That's like third year student stuff and you're still in recording basics 101. No cutting classes and jumping ahead when you haven't finished 101. Once you completely understand how RB works to the point that you're answering noob's questions on this forum you may well be in that 95% and have no need for anything else.

Bob

Reaper has a well rather rabid following, and you will find Reaperites on almost every forum singing it's praises. I believe since the developers are out in the open and the users get to have almost daily input into the development. Plus the fact that the program is cheap, and has almost daily updates.

I have a license for version 4 and have used it, but i find i can do everything i need in RB.

Where Reaper really shines is in the area of routing of tracks. Every track acts like a buss, and or a instrument track, and you can send and receive to and from all of them in very unique ways.

Reaper is in my view still a long way off the top tier, but developing smoothly. It is a viable option, for those who do not want to spend the money on cubase, or sonar, and prefer daily, slow, steady development, over once or twice a year version based development.

I also own Sonar X1d, and it is a very solid program, while Reaper may be it's equal in audio Sonar is superior in midi. I find i like the work flow better in Sonar, partially due to familiarity, but also due to the fact that i don't want to have to go through the custom setup required in Reaper each time.

For me RB is like a simple, powerful, and comfortable old jacket. All my sonar plugins work in RB, SO i have a great suite of plugs to use along with PGs which are far better than most give them credit for.

So rokq22, do you have any clue about most of what Rob just said? No? Pack up Reaper and just learn Real Band until you understand this stuff. Yes, all the other DAW's usually do one thing better than the others or have one feature the other's don't have like Real Tracks in RB for example. You can go crazy thinking oh I have to be able to do that when what you have can actually do it just not as easily. They're all like that. Pick one and learn it then you can make an informed decision to go off with something else.

Bob

As you visit the respective forums, remember where you are when you are reading. If you are riding the Reaper range, you won't hear a discouraging word. Same for Sonar, Protools, Real Band.... it's like trying to explain to a Grateful Dead fan why their music sucks once the drugs wear off. Talking to diehard fans about something is not the right place to get unbiased, objective reviews. Read reviews from people who have no agenda.

Real Band does almost everything any Digital Audio Workstation (I hate getting newer people lost in the acronym desert - I still call them "sequencers" - I see no need to care about being "industry hip, groovy or cool") does, PLUS it composes. No other software that is considered to be in the deeper end of the sequencer gene pool is going to compose. Garage Band, and now some new piano thing, but none of them do what Real Band does.

Write your first song with Real Band. Then write your first song with Reaper. And that is a trick question because Reaper will not "write" your first song. You have to play all the tracks in, assign the MIDI channels for drum machines, etc....

I changed to Real Band after doing it the hard way for a long time. The ONLY downside to Real Band is that Real Band is ruining me for playing. The software plays better than I ever have or ever will. I have created guitar solos with the Real Tracks that the very good guitar players from my old band say "Wow. Who is that?"

Beat Real Band up some before you move away from it.


(edited to correct AWFUL spelling mistakes)

I wholeheartedly agree with Bob, above. Reaper, Sonar, etc., will all have their own considerable learning curves. You've already begun the learning process with Realband. Stick with it and learn how to record and edit within Realband. You may very well find that it is all you need. And you can't beat free (with the purchase of BIAB), along with the great support you'll find from both PG Music and this friendly forum of users.

Terry

Hey Bob, thanks for clearing my comments up, sometimes i have issues with getting to the point!