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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Mar 2004
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As far as editing Audio goes, is Reaper much of an upgrade from RealBand2016 and/or PowerTracks10? I just can't seam to get used to MC7, Sonar LE or Tracktion. Albeit these are starter versions. I can upgrade my ancient version of nTrack 3.3 (won't run on windows 8) to nTrack 8 (does run on windows 8) for around the same price as Reaper. But, I think nTrack was rather unstable if I recall.
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Tobias, I'm a huge fan of Reaper. It's very stable. I've run it on Vista and Windows 7. Up until 5 or 6 years ago, I'd been a Cakewalk/Sonar user for a long time then I switched to Reaper and have never looked back. It's a fantastic DAW. Reaper offers more fine control over all parameters than Realband. Realband, though, does lots of things related to working with Realtracks, Supermidi and midi generations that no DAW can do. Using RB is still an indispensable part of my journey when creating a song. My sequence of writing and producing a song is... - Create the song in BIAB.
- Find and create additional audio material in Realband.
- Record vocals and mix the final product in Reaper.
In relation to Reaper, here's an example of one track... The graphic below is my lead vocal (in Reaper) for my most recent song ( link: "That's What I Believe").  And here's a close-up of a volume envelopes in one of the sections of the lead vocal.  When working for the lead vocal with this song, I used five separate envelopes to manage the final sound. 1. The first stage of vocal production was to split the vocal track into sections. From there I adjusted any overly loud or soft syllables. This is my first step in managing vocal volume. With these section envelopes, I mostly adjust syllables. 2. Then I added a separate volume envelope. This is my second step in managing vocal volume output by Reaper. With this envelope, I mostly adjust the volumes of sections. 3. Next I added an envelope to control the switching on and off of the delay in Nectar 2 (a VST). 4. The envelope beneath this controlled the amount of Nectar's delay added to the vocals. 5. The final envelope controlled the amount of reverb, again in Nectar, that was added to the vocals. All of these envelopes are controlled by nodes so that I can simply set the shape I want the behaviour to follow and Reaper does the rest. I find that the ability to use nodes to control every parameter of every plugin I add to a track to be incredibly useful. Lastly, you don't have to buy Reaper to begin using it. Simply download it and run it. If you decide you like it, you can then purchase it at some future date. It's fully functional as trial software. Hope this helps give some ideas. Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Another vote from me for Reaper. I have only been using it for a short while, coming from Adobe 3.0, and after evaluating a few different DAWs I settled on Reaper. I am running the 64 bit version on Windows 10.
I am not as far along in my learning curve as Noel is however! I have got as far as adding volume envelopes but haven't experimented with envelopes for controlling VSTs yet. Very cool indeed, Noel!
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Hi Dave, It's a great program. Here's an image of just some of Nectar's controls that I can manage via envelopes. Reaper is incredibly powerful in this regard.  Something else that I find very useful are the stretch markers. These allow me to stretch and shrink a note or a section. I find stretch markers most useful with tightening or relaxing timing of notes, instrumental and vocals. The below Youtube video will give you a bit more insight into them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqsIBFjcM_4Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Reaper is a cool program, and very intuitive. We have ProTools, Sonar Producer, and Cubase in our studio. But Reaper is the one I use most often because it's so stable, not a memory hog, and does everything all the other DAWs do and better in many situations. Also, pretty hard to beat the price. Highly recommended.
BB
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Reaper is a good deal.
Also stable here. Can't say it's my GoTo, but I use it occasionally.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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I write in BB, generate tracks in RB and then use Reaper for editing, FX and mixing. I started with Realband then used Tracktion 3 for several years before I switched to Reaper.
My favorite thing about Reaper is that it is so versatile and intuitive. It's easy to use and has tons of great features - too many I regularly use to list. It will do what you want to do and beyond.
The only problem I've had using it was with Win 8 when I was using the 32bit version and I had to run it as Admin on my system. Not a big deal really. I no longer have to do that since upgrading to Win 10 and the 64bit version. It's been rock solid. I think it's a great DAW.
Download and try it before you buy. I bought it a couple of years ago and I'm loving it.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Been a Reaper user since the pre 1.0 days, and tho I can not agree with a the solid stability comments (back on my 4.75 version ATM since 5 is just too flaky on my systems)it is the best bang for the buck DAW out there at the moment IMHO.
I have tried to use RB alot, every release & update, and can honestly say that Reaper is, again IMHO, light years ahead in every way. Some folks love RB, some hate it, but even tho I am a "hater", it is still a usable DAW.
Grab Reaper & give it a shot. You will get a non-crippeled version to use for 2 months....ya can not beat that!
i5 3.20GHz, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD OS, 12tb HDD, 4gb gForce vid card, 32" monitor, Audient id44, Win10 x64, BiaB/RB 2023, Reaper 6,IK Multimedia Total Studio 3.5 MAX, Waves 10
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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As far as editing Audio goes, is Reaper much of an upgrade from RealBand2016 and/or PowerTracks10? I just can't seam to get used to MC7, Sonar LE or Tracktion. Albeit these are starter versions. I can upgrade my ancient version of nTrack 3.3 (won't run on windows 8) to nTrack 8 (does run on windows 8) for around the same price as Reaper. But, I think nTrack was rather unstable if I recall.
I use RealBand only when I cannot get what I want from RealTracks in BIAB; I would never use RealBand as a DAW. Reaper is a huge leap up from RB in two critical ways... 1) features and 2) user interface! There are folks here who claim to use RB as a primary DAW but I could never do that. Reaper is a real DAW and it is very modern software. Tons of add-ons for it. Huge support community. Low price with an unlimited time, full-featured trial version. Download it and install it. Watch a couple of tutorials on Youtube to get started. You'll never regret it!
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 10/01/16 10:55 AM.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Should I download the 32 bit or the 64 bit version. My computer is 64 bit. I'm pretty sure my PG music programs are 32 bit. Is there any reason why I should use a 32 bit version of Reaper?
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Should I download the 32 bit or the 64 bit version. My computer is 64 bit. I'm pretty sure my PG music programs are 32 bit. Is there any reason why I should use a 32 bit version of Reaper? Many people like the effects that are included with Reaper. If you download the 32 bit version of Reaper the included effects will work with BiaB. If you download the 64 bit version you will need JBridge to use the effects within BiaB.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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I have jBridge. Any other reasons to go with 32bit? The reason I ask is because I don't really know the difference. Is one better than the other? If my systems runs 64, and it does, should I just go with 64? I "think" I'm also concerned with compatibility issues. As in, if I create tracks in 32 bit BIAB or RB are those fully functional in Reaper?
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Tobias,
I suggest the 64 bit version. I used to use Reaper 32-bit. At the beginning of this year, I changed to Reaper 64-bit and it has been great.
Reaper has has its own inbuilt bridge so that it's possible to use 32-bit plugins in 64-bit Reaper.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Alright, I'm downloading now. But, might not get to using it for a week or so.
Thanks to everyone who replied.
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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I use 64 bit version...all of my plugins are available in 64 bit. I use BIAB to create tracks then I save those as WAV. Finally I import them into Reaper. There is never any connection between BIAB and Reaper.
Last edited by JohnJohnJohn; 10/02/16 09:55 AM.
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I find stretch markers most useful with tightening or relaxing timing of notes, instrumental and vocals. The below Youtube video will give you a bit more insight into them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqsIBFjcM_4Thanks for posting this link! I normally split and stretch my tracks when adjusting alignment, which is pretty simple. But I think this is going to my new workflow! 
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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YES, YES REAPER 64 ! It's great for Live band recording audio + midi keys/drums on a laptop. You can then slave it to BB/RB to add extra tracks to a recorded session. You can add your chord sheet to the video track for studio recordings. http://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=368363 
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Yes, even from the middle of India Reaper gets my vote!
BIAB – 2026, Reaper (current), i7-12700F Processor, 32GB DDR4-3200MHz RAM, Motu Audio Express 6x6 - My SoundCloud.
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REAPER is a remarkable piece of software. The more you use it the more brilliant you will find it. The forums are also great and very helpful just like the BIAB forums. You can download the excellent user guide or buy a published version.
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Just starting to play with Reaper. Love it. The Stretch Markers are well cool.
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