I like Reaper. There are a couple of things you might want to consider:

You can try Reaper free for as long as you need. They say 30 days but if you hit the Still Evaluating button, it still works. I did that until I was sure.

Reaper doesn't come with instruments (if it does, I haven't found them)so you will need some VST's to play your midi files. If you download Cakewalk (free), you get the TTS-1. It has a decent piano and a couple of basses. For drums, you can use Westwood Drums (think I paid $5) and MT Power Drums (free).

Reaper does have one gigantic advantage for me: I have had only one crash in about 200 hours of work.

Good luck and have fun.

2b

i5-3210 laptop. Win 10 Home. 2.5ghz, 64 bit. 6gb RAM. Focusrite Scarlet 2i2.