Mike.
let me reply.
1. i dont feel threatened when people say "professional tools".
in fact i have high respect for the big recording studios of yore that produced decades of great hits/music.
its also sad that so many that produced those fantastic hits have gone out of business.
(in ways due to the project studio and tech.)
its also sad that so much recording engineering talent has been lost or retired etc etc. the same goes for session musician/songwriting talent.
talent which i lament that i just dont hear in lots of top 50 charting songs today. ok maybe the occasional song i like. but thats about it. i rarely hear song hooks that grab me today. like china grove or mercury blues or heartbreaker or panama.
2. let me be clear. although ive been round the recording block more than a few times ; i'm not inferring i'm any great talent/recording or mixdown engineer/or post or mastering engineer/or songwriter etc etc.
the only reason ive done slews of songs in my life is because its in my creative soul at my core.
like an itch that is always bugging me to write a song lol.
ive certainly no desire to be "big" because i like to lead a very peacefull creative life with my lovely wife.
maybe my songs are junk. i dunno. but creating them is loads of fun.
3. mike ive used everything to do songs. from grrreat gear in big studios down to total junk gear. from 24 trak classic 2 inch multitraks and massive consoles down to 10 doillar mics.
the only reason i'm a "fanboy" as you say of reaper is it just works for me day in/out. in fact thinking about it in 14 years of use i dont think ive had one crash (i'm thinking hard. maybe a bad plug in once.)
that is jolly good in my book.
also let me say reaps was one of the first daw's that incorporated certain features before some of the major names if i remember. i think pdc being one feature.
4. if i'm so wrong about reaps mike why have so many people (includeing many "pros") moved to it from other daws ?
if you want to spend a hilarious sunday afternoon some time. read up on gearspace.com (formerly gearslutz) as well as other recording forums and the web , and type in the following....
"reaper versus xxxxxxx" where xxxxxxxx is another daw name.
talking of "pros" then type in "tafkat dawbench xxxxxxx" where xxxxxxx is the competitor daw name. if you read those dawbench reports youll see that reaps is often cited as the performance standard against which other daws are measured in very in depth testing.
also reapers extensive features and tools have been extensively documented in such publications as sound on sound.
eg reaps native plug ins and various tricks.

and thats all i'll say.
i wish you too happy times creating.

best.
oldmuso.

my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..)
https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs
(90 songs created useing bb/rb)
(lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)