WeAreTheMusicMakers (WatMM) is a subreddit for hobbyists, professional musicians, and enthusiasts to discuss music-related topics, ask questions and share useful information. Welcome and enjoy the community! RULES FOR POSTING: The following rules are strictly enforced by the moderating team. Infringing posts will be removed, and the poster will receive a one+ day ban at the moderating team's discretion. Self-made music goes in the weekly feedback thread (sticky).
Music created by established artists may be posted to ask specific production questions. It may NOT be posted simply for its own sake. Images should ONLY be posted if they’re genuinely interesting, relevant, or educational.
Memes, and other “mildly interesting” images should not be posted. Use the feedback thread. If you feel your post or comment was wrongly removed, please contact the mods, we’ll do our best to sort it out. If you disagree with the rules, you’re always free to explain your thoughts and proposed alternative. One thing I've noticed in this subreddit is how many people suggest Reaper as a free DAW.
Free Download Reaper Studio
I'm not sure if people actually think it's free, or if they just think of never having to pay for it to continue using it as free. Reaper is NOT free, and it says that very clearly on the Cockos website. It says that very clearly in the program itself. It's $60 (or $225 if you're using it in a high-volume enough studio), which is nothing compared to $700 for Pro Tools. Please, please stop suggesting Reaper as a 'forever free' DAW.
You may try it in its full form for 60 days to decide if you want to fork out the $60. As a software developer and musician, this double standard really bugs me. There is another way of looking at this: What could be the unofficial business model for Reaper is that it is in fact forever free to use if you want to, but you can opt to pay for it. In practice a certain percentage of users will pay, and that is their income.
If I would run a business this way I would probably not say this out loud, but this may very well be a model that works. It is somewhat comparable to releasing your music for free on Bandcamp, and let people pay if they want. There will be a certain percentage (around 10% in my experience) that will choose to pay.
When beginners on this reddit ask for a good and free DAW, then of course Reaper will be recommended, because in practice it is free to use with full functionality. I would not consider this bad advice at all. I wasn't disagreeing with either of you.
Of course they want people to pay for it. But at they same time there's no way they're naive enough to think everyone who doesn't pay will actually delete it after 60 days.
They're making their money off only a certain percentage of their users who either pay for it upfront or somewhere down the line. What that percentage is, I don't know. I don't know how much more or less profitable this model is. All I can say is that its the reality of the situation. Whether they come out say it or not.
I'm not advocating using the software without paying. But I'm also not advocating people being too broke to make music functionally.
Feature Highlights. Efficient, fast to load, and tightly coded. Can be installed and run from a portable or network drive. Powerful audio and MIDI routing with multichannel support throughout.
64-bit internal audio processing. Import, record to, and render to many media formats, at almost any bit depth and sample rate. Thorough MIDI hardware and software support. Support for thousands of third-party plug-in effects and virtual instruments, including VST, VST3, AU, DX, and JS. Hundreds of studio-quality effects for processing audio and MIDI, and built-in tools for creating new effects. Automation, modulation, grouping, VCA, surround, macros, OSC, scripting, control surfaces, custom skins and layouts.