Reaper

[amether]

Unfortunately, a couple of years ago I became a fanboy of this program. The amount I go on at people about how good it is is unhealthy but I can't stop.

REAPER is as good, if not actually better than your 'standards' - Sonar, Cubase, PT - but it's also MUCH cheaper and also shareware so you can try it free (completely uncrippled, unexpiring, and fully featured). But don't let shareware tag put you off, it really is a professional standard piece of software.

If you're starting out, you should try it as you've nothing to lose and a lot of frustration (and money) to save. Better to get a full program rather than a crippled version of something more expensive. If you're a seasoned pro - you should try it as you'll likely be very pleasantly surprised at what it can do that Cubendo/Sonar can't and the flexibility of this little program.

If anyone has any questions about it do say and I'll try answer!

(I'm not in any way associated with the program. I just like it a lot. Really. )

Get it - REAPER | About - it's even just 3 meg. Don't let the size put you off either. It can do an AWFUL lot.

[Arji]

I sure am glad I saw this thread. I'm about to spend another $200 for the Sonar 7 upgrade. I'm going to test Reaper to see how it does with my hardware. So far, the bundled Cubase LE doesn't see the signals coming from my Firestudio. I'm looking forward to see if Reaper can work with it.

[amether]

Do! Do report back with your findings! Hardware compatability is generally very good. Just press Ctrl-P to get your audio preferences. Use the forum too - you'll get excellent answers very quickly.

[Arji]

Thanks. I tried it out yesterday and the signals are getting through to Reaper. I recorded a test vocal track and it worked.....but.......Reaper kept "losing" the driver. I had to re-configure the audio settings over and over again and it still seems to drop the device out of it's device lists. I believe it is a communications problem and maybe there are some tweaks that might help that. Overall, it seems like a very nice DAW especially doing the 64 bit processing like Sonar 7. I'm also going to upgrade the BIOS in my laptop to see if that helps. The big thing for me is that Cubase LE has a problem communicating with my FireStudio Tube. They won't admit it and they don't seem to be doing anything about it. Too bad, they lost yet another sale (upgrade). I know of many folks returning their units or just blowing off Cubase.....they aren't very smart about how they are dealing with this. There also seems to be a major disconnect between laptop manufacturers and the audio interface industry. Very few laptops supposedly qualify to work with firewire audio devices. Of course, Apple's laptops are completely compatible.

[amether]

FWIW, I get glitches with my firewire Edirol FA66 with all audio programs - if I disable wireless - everything gets solved. It's a macbook with xp on. If more than one program is giving you grief though, it sounds like your hardware (laptop)'s somehow bummed. Not that I'm defending Cubase or anything tho.

[Strangedogs]

I'm on a Mac so I have the BETA Mac demo of it... let's hope the finished product is better than the one I have or it'll never fly in the Mac world.

[amether]

Out of interest, what are your issues with it? Anything specific it can't do? As with any new DAW, it may go about things in a different way but it can definitely do the business...

[pipelineaudio]

Arji, when the first firestudios shipped was when we really became aware of issues with the DICE-2 chipset. Not just Presonus but all of the units using this chip.

Our first unit arrived DOA IIRC. Second crapped out after a few hours. The third unit ran somewhat ok, although with high latency and a lot of dropouts on one of our test computers, and barely at all on the others (all TI FW chips). The Blue light would frequently go red, requiring a reboot in most cases. Usually this was before we could even have the PC on long enough to fire up reaper, but on the "working" pc, the same issues appeared across all the apps. Perhaps the drivers are better now. Justin Frankel had offered to help fix their drivers but they refused

[Arji]

Hey pipelineaudio,

I am a software developer myself but not in this field. I'm pretty sure if they wanted to fix the issue, they could. I believe they are happy with what they have and really don't give a crap about trying to make their drivers work better. It's easier for them to just tell you that you need a new laptop. Maybe they are afraid of too much product sales 'cuz they wouldn't be able to handle it?

[Arji]

BTW, my laptop has a Ricoh chipset and I'm sure there are other chipsets that don't work out there.