[Nil[_2_]]

On 18 Aug 2017, geoff wrote in
rec.audio.pro:

REAPER's intuitive layout and workflow reputedly inspired by
Vegas. I still use Vegas for straight audio (or audio/video)
projects. And Acid or REAPER for those that require MIDI
input/output or virtual instruments. Not to mention SF of course.

I used Cakewalk and Sonar for many years, since it was a DOS MIDI-only
program. I leared to use it, but everything always seemed more of a
hassle than it should be. I started checking out Reaper soon after it
was released. I used it occasionally for a few years (thanks to their
indefinite trial period) but for some reason it just didn't work for
me. I could never seem to find the function or feature I was looking
for. But I kept dabbling for the longest time until one day suddenly
all the pins fell into place and the lock opened. Now I find it very
easy to use, certainly FAR easier than Sonar. I guess I kept expecting
to see the inconveniences of Sonar and was confused when I didn't. Free
of those incumberances, it all made for a much more sensible and
efficient workflow. If I have a criticism of Reaper it's that it has
too many advanced features exposed, and it took me a while to find the
common options among the many choices. "With great power goes great
responsibility".

It's not perfect, of course. Its MIDI editing features are still a
little buggy/unpredictable, but they're usable and improving all the
time. They recently added notation features, which are pretty decent. I
think that, being the "new" kid on the block, the Reaper author had the
advantage of seeing all the mistakes that had been made before him,
plus judging from his excellent Winamp, I think the guy just has a
natural good sense of how to impliment functionality for the user. I
also guess that, being the sole or primary author, the guy has been
able to see his sensible design through from concept to market. Better
than Sonar's (and probably most other long-in-the-tooth software's)
design-by-committee approach.