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Torn between REAPER and Cubase for songwriting/composing/production

bigbing

bigbing

New Member
I’ve been using REAPER continuously since January 2020. Since then, I’ve heavily customised it to my liking and pretty much built my professional career with it.
I’m very fast with it and it can do pretty much anything I want it to, but here are the problems:

1. I’ve started getting a little paranoid about a lot of its functionality being rooted in 3rd party scripts, ReaPack etc. Basically stuff that can simply stop working one day and get abandoned. In my case there really is a lot of stuff I rely on that is 3rd party, or a niche, user written script, so it all kinda feels glued together (although the glued on stuff is top notch, unlike any other DAW).

I think I’d fancy a work environment in which I can install a program and just “go”, with all of its functionality already in place, stock plugins ready etc. Basically something that’s tailored to work right out of the box and serve a specific purpose (e.g. Cubase and music production).

2. It’s not really “musical”. What I mean, is it doesn’t encourage a certain workflow that supports music creation. You can add a bunch of scripts for that (like a chord track, etc.) but it all goes back to point 1. Cubase has the chord pad, chord track, you can easily stamp chords, there’s a circle of fifths, the audio quantize works way better than REAPERs dynamic split in my opinion and just feels much smoother in general, it does what it was made for well.

3. Piggy backing off of 2. when I look at REAPER, when I interact with it, I don’t really feel inspired. It’s also my “dayjob” DAW, so after looking at it for 8 hours straight, it’s sometimes hard to squeeze out creativity when the environment is the same as work surroundings.
I get it that for some a DAW isn’t meant to be “inspiring” as it’s merely a sheet of paper to write down your notation etc. But I really believe the environment you work in has impact on your creativity.

Now, I only have a trial version of Cubase 13 and I’d need to spend some money to buy the full version, when I could just stick to REAPER and buy some additional plugins, like Omnisphere or something. And this is where I’m kinda torn.

What’s your experience when it comes to songwriting/composition and DAW selection? I know that you can do it all in both Cubase and REAPER, but maybe some particular stories you guys have regarding that? I’m mainly into songwriting/composing (not really classically)/electroacoustic type stuff and I’ve been procrastinating a lot lately because of constant DAW hopping.
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Cubase has everything I could ever possibly need built-in, the functionality is massive, so wins the day for me every time. The last thing I want to do is hack around with a bunch of 3rd party scripts which may or may not continue to work, made by a guy coding in his basement with no QA process ( and I'm a software engineer so am very familiar with scripting/tech but don't want to waste my precious composing time on it ).
 
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The Best DAW is the one you know…

Many have ditched Cubase for Studio One
Many have ditched Studio One for Cubase
Many have ditched Cubase for Reaper
Many have ditched Reaper for Cubase
Many have ditched Logic for Studio One
Many have ditched Studio one for Logic

There is no perfect DAW

I mainly record audio so use Pro Tools…it feels like home but I can also edit midi and use VI pick your poison and get on with it.
 
I did some DAW exploring a few months ago. (I’ve mainly been a Logic person the last few years.) I was REALLY impressed with the state of Reaper now, especially the excellent training videos right there on the Reaper site. Reaper used to seem difficult to get into, but it seemed wonderful to me now. I was up and productive VERY quickly. Logic has a wealth of training resources on the Internet and Cubase isn’t too far behind, but Reaper’s wonderful and centralized resources put Apple and Steinberg to shame.

I’ve had Cubase for a lot of years but haven’t used it much. I upgraded to V12 and was mostly pleased. It seems like Cubase can do EVERYTHING, but I don’t love how difficult it can be to even KNOW about a feature, much less find it to use it. Still, it worked nicely and had a very convenient chord track.

My main issue with Logic was that I mostly write by improvising, then I need to figure out what chords I used in order to build other parts. I’m good with standard notation, so that helps, but I wanted a way to make a BIGGER, more readable chord-type track. Cubase was good with that.

As I started to settle into Cubase, I read about the lyric track with Studio One, with the ability to tie each word or syllable to a MIDI note. (That isn’t the only way you can use lyrics, but it is the way that seemed ideal for me.) THAT lyric capability was something that had been a frustration with Logic and Cubase. I bought a copy of Studio One and love it! It seems like it would ideal for the type of music you do.

The good news is that we have such wonderful choices for DAWs!
 
DAWs are really personal and depend on how you like to work. Download a demo and force yourself to write a song while learning your way around.

Also, don’t sleep on Studio One. You might find it’s more to your liking.

In any event, the biggest hurdle will be getting used to tracks and channels being separate entities.
 
bigbing said:
I’ve been using REAPER continuously since January 2020. Since then, I’ve heavily customised it to my liking and pretty much built my professional career with it.
I’m very fast with it and it can do pretty much anything I want it to, but here are the problems:

1. I’ve started getting a little paranoid about a lot of its functionality being rooted in 3rd party scripts, ReaPack etc. Basically stuff that can simply stop working one day and get abandoned. In my case there really is a lot of stuff I rely on that is 3rd party, or a niche, user written script, so it all kinda feels glued together (although the glued on stuff is top notch, unlike any other DAW).

I think I’d fancy a work environment in which I can install a program and just “go”, with all of its functionality already in place, stock plugins ready etc. Basically something that’s tailored to work right out of the box and serve a specific purpose (e.g. Cubase and music production).

2. It’s not really “musical”. What I mean, is it doesn’t encourage a certain workflow that supports music creation. You can add a bunch of scripts for that (like a chord track, etc.) but it all goes back to point 1. Cubase has the chord pad, chord track, you can easily stamp chords, there’s a circle of fifths, the audio quantize works way better than REAPERs dynamic split in my opinion and just feels much smoother in general, it does what it was made for well.

3. Piggy backing off of 2. when I look at REAPER, when I interact with it, I don’t really feel inspired. It’s also my “dayjob” DAW, so after looking at it for 8 hours straight, it’s sometimes hard to squeeze out creativity when the environment is the same as work surroundings.
I get it that for some a DAW isn’t meant to be “inspiring” as it’s merely a sheet of paper to write down your notation etc. But I really believe the environment you work in has impact on your creativity.

Now, I only have a trial version of Cubase 13 and I’d need to spend some money to buy the full version, when I could just stick to REAPER and buy some additional plugins, like Omnisphere or something. And this is where I’m kinda torn.

What’s your experience when it comes to songwriting/composition and DAW selection? I know that you can do it all in both Cubase and REAPER, but maybe some particular stories you guys have regarding that? I’m mainly into songwriting/composing (not really classically)/electroacoustic type stuff and I’ve been procrastinating a lot lately because of constant DAW hopping.
Click to expand...
1. I don't think Reaper's functionality is rooted in 3rd party scripts, but bottom line, they should continue to run without any trouble into the future. I've been using Reaper for several years now and haven't encountered a script that stopped working. But even if it does, I would just write a new one, or request help on the Reaper forum. It usually comes very quickly.

2. I make music on Reaper every day. And my workflow is one I could not have created WITHOUT Reaper, but to each his own.

3. Everyone has a different sense of aesthetics, so I can't help you there, but you CAN change the theme every once in awhile if you get tired of the one you're staring at.

But, hey, if you want to spend nearly $600 (as opposed to Reaper's $65) to purchase a DAW that has a built-in workflow and offers little customization compared to Reaper, that's certainly your prerogative. Plenty of composers have. And I fully understand the need to feel comfortable in your environment, so maybe it'll be worth all that extra money to purchase Cubase. It's certainly a capable DAW.

Personally, I think you should save the 500 bucks for something you REALLY need.
 
Cubase can not do everything that other DAWs can---it lacks some extremely important functionalities for me. For example, when editing MPE polyphonic pitchbend it will not allow you to see the pitchbend displayed in cents, edit the pitchbend using node-based editing (you have to draw it in freehand, wtf), or see the pitchbend superimposed over each note in the midi editor---you have to open a new window for each note. It's ridiculous and one of the main reasons why I bought Ableton instead of upgrading from Cubase 12 Pro to 13 (I'll wait for the grace period to upgrade to 14 and reconsider then).

Not to mention numerous other features in Bitwig and Ableton, especially Ableton 12 with generative midi etc.

Things like chord track and Cubase's midi options seem ridiculously simple compared to other things I have (and never use) like Synfire and Scaler2. Logical editor does extend Cubase's capabilities, but I still haven't seen anything very impressive from it.
 
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