# Studio One vs. Reaper (Black Friday Content)



## AlBDarned (Jun 29, 2017)

So, Studio One is half price for Black Friday weekend as noted in another thread.

Studio One Professional can apparently be had from L&M for CAN$200 after calling them to wrangle the 50% matching (info courtesy of Player99).

By that reasoning, you should be able to get a boxed Studio One Artist for CAN$50.

Reaper is US$60.

So .... for we low-level DAW sophistication requirement cheapo types, S1Artist or Reaper?


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

nkjanssen said:


> S1, without hesitation.


I would hesitate...

Have a look at the feature set of Studio One Artist and note that it is a stripped down version of the full-fledged Studio One Pro. Two very important items missing in the Artist version are VST support (you will only be able to use the included, native effects) and MP3 and FLAC rendering. These can be added later at an additional cost.

I own both and think very highly of both tools.

Studio One | Compare Versions | PreSonus


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## 4345567 (Jun 26, 2008)

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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Reaper is the only DAW I've ever used and I love it. Very intuitive.


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## Guest (Nov 25, 2017)

For $200 Studio One Pro is a good deal.


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## cbg1 (Mar 27, 2012)

Guncho said:


> Reaper is the only DAW I've ever used and I love it. Very intuitive.


the same goes here 



i picked up a m-audio 8 channel interface on this forum years back. it came bundled with pro tools lite.
pro tools lite would only allow the recording of two tracks at a time (gotta be the dumbest bundle ever).

i checked out reaper and have not looked back.
there is a good forum site, and a great selection of tutorials on youtube.

the free version of of reaper is fully featured...and you can use it forever...however after the trial period it will show a nag box when you start it (it closes with a click) and of course you wont be aware of any updates.

unless things have changed for 60 dollars you are buying a two version licence, i started with 5.?? and they are now at 5.62 ....i will have no problem paying another 60 if the licence expires before i do.





 here is a link to the reaper blog. he has a series of instructional tutorials that he sells (i have know idea who he is btw) as well as a great deal of informative "free" tutorials.

happy recording with what ever DAW you choose


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## AlBDarned (Jun 29, 2017)

Thanks for all the input. I may have misled a bit in suggesting that I'm totally unsophisticated with DAW - once upon a time I spent enough time to figure out how to make Cubasis (the baby version of Cubase) work as well as I needed it to.

I hadn't really looked at the Artist vs. Pro limitations and lack of VST support is a biggie for sure.

Also I guess, Reaper seems to me to probably have a good likelihood to carry on with developments as it's a different model than the others, whereas Studio One might always follow the Cakewalk route etc.

Might have to make the effort to figure Reaper out ... one day ... no rush I guess if I'm not on a Cyber Monday deadline


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## Granny Gremlin (Jun 3, 2016)

Reaper all the way. Why? Look at who you are giving your money to (and also, you can literally have a full version of Reaper for free for ever; the $60 is for a nonpro use license that you can just not pay, but I have paid it, because I support the way these guys do things).

- totally redesigned from the ground up; one of the newest DAWs on the market which means it is lean and efficient (vs bloated code); as far as I know it is the only one that you can run off a USB key and legally use on multiple workstations that way (they officially support that; none of this per machine or worse, the new trend in software, per core licensing - gouging the users)
- the above also means that it has a rather low CPU and RAM overhead to run it, so there's more comp horsepower for running more tracks with more plugz than other DAWs (Pro Tools is the worst for this, it's why they invented cards with their own CPUs dedicated to fx, cuz it was such a damn hog)
- designed by the guy who originally made WinAmp, which was solid software until he sold it to focus on developing Reaper
- the included plugs are good (esp the EQ and reverb) and it supports everything else you'd want to buy aftermarket - whatever you have now
- the free documentation and support ( forum) are second to none
- they actually listen to the forum community regarding how to improve the software
- not so possessive of information and code - many third party integrations (mostly for layout and look, to make it easier for people used to other DAWS, but also just to look cool)

I was a Cubase guy, now Reaper 4 eva. In another life (another forum), I convinced Guncho to try it. Full disclosure, I've never used S1. I have used Logic, Cakewalk/Sonar and a bit of Pro Tools however. Reaper is better than all of them. Pro Tools is the only other real choice IMHO and that's purely due to it's status as the pro inductry's standard (but most studio s also have Reaper, cuz so cheap and that's what a lot of their customers are bringing them... also I think there's a PT compatability export mode in Reaper, but I never learnt any more about it cuz I never needed it - might be wrong on that or maybe it's imperfect in some way ).


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