Lots of talk about everything else - but not Reaper. I’m curious to know why? $60.

Thanks

Dave

Software Forum

Not me. I think Reaper is quite powerful, and there are things it does no other DAW does. In particular its varispeed functionality is best-of-breed. Plus there's a new add-on that emulates Live's clip-launching view which is pretty great. 
 
But, it's just too cumbersome for me. If you like to tinker and customize it's great. I do not. I like to use the tools to build a product, not have the best and most powerfully arranged tool shed. There's too much setup that needs to happen to accomplish things for my taste. That said, it's still quite powerful and the cost is, well, it's just the best. 
 

Even though I am planning to  keep using Sonar another 3-5 years Reaper was the only alternative before I have chosen Sonar 6 years ago. It is even better today.

For what it's worth, Reaper is the most appealing choice to me so far.
 
While I'd rather not have to spend so much time getting it to look and function the way that I prefer, at least it can be done. Some of my other prerequisites were an integrated notation editor, support for instrument definitions, and full support for my Alphatrack control surface. Reaper has those things, and as others have said, it is very powerful if you take the time to learn it and customize it.
 
It's also not owned by a large conglomerate that doesn't really understand DAWs. It's owned by a person who is passionate about DAWs and is directly involved in Reaper's development. There is also a pretty good user community, from what I have seen, though I haven't had any personal interaction with that yet.

I'm liking Reaper a lot. once you wrap your head around it it is powerful. I also Use Sonar, studio One3 and Mixbus. I like them all for what each does. I'm covered.

Ugly GUI.

...wicked
Not me. I think Reaper is quite powerful, and there are things it does no other DAW does. In particular its varispeed functionality is best-of-breed. Plus there's a new add-on that emulates Live's clip-launching view which is pretty great. 
 
But, it's just too cumbersome for me. If you like to tinker and customize it's great. I do not. I like to use the tools to build a product, not have the best and most powerfully arranged tool shed. There's too much setup that needs to happen to accomplish things for my taste. That said, it's still quite powerful and the cost is, well, it's just the best. 
 

Exactly the same here.
 
I own it, and have recently updated it, but I, too, don't want to spend a ton of time getting it to work/look how I want it to.
 
I guess I am simply too lazy...

Considering..... Great set of instructional videos, great forum. Only real downside is the lack of ARA support. Reaper seems more intuative than Studio One to me ( i know many differ). The GUI can be changed, although the menu system is still ugly.
Probably would step up to Cubase 9.5 but when you include the elicence dongle is just gets too pricey.

I like it a lot - but it's a tweakers DAW.  Yes, you can set it up (with limits) just the way you want - but then it's *different* from the standard install.  So you have to maintain an understanding of BOTH setups.
 
In the end - I spend too much time messing with the tools and not enough in the music.
A better, more thought-out base GUI and menu system (not user themes, etc) would help.  That said, with the user themes, it's no worse (or better) than Studio One - which I don't care for.
 
I'll likely go to Cubase.  All the feature I need and more - great workflow and GUI.