Here's a great resource for getting started with Reaper. Easy to follow videos:
https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php
 
And here's a Sonar to Reaper Quick Start Guide. It lists how you'd do certain things in Sonar, then shows you how to do them in Reaper. Makes it very, very easy to learn Reaper:
https://www.reaper.fm/guides/SONARtoREAPER.pdf

Thanks for the links.
I've seen the SONAR-> Reaper one. It's from 2010 so it's a little dated now - but I guess it's still good for some basic concepts ;-)

jbraner
OK thanks. They make good plugs.
I thought I recognised "schwa" ;-)

Just came across something related while looking up some historical data.
 
Schwa = John Schwartz who is one of the developers for REAPER, and is who creates plugins at Stillwell.
 
I never knew that Schwa was short for Schwartz until today.

Well, there you go - you learn something new every day!

Stillwell makes good plugins ;-)

I used Reaper for several projects a few years ago while taking a break from Sonar. I eventually came back to Sonar, but still use Reaper now for quick projects and also for a "live rig" setup with S-Gear sometimes.
 
The forum users as with most forums quite friendly and helpful. Nicolas who writes the manuals and a few Reaper related help books jumped in and created templates for me that mirrored my Sonar flow. At the time that was helpful for quickly recording some large projects. I read / skimmed the manual and watched some helpful videos. I found that Reaper was fairly easy to understand and use. I can move quickly in and around that program now.
 
Things to like:
- Quickness / responsiveness of the controls and commands
- Feels familiar fairly quickly
- I love double clicking to add a track 
- Routing can be whatever you want it to be this side of looping back into your source (which you could do)
- Tracks can be anything
- Multi-instruments on one track = very helpful for quickly auditioning sounds
- Monitoring resource usage in detail (fx/tracks,etc)
- Audio engine sounds great like all the other big daw players
- Low latency
- Run the program from a thumb drive
- User created custom run commands - very helpful
 
Things I don't like:
- fx manager - you can organize to user folders though - just hard to really see what you need in there at first
- default theme and most user themes. I admit I like a polished look from my daw. Tell no one.
- No ARA yet
- so many options to slow you down if you are not sure of the impact on your workflow - I found for me to leave most of them alone. There are some daw users out there that want their daw to fix their breakfast and then wash and put the dishes away. To me that is non-productive over thinking. But on the flip side, Reaper accommodates me keeping the workflow simpler as well.
 
Anyway, there are plenty of reasons to use Reaper as your main daw. Once you get used to it - it's very powerful and will help anyone achieve professional results. Should they build ARA into Reaper - then it becomes almost a no brainer at their price point vs raw daw power. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

If you work in staff or notation view, and Event list, it's great. I'm demoing Cubase, and their event list is very small print and rather mystifying. Reaper's is exactly like Sonar's. Also, although Cubase staff view is very sophisticated as notation goes, it doesn't allow you to select a passage of notes across several measures, only what's on the page. When I started with Reaper, it couldn't do it either. I submitted a feature request, and now it can. I'm probably going to stay with Reaper. I don't miss ARA as I don't even know what it is. Reaper does everything I need it to do, with a fast workflow. I'm trying to like Cubase, but just can't see how I'd ever get a good workflow going.

I already have Studio One 3 and Mixbus as well and like them both but Like Sonar better but I wanted to try Reaper. I can't stop using it. I'm having so much fum with this program. It's easier to use than I thought and the videos are very good to learn it faster. So far I haven't found anything I don't like about it. I'm sure I will come across some but I doubt these will be any deal breakers. I have a friend (Sonar) user as well who is stubborn and did not want to try any other DAW. He loves Sonar and no other DAW can come close. That could be fairly true. I convinced him to try Reaper and he loves it. He said and I quote, " I think this is going to be my main DAW now" and hasn't even watched a video or looked at the manual. If you knew him you would agree that this is a great testiment to Reaper.

I've noticed something I am really liking about REAPER that other vendors have made me aware of lately. The folks behind REAPER are not circling the skies of the Cakewalk train wreck looking for red meat to scavenge. I've only seen a few enthusiastic users like myself even mention REAPER here.  I remember back when I was working as a programmer in a vertical industry where the competition was always trying to lure users from each other, using every trick in the book. Offering conversions of data into their format, deep discounts for switching, a free year of updates, Etc.  I am so glad that Cockos is NOT part of that korporate mindset which is always first and foremost interested in extracting dollars from pockets. I hope they never change the vision that brought them to put this on the opening page of their corporate website.

That's why I want to like it.
I'm gonna try real hard 😉

I just don't have the energy right now. Switching to a new DAW is hard work (like when SONAR X1 came out and we had to find where everything that we used to know, was hiding) 😉

Reaper was mentioned on that forum many times, I mean before CW crash.
I guess negativity and ignorance about Reaper inducted by:
 
1) "it is AWESOME! I *LOVE* it etc.". Because of ads we all see everywhere, every day, on TV and Internet, most people reaction on that is opposite from the intention: "I don't f... care what you love!!!", "yet another ad/funboy". I mean people tend to run away quick from everything with such promotions.
 
I do not like it, and the fact you had to create the second account is a prove I am not alone.
 
2) 2-3 people developed DAW can not be serious.
 
Normally, it is not know how many people create a product. And the information what else is used is rarely public. That way that product can be sold as "solid".
Small projects (f.e. a VST) in many cases can be and are developed just by one programmer.
If you let me guess how many programmers was working on Sonar core engine last years, i will say  - less (!) then one (!). One full time programmer could produce quite significant changes. What else except ARA, some cosmetic interface improvements and bug fixes was done? Apart from any plug-ins, CCC and other not engine components?
 
3) "they do no play fair concurrence" ... that argument was continuously mentioned by some respectable people.
 
I think that is completely irrelevant. "Moral" in choosing the DAW? We know that the world is not fair. We can not change that. That is not a reason to use bad software. There are many fonds where money can be sent to make us think "we help poor people...".
 
4) $60 DAW is always a toy. No "pro" are using it.
 
If someone is a "pro", he/she knows what he/she wants to use and why. If someone is not a "pro",  "pro" DAW/guitar/mic/hammer unlikely is going to change that status.
Reaper is $225. And that is only(!) to the DAW. No loops, no 3d party plug-ins. Remove the price of all plug-ins and content from any "big player" bundle, how much from the bundle price is really the DAW price?
$60 is permanent discount. "Cubase and Studio One have super price for us now!". Waves have "sales" every days (down to 90% off!). That gives people impression they get something "big" for "little". Well, then think the same way about $60 for Reaper.