JohnKennComment on final mix down in Reaper. Can be a mess depending. My voice not to be a brain dead fan boy. Reaper incredible but like all DAW's, not beyond problems.
 
When ready to be mixed down to a final wav, the project has a quick processing "Render" option. This may work well, but on occasion, the speed of processing breaks a vst's ability to keep up, and the "rendered" file may deviate from what you hear in the original session. Some deep and arcane threads about what to check etc if rendered waves deviate from what you otherwise hear in the active session..
 
If you don't have hundreds of files to process, take the "bounce to disc" option one by one. This is done in real time and has no deviation in the final mix from what you hear in the project.

Unless you are running on an older machine, or have some slow component in the chain, you should be able to use the default quick render option. I'm using a five or six year old Asus P7P55D mobo with an i5 Intel and 6GB of older 1333 DDR3. My machine also has two ancient M-Audio Delta AP2496 cards that I bought when I was running Windows 98SE, and had one machine dedicated for running GigaStudio for drums exclusively.
 
I run my two 2496 cards at 64 samples latency, and NEVER change it, and I've rendered projects that had a couple of gigs of Superior Drums, another two or three gigs of other sampled instruments loaded up in EZ-Keys, Kontakt, Etc., and around 100 other FX with as many as three instances of Guitar Rig on a couple of guitars and a bass.
 
Even with all that stuff loaded up, I've still always used quick render, and I've never needed to freeze any tracks, increase latency, or bounce anything to audio tracks.
 
That said, I generally only use commercial plugins (Toontrack, Waves, Lexicon, Eventide, Etc.) along with the ones that come with Reaper, and avoid all but a few 32 bit commercial plugins (Native Instruments B4, FM7, Etc.)  that have to be bridged.
 
If for some reason, you have a plugin with extreme high latency or is just buggy, when you go to render, you can select from a drop down list on the render dialog box to render "1x Offline", which is real time still without hearing it play, and that will probably get you a clean render.

Thanks Glen,
 
Will troubleshoot this more just for the fun of it. Render offline may well be the answer. VST time overrun and routing of effects differently in the bus in relation to what you are listening to if not set up right (master versus what is happening on a track being sent elsewhere in the circuit) have been the two consistent complaints when fast rendered mix does not sound like the session.
 
John

As I find time during the busy day at my REAL JOB............Still just Bumping about 'firing arrows' at Reaper and seeing what happens.
Downloaded and activated the generous  'Overloud' ...Crossgrade VSt's ( with Cakewalk Monogram :) ).
Thnx so much to OVERLOUD............PS: they obviously feel our pain......
Anywho ............ Breverb,Rematrix ,Vx64 ..all present and accounted for................running SMOooooooth :) in Reaper.............FYI.

re: rendering - it will be disk streaming synths (Kontakt, Omnisphere, Trilian etc) that cause problems.
Also, plugins that can do 8X oversampling on mixdown.
 
There must be a way to render in "real time" (?)  but I haven't tried Reaper yet ;-)
 

Mosvalve
I don't care about Melodyn because I never use it. I don't do loops and never installed them in Sonar. I don't do extensive midi editing or clip editing. I never used most of the features in Sonar so I won't miss them in Reaper. 

Sorry to single you out, I'm just using as an example of what I mean.
I don't mean any offence to anyone, but I see lots of people recommending a new DAW, but then stating things like this. Well, sheesh, guys, honestly if your needs are this basic, then I'm not sure how relevant your experience or recommendations are.
All of the DAWs can record and edit audio to a basic level.

jbraner
re: rendering - it will be disk streaming synths (Kontakt, Omnisphere, Trilian etc) that cause problems.
Also, plugins that can do 8X oversampling on mixdown.
 
There must be a way to render in "real time" (?)  but I haven't tried Reaper yet ;-)

Reaper has the whole range of rendering options. Quick googling has returned that (reasonable) comment: https://forum.cockos.com/...392067&postcount=2
 
But I guess a bit more explanation required, especially after previous comments.
 
"Online" means it generates the export absolutely the same way it plays.
Pro: (a) the result is exactly what you hear during mixing (b) all external gears can be used during online export (c) least buggy option (obviously used more, so is better tested)
Cons: (a) it normally (not always! see next comments) takes longer then possible (b) the quality can be lower then possible.
 
"Offline" means without strict binding to "real time"
Pro: (a) some plug-ins, when "off-line mode" is detected, render better (b) other render the same, bug do that faster
Cons: (a) some plug-ins are not designed to work faster, they are "confused" by not real-time (f.e. they use real world timers for some effects) (b) that mode is less tested, so many plug-ins (and hardware) is buggy in this mode
 
Reaper has all possible settings to "compensate" consequences as long as that is possible, "Offline 1x" is one of it, but there are per VST tweaks and "Rendering" options in preferences.
 
One more comment: "Full-speed offline" is the option which is MOST CPU tolerant, it just means "Render in offline mode as fast as possible". This "possible" is NOT time restrictive, that can be 100 times faster then real-time or 100 times lower. 1x offline and online are CPU dependent. CPU should be able to process "real-time". Note that "1x offline" can be more CPU demanding that online and theoretically produce audio glitches with insufficient processing power (while there is no "buffer under-run" for rendering, if processing is unable to keep 1x (real-time) speed, a part of "full-speed" problems can return since the real-world timing will be incorrect).   
 

Good information azslow.
@Jbraner, there is the previously mentioned "bounce to disc" real time option which records the pristine wave file, no artifacts exactly the way you hear it in the mix.

jbraner
re: rendering - it will be disk streaming synths (Kontakt, Omnisphere, Trilian etc) that cause problems.
Also, plugins that can do 8X oversampling on mixdown.
 
There must be a way to render in "real time" (?)  but I haven't tried Reaper yet ;-)

That's what the "1x Offline" is that I mentioned above. The other choices are "Full Speed Offline", which is variable in how fast it renders, based on how busy and complex things are at any given time. Then there are choices for "Online Render" which is real time and you hear it as it renders. Plus an Online 1x and offline "Idle" selection.
 
I have the full version of Kontakt, but not Omnisphere or Trilian, and I always use the quick render, but I suppose if you are running plugs that do disk streaming like the old GigaStudio used to, then you might need to try one of the other methods of rendering.

ooblecaboodle

Mosvalve
I don't care about Melodyn because I never use it. I don't do loops and never installed them in Sonar. I don't do extensive midi editing or clip editing. I never used most of the features in Sonar so I won't miss them in Reaper. 

Sorry to single you out, I'm just using as an example of what I mean.
I don't mean any offence to anyone, but I see lots of people recommending a new DAW, but then stating things like this. Well, sheesh, guys, honestly if your needs are this basic, then I'm not sure how relevant your experience or recommendations are.
All of the DAWs can record and edit audio to a basic level.

I agree that this thread has too many "I don't..." statements and that is destructing from the real power side of Reaper.
 
It is a DAW targeting freedom (in license), flexibility (in extensions and customizations), performance and stability.
Stability and flexibility are mutual exclusive in general, that can cause confusion.
 
"Basic level" is relative. One example: someone (especially programmers) can think that analyzing and avoiding problems in a complex  system (DAW core, external connections, 1000s of VSTs, performance) is a "basic" property. Reaper is "armed and armored" in that direction. Sonar has nothing at all for that.
 
That is why I have started realistic and constructive list several posts ago: what someone will miss when switching from Sonar to Reaper.
 
Repeated several times already, but: Reaper is 11MB download and no registration required for that. It does not pollute registry, can be installed on USB stick. That means that is the only DAW which everyone can start to test in its full power within a minutes and without consequences.
 

Well, I've also considered Reaper as the first "next DAW" attempt, after the sad Gibson announcement.
 
I have Studio One 2 Artist already installed in my machine due to some old offer, but the lack of VST support is too non-sense for me, so I didn't even try much harder on it.
 
I must say that Reaper surprised me, positively. When I saw the size of the installer, I thought "nah... just a toy...". But I was wrong... I've been able to do a quick song, with 2 virtual instruments and a real one in minutes. 
 
To reduce the learning curve and to be more confortable to my eyes, I've downloaded a Sonar-like theme (which I strongly recommend if you are not in a mood of great visual changes, like me). The theme is called "Addiktion Alternate". It's kinda old (resembles X1 version), but, IMHO, is better than the default theme for whoever is coming from Sonar.
 
Another interesting thing about Reaper is the DirectX support. I know... I know... It's old, blah, blah, blah, but I have some old dx plugins that I really love...
 
And there is the price, one of the cheapest among the real options we have.
 
So... I think I'll stick with Reaper...