home recording studio - need help

This is an easy one... You need the latest version of SONAR. :-)

It has a Matrix view and a Arpeggiator. The step sequencer is "not so much".

A lot depends upon the music you do.  You need a separate audio interface  with as many inputs as you plan on instruments you are recording at once.  There are plenty of threads on that subject in the forums.  And I don't know what VST instruments Reaper comes with, but you'll need some of those.  There are a lot of free ones - try KVR

http://www.kvraudio.com/

If you dont' have it yet, a 2nd hard drive to play back your audio files is a must if you have more than a couple of tracks playing back.


As to rooms - empty rooms are usually bad for acoustics without spending money on treatment.  You can make your own bass traps, etc., but often simply a rug and furniture will make a room sound better - for mixing and recording.

A good mic and decent preamp are necessary for any acoustic recording.  I don't know what you consider a "normal" mic but you can start out w/ a Shure 57 for many rock and roll instruments and/or a large diameter condensor (LCD) mic for vocals and instruments.  You can get an OK LCD for less than a $100 here in the USA, made in China, while a 57 is almost as much.  For more acoustical, orchestral instruments a small diameter condensor is most often used.  And don't forget to budget a cable and mic stand for each mic.

Headphones are like mics and recording channels - you'll need one for each performer.  Cheap ones are OK, as long as you have a decent pair for you the engineer.  And a heaphone amp w/ mutiple outs if you plan on recording more than one person at a time.

So, in addition to your interface (most interfaces have a mic preamp built-in) and monitors, you need one of the mics above w/ cable and stand and a set of headphones.  Buy some decent ones and you can add to your colllection over time.

@

Thank you very much AT,. Logam and MIC for your valuable responses and spending your valuable time for me.

Sincerely thanks

Hey fixyjohn, you'll find a lot of useful information in the forum so you should continue to look around. But if you ask questions about Reaper, you may get a negative response from some people because this is the Sonar forum, after all. But there may be people who will be happy to help. Good luck.
Ben

Get a nice interface with good pre-amps and you do not need a mixer for audio.....

Buy Music Creator 4 or 5 (if 5..buy a box set not the download) and you will have a nice platform to start with, and you can come into this forum (music creator forum) and ask tons of questions and not get "piled upon" for asking "reaper" questions in a cakewalk forum....