I'm hoping for more collaboration with Melodyne. Seems much of the framework is already there.

Dyonight
Just for a little laugh, check a part of the Reaper intro text:
 
"If you currently use another DAW, you might be reading this because you're contemplating shelling out $150 for the next overhyped version that doesn't address any of the bugs you've been complaining about for five years while adding a bunch of features you couldn't care less about."
 
I must say I feel this way sometimes....

 
Then look at the bugfix lists when a new version of Sonar or an update is released.
 

Or:
 
"REAPER is coded by a small group of dedicated engineers, not multiple software units under the central command of product marketing."
 
It's what I feel Cake have become since X1, load the thing with ton of features, who care if they are optimized, just make the damned thing sells. More or less...

 
ARA integration, speed comping, modern video engine, VST3 support, customizable track/mixer colors, region FX, audio-to-MIDI conversion, QuadCurve equalizer flyout panel with spectrum analysis, Gobbler integration for backup, YouTube publishing, Melodyne pitch correction, vastly improved V-Vocal performance for those still using it, "Always Stream Audio through FX" option...not exactly a bunch of features you couldn't care less about. ARA and VST3 integration alone took a serious amount of effort to include. The plug-ins are on top of that, if you want to pay for them by getting the Producer version instead of Studio.
 
As to the line "REAPER is coded by a small group of dedicated engineers..." that applies to every software company in this industry, and I specifically don't just mean Cakewalk. The pay scale is such that you'd have to be dedicated to code music software...there's a lot more money in smart bombs.
 
However, there is a major difference: these other companies weren't financed by a windfall from selling Winamp and Nullsoft to AOL for $59,000,000. If I had that much money to kick around, I bet I could start a software company, hire some great talent, and sell the product for pretty cheap.
 
This isn't to take ANYTHING away from Justin Frankel, who's brilliant, young, rich, and did the American dream thing to the max. More power to him, and even more respect for not making his money by laundering drug money, foreclosing on widows, or whatever it is the big banks do. Just bear in mind that companies with vast resources from outside the music industry have certain advantages that "pureplay" music industry companies do not.

People do sometimes forget that Reaper does operate on a business model that probably would not work for most companies.  It's the sort of thing I would do if I wer so rich I had no financial need to actually profit.  Reaper is great for someone who already has  bought tons of third party plugins or (in the interest of being truthful) someone who has pirated thousands of dollars worth of software. For those who actually paid for all those third party plugins, price is probably not the concern.  I don't know about you guys, but despite the cheap license, plenty of people never bother to pay for it. Part of the reason is that by the time they pay for the plugins necessary to bring Reaper up to speed with other DAWs, they end up spending as much.
 
I see so many people go on about how great Reaper is but i rarely see someone who owns another major DAW make the decision to abandon Reaper because, like all DAWs it has its flaws. Customization sounds great but for many it ends up being a big time waster that eats into actually creating music.  I have yet to come across a Reaper user who suddenly started making better music after installing his nifty new skin.  I'm not bashing Reaper.  In fact, from the consumer perspective I applaud them and I am about to learn it better so that i can teach it to students due to price considerations.  I just think it is somewhat unfair to compare companies that could not possibly compete with Reaper's business model.  I do like how certain features are compared to other DAWs and since imitation is common in this industry, I do hope a little trickles over, but in the big picture there is no way I would ditch Sonar for Reaper. 

I actually keep hearing really good things about Reaper's basic fx like ReaComp and ReaEQ.

Sanderxpander
I actually keep hearing really good things about Reaper's basic fx like ReaComp and ReaEQ.

They are not bad at all...just like the basic fx on most DAWs are pretty good. I think Mixcraft includes the Khaerhaus(sp) classic plugins which are pretty good too.  I think it's safe to say that most of us will go beyond the basics and that is non-existent for Reaper. I doubt there is anyone on this forum that only uses one compressor.

Just went back to page 1 of this thread and watched the video posted by rockenobi:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH9W1MD80kk
 
The Cake guys get into AS about a third of the way into it. I followed there steps and methods on some drum tracks done last year and it did give me the desired results doing things somewhat manually. The drums were done in a big room with some distance mics so there was a slight delay in the wave files when comparing snare hits. To use a regular quantize option on this would have moved the room mics in to much and caused phase issues. Give the above link a try and you'll see what I mean.

I have to jump in here and pick up on the phantom transient markers. I will often have one or more and it stays detected even when I adjust threshold all the way to least sensitive (where even large transients are no longer detected). This and other bugs, such as markers suddenly refusing to be dragable have wasted so many hours of my life and caused so much frustration, I can no longer bring myself to use AS. I really hope the next version of Sonar gets a lot of love in the AS dept!

I don't consider features like Beat Detective et al ways to do MIDI-style quantization to audio, because I think audio is meant to "breathe." However, I often hear something like a guitar chord which hits early or late. It's easy to place a marker at the beginning of the chord with AS, drag it to the correct time, then bounce to clip. For this type of application, AS works fine.
 
I have a similar philosophy with pitch correction. I choose individual notes that actually sound wrong, fix them, then move on. If I really need to "quantize" audio, I cut at transients, move as needed, then use DSP to cover over gaps if needed. Even then, I won't stretch the whole note, just the last or first part, and just enough to cover the gap. This is more time-consuming than blanket quantizing, but if you don't need to make too many fixes, the quality is higher and the music ends up having a better feel.
 
For me, beat and pitch correction are the "court of last resort." I'd rather punch or re-record to retain a cohesive performance. I'm not trying to take a holier-than-thou approach and I'm not a Luddite about new tools, it's just my experience that the less you mess with a performance, the better the odds of it telling a story.

While I do agree with that sentiment, that's fine until you want to lock in a live drum kit with loops and samples without any kind of flamming, though. Sync'ing a sampled kick up to a live bass drum, for instance, without it being locked in perfectly sounds terrible.

Ok Mr Dubdisciple and mr Anderton, I have to admit I went too far with the quote from the Reaper intro, that won't help anyone.
 
I didn't knew about the the Reaper's history so thank you and I understand why this is so cheap and I thank the owner for sharing his means instead of selling it insane prices (I'm pretty sure Avid is not a poor company money wise).
 
And yes it is 100% true that Cakewalk do fix a ton of bugs each release, so forgive my attitude.
 
Finally my comments are the result of my own experience and frustration with AS. I'm using it since Sonar 8.0 and I've always had problems with it. You'll agree that it's been a couple of years already and transient detection haven't improved a bit, I've worked with its state for too long and recently I just exploded. I'm pretty persistent but this time I couldn't take more.
 
When I saw the first post video on youtube showing Reaper's way, I understood that it is the way AS should behave, hence the title of the thread.
 
Please forget the other negative comments I made and let's ask Cake to put AS at the level it is meant to be.