Reaper is a powerful, versatile digital audio workstation for editing music, podcasts, or other audio projects. I’ve used it to edit and mix every single episode of the LPX podcast and Loving Project podcast.

The software is also cross-platform. There 32-bit and 64-bit builds available for Windows and macOS, and there’s been an experimental Linux version for a few years.

Now it’s easier than ever to give Reaper a try on Linux. While it’s still described as “experimental and unsupported,” starting with Reaper v5.93, there’s an official Linux installation script that you can use to set up the software on computers with i686, x86_64, or armv7l chips (including some Raspberry Pi models).

For the most part Reaper for Linux looks just like the Windows version of the software. Reaper supports multi-track recording and editing, offers a variety of tools for editing, mixing, and exporting. And supports a bunch of first-party and third-party plugins.

But there are some known issues that only affect the Linux version, and you may have to search for native plugins, although there are some third-party workarounds that may allow you to use WINE so that Windows plugins will work with Reaper on Linux.

I generally find Reaper to be at least as capable a tool for audio journalism and podcasting projects as Pro Tools or Adobe Audition. But it’s substantially more affordable: you can try the software for free for up to 60 days, pay $60 for a non-commercial license, or $225 for a commercial license.

Note that the software is exactly the same no matter which license you buy: Reaper basically uses the honor system and asks anyone who makes more than $20,000 per year from their audio production work or otherwise uses the software in a professional capacity to pay a bit more.

Reaper for Linux is still a bit on the buggy side for me to recommend buying a commercial license if that’s the only operating system you plan to use the software on. But it’s nice to see that the Linux port is coming along.

You can read more about Reaper for Linux in the Reaper forums.

via Phoronix

 

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2 replies on “Reaper audio editing software gets a native Linux installer”

  1. I am currently looking at UbuntuStudio / Reaper as a future proof replacement for Mac OSX (El Capitan) / Logic Pro / Mainstage. i have older mac hardware which will soon no longer be supported. apple has declared that any mac that was built 2009 and before cannot install their latest OS’s which means that eventually Logic will either stop getting updates, or stop working on the OS i am stuck on. UbuntuStudio is the best OS from the Linux community to support DAW recording, as it has the realtime linux kernel. the one main thing i am still investigating is a Linux based multilayered sounffont sampler for all my Mainstage autosamples of my old hardware synths. i have found software to transfer all my multisamples from mainstage, a program by a company https://www.chickensys.com. i will be testing that out after a build a UbuntuStudio based workstation on one of my old macs. i have been a native Linux user since 1998, so i have a lot of experience on Linux. i am hoping to find something as easy to work with on the Linux side for my synths. its a shame that it has taken this long for the audio production community to start producing professional software for linux. we had photoshop, and 3d animation way back in the early 2000’s on linux. (GIMP / InkScape / Blender3d). the only thing is, linux needs some killer DAW apps with the ease of garageband / logic to help people make the transition. even creating a theme for Reaper which has a simple, medium, and advanced layout would help a ton. also a loop librarian like logic has. i think that would get it lots of attention.

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