Software Alternatives & Reviews

Reaper VS Ableton Live

Compare Reaper VS Ableton Live and see what are their differences

Reaper logo Reaper

Reaper is a focused digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Cockos. In the creation of the software, the digital audio technology company intended to make audio editing accessible to the masses.

Ableton Live logo Ableton Live

Ableton makes Push and Live, hardware and software for music production, creation and performance. Ableton´s products are made to inspire creative music-making.
  • Reaper Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-06
  • Ableton Live Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-13

Reaper

Categories
  • Audio & Music
  • Audio
  • Audio Recording
  • Music Production
  • Digital Audio Workstations
Website reaper.fm

Ableton Live

Categories
  • Audio & Music
  • Audio
  • Audio Recording
  • Music
Website ableton.com

Reaper videos

Reaper DAW review - best free daw software for music production?

More videos:

  • Review - Why Reaper? | pros and cons
  • Review - Why I love Reaper with Glenn Fricker - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro

Ableton Live videos

Ableton Live 10 Review - The Best DAW For DJ/Producers?

More videos:

  • Review - Ableton Live 10: Intro vs. Standard vs. Suite vs. Lite - Which Should You Buy?
  • Review - ABLETON LIVE 10!!!!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Reaper and Ableton Live)
Audio & Music
72 72%
28% 28
Audio
72 72%
28% 28
Audio Recording
70 70%
30% 30
Music
72 72%
28% 28

User comments

Share your experience with using Reaper and Ableton Live. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Reaper and Ableton Live

Reaper Reviews

Top 18 Free Music Making Software for Beginners [2023]
Launched by Cockos in 2006, Reaper has grown into a robust, feature-rich DAW, offering full audio and MIDI recording, sound editing, mixing, and mastering functionalities.
5 PRO TOOLS ALTERNATIVES FOR RECORDING AND MIXING AUDIO
Reaper is a low-cost digital audio workstation with many features. It is available for Windows and Mac and can record, mix, and master audio. It has many features, including multichannel recording, surround sound support and a powerful effects engine. Reaper is a good option for home recording and mixing, and has many features that make it an alternative to Pro Tools.
9 Adobe Audition Alternatives That Do More Than Cleaning
Not as recognized as rivals like Ableton, Pro Tools, and FL Studio. If your employer or client requires you to have access to these tools and you’re only using Reaper, that could be a problem.
Best FL Studio Alternatives In 2022
Reaper puts its stamp in the conversation as it offers users an incredibly active community as well as everything you need in a DAW. Speed is one of the selling points with Reaper as it loads up extremely fast compared to certain DAWs. This is mainly due to its lightweight size, with its downloader being less than 20MB. In making Reaper, the software devs also did a...
Top 12 Audacity Alternatives You Could Use
Lastly, you can also check out Reaper, which features multi-track audio editing, processing, and more. Plus, it supports a wide range of hardware and plugins, and also comes baked with some pretty neat features such as the ability to record and edit musical notations with support for key signatures, multiple clefs, and more. What’s more, Reaper also supports scripting, so...
Source: beebom.com

Ableton Live Reviews

  1. Sounds good

    Crafting music in Ableton Live has been an exciting and efficient experience. The software's powerful features and intuitive layout truly stand out. Loading samples and loops onto the interface is as easy as drag-and-drop, allowing for quick and easy experimentation. The session view is perfect for improvisation, and the arrangement view is ideal for fine-tuning. The automation feature is a gem, enabling the creation of dynamic soundscapes. Exporting the final track is straightforward, too. All in all, Ableton Live has revolutionized my music-making process. A top-notch tool for any music creator!

    🏁 Competitors: Reason

Top 18 Free Music Making Software for Beginners [2023]
Ableton Live 11 Lite is a lightweight DAW with all the basic workflows, effects, and instruments you need to thrive with music production at the entry level. It is the free version of Ableton Live 11. However, the developers are fairly generous with its built-in features.
Expand Your Arsenal of Music Creation Tools With BandLab Alternatives
Ableton Live is a popular digital audio workstation (DAW) for creating music and soundscapes on Mac and Windows PCs. It has an intuitive user interface that makes it easy to create professional-sounding projects quickly. With its extensive library of samples, built-in effects, and support for MIDI controllers, Ableton Live is one of the most powerful DAWs available today.
Source: bandlabwin.com
9 Adobe Audition Alternatives That Do More Than Cleaning
Do you often edit live performances? If so, you need Ableton Live. This DAW adjusts tempo based on your audio in real-time.
Best FL Studio Alternatives In 2022
Ableton Live is one of my personal favorite DAWs. My band used this extensively on two different laptops each and every night. Ableton Live is built for those who desire to perform their songs live to their true form.
Top 12 Audacity Alternatives You Could Use
For the audio editors who are looking for a powerful yet highly intuitive substitute for Audacity, Ableton Live could be the right answer. Designed for live use, the software features a clean and snappier user-interface that is a bit easier to get a hang of. As it’s fully customizable, you can fine-tune the whole UI to keep everything in sync with your workflow. That aside,...
Source: beebom.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Reaper should be more popular than Ableton Live. It has been mentiond 79 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Reaper mentions (79)

  • Ask HN: Is There a Blender for Music?
    Almost free. https://reaper.fm It's cheap enough for almost anyone to buy and you can play around with the free version. - Source: Hacker News / 24 days ago
  • Best DAW for putting E-drum tracks on PC
    I'm a big fan of Reaper (reaper.fm). It's technically not free, but $60 is totally worth it, plus you can trial it full featured, indefinitely. Source: 5 months ago
  • What Is the Future of the DAW?
    If you use the Linux port, you may want to use Yabridge to load Windows VSTs in a transparent way. http://reaper.fm/ https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Where do I start designing my own audio for my games?
    My recommendation would be Reaper from reaper.fm Reaper is used in the video game industry due to it's customization, routing, batch processing and scripting capabilities. It's very customizable and has small CPU footprint. Source: 9 months ago
  • I use Vegas Pro 14 mostly for audio editing, should I upgrade to Vegas Edit or Vegas Pro?
    Audio only? Don't torture yourself. Reaper's based on the early Vegas platform, easy to learn and use, and one of the most powerful audio editing tools out there: http://reaper.fm/. Source: 9 months ago
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Ableton Live mentions (39)

  • Anyone know the system requirements (macOS) for Live 12?
    I'm considering pre-ordering the Live 12 upgrade from 11, but I can't find any info on ableton.com that lists Live 12's system requirements. The pre-order page for Live 12 lists Live 11's system requirements. Source: 4 months ago
  • Push 3 Expressive Choir
    Open Live, go to Help/User account and licences/authorize at ableton.com. Source: 10 months ago
  • Free Ableton live lite 11 and lite 10 license
    Hi, I'd like to giveaway Ableton live lite (10+11) license for free. The license is currently linked to my account, so I need to transfer ownership to someone who has an account on ableton.com . You can dm me your email address you have an account with. I can give it to only one person first come first serve basis. Source: 11 months ago
  • I just purchased Ableton Live suite and never received a license.
    Did you order direct from ableton.com, or from somewhere else? Source: about 1 year ago
  • I'm using a cracked ableton live 11, where can I get the plugins that it supposed to have?
    You're not going to get access to most of the packs, as you need an account with a product key on ableton.com in order to download them. As for plugins, I'm not sure what you mean. If you're talking about Max for Live, you might be able to find a separate crack for that but again, many of the devices are on the Ableton website and require you to be holding a product key. Source: about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Reaper and Ableton Live, you can also consider the following products

Audacity - Audacity is a free and open-source audio production software suite that includes a surprising array of editing tools and recording systems.

FL Studio - Image-Line's FL Studio, now on it's 12th version, is a well-known music production suite and the most popular beat processor on the market, due no doubt to its longevity. Read more about FL Studio.

LMMS - Make music with a free, cross-platform tool

Ardour - Record, edit, and mix on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows.

GarageBand - GarageBand is a fully equipped music creation studio for Mac

Cubase - Cubase is one of the world’s most powerful music creation software packages. From first idea to finished recording, Cubase helps you to make outstanding music.