1200mk2

I've begun a "from standing start" nosedive into the detail

Good on you!

As I said Reaper can get really complex very quickly.

I found an old soundcloud

Holy shit man, this is good!

The production is top notch and you're punching way above my weight class.

I've found that, for me, making music is something I love - but it must be handled with care.

It's such a time suck, and it can kind of take over your life (and sometimes not in a good way).

I put it away for a while, but I still like to try new software/hardware/etc.

I just dip my toe in, figure out what something can really do, and then stop.

Somewhere in 2050 I'll release my grand opus after spending way too much money and obsessing over it for years.

I'm sure it will be heard by dozens of people.

so much lost on a faulty hard drive

I've become psycho about anything I have being backed up three times (at least).

When buying all of the stuff it seems pointless, but years later when you really want to hear "that one track" from dozens of years ago it's totally worth it, and SSDs are so cheap now it's kind of a no brainer.

Anyway, I'm glad you found Reaper - it's a rare unicorn in the software world.

O.k. this is going to sound cheeky but...

I've diversified into dub and breaks more now

Welcome! We had jackets made and everything!

The closest I got was Wunmi and through her A Guy Called Gerald.

I didn't produce either of them but Wunmi's first solo ep was on a label I created (sort of, it was the early days of the music industry meeting the internet, so...).

Gerald is like the nicest guy ever, and a few of his tracks are - production wise - the best I've ever heard.

As for Reaper, and you probably know this - get a good soundcard.

I'd go with the UA Volt 276.

It's got the UA 76 compressor. The Volt with only one output input doesn't.

It's also got midi in/out.

does it have a strong user support base, tutorials, forums

Holy shit yes.

Forum - One of the top posts at the moment is newbieland (it's probably pinned/stickied).

The description is - "Discuss simple computer/recording/REAPER stuff here.. Don't be embarrassed, nothing is too easy to discuss...".

Tutorials - Kenny Gioia is the go to Reaper tutorial guy. I'm not sure if he's a part of Cockos or just decided to dedicate his life to Reaper but he's also made an insane amount of Reaper videos and he charges for access to certain things so, I'm betting it's the latter.

How accessible is Reaper for a total newb

If you have production experience you'll be fine.

Imagine the best tape, dat, console, whatever from back in the day.

It looks simple, but once you start figuring out what it can do - well...it's so deep it's kind of scary.

There are UI themes to make it look like iOS or Ableton/Cubase, etc. but I just use the default.

The default interface is not pretty at all - I think they just went with system defaults, so it kind of looks like Windows 95 (not the main interface, but all of the sub menus look very old school).

It lacks the Ableton like loop playing with a physical interface (there's a plug in, but it's clunky) and as far as I know it doesn't have musical notation (Cubase is the goto there).

I've probably posted something like this before but if I worked at Avid (Protools) I would be absolutely shaken.

Avid's monopoly is going to end sooner rather than later and Reaper is going to be the one to replace it.

If you want something in the digital realm that's like an old school 70s Neave console, this is it.

Also, they have their own plugin architecture (Rea) that's actually good. I use the effects in Audacity (they're free).

edit:

worked with a few published artists

Just out of curiosity...anyone you want to name?