And make sure to visit the forums and resources section, it is a part of the product. Bit of a learning curve, but not unintuitive or complicated - just packed with features Long demo period to decide.

To sum up - most affordable, just as capable, most customizable and extensible DAW on the market. There are resources online to figure it out on your own if you prefer this and there's a nice, approachable community if you prefer that. Frankly, the only problem with Reaper you might have is the inital learning period, before you even know what is it capable of doing for you. It's lightweight, portable yet less limited than some other DAWs. Beautiful skins going much farther than simple button recolors, wide options for customization and scripting. That was a misunderstanding, Reaper can become whatever You want and require it to be. Out of the box, FLS seemed cleaner, prettier and more modern - reflecting the much higher price. Paid choices boiled down to FL Studio and Reaper. LMMS felt more polished, but still wasn't comfortable.

ElDoRado1239's Experience I found Audacity capable but its GUI is visually crude and can go user-hostile on you.

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