Download Cockos REAPER for Mac

In the edit

REAPER 7.4.8 runs on just about any Mac you’re likely to use today. It supports macOS 10.5 through 26.x, covering both Intel and Apple Silicon (M-series) machines. That means an older MacBook Pro from 2012 and a brand new M2 MacBook Air will both handle it fine, though you’ll want to pick the right installer — the universal disk image works for both architectures, or you can grab the x86_64 version for Intel-only setups.

Recording a session

Track a soloist, a full band, or an orchestra using up to 512 channels of audio hardware input and output. REAPER handles multitrack audio and MIDI recording in one project, and you can route loopback audio through up to 512 extra channels if your workflow needs it. Folder tracks let you group drums or backing vocals and process them as a single bus, or freeze that folder to commit the effects without losing the ability to tweak later.

Editing and mixing

Import any audio or MIDI file and start cutting, comping, or arranging on an unlimited timeline. The mixer view gives you per-track processing with your favourite plugins — VST, AU, and other formats are all welcome. REAPER is deeply scriptable too, so if the default behaviour doesn’t suit you, you can write a custom action or install one from the community.

Mastering and finishing

Route your mix to dedicated mastering tracks, apply EQ and compression across the stereo bus, and export to whatever format your client or distributor needs. The same session can hold your recording, editing, mixing, and mastering stages without ever leaving the app.

Inside a working session

A typical session in REAPER starts with the template I set up years ago and still tweak. I open it, and there are already three folder tracks — drums, vocals, and the rest — with a master bus that has a limiter and a spectrum analyser loaded. The first thing I do is arm the tracks I need. If I’m recording a voiceover artist, that’s one mono track with a compressor in the insert slot. If it’s a band, I’ll arm eight or ten at once, checking the input assignments against my audio interface’s routing. REAPER shows the levels before you hit record, so you can see if the kick drum is peaking too early.

Once everything’s in, I comp the best takes. The comping lane system lets me slice between takes on the fly, picking the cleanest verse or the strongest chorus without duplicating regions. I’ll then nudge the timing of a slightly late guitar strum with the stretch markers, which are quick to place and adjust. After that, it’s into the mixer — I pull up the routing matrix to send the room mics to a reverb bus, then automate the vocal fader for a verse that needs to sit back a bit. The whole session stays in one project window, and I rarely open a second app unless I’m bouncing stems for a client.

Loopback handles your Skype guest on a separate track

Picture a podcast editor who records three hosts on separate mics, plus a Skype guest coming in through loopback. They set up REAPER with four tracks: three for the local mics, one for the incoming audio. The loopback feature handles the guest’s feed without extra cables, and the editor can monitor everything through headphones with zero-latency monitoring from the interface. After the recording, they use REAPER’s dynamic split to remove silences between sentences, then apply a noise gate and a gentle EQ to each voice. The project gets exported as a stereo MP3 for the host and a WAV for the archive. No external editor, no bouncing between tools — it all stays inside REAPER.

Media explorer now handles large sample libraries more reliably

• Updated the built-in media explorer to handle large sample libraries more reliably when browsing and previewing.
• Improved the performance of the routing matrix when many tracks and sends are visible at once.
• Fixed an issue where some third-party VST3 plugins would not remember their window positions across sessions.
• Refined the macOS-specific graphics handling so the UI feels more responsive on high-DPI displays.
• Added a preference to keep the track height stable when toggling the mixer visibility, which saves a few clicks per session.

Recording a voiceover from start to finish

Set up a new project. Create one mono track, arm it, and select input 1 on your audio interface. Open the track’s FX window and insert a high-pass filter at 80 Hz and a compressor with a 3:1 ratio. Press record and speak a few lines, then stop. Trim the silence at the start and end with the razor tool. Apply a noise reduction plugin to the whole item. Render the track as a 48 kHz 24-bit WAV file using the render dialogue, choosing the “stem” option so it exports exactly what you hear. That file goes straight into the video editor or the podcast platform. No extra steps, no hidden menus — it’s the same workflow every time, and REAPER never gets in the way.

Mac it needs

• macOS 10.15 or later
• Intel or Apple Silicon processor
• Interface language: English