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How to install the Reaper DAW on Linux

Reaper is a digital audio workstation (DAW). It is an advanced tool that can be used to produce, edit and master audio projects. Here’s how to install Reaper DAW on Linux.

Note: Reaper DAW is not free software. You must pay for a software license to use the full version of the app. The instructions here cover how to get the evaluation version working on Linux.

Generic Linux instructions

The best way to install the Reaper digital audio workstation on Linux is to install the included script. You’ll have to download the Reaper DAW program files from the internet to start.

To download Reaper DAW to your computer, make use of the following wget download command. Keep in mind you must open up a terminal window on the Linux desktop to use wget.

wget https://www.reaper.fm/files/6.x/reaper646_linux_x86_64.tar.xz

After downloading the Reaper DAW files to your computer, you’ll have to extract the contents of the TarXZ archive using the tar command.

tar xvf reaper646_linux_x86_64.tar.xz

Once the extraction process is complete, you must create a folder named “reaper” in your home directory using the mkdir command.

mkdir -p ~/reaper

Move the “reaper_linux_x86_64” folder into the newly created “reaper” folder in your home directory using the mv command.

mv reaper_linux_x86_64/ ~/reaper/

You must now download WDL to your computer and build it with the make command.

Note: WDL will only build if you have the correct compilation packages set up. On Ubuntu and Debian, it is “build-essential”. On other distributions, the packages will be different. You’ll also need the “libgtk-3-dev” package (or equivalent) and the “git” package.

git clone http://www-dev.cockos.com/wdl/WDL.git WDL/

After downloading WDL, enter the directory using the CD command.

cd ~/WDL/WDL/swell

Run the make command to build the software. This process shouldn’t take long at all. When the process is complete, run the ln -sf command.

ln -sf `pwd`/libSwell.so ~/reaper/reaper_linux_x86_64/REAPER/libSwell.so

Next, you’ll need to run the installation script for Reaper. First, move into the “reaper” folder in your home directory to run the script.

cd ~/Reaper/reaper_linux_x86_64

Execute the Reaper DAW installation script on your computer by running the following command.

./install-reaper.sh

A text installation tool will appear in the terminal by executing the script. Using the keyboard, press the I key on the keyboard. This button will begin the installation process.

After pressing the I button on the keyboard, the installation script will ask where you wish to install the software. Reaper will either install in /opt or ~/. Install Reaper to the ~/ directory (home folder) for best results.

To install the software to the home directory, press the 2 button on your keyboard. Then, press the Y key on the keyboard to confirm you wish to create a desktop shortcut on your Linux system.

After creating the shortcut, the installation tool will ask you to “proceed with the installation.” Press the Y button on the keyboard to finish the setup process on your computer.

Arch Linux instructions

The Reaper DAW application is available for Arch Linux in the Arch Linux User Repository. Start by opening up a terminal window on the desktop to get it working. You can launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Or, search for “Terminal” in the app menu and launch it that way.

With the terminal window open, use the pacman -S command to install the “git” and “base-devel” packages on your system. These packages are required to set up programs through the AUR.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel

After setting up the two packages on your computer, use the git clone command to download the latest version of the Trizen AUR helper. Trizen will automate the installation of Reaper DAW on your system, so you do not have to do everything by hand.

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git

Once the Trizen AUR helper is downloaded to your computer, use the CD command to move into the “trizen” folder. Then, use the trizen -S command to install the Reaper DAW application on your computer.

trizen -S reaper-bin

AppImage instructions

Reaper DAW is available as an AppImage. To get it working as an AppImage, start by setting up the AppImageLauncher runtime on your computer. This runtime can make setting up AppImage much more straightforward than by hand.

To set up the AppImageLauncher runtime, follow our guide on the subject. Then, when it is set up on your computer, head over to the “Reaper” page on AppImageHub, and click on the “Files” tab.

Once in the files tab, download the latest Reaper AppImage. Then, double-click on the AppImage to install it and integrate it into your system with the AppImageLauncher runtime.

7 Comments

  1. It don’t work as it never installs the libSwell.so. I had to get the armv for my 64 cpu off the Reaper website but now this refuses to open

  2. In Ubuntu 22.04 Install process ends with
    “Copying files…cp: could not get state from ‘/home/walter/reaper/reaper_linux_x86_64/REAPER/libSwell.so’: No such file or directory.”
    I’ve tryied both options, /opt or ~/ directory (home folder), with the same result.

  3. I’d just like to say thank you for your help, I’ve been looking for a way to be able to install reaper properly and you did it really easy, Thanks 😀

  4. Found an error in installing of Reaper. On moving the reaper folder, This may confuse some newbies.

    ====================================================
    Next, you’ll need to run the installation script for Reaper. First, move into the “reaper” folder in your home directory to run the script.

    cd ~/Reaper/reaper_linux_x86_64
    ====================================================

    Correction should be:
    cd ~/reaper/reaper_linux_x86_64
    Not
    cd ~/Reaper/reaper_linux_x86_64

    73’s WL7JA – Patrick Wilke’
    patrick@wl7ja.org