Reaper

Reaper is the ultimate "power user" audio software. It has a massive cult following among audio engineers, sound designers, and independent studios because it completely rejects the bloat of other major DAWs. The entire software installer is less than 20 megabytes, yet it is fully capable of recording a 60-track orchestra without ever crashing. Its defining characteristic is absolute customization. A user can write custom scripts to completely change how the software behaves. If an engineer edits thousands of voiceover files a day and hates that they have to click three different menus to normalize the audio, they can program a custom "Action" in Reaper to execute those three commands instantly with a single keyboard shortcut. It is the Linux of the DAW world. It also features the most generous licensing model in the professional audio world. Users can download a fully functional, uncrippled version of the software for free. After 60 days, it asks the user to buy a $60 license, but it relies entirely on the honor system and never locks the user out of the software. Because of its extreme stability and low cost, it is highly utilized in the video game sound design industry.