Render to MP3, and watch the meters - if it's on the soft side, add more Volume, if it's on the high side, take out some Volume and look close to see what might be peaking. Reaper seems to have pretty much everything built-in to a DAW that a home artist could want, and that doesn't even give credit to the quality of the VST packages included. Disclaimer: I paid my money for Reaper and I don't get any kickbacks for saying it's awesome, nor would I take them. I pays my money, I takes my ticket.
When a ride is awesome, I'll tell the people in line no hesitation. Never thought about it from an economic perspective like that. That's a really good point. But I think the thing is most people who pirate software are teenagers who wouldn't be buying anything else.
I torrented Ableton and a bunch of VSTs when I was 17 with no job, and my parents wouldnt buy me shit. Now that I am making money, I've bought live, and plan to buy serum and my other vsts soon. I realize that's not how most people look at it though.
Honestly, I would love affordable software if it wasn't shit half the time. But that's a problem with the tech industry • • • • •. You ever see a kid whose parents give him everything? Did you ever know or see a high school kid that had a vintage Les Paul or PRS custom, boutique and bountiful pedals, and a Blackstar head and cab set, all just given to him by his parents?
And he wasn't a good musician. To him, those musical instruments and equipment were playthings. Like his ATV. Like his Jeep. Like his top tier golf club set.
That's what bothers me about torrenting. People Google what the best synth VST is, and they go and pirate Serum and Omnisphere and browse through the presets and fire it up in their cracked copy of Ableton Suite and throw a couple samples from highly rated Dubstep sample packs and think they're making 'music'. I have infinitely more respect for the person that buys what they can afford and makes something beautiful out of the tools on hand. That said, if you torrent your VSTs and DAW, I doubt most people would know.