when first pre1 was released, they said the intention was to release it soon... half a year ago. :D I'm using the 5 pre version it is very stable and I use the same theme as in REAPER 4. So.. no hurry.
--------------------- 96 M3. 5speed. All Redline all the time. Dinan Stg II SC. Dinan TB. Supersprint Exhaust SS. AA LTW Flywheel. Dinan Stg III Suspension. Dinan Camber Plates. UUC Tranny Mounts. Front and Rear Stress Bars Schroth Belts. X-Brace. Kickin' Stereo and Clear
I'm using the pre-release for my work, just being a bit cautious about relying to much on feature that are 'work in progress' and had no problems with it for couple of months. So for me it's already out.)
Sexy revelatory features are no longer appearing or are being left to bake for a while, so I'd guess a round of bug fixes and theme polish as gpunk says then 5.0 will come out but expect more to come from point releases thereafter. As a general sit back and look at it viewpoint, reaper is feature rich and highly customisable as ever, but could be left behind on the usability cohesive ui experience aspects, to attract new users or prevent wandering eyes from old hands.. ;) Kind of where android had to implement project butter to get rid of the jankiness. It is 2015 and all tech users expect silk n polish, the Linux hack it together yourself vibe is not sustainable unless we can hack it to be beautiful. ( I can't thats for sure) Big fan o reaper just an emotion-free viewpoint.
well there's the notation editor... hope it will in fact reappear as promised as I have need of it for a current project! Of course whether that's in 5.0 or not who knows...