This thread has been created to discuss Reaper. Feel free to post any questions or tips you have regarding Reaper below. Links to useful Reaper resources and tutorials appreciated!
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Useful links
Reaper download ---> http://www.reaper.fm/download.php
Reaper based complete music studio ---> http://www.dubstepforum.com/free-portab ... 73393.html
DSF Reaper Q&A thread ---> http://www.dubstepforum.com/topic91084.html
Reaper forum ---> http://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20
Reaper colour themes ---> http://stash.reaper.fm/tag/Themes
Reapers Manual. (Contains a useful clickable contents list on the first or second page) ---> http://www.reaper.fm/userguide/ReaperUserGuide3141.pdf
Books on Reaper ---> http://www.reaper.fm/userguide.php
SWS extensions ---> http://www.standingwaterstudios.com/new.php
Colours toolbar ---> http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=48049
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How to get the piano roll.
Hold down Ctrl-left-click to draw a new 'item' anywhere on the main sequencer. Once you've drawn a box, double click on it and the midi piano roll will be displayed.
This can be simplified in the Preferences menu (Ctrl-P or 'Options' menu > Preferences) Got to the 'Mouse' tab and tick the "Click+drag in empty area of track draws item in 'pencil mode'" box. this means you don't even have to hold down the ctrl button to draw a new item in the sequencer. Just Left click and drag a new box, then double click the box to bring up the midi piano roll.
A quick tip about the piano roll. You can change it to 'drum mode' from the 'View' menu within the midi editor. This makes using drum samplers slightly easier, especially when combined with the 'Named notes' mode available from the same View menu.
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Metronome
Go to the 'Options' menu. Listed halfway down is the metronome settings option. Click the 'enable' box to switch it on.
I'd assign it to a toolbar or keystroke, as it seems you reach for the metronome a lot.
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Mapping midi controlers to FX parameters in Reaper
Open the plugin you want to use, click on the control you wish to assign, click the 'param' button at the top of the plugins GUI window, then click 'learn' and tweak one of your hardware controls for the mapping to be assigned.
Another way to do this, click again on the 'param' button at the top of the plugins GUI window, then go to the 'FX parameter list'. You will see all the controls that can be assigned listed in the 'learn' drop down menu.
Yet another way to do midi control mapping is to open your plugin, then click on the 'env' button on the track the plugin is loaded upon. Each parameter listed by the plugin has a 'learn' button next to it. Click on the 'learn' button and then tweak your hardware control for the mapping to be created. There are also some other options you can select using this method, which allow for things like ensuring the plugin is in focus before the mapping will take effect etc.
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Assigning actions and tools to keystrokes or toolbars.
Click 'Show Action List' in the 'Actions' menu (or press the ? key). Go down the list of actions and click 'Add'. Press the keystroke you wish to use and press OK. (A keystroke could be one key or a combination of keys pressed together like Shift-S or something)
To create custom toolbars, right click on the main toolbar or the floating toolbar. This brings up the Actions editor, only in 'toolbar' mode. You can also access this editor via the 'Menu Editor' button in the main actions editor.
There is a drop down menu at the top of the actions editor which selects which 'view' you edit. Thus, if you want to customise the menus and toolbars in the midi editor, this drop down menu is where you can select to customise the midi editor.
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Custom Themes and Icons
Remember that you can assign any icon to your custom toolbars, and that icons can be edited directly in any graphics program. In fact, any of the images Reaper uses for its GUI can be edited directly in a graphics program.
The images and icons can be found in the following folder > C:\ > Program Files > Colour Themes > Default
For more info on customising Reaper
Themes ---> http://stashbox.org/v/238949/WT_Power-of-Pink.pdf
Advanced themes ---> http://www.reaper.fm/sdk/advtheme/
Midi colour maps ---> http://forum.cockos.com/showpost.php?p= ... ostcount=6
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SWS and other extensions
Finally, I'd strongly recommend downloading the SWS extensions for Reaper. These give extra functionality to Reaper such as 1-click beat slicing and 1-click zoom on a waveform etc. These are useful for using Reaper as an audio editor amongst other things.
Another great adition to Reaper is the colours toolbar. This allows you to colour any sequencer channel or any item on that sequencer to any colour you like. If you prefer multi colour visual guides, this isn't to be missed!
Download it here ---> http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=48049
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Customising Reaper for audio editing
The most common things you'll want to achieve are simple edits, reversing audio, normalisation and effects processing etc.
Although Reaper by default doesn't make the best audio editor, it can be customised to be a perfect audio editor. This is done by using Reapers 'Action' customisation features and SWS extensions. I'll explain further below.
First of all, audio editors allow users to zoom right into a waveform. This allows for really precise edits. To accomplish this in Reaper, download the SWS extensions and assign the horizontal/vertical zoom actions to a toolbar or keyboard shortcut. This will allow you to select a waveform, press one button and be zoomed in solely on the waveform you wish to work on.
Reaper allows you to chose different methods of displaying ultra-zoomed waveforms in the Preferences window. Go to Options > Preferences > Media > Sample-level Waveform view.
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You may also find it useful to assign the 'reverse item as new take' and 'normalise' commands to either a toolbar button or keyboard shortcut.
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To slice audio in Reaper, you can simply place the play head at the point on the item you wish to slice and press 'S'... This splits the audio non-destructively, meaning that the file itself isn't split, only playback within Reaper.
If you wish to bounce only part of the item split in half, you can assign the double 'double-mouse click' action to automatically place the loop marker at each end of your selected item. This enables you to render the audio selected in the normal fashion using the 'Render selection' command within the Render window.
On the topic of slicing, one can assign the 'Dynamic split selected items' command to a button on the toolbar. This gives you automatic slicing and gating features that are better than Propellerhead's Recycle for auto-slicing drum loops etc.
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There is an SWS action for applying the current effects to the audio and resetting the channel volume to 0dB. This allows effects to be rendered 'offline' directly onto the audio as a new take at the click of a button. This process is destructive, although the process renders a new take of the file instead of ruining the original file.
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Another idea is to include the item 'fade type' selection action to a toolbar button. This will allow you to do precise and controlled fade ins & outs and quickly choose the fade curve most appropriate to your material.
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That info should help you enjoy using Reaper as much as I do!
Pat
