Reaper tips

[Argle]

I've been using Reaper for a couple years, and I'm continually impressed by all the little tricks and techniques you can do that can dramatically speed up your workflow. So, I'd like to share some of the tips I've picked up. Hopefully they will be useful to people starting out in Reaper, to demonstrate the power and flexibility of the program.

I don't want to have all the fun, anyone is welcome to post their own tips. I'll keep updated links in the first post to all of the tutorials.

btw, I was going to call the thread Reaper Tips and Tricks, but that tutorial series already exists (and is very much worth your money, as are all of Kenny Gioia's Reaper tutorials). There's a little bit of overlap between it and this thread, but he goes into a whole bunch of stuff that I don't intend on covering. If you're new to Reaper and want a grounding in the basics, DEFINITELY start with his Reaper 4 Explained series. It's the best tutorial I've seen for new users bar none. He goes into detail on the things I gloss over or assume the user is familiar with.

Misc stuff

Tabbing

Track templates

Mouse modifiers

Portable install

Looping and skipping

Preferences search

Bus creation

Editing and techniques

Quick item copying

Item volume knob

Fade curves

Item muting

Sidechain compression

Trimming items

Pitch envelopes

Swiping

Auto trim/split items

Exploding items to different tracks

Envelopes and tempo

Envelope basics

Envelope volume offset

Envelope curves

Tempo and time signature changes

MIDI

Where's the piano roll?

Sends

Note ends

Drawing notes

Note coloring

Naming notes

Note length to grid size

Drum mode

Alternate views

Strumming

Multi-item editing

Strip CCs from game MIDIs

Stepping through notes

Transposing actions

Chord creation actions

Chord voicing

Drag note selection

Reversing and inverting notes

Plugins

Multi-out VSTs

Default presets

Renaming plugins

FX chains

Custom FX folders

Quick FX chains

Project

Pesky peak files

Render region

Project folders

Batch rendering

Actions and custom actions

Actions and key binding

Custom actions

Fast folder creation

Fast copy-pasting

Renumbering markers

Last touched actions

Play next slice

SWS extensions

SWS extensions

Layouts and visuals

Transport bar on top

Simplified timeline display

Docking

Track coloring

Item label display

Fast track coloring

Toolbars

Themes

Layouts

WALTER

Screensets

Dual monitor configuration

Grouping folders

Cool FX

time_adjustment

stereoEnhancer

ReaControlMIDI

drumtrigger

sequencer_baby

arp!0

ReaSamplomatic5000

Edited March 19, 2014 by Argle

[jnWake]

I'd read it Mr. Argle!

[Argle]

Looks like you're the only one.

Well, I may still try it anyway.

[Flexstyle]

I think with the animated .gif format, you might get a bigger audience once you simply *do* it. I say go for it.

[XPRTNovice]

Don't fear the Reaper, Argle.

[Light_of_Aether]

I've been using Reaper for two years now and I would love to learn tips and tricks.

As for topics, if you have EWQLSO or EWQLSC, channel routing information as well as general tips and tricks would be amazing. Another topic is what are your favorite customizations?

[Argle]

I've been using Reaper for two years now and I would love to learn tips and tricks.

As for topics, if you have EWQLSO or EWQLSC, channel routing information as well as general tips and tricks would be amazing. Another topic is what are your favorite customizations?

Absolutely, I am going to cover a ton of customization and custom actions.

[Damashii!!]

Reaper is your main DAW, yes?

and you used it to make this behemoth, correct?

http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02721/

I've been interested in learning more about Reaper for a while (at the very least as a secondary DAW), but if there's a 'yes' for both of those questions then I'm even more interested in these mini-tutorials. Yes please and many thanks in advance if/whenever you get around to these.

[Argle]

Reaper is your main DAW, yes?

and you used it to make this behemoth, correct?

http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02721/

I've been interested in learning more about Reaper for a while (at the very least as a secondary DAW), but if there's a 'yes' for both of those questions then I'm even more interested in these mini-tutorials. Yes please and many thanks in advance if/whenever you get around to these.

Yes, that song was made in Reaper, as well as all my other game remixes. I've been using it for a couple years, after... irreconcilable differences with Sonar.

[Argle]

Ok, let's get this thing started. Let's start simple. If you're familiar with tabbing between fields in Windows, this is the same idea. Using tab and shift-tab, you can skip to the next or previous track label. If you have a bunch of tracks to name, this will save you some time.

Edited October 6, 2013 by Argle

[Argle]

If you're familiar with other DAWs, you might wonder where the piano roll/MIDI editor is in Reaper. Unlike most other DAWs, you can't open a blank piano roll... you need to double-click on a MIDI item. But what if you're starting a fresh project with no existing MIDI items? Simple, just Ctrl-click and drag to create a new MIDI item. Easy!

[Argle]

Say you have a pair of tracks. You've got the tracks named, panned, EQ and compression on each, and one of them armed for recording. Problem is, it's time consuming to set up. That's what track templates are for! We'll select the two tracks and save them as a template. The next time we need a pair of guitar tracks, we can right-click in the blank TCP space and select our template. Yay!

Keep in mind that you can save items and envelopes along with a track template.

You can also create your own folders in the track templates directory. This is a great way to keep your list of templates nice and organized.

[jnWake]

Nice tips! I had no idea about the first 2 ones haha. The MIDI thing will save me some time!

Related: How do you handle time signatures in Reaper? From what I've experimented, it seems to be quite annoying to deal with them.

[Argle]

Nice tips! I had no idea about the first 2 ones haha. The MIDI thing will save me some time!

Related: How do you handle time signatures in Reaper? From what I've experimented, it seems to be quite annoying to deal with them.

Sure thing. Long story short, time signatures ARE annoying in Reaper. There are a couple ways to tackle them, though. I'll do a future post on them.

[Argle]

By default the transport bar is underneath the arrange window. To me this makes no sense; it should be near the top. Fortunately, by right-clicking in blank transport bar space, it is easy to change the position.

[Argle]

By using Ctrl-click and drag on an item in the arrange window, you can quickly copy items.

BTW, this also works in the piano roll for MIDI notes or CCs.

[Argle]

Setting up a multi-out VST can be confusing in Reaper until you learn the way to do it. But the good news is you only have to set it up once.

Let's set up an instance of Omnisphere, which has 8 outputs.

So, we have our VST plugin and 8 outputs now. Next step is to create MIDI tracks to the plugin.

Note that this command always builds 16 channels of MIDI, while Omnisphere only has 8. All you have to do is delete MIDI tracks 9-16.

Using the track manager we can take a look at the tracks we've created. First comes the actual VST plugin track. Next comes the 16 channels of MIDI Reaper created. Last is the 8 audio outputs of the VST.

Now let's move into a bit of power user strategy. You may notice that all these tracks create a bit of a mess. And this is just an 8-output VST; a 16 channel one will create double the clutter. However, we can hide certain of these tracks in the TCP, and others in the Mixer. Let's hide the plugin and audio outputs in the TCP so that they're only visible in the mixer. Then we'll hide the MIDI inputs in the mixer, so that they're only visible in the TCP. We can use the track manager to accomplish this.

Much nicer, huh? Hiding tracks in one view or another is a useful feature for your own sanity.

Next comes setting up the internal routing in the plugin. This is different for every virtual instrument so I won't show it here.

Lastly, select all the tracks and save them as a track template! Now you never have to do this again. If you want to create a different multi-out VST, it's as simple as deleting the existing plugin and adding the new one to the same track. In this case, I could swap out Omnisphere with Stylus RMX in a matter of seconds, then save that as a separate track template. Pretty handy.

[jnWake]

Nice tips again! Ctrl+click is a very useful one. I should mention that when you do this, envelopes are also copied, so that can save even more time!

And also about items: When you grab the edge of an item, you can cut it by dragging the cursor. However, you'll notice that Reaper automatically adjusts the movement to fixed positions (depending on the tempo and time signature). But, if you press the Shift key, you can drag the edge to wherever you want.

Note: The above also works when you move points in envelopes or when moving things in general (notes and edges of notes in the piano roll for example, which is nice for humanization!).

[Argle]

Nice tips again! Ctrl+click is a very useful one. I should mention that when you do this, envelopes are also copied, so that can save even more time!

Yep! You actually can toggle the behavior on and off, there's a button on the toolbar.

And also about items: When you grab the edge of an item, you can cut it by dragging the cursor. However, you'll notice that Reaper automatically adjusts the movement to fixed positions (depending on the tempo and time signature). But, if you press the Shift key, you can drag the edge to wherever you want.

Note: The above also works when you move points in envelopes or when moving things in general (notes and edges of notes in the piano roll for example, which is nice for humanization!).

Yes indeed. In general, the Shift modifier in Reaper bypasses grid snapping. Also, you can manually turn off snapping

[Argle]

Automation is the adjusting of volume, pan, or plugin parameters as your project plays, and envelopes are the way you do it. Just in case you didn't know.

It's very simple to view the default envelopes of a track, there's a button in the TCP.

To adjust an envelope or point, drag it up or down. Shift-click creates a point, while alt-click deletes it.

If you look on the envelope control panel, you'll find some useful functions, including bypassing the envelope, moving it to the track lane, and deleting it.

Now let's do something more interesting. You can automate any plugin parameter as well as the basic controls we've already seen. Say we have a highpass filter in ReaEQ that we want to automate. Using the same steps as before, it's very easy. By now you can see all the possibilities opening up by using automation envelopes. Note all the new parameters available in the track envelope window. Every plugin in your track will have its own set of envelopes.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Argle

[Argle]

If you've imported audio into Reaper, you might have seen files with .reapeak extension lying around. Usually in the source directory of the imported audio. Let's be honest, they're REALLY annoying. And if you delete them, Reaper will just recreate em next time you open the project. They are a necessary thing for Reaper, but there's a way to keep them all in a directory of your choosing. Out of sight, out of mind. Just be warned, your peak folder CAN get big over the years. You're free to clear it out once in awhile, Reaper will just rebuild the peaks next time you open a project.

[Argle]

If you use envelopes for awhile, something like this might happen to you. The default behavior of Reaper is to take your volume offset and apply it to the envelope, while resetting the track volume. Unfortunately if you have a track turned down really low, this results in a completely unusable envelope. A much more sensible method is to keep your track volume where it's at, and create an envelope set at 0 dB. Fortunately, this is very easy to change. This should be the default setting, IMO.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Argle

[Argle]

If you look at the timeline/ruler, you'll see that it gives a measures:beats readout as well as a time readout. This may be a case of TMI for you. Fortunately, there are two settings you can change to simplify the readout to measures only. I personally like this better.

[Argle]

You may start your projects at measure 1. This allows you to render the entire project with minimal effort. If I may suggest a different approach though, creating a render region has two benefits.

1) You don't have to start the project at measure 1. I typically start 3-5 minutes into the timeline. This allows you to go back and add more to the front end without having to shift the project.

2) You can store audio and MIDI items outside the bounds of the render region and not have them rendered. This is good for alternate or "maybe" parts.

So, how do we do it? Let's take a look.

Note that naming the region is optional and has no effect on anything. Also, you can drag the edges of the region to change it.

If you only have the render region that's all you have to do. If there are more, the default is to render all the regions, which you probably don't want. So there's one more step you have to take.

[Argle]

Docking is an extremely powerful feature to customize Reaper with the important windows you use, in the locations you prefer them to be. Additionally it lets you access multiple windows from the same dock by switching back and forth.

Quick disclaimer, these gifs came out choppier than the other ones. I have no idea why. I still think they're usable though.

Let's dive right in. Here's a basic example of docking the mixer.

Always look for the blue bar or square. I've seen it appear as gray on some tutorials, no idea why. Maybe those are Macs? Anyway, look for blue or grey boxes.

Ok, so we see there are 4 basic docking positions relative to the arrange window - up, down, left, and right. Let's dock some more windows. Notice the potential for quickly accessing different windows in the same space.

Now let's put some windows in different docks. I think you're allowed up to 16 different docks in Reaper.

In addition to creating single docks that span the entire top/bottom/left/right, you can share the space among multiple docks.

You'll notice in the preceding examples that the left dock overlaps the top and bottom docks. By double-clicking on the divider, you can change this to give the top and bottom docks preference.

One last example. So far we've seen docks attached to the main window. But you can have floating docked windows as well! To accomplish this you need to Ctrl-click and drag the window tab into the center of the screen until you see a floating blue box. Note that if you just click and drag you'll wind up with a floating window, not a floating docked window.

As the example shows, once you have a floating dock it's a snap to transfer windows between it and the main window docks.

So there ya go. Docks are lots of fun to experiment with and offer tons of creative potential for getting your own custom workflow. Docks work the best with dual monitors. All of these examples are a bit cramped because it's a single monitor view.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Argle