I'm fairly experienced using Reaper and I have a MIDI keyboard which I use to record various synth VSTs. So I feel like a bit of a doofus for having to ask this question: can someone help me with interpreting "software instrument" as it relates to Reaper and using The Mangle VST?
The Mangle is a granular synth. In the description of the VST (see below) it says you have to "create a special software instrument track and add The Mangle as the instrument/generator for that track".
It has a little diagram from some other DAW on how this is done. Can someone translate for me what this means for Reaper? I downloaded the app, added it to a track and managed to load a .WAV into it. But I'm unsure how to actually record/capture the output.
You can see the diagram if you page down a little on this link:
http://sound-guru.com/software/mangl...is-the-concept
"Instead, The Mangle is a "software instrument", like a synthesizer or sampler. It works from static sound files on your computer, not an incoming stream of audio. And you trigger streams of grains using MIDI data, just as you trigger samples with MIDI notes in a regular sampler.
So you won't find The Mangle in your list of audio effect VSTs / Audio Units. You need to create a special software instrument track, and add The Mangle as the instrument/generator for that track. Terminology, unfortunately, differs between DAW hosts."