By assigning the appropriate action in the action list, (and using a MIDI loopback) you can use a MIDI item with CC's as an "automation item". (upcoming 14 bit cc drawing makes this a lot sexier.)
on track 3, I am using ReacontrolMIDI instead of an item. on track 4, I set track 4 to be a slave of BOTH track 3 and track 1. (this is just to illustrate some potential d/VCA applications)
What the GIF is not showing is that I am sending the MIDI to a "hardware" out, and back in - to a "control" enabled device. ( I use MAPLE MIDI, but there are a lot of options here.)
It's not exactly elegant - you need to have the cc on the right channel and the right cc.
This can be routed by a plug in, which may be easier;
A MIDI router plugin with the alias; "Track 32 PAN" - for example
And also, assigning the cc's in the action list, is, well...
A lot of work needs to be done to figure out, and setup the CC's in the action list.
If anyone is interested in possibly using this, I'd love some input about how this list can be organized. If we can get together a mapping that makes sense, anyone can just load up the REAPER KeyMap file and have access to this. (along with some FX presets / chains)
I started with channel 2, cc 32 here for track one. I figure maybe channel 1 would be good for "selected track" actions - FX parameters, SEND levels, etc.
The 14bit cc's are 32-64, so we have plenty to play with over 16 channels. We can define Volume, Pan, Width. Also Mute and solo, but I'm not sure if these would be so useful.
Maybe...
channel 2 cc 32 - 64 for Volume Tracks 1-32
channel 3 cc 32 - 64 for Pan tracks 1-32
....
and so on
64 tracks would be sufficient, for me at least.
I can't exactly decide if this is worth the effort. What do ya' think?