06-28-2013, 01:59 AM | #1 |
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REAPER as a live sound mixer
Hello! I met a live sound engineer the other day who said he was using -REAPER- and some firewire pre's as his mixing console for live sound gigs.... At first I thought I must have heard him incorrectly.... I've heard of people using computers for live sound mixing, but I thought you needed specialized software like SAC and specialized ultra low latency hardware...
Anyhoo... I have a Presonus Firepod / FP10... I tried setting up a reaper project for use as a live sound mixing environment.... I really only have 8 usable inputs and outputs, so my test project is currently only 8 inputs.... Using the sends and hardware routing I was able to set up 4 monitor mixes, a stereo main, and a stereo headphone output.... Each channel has REAPER flavored EQ, Compressor, Gate and Reverb plugins (with the exception of phones)... And well, it appears to be working... I haven't even begun to tweak my asio settings to reduce latency, and it already appears to be quite usable.... Anyhoo... I guess where I'm going with this story is I wanna know if anyone else is using REAPER as a live sound mixer. How successfully? Any tips for a brave young adventure seeker like myself? P.s. I know I'm crazy. |
06-28-2013, 06:55 AM | #2 |
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Maybe crazy but maybe not for using REASON..
I too am very interested in this and other people's experiences (although there is another thread somewhere that covers some of this territory. At live gigs we often play pre-recorded stuff as background during the intervals... presumably this could be all prepared in advance on a couple of spare tracks. |
06-28-2013, 07:06 AM | #3 |
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Wasn't me was it?
I was at Jazz in the Park in Milwaukee last night with my rig. I've been mixing live music with Reaper for 3 years now. Better sound quality than any mixing board less than a real Neve or SSL. More flexible than any of the cumbersome digital boards. Infinitely modular and expandable. I wouldn't ever consider going back to hardware mixers. Basic rig outlined in signature. The sound quality obviously starts with your mic pre's and converters. Reaper's 64 bit mix engine preserves every last detail and there's headroom for miles. I can mix up to 36 inputs, usually 5 or 6 delays and verbs but I can run probably infinite fx. I simultaneously record all the inputs and any fx I run to multitrack. Running at 48k (24 bit of course) right now as a concession to the plugin load I like to use. SSL channel strips on most inputs, deessers on vox tracks, L2 for system protection for a starting point. And then I run 10 monitor channels. Sample buffer at 192. My round trip latency from analog input to analog output is 11ms (below perception - or, perfect time alignment when the drums are 11' behind the main speakers). Everything is run by wireless control. MIDI controllers over a USB wi-fi radio and the iPad running remote desktop. The rig is in a 8 space shock mounted rack that will sit in a back or side corner of the stage. Front of house setup and snake running are obsolete concepts from the past. Normally I can roam at least 300' from stage with zero lag in my controls. You may have noticed me hanging a little close to the stage last night because downtown Milwaukee is a freakin wi-fi battlezone! This happens maybe 1 out of 20 shows for me where I'll have to move a little closer to home base (the stage) if I need to do some on point dub fx. Reaper in OSX is just outrageously stable. I can insert plugins while mixing/recording with no glitches and no worries. Record arm and start a new track at any time, etc. Reaper just doesn't stop or crash. The Mac Pro is my main machine for this but the Macbook Pro (started with this but it's backup now) can handle it with about 90% CPU use. Last edited by serr; 06-28-2013 at 07:26 AM. |
06-28-2013, 07:22 AM | #4 | |
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if we ever do a show in Milwaukee I know who to contact
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06-28-2013, 07:47 AM | #5 | |
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You should get a little Benchmark or a Lavry or something and run it on the S/PDIF output of the 828 so you can have FOH outs that have analog stages that match the quality of your input conversion. As long as you're going that far. Just sayin'. Scott PS: I think I'm jealous. I've got a rig set up to do much the same, but running SAC with a MOTU 2408 and 3x Focusrite Octopre MkII Dynamic It's racked up in an 11U rack and is too awkward to use a lot for my own gigs, but when I've had it out and running, it blew away most other systems I've heard. True. Apogee. Boggling. With 24ch of inputs, I can't get the computer, interface and I/O w/powerstrip into < 8 RU, so I may need to break it up into smaller subunits. CPU rack + I/O Racks, each of which can be 6 RU and easy to carry. It has to be one-man moveable, one-man lift. Anyway, lots of good ideas.
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06-28-2013, 07:51 AM | #6 |
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I've been doing this for a while now, and I've tested quite a few DAWs for this purpose with Reaper being the hands down winner. Protools is also an option, but Reaper has been behaving flawlesly for the past 1 or two now.
There are a few things that I would advise you to do to get the most out of using Reaper as a FOH DAW (I own FOHDAW.com, which used to have all of this info there, but there is very little interest on the subject). 1. Stop using a snake. You can eliminate the 35 meters of copper that the mic and line level signals have to run through to reach the console as well as the 35 meter trip back that your returns have to make but setting up a mix rack and controlling that from FOH. I use VNC to control the mixrack PC that is set up side stage, either wirelessly or via an ethernet run. 2. Get rtpMIDI working on your FOH Laptop and connect it to your mix rack. This will allow you to attach your control surface to your laptop, giving you mobility while still having physical faders. I'm not 100% sure on this one, but I don't think that there is any product currently on the market that allows you to run a control surface wirelessly atm, although you could use the above software with anything that allows you ta connect a MIDI control surface. 3. Get, or make a theme that works better for live workflow. Here is mine Tourtech Theme. You don't want solo buttons anywhere as they make audio rip through FOH. 4. If you want an aviom type system, or a second virtual console, look into the web interface . I've made seperate web based monitor mixers, allthough you need to follow a strict input template which makes it only viable when you are working with one act. I generally don't give musicians control over wedges, and not everyone I work with likes IEMs - so working on this is low on my personal priority list. 5. You can build a system processor or just use a SUB output. I rarely do this (I do use a sub out more often though) but it can be done and it has saved my butt at least once. The final points are to take advantage of some of the things you can do with Reaper, that you can't do on many other consoles. For instance: Monitors - set up one mix, eq it, and then drag the EQ to all of your other mixes. Assuming that you have a matched stable of wedges, this gives you a very good starting point as far as EQing your wedges go. Then set up the primary vocal or whatever in each of the mixes. I then drag those sends to the other mixes, turn it down to 75% on the first drag, and when someone asks you for something that is not in their mix, but is in someone elses, you can just drag and drop the send. I mix 6 mixes plus 2 IEM mixes from FOH in this manner. Plug-ins - I use primarily the Reaper plug-ins, but I have a few extra little things that I like to use as well. Make sure you test plugins before you attempt to use them live, as some will do wierd things. I use a few Voxengo plugs, SPAN and Overtone EQ, as well as KarmaEQ for a 31 band - and that's pretty much it besides ReaEQ, ReaComp, ReaXcomp, ReaGate, Resamplamatic5000. You can do live drum replacement. I use Resamplematic5000 with Reagate for this and I mix in some of the original kick below the sample threshold as Regate does not send velocity. Use side chains. I use a comp with a sidechain on my pre-show tunes with the MC mics, or whichever mic someone might go up to durring pre-show in the side chain. I can go do whatever I want, and if they want to make an announcment, all they need to do is walk up to the mic and talk and the tunes will fade out and then gradually back in when they are done. There are so many uses for side chains live that will make your life so much easier. I started writing a guide on this subject, but I've been too busy to get back to it. There are a few things that I would hammer home if you are thinking about going this route though: 1. It won't be accepted by the industry. It's a pc that you put together and basically a mixer you made yourself. There are no standards, so systems can vary widely from one to the next as far as stability and usability goes. I built two mix racks, and I'm the only one that mixes on them - if you own a soundco or rent out gear, this is NOT the route you want to take. 2. There is a prebuilt system out there called SAC. SAC has been around for a while, and I did evaluate it when I was looking at FOH DAWs, in the end I chose Reaper. You might like SAC better and the things that were deal breakers to me, might not mattter to you. 3. Build your system to be bullit proof. You absolutely need a UPS on your mix rack. The mix rack should be a dedicated PC, it should not be connected to the internet, and the os should be as slim as possible. You want it tweeked for stability, so overclocking, wares or anything shady is a big no-no. Don't load it down with VST's, keep the entire system as lean as possible. 4. The mix rack itself needs to be neet and well laid out. You don't want to be reaching in the back of a rack to plug and unplug things, use a proper patch bay. The last thing you need is to bump an optical cable while fumbing around in the back of the rack. Keep it all neat and tidy. I'm sure someone else will chime in and fill in some of the other points. It's a fairly wide topic. I think that in the end you'll find that a 32 Channel FOHDAW costs about as much as an X32 - however it is far more powerful than any low end digital console. |
06-28-2013, 08:04 AM | #7 | |
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However you do it, real faders under your fingers are mandatory. Mixing with only a touch surface would be a bad experience. Then a 2nd wi-fi network connection for remote desktop or whatever. I actually tried the TouchOSC stuff a couple weeks ago and it was a spectacular failure! It seems to need to send even more data back and forth than remote desktop and it just drops packets instead of waiting. |
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06-28-2013, 08:04 AM | #8 | |
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I have 2 Mix Racks, MR-1 and MR-2. MR-2 is my 'walk-in rack' and it is an 8 space rack with 24 i/o. I could have fit it into a 5 space rack, but it has an 18.5 " monitor that fits into the back of the rack lid, and it wouldn't fit into my 6 space rack.
The 8 space rack contains the following:
Going with a smaller rack would mean that I would have to cary the UPS and the Monitor seperately, which I'd rather not do. I have used the 6 space rack as my RF rack wich has my IEMs, wired headphone amps and my wireless mics in it, that way when I show up at a venue, I can choose to bring in nothing, either or both racks. Quote:
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06-28-2013, 08:06 AM | #9 | |
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rtpMIDI will allow you to attach a MIDI controller to your laptop and have it seen by the mixrack as if it was directly connected to the mix rack. Last edited by Andy Hamm; 06-28-2013 at 08:08 AM. Reason: added the last comment. |
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06-28-2013, 08:12 AM | #10 | |
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No MIDI over ethernet here. USB MIDI controllers thru the WiRanger USB over wi-fi radios. |
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06-28-2013, 08:21 AM | #11 | |
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When I'm on stage, or close to the stage, I just walk up and make changes on the mix rack itself. |
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06-28-2013, 08:27 AM | #12 | |
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I'll take the slightly compromised communication in the odd gig in a wi-fi battlezone over wires. I'm thinking of amusing myself with a set of bigger radios one of these days. Funny... I thought I'd be getting Revenge of the Nerds jokes but I get "Can I get some peanuts" more often. |
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06-28-2013, 08:31 AM | #13 | |
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I do a lot of soft-seater type gigs where they want you to mix from a lighting booth way up above the bacony. I don't have to deal with that anymore. |
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06-28-2013, 08:34 AM | #14 | |
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06-28-2013, 08:53 AM | #15 |
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Not sure what it's called, it's a made in china generic type thing. The Yaggi's are imports too.
I attach the 1 watt USB adapter to the laptop and connect to the wifi access point (existing) that runs DD-WRT. The yaggi's connect to the adapter and the router respectively and you get a rediculously powerful narrow beam that I use point to point. Generally, it is too powerful, you feel eye strain and get headaches when it is on and you are in it's path. I generally don't use it for a full show, more or less just to find my spot, and if wifi is that bad, I'll run an ethernet cable. |
06-28-2013, 09:05 AM | #16 | |
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I was almost going to try that on the iPad to replace its anemic little radio but 'everyone' on 'all the forums' says that none of them play nice with the iPad (ie. driver issues apparently). My secret weapon was making a 12' antenna mast from mic stand parts that collapses into the back of the rack. |
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06-28-2013, 09:08 AM | #17 |
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I do the same, but sometimes I put my router on the mbumps or front truss if it's a show I set up.
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06-28-2013, 09:24 AM | #18 | |
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06-28-2013, 10:50 AM | #19 |
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Wow!
I'm blown away by all this feedback. Thank you all so much for your input! It seems like I've got a bit of a learning curve ahead of me, but your comments are all very encouraging.
Unfortunately I have a very slim budget, so I'll be doing a lot of making due with what I have. The audio interfaces I plan to use are not really ideal for this setup. The FP10's don't have remote controllable pre's... So I'll need to keep my rack at FOH for the time being..... As much as I would love to ditch the snake.... I'm very much a novice when it comes to this stuff. You all seem far more knowledgeable on the subject than I could hope to be. Which is exactly what I was looking for; a nod of approval from someone who knows what their talking about. Now that I know this is a route that is worth taking, I am very excited to start using Reaper in a new way! Looking foreword to ditching my clunky old console! Thanks again for all of your wonderful feedback! |
06-28-2013, 10:53 AM | #20 |
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Just wondering, where were you when you saw someone mixing with Reaper?
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06-28-2013, 11:05 AM | #21 |
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Excellent thread.
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06-28-2013, 11:08 AM | #22 | |
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When I went upstairs to actually peep out his rig, he had quite a bit of other stuff there too. His board didn't look like any control surface I had ever seen. It was some sort of full blown digital mixer... Not sure if he was using it for his pre's.... Or if he was using it simply as a control surface, or if it was there as a backup system.... I wish I had had more time to pick his brain. |
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06-28-2013, 11:27 AM | #23 |
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I use a digital mixer as a control surface with Mr-1, and I don't have removable preamps either. I have to visit the mix rack or use clear comms and get someone else to do my bidding.
Last edited by Andy Hamm; 06-28-2013 at 12:56 PM. Reason: tablet thinks it knows better.... |
06-28-2013, 11:39 AM | #24 | |
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I'll just run up to the stage if needed. |
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06-28-2013, 12:58 PM | #25 | |
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Scott
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06-28-2013, 01:42 PM | #26 |
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I love this thread!
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06-30-2013, 06:28 AM | #27 |
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Out of curiosity, do any of you have any experience or thoughts on feedback suppression VST's?
I just did a quick Google and found surprisingly few options. |
06-30-2013, 08:43 AM | #28 |
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I wonder if anyone doing this remote DAW via an iphone can help me out?
I have an iPhone and have gotten the DAW Remote app I am on a win7-64 but system with reaper 64 bit I have gotten and installed rtpMIDI and it sees the iPhone on a wireless network I have set the reaper pref's to use those drivers [enabled for both midi and control] Now the problem is that the DAW Remote app only seems to offer Logic, ProTools and Abeleten [their misspelling, not mine hahaha] as the default DAW's to control... How do I set up DAW Remote app to 'see' reaper??? thanks for your help! PS: clearly I'm not doing FOH... but would like to have remote control of reaper via my iPhone just to be able to rec and such from another room.
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...should be fixed for the next build... http://tinyurl.com/cr7o7yl https://soundcloud.com/hopikiva Last edited by hopi; 06-30-2013 at 09:03 AM. |
06-30-2013, 09:35 AM | #29 |
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I haven't tried rtpMIDI yet. (I need to have R&D day again with some of this newer stuff.) I did try TouchOSC and it was an epic failure. It seems to need a perfect network and any interference causes it to lose data and just shuts it right down.
However, the remote desktop app iTeleport can also be installed on the iPhone. That's what I use on my iPad. This is nice because you have complete control of your entire computer with no restrictions and no new command sets or workflow to learn. |
06-30-2013, 09:44 AM | #30 | |
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But for just running reaper, I think that app is a bit difficult on the iPhone just because of the size difference between the phone and pc screen.... which is why I would like to use something like that DAW Remote app... I don't have another control interface like TouchOSC or any other... perhaps that is missing link... but I don't plan to get anything like that right now. I do wonder why DAW Remote only has those 3 default DAWs??? I'd expect more. I'd also expect some way to config other DAWs, such as reaper from right inside that app... but don't find that. I'd think they really should include reaper the steiny stuff at the least.
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...should be fixed for the next build... http://tinyurl.com/cr7o7yl https://soundcloud.com/hopikiva |
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06-30-2013, 10:21 AM | #31 | |
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Maybe the web interface is what you're looking for?
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06-30-2013, 10:50 AM | #32 |
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hi Andy... you mean to run iTeleport to control reaper from say a laptop? Ummm not really, I want to control it from the iPhone
for simple things really... such as to be in the next room while reaper runs in the studio.. and to have a mic in that next room and to pick a track and start and stop recording... simple stuff.
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...should be fixed for the next build... http://tinyurl.com/cr7o7yl https://soundcloud.com/hopikiva |
06-30-2013, 10:55 AM | #33 |
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Wow, someone really needs to develop a flexible tool to remote control Reaper via various means.
I want badly to be able to give my band-mates either an app or a simple, inexpensive hardware controller so they can adjust the send levels to their own headphone mix. |
06-30-2013, 11:06 AM | #34 | |
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Wish it was available for Mac. I may have to write one, heh. Scott
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06-30-2013, 11:56 AM | #35 | |
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MIDI controllers and control surfaces can be made wireless with off the shelf wi-fi products like the WiRanger. Lots of options here. The remote desktop approach works right out of the box too. There are quirks to work around (obviously the screens are different sizes) but for simple things like hitting record it doesn't get much more convenient. The TouchOSC protocol looks like a great addition to all this and probably will be in a short time. It's just not quite ready for prime time right out of the box yet. Just the MIDI stuff you can do right now is pretty great though. I can have my fingers right on physical knobs to work a (virtual) tape delay units speed and feedback while I walk around anywhere in a venue. I'm really not sure what else to even ask for. |
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06-30-2013, 12:15 PM | #36 | |
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There is a link to it in my first response in this thread. |
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06-30-2013, 12:20 PM | #37 | |
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Agreed regarding remote desktop. I am a network engineer so I spend my entire working life in remote sessions and frequently don't even know where on the planet the machine I am controlling is. But my drummer doesn't even have a smartphone or an internet connection so I'm not about to ask him to RDP to reaper and add a little more "me" to his headphone mix. I really want to be able to give him (and everyone in the band) a simple USB controller with 8 buttons, knobs and faders mapped to specific sends that are uniquely identified so I can go nuts in Reaper and his controls are still locked in on his sends. |
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06-30-2013, 12:24 PM | #38 |
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Something like this
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06-30-2013, 12:41 PM | #39 |
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Plug that into an Icron WiRanger (USB over wi-fi radio) and assign the faders and knobs to whatever controls in Reaper you want.
There might be other good USB wireless devices available now too. I haven't checked in 3 years. And yes, you have to design your Reaper mixer and then not shuffle around the track order during use in order to use this stuff right now. Oh well... Then there's the TouchOSC approach. You would need to design your own templates so there will be a bit of a learning curve. I'm going to revisit this at some point. I've thought of picking up some iPod Touch thingies used and making them dedicated monitor controllers (IEM's only!!!!!!!!!!) specific for each monitor channel. |
06-30-2013, 12:53 PM | #40 | |
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My understanding is that sends are not midi controllable in Reaper. I would love to be corrected. Here is a thread I started on the topic just last week. |
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