2 Questions from a Noob…

[gtomassetti]

Hi, folks:

Brand-new to the REAPER world (just purchased my license, in fact). I downloaded the demo yesterday, and after putzing around with it for about 15 minutes, I said, "I'm buyin' it!"

Anyway, not having had time (yet) to RTFM, I have 2 quick questions:

1) In PT and Logic, you can view your plugins by type and brand-name. This is extremely convenient, and I was wondering if REAPER allows you to do this?

2) In PT, once a MIDI or instrument track is done to my satisfaction, I create an audio track out of it by assigning its output to a bus and creating a new audio track whose input is that bus. That way, I can get rid of the MIDI track, or at least deactivate it. I got into the habit of doing this to save CPU power, and it's really no longer an issue. But, I assume that I can do this in REAPER as well?

Thanks much,

Gary

[FrankT]

Originally Posted by gtomassetti

Hi, folks:

Brand-new to the REAPER world (just purchased my license, in fact). I downloaded the demo yesterday, and after putzing around with it for about 15 minutes, I said, "I'm buyin' it!"

Anyway, not having had time (yet) to RTFM, I have 2 quick questions:

1) In PT and Logic, you can view your plugins by type and brand-name. This is extremely convenient, and I was wondering if REAPER allows you to do this?

2) In PT, once a MIDI or instrument track is done to my satisfaction, I create an audio track out of it by assigning its output to a bus and creating a new audio track whose input is that bus. That way, I can get rid of the MIDI track, or at least deactivate it. I got into the habit of doing this to save CPU power, and it's really no longer an issue. But, I assume that I can do this in REAPER as well?

Thanks much,

Gary

1. I think it does what you are after - when you open the FX browser, it lists VST, VSTi, DX etc - they are sorted alphabetically I think after that.

2. Yes - there's a couple of ways to do it (I do it all the time when I'm messing around creating drones.) There's an option to render the track to a stem and mute the original and a few other ways which I can't remember offhand

[gtomassetti]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm a little confused about the second item. I recorded a quick MIDI track using Kontakt 4 (VSTi). No problems. I set up a send to track 2, and have track 2 set to receive from the Kontakt 4 track. Still no problems.

If I simply hit Play, the output from the MIDI track goes into track 2. I can hear it, and I see the meters jumping on track 2.

But when I arm track 2 and record, whether using my FaderPort or the transport controls in REAPER, nothing goes into track 2. The meters don't move, and although I'm prompted to save the resulting .WAV file, there's nothing there on the track.

I'm probably missing something really silly.

Any advice?

Also, is there an option anywhere for the recorded audio to be saved as .AIFF rather than .WAV?

Thanks,

Gary

[FrankT]

I don't have Kontakt but what I do is create a track with some midi on it and a VSTi to play it then just render the track to a stem. I expect someone with some Kontakt knowledge will be along to answer that bit though.
For recording to AIFF, I think you'd have to do that from the main render menu under file -> Render

[gtomassetti]

Thanks again, Frank. That was it. I figured it was something ridiculously easy. The AIFF thing was pretty easy, too. It's just that Pro Tools does things in one menu, and Logic in another, and now REAPER in yet another.

Ah, a new learning curve…

[Jeronimo]

Just "Apply FX to track" I think that's how it is called. Just right click on the MIDI region and look for tbis option.

Regarding plugins sorting: just create new "folders" the way you want, and start sorting it manually.

[mrelwood]

To change the recording format, hit Opt+Enter to edit project settings.

I'm order to record what the track outputs from sends or folder tracks, right-click the channel's "ar"-button and select "record output". By default the channels will record from hardware inputs.

Right-clicking an item and selecting "Apply track FX to new takes" is what I use, and then put the FX offline (bypass). Just pay attention to fades and item levels, since they are not necessarily applied in a intuitious manner. Some people use stem tracks, but it didn't seem natural to me.

The plugins have to be organised to folders by yourself. Right-click in the plugin menu to create a new folder. Note that the folders' can't be reordered afterwards.

[gtomassetti]

Thanks for the info. I'm messing around a little with the sample sessions that go along with the documentation, and that's very helpful as well.

One thing that is really nice about REAPER is that literally within minutes of downloading the software I was recording audio and MIDI tracks with no issues at all.

Now it's a question of learning how to edit those tracks, and all the little tricks that enable you to make a good recording…