To keep newbies from yelling FAQ!
Hi folks and welcome to Reaper and this fine forum and community.
This thread is intended to be a
stump remover. It is my hope that folks will post things that threw them for a loop. Thus may it become a resource for the new user.
Here is a start:
Reaper's take on Tracks:
Looping, loopy loops...
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Loop Selection: a portion of the time-line that will be played over and over and over, so long as
Repeat is enabled on the transport bar.
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Loop Item indent: Shows where an Item (audio of midi) loops - that is where it's source loops.
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Time-Selection: A segment of time in the arrange window that can be actioned. Any selected item within the Time-Selection will receive the edits.
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Region: a portion of the project that a user sections off. Many nifty region edits are available.
Plugins vs. VSTs
you will notice in your reaper directory the following folder (red arrow and box):
this is not where you should store your VST FX and instruments. This is where you should add things like Xenakios' ReaBase extension plug-in.
the red Square in the folder tree is my VSTplugins folder. In that I have a folder for FX and one for instruments.
once you have setup a folder for your VSTs (instruments and FX) then you need to open preferences and tell Reaper where you've put them:
Now if you don't want the default Steinberg VSTplugins path to pop up every time you want to install a new VST, then follow this link for a little application that will let you change and set your default VST folder:
http://asseca.com/setVSTpath/index.html
Virtual Instruments:
Once you have your VST Plugin folders properly configured, you may want to play a Virtual Instrument. Reaper does not store VSTis in a different location than all other VST effects. You can add the to any FX chain by clicking the FX button and plucking them from the list.
Or, you can right-click below the TCP and select
Insert Virtual Instrument on New Track. I always do this the first time I use any virtual instrument. I then tweak the configuration and save it as a track template.
If you use the
Insert Virtual Instrument on New Track command, the the resulting VSTi Track will be ready to rock.
If you add an instrument to an already existing track then you will need to manually configures some things:
MP3 support:
If you would like the ability to export to .mp3 then you need to download the lame.dll and store it in your reaper installation folder.
here are some links as of August 12.2008. Be sure to read the license agreements to ensure that you can legally download from these links - check for legality and patent claims in your country.
Or just google Lame.dll it really only takes about 2 minutes to be up and running.
http://www.free-codecs.com/Lame_Encoder_download.htm
more info and links:
http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php
Selecting stuff
- Point at and left-click on items to select them one at a time.
- [Ctrl]+Left click to toggle the selection status of the clicked on item (add to or subtract target item from current selection.
- [Shift]+Left click to add adjacent items to the selection
- double click on the track control panel to select all item on any given track
- right-click+drag = Marquee selection (make a box and select everything inside it.
- [Alt]+right-click+drag = Marquee and Time selection (make a box and a time selection and select only those items touched by the box)
- Toggle Marquee selection (make a box and toggle the selection status of touched items): right-click+drag... but before letting go of the right mouse button, add [Ctrl] - takes timing
- there are many ways to select using key-commands
Discussion/acknowledgement please here:
http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=98184