Reaper, ProTools, and sound design for films

[AccipeHoc]

Long time reader, first time poster.

Hi Reaper community!

I've been using Reaper (on Mac) for the past few years doing podcast work, live audio, and composition work. I've recently branched out into film work, and I've landed my first small-scale project under an experienced mentor. My mentor has repeatedly counseled me to bite the bullet and get into ProTools.

In short: what's the status of Reaper as a tool for sound design? Specifically, can I reliably round-trip from ProTools or from video editing software to Reaper? Are there industry folks out there who can recommend Reaper for film sound design?


As I understand it, the industry uses ProTools, and I've been told that any sound designer needs to be able to deliver and receive projects to and from ProTools. I also have been handed an .omf file from the film editor, which I understand is archaic, and Reaper doesn't handle it.

For OMF and ProTools: I've also read that AATranslater can make OMF files usable by Reaper. It can also convert between ProTools and Reaper. The program costs $200, and runs on windows, which I understand I can use in wine.

An alternative to OMF: I've read that I can use Vordio to handle XML files, which I can request in place of OMFs. Vordio costs $60.


So, I've come up with these workarounds, but I'd like to hear from Reaper users to see if I should just bite the bullet and get ProTools, and/or if you folks have had any luck with AATranslator or Vordio.

Thanks for reading!

[Runaway]

I'm sure you will get plenty of other replies but I'll throw this in for consideration...

Yes, AATranslator will cost you $199 but in 9 years we haven't charged for a single update - not even Reaper can make that claim ;-)
No, you don't need ProTools (well not if you have AATranslator) as AAT can read and write a ProTools PTF or PTX session file.
AAT can read and write pretty much all variants of both OMF and AAF, however, where possible you should read directly from source PT sessions as you will get all the detail available - almost none of which is contained in either an OMF or AAF.
Yes, you can request XML files (AAT reads and writes all the usual suspects) but good luck requesting an XML from ProTools as not all DAWs support this format.

As to AAT being a PC application and running under Wine on a Mac you shouldn't have any problems - in fact I received this comment (which is not unusual) from an Ableton Live user running AAT on a Mac just 7 days ago - "Love this software.. so glad i jumped on purchasing it!! It's been a huge missing link for me".

However, only you can decide what solution (or solutions) best suits your needs and your budget.

BTW: Send me your OMF and I will convert it to Reaper for you - save you having to make any rush decisions ;-)

[X-Raym]

A lot of video games company switched from ProTools to REAPER, including AAA (at least for some part of their workflow, which is often pretty secret, so we don't know all the details).


Among these triple AAA, from those who let some infos be shared publicly, I can think of

Ubisoft,
Electronic Arts,
Blizzard,
...



And there is a lot of other video games company (maybe ask on twitter as well #gameaudio :P)



So REAPER for industry Sound Design is 100% good !


Keep your dollars for fancy plugins, or converters like AAT/Vordio (depending on your workflow) ;P

[AccipeHoc]

Thanks for the replies so far, and thanks for the links X-Raym. I'll check them out in the coming days.

Runaway- thanks so much for your attention, and for the conversion offer on this project. I'll ask for an omf (I had previously asked for an xml file), and send it your way to try this whole workflow out.

I've been perusing your conversion guide, and so far it looks like I'll have a fine time between Reaper and ProTools.