E.J. Music REAPER Themes - Magic Clover / Magic Clover Dark / Neo / Neo Classic

[E.J. Music]

Hi REAPER community,

I've made some themes but never made a forum thread for them until now. Maybe some of you already know the Magic Clover themes but I've just made a new one called Neo.



Here are the links to all of them:

MAGIC CLOVER -> https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2725/M...ReaperThemeZip

MAGIC CLOVER DARK -> https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2761/M...ReaperThemeZip

NEO -> https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2929/Neo_Reaper_Theme

NEO CLASSIC -> https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/3042/N...c_REAPER_Theme


Description and screenshots can be found inside those links. I've spent countless hours on making them. Hope these themes can be useful to you. Cheers!!

[Vagelis]

Neo has some unique TCP design, like how it looks and love how it collapses.
Especially with the volume control that's visible at minimum track height and also the fx list which looks soooo nice, thanks a lot!

[Lannister]

Love the Neo theme!



Would it be possible to add options to adjust the Folder Indent in the TCP and MCP, or they easy to change manually?

[lionartiste]

Hello,

Incredible work, I find the Neo theme beautiful and clever !

I however have a really problematic problem with it... No track names are displayed in the TCP ^^' (see screenshot). When I click on the name to rename the track, I can see it, but otherwise it is not displayed.

I don't know if I'm the only one, but I hope this will be corrected soon, I could easily make this my new main theme !

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by Vagelis

Neo has some unique TCP design, like how it looks and love how it collapses.
Especially with the volume control that's visible at minimum track height and also the fx list which looks soooo nice, thanks a lot!

Vagelis

Thanks for your kind comment. I'm glad you liked it!!

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by Lannister

Love the Neo theme!



Would it be possible to add options to adjust the Folder Indent in the TCP and MCP, or they easy to change manually?

Lannister


Thanks! Unfortunately, adding an option to control the folder indentation is beyond my current skills, sorry

But what would you like to change about it?


Edit: Recent update lets you control folder indentation alignment (Theme Adjuster option number 3)

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by lionartiste

Hello,

Incredible work, I find the Neo theme beautiful and clever !

I however have a really problematic problem with it... No track names are displayed in the TCP ^^' (see screenshot). When I click on the name to rename the track, I can see it, but otherwise it is not displayed.

I don't know if I'm the only one, but I hope this will be corrected soon, I could easily make this my new main theme !

lionartiste

I'm glad you liked Neo! And thanks for reporting this weird bug. I think I know why it happened to you. It has something to do with your high resolution screen probably. I just updated the Neo theme: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2929/Neo_REAPER_Theme
Can you please download it again and test if the problem is gone?

[ernzo]

It happened on my 1366x768 too, but it's Fixed now.. (y)

Nice one!

[Reflected]

Neo is super cool!

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by ernzo

It happened on my 1366x768 too, but it's Fixed now.. (y)

Nice one!

Great! Thanks for confirming

Originally Posted by Reflected

Neo is super cool!

[Pink Wool]

Interesting ideas on Neo! Great job!

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by Pink Wool

Interesting ideas on Neo! Great job!

Pink Wool

Thank you!! yeah I went a little crazy on Neo lol. The main idea was to have all controls at the same position, no matter the size or how stretched the tracks were. I also wanted to be able to change the horizontal size of MCP tracks freely (like we can do vertically with TCP). With all that also came the idea of having bigger buttons the bigger the track gets. It was hard but I think it worked well in the end

[E.J. Music]

Small update on Neo is available: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2929/Neo_REAPER_Theme

-> fixed wrong meter position in Master TCP (was not well aligned)
-> fixed a TCP meter problem (they were turning to horizontal position in minimum track height, but now they'll stay always vertical)

[tonalstates]

Thanks for making this thread! your themes definitely deserve it.

I asked before in stash if it was possible to add another track layout with a big meter (full track meter maybe) for Magic clover so I'm just answering here to say thanks for considering it[*] I tried Neo and it's actually very nice but I have MC so ingrained now into my soul I find it still hard to adjust to Neo (not that it's a bad theme, not at all) but I definitely see where it could be very useful so thanks for that too!

If I may, an opinion for Neo actually, now that I'm here and all. e.g. I find it very easy to see and read the route button in Magic Clover, those blue and pink spots tell me whats up in an instant, maybe you could add some color accents to the route button in Neo too? I see you're doing a position based label with the three dots, and it's actually very nice but adding a bit of color would help a ton. To read faster whats happening there, specially on smaller screens. That's it.

Either way thanks for your awesome stuff.



*(because it's way easier to keep track here in the forum rather than stash)

[bladerunner]

Interesting to see how you have your master set up. It's exactly the same as what I do. VU, spectrum, oscilloscope and goniometer. All hacked/modified JS effects to suit my needs. Great work on these themes.

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by tonalstates

Thanks for making this thread! your themes definitely deserve it.

I asked before in stash if it was possible to add another track layout with a big meter (full track meter maybe) for Magic clover so I'm just answering here to say thanks for considering it[*] I tried Neo and it's actually very nice but I have MC so ingrained now into my soul I find it still hard to adjust to Neo (not that it's a bad theme, not at all) but I definitely see where it could be very useful so thanks for that too!

If I may, an opinion for Neo actually, now that I'm here and all. e.g. I find it very easy to see and read the route button in Magic Clover, those blue and pink spots tell me whats up in an instant, maybe you could add some color accents to the route button in Neo too? I see you're doing a position based label with the three dots, and it's actually very nice but adding a bit of color would help a ton. To read faster whats happening there, specially on smaller screens. That's it.

Either way thanks for your awesome stuff.



*(because it's way easier to keep track here in the forum rather than stash)

Hey nice to see you here tonalstates! I wanted to make a cool meter layout for MC but I did not have much time to work on it.
Anyways.. I did something really fast yesterday. Maybe it can be useful.
Also took your suggestion about coloring Neo route button and I liked the result. Thanks for your feedback!

Originally Posted by bladerunner

Interesting to see how you have your master set up. It's exactly the same as what I do. VU, spectrum, oscilloscope and goniometer. All hacked/modified JS effects to suit my needs. Great work on these themes.

Thanks bladerunner! Interesting indeed, those JS effects are super useful in my workflow. It's great how REAPER allows us to shape things to our needs.

[E.J. Music]

Updates available:

Magic Clover - https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2725/M...ReaperThemeZip & Magic Clover Dark - https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2761/M...ReaperThemeZip
-> added 2 new TCP layouts: "Full Track Meter" and "Meter First"

Neo - https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2929/Neo_Reaper_Theme
-> added a touch of color to the TCP/MCP route button (to be easier to identify if a track has sends/receives)
-> lighter color for general 0dB indicator lines (for routing window faders, media explorer fader etc)
-> changed appearance of the fully compacted folder state button
-> fixed a TCP bug about meter values not showing up correctly

[tonalstates]

YES! 🤩🤩🤩 Thank you soooo much, both additions to MC and Neo are veeeeery appreciated! Great idea on the Meter first layout too, but both are nice. I'm not working atm but I'll definitely donate once I can in the next couple of weeks. Thank you very much man. Some of the best themes out there.

[Segue59]

Great Theme. Tried a few different JS effects on the Master Track but they are not
the same as the ones on your screen shot. Could you let me know which ones you used.
Or share them if you have modded ones.

Thanks

[E.J. Music]

Sorry for the late response guys. I must've missed the e-mail notification.

Originally Posted by tonalstates

YES! 🤩🤩🤩 Thank you soooo much, both additions to MC and Neo are veeeeery appreciated! Great idea on the Meter first layout too, but both are nice. I'm not working atm but I'll definitely donate once I can in the next couple of weeks. Thank you very much man. Some of the best themes out there.

That's great to hear man, glad you liked the meters and I'm truly thankful for your support it means a lot!

Originally Posted by Segue59

Great Theme. Tried a few different JS effects on the Master Track but they are not
the same as the ones on your screen shot. Could you let me know which ones you used.
Or share them if you have modded ones.

Thanks

Thanks! Sure I'll figure out how to do it and try to attach the effects in the next post. I've modded the colors and the embedded size of them.

[E.J. Music]

Ok hope I got that right, you'll need to unzip the attached file inside your REAPER resource path \ Effects folder, scan for new plugins or restart REAPER and the effects should show up in the browser



The embedded JS effects on my Master are:

Respectrum (Credits to Justin Johnson) - super light on cpu and great for spoting frequencies using the mouse over it (unfortunately the shift+click hold does not work, it was suposed to solo the frequencies but instead it mutes the sound)

Goniometer (Credits to LOSER) - a visual reference to know how wide the sound is (mono stereo mid sides) and the phase correlation (the little line at bottom)

Oscilloscope (Credits to Cockos) - great to preview the wave form sum of one or all tracks, check crest factor, find those hard to catch fast transients

Simple VU meter (Credits to chris-s) - not much to say besides it's a great little precise vu meter! I usually mix at calibration of -18, and master at -8

[E.J. Music]

Updates (and a new theme) are available!


Magic Clover https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2725/M...ReaperThemeZip
and
Magic Clover Dark: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2761/M...ReaperThemeZip

-> adapted themes to REAPER 7 stuff (fixed lanes, GR meter, etc.)
-> added a custom buttom (Reaper 7 only) "=" in TCP for selected tracks. It toggles fixed lanes on/off
-> added a custom buttom (Reaper 7 only) "+" to add lanes when fixed lanes are on and track is selected
-> added new toolbar icons for the new marquee and razor functions


Neo: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2929/Neo_REAPER_Theme

-> adapted theme to REAPER 7 stuff (fixed lanes, GR meter, etc.)
-> added a custom buttom (Reaper 7 only) "=" in TCP for selected tracks. It toggles fixed lanes on/off
-> added a custom buttom (Reaper 7 only) "+" to add lanes when fixed lanes are on and track is selected
-> added new toolbar icons for the new marquee and razor functions
-> fixed misplaced MCP vol/pan/wid knobs when using theme adjuster options 6 and 7 (MCP general and selected track size) at small values
-> fixed a TCP label margin bug where part of track name could be cut off when both track name and rec input name were active
-> added a slightly darker background to the names of selected envelopes
-> added a down arrow next to the envelopes names (to make it more obvious that the names are clickable drop-down menus)
-> changed the "Hide/Clear" envelope button from a down arrow to an X


New theme: Neo Classic -> https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/3042/N...c_REAPER_Theme

As someone who comes back from Windows 95, 98, and those "lovely" hard edged square gray designs, I don't know, I was kinda missing it lol. So I tried to make a theme in that style but soon gave up on it. Seemed like it wasn't worth it. But time goes on, and little by little, I could finally finish it. This Neo Classic theme follows the same ideas as the Neo theme, but I made it bigger and redesigned the whole thing. Here is the result, maybe someone will like it like I do!

Some important points: I didn't include separators in this one because REAPER 7 has them natively.
Also, it won't have MCP width adjustment within the theme adjuster, but I made a bunch of cool layouts to cover that up.
It is made using some new REAPER 7 functions, so it will fully work only in REAPER 7 (but may work on older versions as well; I tried my best to make it backwards compatible).

Have fun and happy mixing!

[contactswimin]

Nice theme! I love that I can see my sends on the track. Neat!

[sguyader]

I really like Neo! I mean, really, it' almost exactly what I was hoping in terms of compactness and twekability! Thanks a lot!

[MartinTL]

I really like the retro Neo_Classic, such a great idea and it works very well both aesthetically and functionally! I have a few comments if you are open for suggestions

1. When sends are visible in TCP, the "plus" (for adding more sends) overlaps with the "add parameter"-dial. So if I press the plus-symbol, I can only add embed parameters, not add new sends (only doable from MCP).

2. When I select a media item, a border is drawn around the clip (inside the clip container). Can I turn this off? It interferes with the waveform, the various buttons and the take name, and I feel like the color change when selecting an item is highlight enough?

3. The cursor is blinking all the time, it gets a bit tiring / annoying after a while. Can this also be turned off?

4. In MCP, I think the square for the track names are too tall (especially when working on a laptop). The master track name square is lower / a rectangular, maybe the track name boxes could have the same height?

5. The time signature/tempo text in the timeline is hard to see on the current background, maybe use a more contrasty text color?

6. In both TCP and MCP, I feel like the Arm-button-rectangle, the folder-rectangle, the monitoring-rectangle and the input-rectangle take up too much space. I have hidden everything except the arm- and folder-buttons, and I still think the symbols could be integrated in a smaller space.

Again, a really cool theme - hope you will consider some of these changes

Kind regards,
Martin


EDIT: on my large monitor (2560x1440), the track names are hidden in most MCP layout options (only visible when "small" is selected).

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by contactswimin

Nice theme! I love that I can see my sends on the track. Neat!

Originally Posted by sguyader

I really like Neo! I mean, really, it' almost exactly what I was hoping in terms of compactness and twekability! Thanks a lot!

I'm glad you like the themes guys, thanks a lot for chiming in!

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by MartinTL

I really like the retro Neo_Classic, such a great idea and it works very well both aesthetically and functionally! I have a few comments if you are open for suggestions

1. When sends are visible in TCP, the "plus" (for adding more sends) overlaps with the "add parameter"-dial. So if I press the plus-symbol, I can only add embed parameters, not add new sends (only doable from MCP).

2. When I select a media item, a border is drawn around the clip (inside the clip container). Can I turn this off? It interferes with the waveform, the various buttons and the take name, and I feel like the color change when selecting an item is highlight enough?

3. The cursor is blinking all the time, it gets a bit tiring / annoying after a while. Can this also be turned off?

4. In MCP, I think the square for the track names are too tall (especially when working on a laptop). The master track name square is lower / a rectangular, maybe the track name boxes could have the same height?

5. The time signature/tempo text in the timeline is hard to see on the current background, maybe use a more contrasty text color?

6. In both TCP and MCP, I feel like the Arm-button-rectangle, the folder-rectangle, the monitoring-rectangle and the input-rectangle take up too much space. I have hidden everything except the arm- and folder-buttons, and I still think the symbols could be integrated in a smaller space.

Again, a really cool theme - hope you will consider some of these changes

Kind regards,
Martin


EDIT: on my large monitor (2560x1440), the track names are hidden in most MCP layout options (only visible when "small" is selected).

Hey MartinTL, thanks for your compliments and suggestions!

I'll respond to each one separately:

1- If I understood you correctly, you are using the option "show sends in TCP (when size permits)" from the Reaper menu? You can do that, but the sends will get mixed with the FX and FX parameters, even if "Show FX inserts in TCP" is OFF. So if you need a list for the sends alone, you'll need to turn OFF the "show sends in TCP (when size permits)", and activate the dedicated sends list using the Theme Adjuster (at Options - Themes - Theme Adjuster / Color Controls - Neo_Classic tab) look for number 2.TCP Dedicated sends list.

2. This cannot be turned off, but you made a good point, the color change is enough to show item selection. The border is not needed. I'll change this for the next update!

3. This one is easier to change: go to the action list and search for "Theme development: Show theme tweak/configuration window". In the filter search box, type "cursor". You'll see "Edit cursor" and "Edit cursor (alternate)." Make them the same color and the blinking will stop.

4. and 6. are related: When the recording controls are hidden, the labels get even taller because I wanted to keep everything aligned and neat. Those were some asthetic decisions, also, because I wanted everything big, easy to reach, easy to click, easy to see. But yeah, maybe I exaggerated a bit lol. I'll see if it's possible to make these things smaller for the next update.

5. Sure! Actually I totally forgot about those time signature changes in timeline lol. Great catch! I'll make the text more visible for the next update, but you can do it right now if you want, at that same "Theme development: Show theme tweak/configuration window", search for time signature lane text and change to whatever you like

P.S.: I'll fix the MPC label issue on big screens as well. Thanks again for your contribution!

[MartinTL]

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

1- If I understood you correctly, you are using the option "show sends in TCP (when size permits)" from the Reaper menu? You can do that, but the sends will get mixed with the FX and FX parameters, even if "Show FX inserts in TCP" is OFF. So if you need a list for the sends alone, you'll need to turn OFF the "show sends in TCP (when size permits)", and activate the dedicated sends list using the Theme Adjuster (at Options - Themes - Theme Adjuster / Color Controls - Neo_Classic tab) look for number 2.TCP Dedicated sends list.

Yes, it works in the dedicated sends list - was just wondering if it could work when inserts and sends are mixed in one list. Not a big deal!

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

2. This cannot be turned off, but you made a good point, the color change is enough to show item selection. The border is not needed. I'll change this for the next update!

Fantastic, thank you!

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

3. This one is easier to change: go to the action list and search for "Theme development: Show theme tweak/configuration window". In the filter search box, type "cursor". You'll see "Edit cursor" and "Edit cursor (alternate)." Make them the same color and the blinking will stop.

Didn't know this was a thing - thanks for the explanation!

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

4. and 6. are related: When the recording controls are hidden, the labels get even taller because I wanted to keep everything aligned and neat. Those were some asthetic decisions, also, because I wanted everything big, easy to reach, easy to click, easy to see. But yeah, maybe I exaggerated a bit lol. I'll see if it's possible to make these things smaller for the next update.

I understand, I kind of like it how it is too. But I have to expand my mixer quite a bit to get a nice meter-size and to see inserts and sends, so it would be nice to get it a bit more compact. Maybe the arm-button, monitor-button, folder-button could be next to each other instead of being in separate spaces.

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

5. Sure! Actually I totally forgot about those time signature changes in timeline lol. Great catch! I'll make the text more visible for the next update, but you can do it right now if you want, at that same "Theme development: Show theme tweak/configuration window", search for time signature lane text and change to whatever you like

Great, thank you! The highlight when selecting the time signature (light red/pink) looks great though.

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

P.S.: I'll fix the MPC label issue on big screens as well. Thanks again for your contribution!

Awesome! Happy to contribute.

PS: Have you considered changing to the "classic" green-orange-red color palette for the meters? I think the meter colors look good now, but I do miss the classic green VU color at lower levels. Just a thought!

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by MartinTL

Yes, it works in the dedicated sends list - was just wondering if it could work when inserts and sends are mixed in one list. Not a big deal!

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that, but you can still drag and drop on another track to create a send, just like the routing button.

Originally Posted by MartinTL

I understand, I kind of like it how it is too. But I have to expand my mixer quite a bit to get a nice meter-size and to see inserts and sends, so it would be nice to get it a bit more compact. Maybe the arm-button, monitor-button, folder-button could be next to each other instead of being in separate spaces.

Maybe it will work if I put them next to each other. I'll try that later!
Meanwhile, for the mixer, you could use the layouts that say "SideMeter". These layouts put faders and meters side by side, so you can have bigger meters and faders in less space.

Originally Posted by MartinTL

PS: Have you considered changing to the "classic" green-orange-red color palette for the meters? I think the meter colors look good now, but I do miss the classic green VU color at lower levels. Just a thought!

Yes! But, for my taste, it did not look as good. Anyways, you can try that yourself using that same "Theme development: Show theme tweak/configuration window" from the action list. Run the action and search for "VU" in the filter box. "VU meter top", "VU meter middle", and "VU meter bottom" are responsible for the meter colors.

[MartinTL]

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

Maybe it will work if I put them next to each other. I'll try that later! Meanwhile, for the mixer, you could use the layouts that say "SideMeter". These layouts put faders and meters side by side, so you can have bigger meters and faders in less space.

SideMeter is great, I use it now - but even here a but more vertical space would be awesome

Here is how I have it configured by the way (feels like I'm working on my old Windows computer, so nice and nostalgic!):

Originally Posted by E.J. Music

Yes! But, for my taste, it did not look as good. Anyways, you can try that yourself using that same "Theme development: Show theme tweak/configuration window" from the action list. Run the action and search for "VU" in the filter box. "VU meter top", "VU meter middle", and "VU meter bottom" are responsible for the meter colors.

Ah, yes! One of the first themes where I can override the VU meter colors from the tweak menu (thank you!)

[E.J. Music]

Originally Posted by MartinTL

Here is how I have it configured by the way (feels like I'm working on my old Windows computer, so nice and nostalgic!)

Niiiice. Looking good! I need a bigger screen lol. But I see that the volume label is not visible in the mixer tracks. And the fonts are different, did you change them? Hmmm. It seems Mac doesn't recognize the Arial black font I chose. Oh well.. I'll try to fix the volume label problem as well. Your screenshot helped a lot, thanks!

Originally Posted by MartinTL

Ah, yes! One of the first themes where I can override the VU meter colors from the tweak menu (thank you!)

\o/

[E.J. Music]

Updates available

NEO: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/2929/Neo_REAPER_Theme

-> fixed a bug where TCP MASTER track name could not show up on bigger resolution screens


NEO CLASSIC: https://stash.reaper.fm/theme/3042/N...c_REAPER_Theme

IMPORTANT: REAPER 7 is required for this theme to work properly from now on (because I stopped using the volume.label hack and started using the new custom controls/images in its place).

-> changed Theme Adjuster option 3 from "TCP Labels alignment (Left/Center/Right)" to "TCP Fixed lanes controls (Off/Selected track/All)"

-> fixed MPC track names not showing up on bigger screens

-> fixed MCP volume labels not showing up on bigger screens

-> fixed time signature changes being unreadable in timeline

-> removed inner border from selected items

-> MCP default MASTER layout: increased the meter width a bit

-> Recording controls now use about 20 pixels less space on screen allowing for bigger meters in MCP and bigger track names in TCP

[Lunar Ladder]

Just wanted to mention, I found your themes recently, and Neo is now my default everywhere, both in Windows and Linux - tweaked a bit for my needs, but anyway, this is so so good both stylistically and functionally, from my point of view it's the best Reaper theme ever created. I don't lightly switch the theme I use, I've done so only twice in the last decade. This one is so good, now was switching time. Thank you.