Show us your DAW!

Freebird

DAW: Reaper

Features:
1 Mix Bus with VU meter
8 Group Bus with VU meters
Multiple Aux FX send

Musicwolf

A couple of nights ago I upgraded from Cubase Pro 8.5 to 10 (there's an anniversary offer on at the moment).

My god, it's dark.  It puts me in mind of Hotblack Desiato's ship -  'Every time you try and operate these weird black controls that are labeled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up in black to let you know you’ve done it.’  I do like the new features though.

I'm going to build some new templates to improve my 'workflow' (or, to put it another way, give me fewer excuses to avoid making music).

gibsongretschfan

Freebird said:

DAW: Reaper

Features:
1 Mix Bus with VU meter
8 Group Bus with VU meters
Easy duplication of existing tracks to extend project
Multiple AUX FX send

https://i.imgur.com/EQjkTa5.png
https://i.imgur.com/pEo18LM.png

thats a bit sexy

gibsongretschfan

Musicwolf said:

A couple of nights ago I upgraded from Cubase Pro 8.5 to 10 (there's an anniversary offer on at the moment).

My god, it's dark.  It puts me in mind of Hotblack Desiato's ship -  'Every time you try and operate these weird black controls that are labeled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up in black to let you know you’ve done it.’  I do like the new features though.

I'm going to build some new templates to improve my 'workflow' (or, to put it another way, give me fewer excuses to avoid making music).

I think it was like Cubase 5 that was basically light blue and grey, that its the way I wish all dawsnlooked like, I even had a skin for reaper for it. logic is so freakin dark

Freebird

Musicwolf said:

I'm going to build some new templates to improve my 'workflow' (or, to put it another way, give me fewer excuses to avoid making music).

I find a dedicated Mix Bus helps a lot for metering, global FX, and controlling the levels going into the Master Bus. My overall sound is a lot better with little or no effort.

I have 8 Group Busses for historical reasons, so that you can ride the hardware faders during mixdown 

Freebird

gibsongretschfan said:
Thats a bit sexy

Template available if you want it  

spark240

Studio One...not the best shots but all I have to hand...

PolarityMan

Created this just a couple of days ago

https://i.imgur.com/FRGktVI.png

This is my writing template where the DI's are routed into a separate set of buses for each band memebr so we can all use our own plugs in the same project. Alex's has some extra magic.

Freebird

I am still experimenting with the 'Mix Bus', but I am going to rename it the Submaster bus, as I think that is a more correct term for it. Searching around the internet, I have come across a few more possible uses, so it looks like it may be here to stay.

I'm also looking at a iCon Platform M+ to sub mix instruments, and ride the Group busses during mixdown. Has anybody had any experience using one of these, or any other possible alternatives?

PolarityMan

Freebird said:

DAW: Reaper

Features:
1 Mix Bus with VU meter
8 Group Bus with VU meters
Multiple Aux FX send

https://i.imgur.com/EQjkTa5.png
https://i.imgur.com/pEo18LM.png

Why is your mix bus mono?

Freebird

PolarityMan said

Why is your mix bus mono?

It shouldn't be, but I will check it later  If you are referring to the 'M' and 'S' they are Mute and Solo buttons. I use the Mono button on the Master Bus if I want to check the mono signal.

It's a new template which I am still tweaking, and I'm also doing variations with drum software going to individual channels for finer adjustment.

I find this setup useful for adding Nebula console programs too, as I have great control of the volume levels as they pass through the system.

Funkfingers

I use Apple Logic Pro X. Apart from my choices of Region colours, it looks like every other copy of Logic. 

PolarityMan

Freebird said:

PolarityMan said

Why is your mix bus mono?

It shouldn't be, but I will check it later  If you are referring to the 'M' and 'S' they are Mute and Solo buttons. I use the Mono button on the Master Bus if I want to check the mono signal.

It's a new template which I am still tweaking, and I'm also doing variations with drum software going to individual channels for finer adjustment.

I find this setup useful for adding Nebula console programs too, as I have great control of the volume levels as they pass through the system.

I meant the peaks are only showing one channel..might be a reaper oddity when the only audio is from mono child tracks I suppose since you only have one track in there right now. I wasnt actually aware of the track manager...that has just made it into my setup.

What skin are you using btw?

Freebird

Here is some work from the guy who is designing the new GUI for the Reaper 6.  Unfortunately this old theme has been left in limbo due to time constraints, but it's still quite impressive if somewhat extravagant.

https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=183627

For my tastes, I like visual clues showing which tracks are doing what. I'm not a huge fan of rows of identical faders, so after adopting a Group Bus philosophy the use of identifying colours was a natural choice.

Jonathanthomas83

This probably isn't the way it should be done, but I'm really happy with the theme and the hi-res visibilty of the text, which I struggled with for a long time before finding a solution.

Need to get my head around all this talk about busses, double deckers and cars etc now ;-)

Jonathanthomas83

Freebird said:

Here is some work from the guy who is designing the new GUI for the Reaper 6.  Unfortunately this old theme has been left in limbo due to time constraints, but it's still quite impressive if somewhat extravagant.

https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=183627

For my tastes, I like visual clues showing which tracks are doing what. I'm not a huge fan of rows of identical faders, so after adopting a Group Bus philosophy the use of identifying colours was a natural choice.

Sincerely hope none of them are the default - I really dislike the overproduction of them if I'm being honest. Good job we can apply our own choice of themes because I'm finally happy with mine now.

That said, I need to employ some of the good practices you've got in yours :-)

PolarityMan

Freebird said:

Here is some work from the guy who is designing the new GUI for the Reaper 6.  Unfortunately this old theme has been left in limbo due to time constraints, but it's still quite impressive if somewhat extravagant.

https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=183627

For my tastes, I like visual clues showing which tracks are doing what. I'm not a huge fan of rows of identical faders, so after adopting a Group Bus philosophy the use of identifying colours was a natural choice.

Yeah I have my tracks auto colour code based on their names, think its an SWS extension

Freebird

PolarityMan said:
I meant the peaks are only showing one channel..might be a reaper oddity when the only audio is from mono child tracks I suppose since you only have one track in there right now. I wasnt actually aware of the track manager...that has just made it into my setup.

What skin are you using btw?

Ah, I see. Well I did do a quick strum on the guitar to get the faders moving for the screenshot, and it was probably recorded in mono, but Reaper doesn't differentiate between mono and stereo tracks per se.

The theme is Default_Cammala_5_2016

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=185732

PolarityMan

Not sure I like those hardware inspired arm buttons etc on the theme in that thread btw

Freebird

Jonathanthomas83 said:

This probably isn't the way it should be done, but I'm really happy with the theme and the hi-res visibilty of the text, which I struggled with for a long time before finding a solution.

Need to get my head around all this talk about busses, double deckers and cars etc now ;-)

Busses are the secret source, it's where you can do subgroup processing to unify and enhance the sound of similar types of instruments or voices, e.g. vocals, drums, guitars, etc.. The subgroups are then combined into a mix bus or master bus, where you can apply additional global processing for creative purposes, mastering, etc.. With the addition of mix or submaster bus, you can use it for global FX such as reverb, EQ & compression, and then keep the master bus solely for your mastering plugins ... or something like that.

PS the Townhouse buss compressor should be all over your group busses, and some Acqua Pink vibe too   

PolarityMan

Jonathanthomas83 said:

This probably isn't the way it should be done, but I'm really happy with the theme and the hi-res visibilty of the text, which I struggled with for a long time before finding a solution.

Need to get my head around all this talk about busses, double deckers and cars etc now ;-)

In reaper folder tracks basically are buses