Reaper, the gift that keeps on giving.

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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    Reaper is easier than Ableton, IMO. You'll be fine
    I always felt ableton made more sense if you were working with loops but less so for traditional multi-tracking.

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  • BlueingreenBlueingreen Frets: 2582
    First week with Reaper, spending around an hour most days, pretty happy with progress.  Thank for the encouragement to go down that route.  Have been working through Kenny Goia's "First Midi Song" videos.  The music is not in any way representative of what I want to do with the DAW but I feel I'm getting a decent start. 
    “To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
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  • That's interesting, so are you not doing your own music yet? I'm learning on the job, truing to do my own stuff and learning a lot along the way. Find that I'm learning the stuff that matter most to me by doing that.
    Read my guitar/gear blog at medium.com/redchairriffs

    View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
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  • BlueingreenBlueingreen Frets: 2582
    edited July 2021
    Yes that's how I did it with Ableton. It worked fine but I've decided this time round to spend a bit of time just learning how the software works first.  Hoping that will speed up the learning process in the long run but who knows.
    “To a man with a hammer every problem looks like a nail.”
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  • BasherBasher Frets: 1198
    Reaper is easier than Ableton, IMO. You'll be fine
    I always felt ableton made more sense if you were working with loops but less so for traditional multi-tracking.

    I've never used Ableton but I have found Reaper to be very difficult when working with loops. Obviously, it's fine when you know the bpm but I've tried to work with friends who, for example, track a bit of acoustic and a vocal and ask if I can add parts. Just establishing the tempos seems to be a pain and I struggle with tempo mapping over a full song when you have the typical variations you get with acoustic music.

    It might well be me though. I'm no expert and am still using Reaper 4 as I've not seen anything in the subsequent versions that warrant me needing them. (Unless I've missed something.)

    Most of my stuff is just messing about with very traditional multi-track stuff and it's great for that and amazing value. Also agree that the lack of synths and other plugins is a positive advantage. There are zillions of free plugins out there and the danger is over facing yourself with so many options. Far better to start off with a few, genre-appropriate, core plugins and learn how to use them. For example, after years of not getting very far with synth programming (hardware and software), I found NI Massive (not free!) to be very intuitive in the way you apply envelopes and controllers. I love messing about with that and coming up with my own sounds, despite not having the newest version. (There's a pattern emerging here!) 
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    Basher said:
    Reaper is easier than Ableton, IMO. You'll be fine
    I always felt ableton made more sense if you were working with loops but less so for traditional multi-tracking.

    I've never used Ableton but I have found Reaper to be very difficult when working with loops. Obviously, it's fine when you know the bpm but I've tried to work with friends who, for example, track a bit of acoustic and a vocal and ask if I can add parts. Just establishing the tempos seems to be a pain and I struggle with tempo mapping over a full song when you have the typical variations you get with acoustic music.

    It might well be me though. I'm no expert and am still using Reaper 4 as I've not seen anything in the subsequent versions that warrant me needing them. (Unless I've missed something.)

    Most of my stuff is just messing about with very traditional multi-track stuff and it's great for that and amazing value. Also agree that the lack of synths and other plugins is a positive advantage. There are zillions of free plugins out there and the danger is over facing yourself with so many options. Far better to start off with a few, genre-appropriate, core plugins and learn how to use them. For example, after years of not getting very far with synth programming (hardware and software), I found NI Massive (not free!) to be very intuitive in the way you apply envelopes and controllers. I love messing about with that and coming up with my own sounds, despite not having the newest version. (There's a pattern emerging here!) 
    I have had similar frustrations with tempo mapping, although Reaper is well equipped to do it well.
    I would recommend upgrading to  latest version though, many things get regularly tweaked to improve functionality, and latest updates have addressed editing features, and most recently loudness metering and compensation.
    The jump up to V6 was quite a drastic one, as it changed the way Reaper looks, relying less on 3rd party themes, and building in its own theme tweaker.
    I have tried using Logic for beat mapping, which is good but fairly complex, and still will not give perfect results.
    In general, the lesson I have learned is that, if a track is built up with blocks of tempo correct loops, such as you would do in Ableton, for example, there is a tendancy for the final product to sound quite boring, and better results can be acheived if one takes the time to tempo match drums say, to a recorded part.
    In practice, all this involves is the addition of 'tempo' markers, which give you areas in an arrangement where tempo can vary.
    Separate tracks can be grouped, which locks them together, and then stretching can be done to the whole project at tempo markers.
    It is a lot of work if the source is not very well tracked to tempo, but once a section is set to a range it can easily be stretched or compressed to hit a beat.
    Best results will be got, by asking your collaborators to at least attempt to play in time, to a click.
    I have done a fair bit of experimenting with multitrack stems of various 'hit' songs, and it is surprising how badly in time some of the bigger songs were, mostly pre digital audio, and possibly with tape machines that used vari speed.
    The more metronomic modern sounding music begins to sound quite weird and artificial, when you actually become aware of the concept of a click track, it is really just a guide, that can help the performer land on a beat at a particular point, and is not necessarily something that has to line up continually.
    The better sounding drum loop libraries exploit this idea, and you will find there is a bit of movement around the beat during a loop, it gives a more natural feel to a 4 or 8 bar loop, and still might not be in perfect time throughout.
    Kenny has done some recent videos on beat mapping, of course.
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  • BasherBasher Frets: 1198
    Thanks for all the great advice @andy_k ;

    The stuff I was trying to tempo map was a very informal thing. Standard "creative" type bashing out a few chords after a few spliffs and everything all over the place in terms of timing. Not necessarily wrong for a singer songwriter type but bloody difficult to try and sync up programmed drums to!

    Will consider an upgrade as it seems sensible enough. In the meantime, thanks for the Reaper Blog and Reaper Mania suggestions, both of which look excellent.


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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    Basher said:
    Thanks for all the great advice @andy_k ;

    The stuff I was trying to tempo map was a very informal thing. Standard "creative" type bashing out a few chords after a few spliffs and everything all over the place in terms of timing. Not necessarily wrong for a singer songwriter type but bloody difficult to try and sync up programmed drums to!

    Will consider an upgrade as it seems sensible enough. In the meantime, thanks for the Reaper Blog and Reaper Mania suggestions, both of which look excellent.


    As I said, there is a recent kenny vid that shows how to create a tempo map, basically you just have to be able to find the 1 in a bar, which is usually pretty easy, even after a spliff.
    I spend a lot of time trying to do the same things to stuff I have recorded off the cuff, without a click, and it isn't to difficult to get good results, more time spent = better results.
    I usually try and get the essence of something to work, which lets me build up a drum track, and then re-record to a more quantized backing track, and inevitably something gets lost.
    It is nice to have the tempo mapped, with just the metronome, as it becomes a lot easier to drop in elements that have some timing, which will follow the mapped tempo.
    Adding a full drum track to an acoustic performance can sound a bit weird, but it is a good way to separate the parts of a song, usually some form of bass seems to work better in the first place.
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  • Jonathanthomas83Jonathanthomas83 Frets: 3466
    edited July 2021
    Today I learned to freeze tracks and thus, life has changed forever. Granted, not reaper exclusive, but mighty happy nonetheless.
    Read my guitar/gear blog at medium.com/redchairriffs

    View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    Wait until you come across sub projects, something that is very useful on a more evolved track, the ability to have a mix within a mix is how I like to think of it.
    A cross between a tabbed browser window and a DAW, or something, it must be great to fully understand it.
    And automatic stem rendering, it goes on and on.

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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    I have sub projects setup for out click tracks. It's pretty great because at practice I can just drag each song onto a new project then instantiate our template tracks for recording all the instruments and we're ready to go.

    I cant work out what forces a re-render though as sometimes it seems to do it even if the source project hasn't changed. For these tracks everything is bounced to only 2 tracks with no effects anyway (backing and click) so the re-render takes seconds but even so would be good to understand what causes it. 
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  • andy_k said:
    Wait until you come across sub projects, something that is very useful on a more evolved track, the ability to have a mix within a mix is how I like to think of it.
    A cross between a tabbed browser window and a DAW, or something, it must be great to fully understand it.
    And automatic stem rendering, it goes on and on.


    Sounds like a winner...although, I'm struggling to get my head around which context that would be useful for? What do you personally use it for?
    Read my guitar/gear blog at medium.com/redchairriffs

    View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
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  • lukedlblukedlb Frets: 488
    As a reaper newbie, what app would I use on my iPad to control reaper?
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  • mrkbmrkb Frets: 6637
    lukedlb said:
    As a reaper newbie, what app would I use on my iPad to control reaper?
    Set up reapers remote web page that allows any web browsers to control it - looks very powerful.
    Karma......
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    andy_k said:
    Wait until you come across sub projects, something that is very useful on a more evolved track, the ability to have a mix within a mix is how I like to think of it.
    A cross between a tabbed browser window and a DAW, or something, it must be great to fully understand it.
    And automatic stem rendering, it goes on and on.


    Sounds like a winner...although, I'm struggling to get my head around which context that would be useful for? What do you personally use it for?
    I can see its potential, but haven't delved into it much.
    I have tried to restrict my own workflow  to a fairly simplistic approach, partly due to hardware constraints.
    I keep an eye on the resource monitor, and when my project is hitting close to 40%, I switch to making stems ready for a final mix.
    Drums is a big part of my own mixing, and the use of multiple, multi mic'd VST, and other percussion stuff blended in tends to be the first major element that gets committed to a stem, this is something that can easily be done via freezing, or sub projects, but I usually choose to render as a stem which reduces the processing hit, and lets me concentrate on more general EQ and compression to control the full part. 
    mrkb said:
    lukedlb said:
    As a reaper newbie, what app would I use on my iPad to control reaper?
    Set up reapers remote web page that allows any web browsers to control it - looks very powerful.
    The built in web remote has some good features, but when you look into the WRB extension, which allows full customisation, the options are as unlimited as Reaper itself.
    It simply needs any tablet, phone or pc to be on the same network to allow ANY actions or functions to be set up as buttons.
    This does not include fader control, but does allow any keystroke to be saved as a simple button, and any set of commands to be saved as a template which can be accessed by any screen, fairly mind blowing stuff.
    It takes a little while to set up, and wrap your head around, but I had 2 machines set up in 2 locations working well with it in a few hours.
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  • lukedlblukedlb Frets: 488
    Forgive me: that web browser would be…? For example?
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  • mrkbmrkb Frets: 6637
    lukedlb said:
    Forgive me: that web browser would be…? For example?
    https://youtu.be/CkMAj8CpvIU
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    The video above explains the built in web remote interface, which allows a set amount of controls for a session, including faders.
    The WRB project is explained here:-

    and is a third party evolution of the same underlying control mechanism, which allows a user to build a personalised set of the buttons and controls he desires, on any phone, tablet or pc connected in the same way as the original idea.
    The WRB interface has a template, which can then be modified with any command that is present inside of Reapers actions list.
    It is possible to have BOTH things running at the same time, on two different devices, which makes for a very useful set of off PC control surfaces.
    These are set up with different browser addresses, which is a little confusing at first, but once it is set up it tends to work flawlessly, and in my case is more stable than running things through a usb hub.
    Note, the WRB project is now open source-ie free, and there is no further development intended, it is a tool to make use of.
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  • andy_kandy_k Frets: 818
    lukedlb said:
    Forgive me: that web browser would be…? For example?
    I think that the earlier Ipads built in browser is not working correctly, but a workaround is to use the Chrome browser instead, personally, I am using Android devices, and have set up a template that works well on both types of screen size, it is definitely worth spending a little time to get working and breathes new life into old hardware. 
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  • PolarityManPolarityMan Frets: 7273
    What do you use WRB for? Ive had a play but for me seemed like a cool thing that didnt have a practical use 
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