Sell me on Reaper

[Erkan]

Yea I've seen different looks on SAW studio... seems to have the option to customize it, and I think it's stupid when programs don't have that option. Assuming that everyone likes a certain color is like assuming everyone in the world likes white beans with cow shit.

 

[Erkan]

aaaw man, Reaper has a few annoying things that makes me reluctant to switching over to it... Gave it some time today but I think I need much more time... it feels so alien somehow, but then again, I've been using Ableton Live all this time and that is piss easy to use so.. haha.

There is no other choise for a hobbyist right? I'm not sure if I want to go spend 500-700$ on a piece of software I probably will not make any money out of anyway, but I do wanna go legit! Maybe Reaper is the only solution In that case... better suck it up and take it like a man.

 

[Metaltastic]

Dude, every new piece of software has a learning curve, but you'll learn to love it in no time! That said, I came from Cubase and PT, and have never used Live!, which I'd imagine is a pretty different animal - still, fuck that DJ nonsense, standard DAW's are where it's at!

 

[Erkan]

Dude, every new piece of software has a learning curve, but you'll learn to love it in no time! That said, I came from Cubase and PT, and have never used Live!, which I'd imagine is a pretty different animal - still, fuck that DJ nonsense, standard DAW's are where it's at!

Hehe yeah.. kinda motivating to hear Well I just miss the little things you know, like being able to shift a track forward or backward in time (without moving clips) by setting up a little parameter on the track so that it ALWAYS is active and stuff. Great for when you trigger drums or when you want to correct phase issues and stuff.

Bah, look at me, I'm focusing on very small details... I need to wake up and smell the DAW

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

There are some things that are quite annoying in Reaper. For example, not being able to distinguish stereo tracks from mono, at least I can't find an option for that. Since every track serve for everything, what if I load a stereo .wav file in one track then it becomes stereo but there's nothing in the GUI that tells me it a stereo track. That's pretty friggin' annoying.

And I still haven't figured out how to edit a simple recorded track :X

 

[John_C]

There are some things that are quite annoying in Reaper. For example, not being able to distinguish stereo tracks from mono, at least I can't find an option for that. Since every track serve for everything, what if I load a stereo .wav file in one track then it becomes stereo but there's nothing in the GUI that tells me it a stereo track. That's pretty friggin' annoying.

why? i mean give an example of when that would become a problem

 

[-Gavin-]

why? i mean give an example of when that would become a problem

Panning.

 

[John_C]

well if you've loaded a stereo wav file, then you'll see a stereo wave form in the corresponding track, which would be a clue. Am i not getting something here?

 

[Pedro Teixeira]

But that's not the biggest problem. I can't find a way to edit... cut, etc... I know this may seem stupid but how do you do it? Do I need an external editor?

 

[-Gavin-]

well if you've loaded a stereo wav file, then you'll see a stereo wave form in the corresponding track, which would be a clue. Am i not getting something here?

Touché

 

[AdamWathan]

But that's not the biggest problem. I can't find a way to edit... cut, etc... I know this may seem stupid but how do you do it? Do I need an external editor?

? No man, if you want to do hard editing then yeah you need an external editor but you can easily split items in Reaper and lengthen/shorten them to cut bits out, add your fades, etc.

 

[if6was9]

s splits an item. There's a great fade system in it and if you disengage the snaping, moving items around is an absolute breeze.

I do a fair bit of editing in reaper- never had to do anything editing wise that reaper couldn't do. Well the only thing it lacks is destructive noise reduction in my opinion for an editor.

My only gripe with it is still the video player- tried the newest version with a short 2 min 40 vid and the sync is still all over the place- changes every time you play from a different point, makes it fucking impossible to sync stuff up to a video which i'm sickened about as when i learned it had the video function i was over the moon. Thats with .movs I've not tried it with .avi or any other formats yet, I'll give them a go and if they're better happy days, if they suck too then I'm gonna have to spend alot of time in college with protools doing stuff I'd prefer to do in my own time at home

 

[Saculus]

Well I just miss the little things you know, like being able to shift a track forward or backward in time (without moving clips) by setting up a little parameter on the track so that it ALWAYS is active and stuff. Great for when you trigger drums or when you want to correct phase issues and stuff.

There is a js script delay that you can use to move tracks +/- samples or ms "JS: Delay/time_adjustment". It can be found in the js FX folder that is native in reaper.

And I still haven't figured out how to edit a simple recorded track :X

For destructive editing an external editor must be used such as SoundForge, Wavosaur(which I'm currently using), Audacity, Wavelab. After you set it up double click the audio in the arrange screen and edit way. Save the edited file and its back in the project.

I've been using Reaper for a year and don't have much experience in other DAWs so switching to Reaper needs to handled like anything else. Try it out and see if it makes you life easier or not. It does everything I can think to mess with audio and every DAW based "trick" described on this forum. It has built in sidechaining with its stock plugins which aren't horrible and combined with the Stillwell stuff its a very robust tool set for not too much money. Cost is my primary concern but if that isn't the issue its quirkiness vs High dollar stuff might not be worth the effort.

There are two online books which go through reaper workflow and are pretty indepth.

http://stores.lulu.com/glazfolk

 

[John_C]

try phasebug http://www.betabugsaudio.com/plugs.php

it's free and it can sometimes sound a lot better than simple time delaying

plus i recommend downloading the manual http://www.cockos.com/reaper/userguide/ReaperUserGuide25Eval.pdf

It's more than an a manual though, it's got loads of interesting techniques in it tas well

 

[Erkan]

There is a js script delay that you can use to move tracks +/- samples or ms "JS: Delay/time_adjustment". It can be found in the js FX folder that is native in reaper.

Oh shit, nice! Thanks for the tip, guess I should look around more in Reaper before saying you can't do this or that

Also, when I record multiple times, like when I'm trying to nail a guitar riff, it displays previous takes in the same goddamn track! It stacks up like 4 (only tried 4 times, maybe it does more) wave form on each other in one track which I have never seen any DAW do before. It's cool because I can click on the one I want to be the active one, but for god's sake how do you turn that crap off?

 

[Saculus]

You can also split the takes and make a comp'd take from them by selecting which audio lane you want in each section. Here is a link to some interesting Reaper tutorials dealing with extensions and mixer view, http://reaper-howto.blogspot.com/

 

[Metaltastic]

Thanks for the link to the books Saculus, I think I'll nab one/both!

 

[slashvanyoung]

Also, when I record multiple times, like when I'm trying to nail a guitar riff, it displays previous takes in the same goddamn track! It stacks up like 4 (only tried 4 times, maybe it does more) wave form on each other in one track which I have never seen any DAW do before.

Never used Cuendo or Nubase?

Anyway, I think Pro Tools handles navigating through takes with the regions better.

 

[Erkan]

Never used Cuendo or Nubase?

Anyway, I think Pro Tools handles navigating through takes with the regions better.

Nope, never recorded anything in those.

Actually, now that I think about it... I've only used Soundscape, Fruity Loops (lol!), a tiiiiiiiny bit of Sonar and Ableton Live.

Well I have no doubts Reaper will only get better and better, it's just a matter of getting used to. It's not like I have any other choise unless I wanna spend 700$.

 

[Erkan]

You can also split the takes and make a comp'd take from them by selecting which audio lane you want in each section. Here is a link to some interesting Reaper tutorials dealing with extensions and mixer view, http://reaper-howto.blogspot.com/

Dude, thanks! Will definately read when time allows.