Reaper Help! I have no idea what I am doing!

Antique_Guitars

Hey peeps I literally have no bloody idea what I'm doing with this stuff other than getting very annoyed, if anyone can slap me round the face a bit that would be great.

People from work will help me but I don't want to drag my computer in unless I really can't solve it................

I'm trying to record a couple of tracks using a synth midi controller!

So I have enabled my device in the MIDI settings and everything is working (plugged directly into the computer no interface)

I'm trying to record a couple of tracks and I can happily arm a track and record audio and play it back but for the first track but when it come to the second track when I arm it and record whilst listening to the first track (with headphones or speakers) the second track always records a low level of the first track as well as the new stuff i am trying to play on the second track!

Why is this? what the hell am I doing wrong I really just don't understand and its really annoying me.

I'm sure I probably have the wrong audio device setting or something. I have restored reaper back to factory settings to make sure I haven't done anything really stupid and it still does not work :-(

Any help or idea would be great.

Thankies!

Antique_Guitars

the first track is always unarmed when I arm the second track just to clarify.

People at work think it might be an issue with MIDI channel settings but I don't really understand this stuff enough.

I'm not really sure which Audio System I should be choosing........

Winny_Pooh

Check your inputs and outputs globally and on each track. You may have your regular soundcard/mic enabled as an input. 

Antique_Guitars

Problem is for all input and output options I have limited choices:

Input

Microsoft Sound Mapper
Stereo Mix
Microphone(computer)

Output

Microsoft Sound Mapper
Speakers (computer)


Ive been using stereo mix for input and speakers for output, it seems to be the only way I can record the midi without the microphone being used it the recording

Antique_Guitars

I'm not really sure how to change the inputs/outputs on the tracks, there are way too many options, send recieve/ route tracking and all the Record input output option that dont seem to have any effect on the issue, whatever i switch on or off it always just records the first track too

Antique_Guitars

Found the input MIDI channels thing for the MIDI controller I will try changing a few of them around

Antique_Guitars

I give up this is too complicated for me, I just don't have the knowledge or patience, will take my computer into work and get the experts to show me in person, its the only way I will ever understand.

digitalscream

Difficult to figure out what's going on with a forum thread, but...I suspect part of the problem is that you're not using a proper audio interface. In my experience, using built-in audio can get you into all sorts of trouble with any DAW, because the built-in Windows audio system isn't really designed for this kind of thing.

Antique_Guitars

Well I did some reading and followed some tutorials and I got it up and running and solved the double recording problem but now I have a new problem!

Super Lag! I presume this is because I am running directly into the computer with the controller for recording rather than an interface? weird though as playing though a synth on the computer is fine but using the VST plugin of the synth in Reaper it is super slow.

Not actually sure how to connect the controller to my audio interface so might need to investigate that further...................

Antique_Guitars

Yay I've actually made it work with my Roland Quad Capture interface no lag no double recording all is well! yay

Wow that was extremely stressful but it works now yes!

digitalscream

Antique_Guitars said:

Yay I've actually made it work with my Roland Quad Capture interface no lag no double recording all is well! yay

Wow that was extremely stressful but it works now yes!

Nice one

Thing is, it's always a pain getting things working the first time. The good news is that you'll never have to do it again

Antique_Guitars

Ha ha I am such a fool when it comes to this stuff so I'm sure I'll be back 

Bod

Take the time to watch Kenny Gioia's excellent Reaper tutorial videos here.

http://www.kennymania.com/reaper-videos/ ;

benmurray85

Bod said:

Take the time to watch Kenny Gioia's excellent Reaper tutorial videos here.

http://www.kennymania.com/reaper-videos/ ;

+1 for this. I'm working my way through them and these are great lessons. Captures all the basic stuff without talking down to you and gives you enough "advanced" stuff to get your teeth into. 

starwarsnosebleed

Im still a reaper novice, but these 'Kenny' vids, though fairly lengthy, really help a lot.

And also search the cockos/reaper forum for similar problems, as thats got me out of a hole quite a few times.

wave100

Also, you seem to be confused about the difference between MIDI and audio - MIDI is a digital signal which says eg "play a D below middle C with a loudness of 110 for 3/4 of a second".   The actual sound produced depends on the synth or drum machine you send that signal to.  Kind of like how musical notation tells a player what notes to play, the sound depends on what instrument they are playing! Audio is well... audio.

Alnico

Bod said:

Take the time to watch Kenny Gioia's excellent Reaper tutorial videos here.

http://www.kennymania.com/reaper-videos/ ;

Thank you for posting that !
I've needed help with reaper for a long time, that's going to do great.