basic reaper tips. thanks

benmurray85 · February 2014

so my home recording setup is coming along. i started trying to use the version of ableton live which came bundled with my focus rite 2i2 and completely hated it.

i was recommended reaper as its relatively easy to use. downloaded it today and I'm getting on with it. already managed more in a morning than i have in a month or so with ableton.

does anyone else use reaper? can anyone give me any nice tips for REALLY beginner stuff. I'm wanting to use it just for rough demos and songwriting really. figured I might try and get some drum loops into it and build on those but most of the stuff will be acoustic based.

any help/tips appreciated guys

thanks

PolarityMan · February 2014

Yep I use reaper, what kind of stuff are you trying to do?

ThePrettyDamned · February 2014

Biggest tip I have - I worked out how to change the metronome!

You don't need a click track - just enable the metronome function. Then, to change the sound, right click it to bring up the metronome editor.

YUMMY.

I'd like to know how to put drum loops in but I suspect you just drag and drop - it looks quite easy here

I'm going to be using Beta Monkey loops, which seems excellent value - $30 gets you quite a lot within your genre, including double time and half time stuff.

What else is there... Oh yes, to cut a bit off a recording (example, hit record, wait 2 bars before starting and cut out those 2 bars) you just click at the beginning of the playing, right click and split that track into two, then delete the part you don't like.

I'm working it out as I go, but it seems a really nice interface, and I feel I do better every time I open it.

PolarityMan · February 2014

Oh "S" for split is going to be one of the first keyboard shortcuts you learn..also T, shift-T and ctrl-shift-T for navigating takes

PolarityMan · February 2014

Also I think holding ctrl lets you move the audio within the take, combine this with tab for jump to transient and you have the tools you need for slip editing.

ThePrettyDamned · February 2014

@polarity man, wisdoms awarded. That'll save me about an hour per session :P

Mick · February 2014

Just starting out with Reaper. So far managed to get AmpliTube 3 to open in it. Don't ask how, cause it was more luck than judgment. Anyway, will follow this thread and see if I can get these tips to sink in. (It's an age thing).

Fez · February 2014

Nother Reaper user here. I use EZ drummer for drums, Amplitube 3 for guitars.

200TH Computer Music mag had loads of tips for general computer music but had small section for Reaper.

So long as your VST instruments and effects are in the correct folder usually C:/Programs/steinberg/VST Reaper should pick them up.

benmurray85 · February 2014

i was looking at ezdrummer. looks right up my street so ill have to get hold of that i think. thanks for everything above. I'm still working my way round round all this stuff and still coming to terms with using a mac!

ecc83 · February 2014

I have Reaper but hardly ever use it since my "musician" is away in France.

If you check out Sound on Sound website they have done a review of Reaper and several "workshops" of the DAW.

Dave.

PolarityMan · February 2014

ctrl-Z and alt+f+s are also your friends

Heartfeltdawn · February 2014

Big tip: read the user guide.

http://www.reaper.fm/userguide.php

It's written in plain simple English, well illustrated, and explains everything really well. It puts many big name company manuals to utter shame.

PolarityMan · February 2014

Since reaper 4 the default time base is really annoying so if you change tempo all your audio stretches to fir the new tempo, while this is sometimes what you want when your arranging loops it can be a real pain if your doing something like putting time sig markers over pre-recorded audio or using tap tempo to establish a tempo map so you can disable this by setting individual audio items timebase to "time" or setting the project default timebase to "time".

Typically for midi you ahve the opposite problem where you want the time base to be beats.

Grunfeld · February 2014

benmurray85 said:

does anyone else use reaper? can anyone give me any nice tips for REALLY beginner stuff. I'm wanting to use it just for rough demos and songwriting really. figured I might try and get some drum loops into it and build on those but most of the stuff will be acoustic based.

Yep the manual is good, the REAPER forum is pretty good too.

But, just cos of the way I learn I found this set of tuition videos the most useful thing:

http://www.askvideo.com/course/reaper-101-introduction-to-reaper

It was about £15 iirc and just helped me get my head around Reaper 4. You can have it open and playing in one window, put Reaper in another, and copy and learn like that. Well, that was the way that suited me.

As it happens, I've been using Reaper since v.2 but as it's got more powerful you need to know more as soon as you get beyond using it like a "big tape recorder".

Great program.

duotone · June 2018

I found this guys stuff very useful

andy_k · June 2018

I made a jump to Reaper for some live recording, I have it on a low spec laptop, and am using a Zoom R16 as an interface. I set up a template for 8 tracks and got it working at home, fairly basic stuff, but was able to get Reaper to see it as a control surface too--bonus.
2 sessions in, and i'm loving Reaper, been using Logic and Pro tools for a couple of years, but a couple of weeks with Reaper and its doing what I want, so far anyway. Few problems transferring between PC and Mac, but amazing stuff really.
cheers
andy k

JAYJO · June 2018

see the Reaper Mania tutorials (you tube all free) by Kenny Gioia. They are fantastic and cover everything. Hes done tons of videos and explains very clearly how to get things done.

munckee · June 2018

Can I use a THR5 amp with reaper or do I still need a DAW does anyone know?

DiscoStu · June 2018

munckee said:

Can I use a THR5 amp with reaper or do I still need a DAW does anyone know?

Yes, you can hook it up to Reaper via USB. I have a THR10 and didn't notice any particular latency when I tried it. The amp also doubles as playback monitor. If you haven't already, try the THR Editor software and play around with the speaker cabs.

funkyfraz · June 2018

I honestly don't think I've ever Googled a question about reaper and not find a forum somewhere (normally reapers own forum) with the answer. Bits honestly brilliant!

A good thing I find, especially with doing demos is setup a template, thatll mean you don't need to setup a track list with all your favourite vsts and other nstruments set up ready to go at a touch of a button. Little things like that make the whole journey more enjoyable

BazzBass · July 2018

best advice? join the Reaper forum and watch all of Kenny G's video tutorials.

That's my method, working great so far

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basic reaper tips. thanks

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