So, we are all going to be going back to 'normal' soon, which means I might be able to actually punt for some work, opportunities have really taken a hit over the last 18 months, if your plans involved setting up a mobile live recording service, and as far as my own personal 'inspiration', that became non existent for some reason.
I have tried to keep up with developments despite the relentless OS and hardware upgrade path, and have been struggling to justify any form of studio upgrade ( expensive, and difficult with older hardware / interface etc )
As a bare minimum, I had decided I needed either an extra monitor, or a better control surface, so today I discovered another feature inside of Reaper, the Web remote, and the add on, Web remote browser.
It sounds pretty complex, but within a few minutes I had Web remote working on my main machine via a Huawaii tablet and my Oneplus phone.
A few vids later, I had found a Kenny vid from 4 years ago showing how to set it up, and I then found the install of WRB, which allows custom menus to be created.
Absolutely amazed, it will make things so much easier to work with, allowing full control of recording / mixing via a touch screen device - any touch screen device, and as many at the same time as one would want.
I was salivating over the new SSL controller, which costs £800 and probably wouldn't work with my Macbook and USB hub, which is beginning to complain ( Ilok seems to be becoming disconnected during a mix, or render session FFS )
I even managed to get it working well on my backup Win10 machine, which has been cycling through forced updates since 2019.
Reaper, never lets me down, with ability or inspiration, the only limit seems to be my imagination really.
Truly amazing software.
Comments
There are a couple of essential addons to Reaper, SWS extensions, and Reapack, which are both free, and expand what is possible by about 1000%.
Reaper can even run off a USB stick, if you have got your head round the folder structure.
Never ceases to amaze me, and I have been using it for about 5 years now, a bit like having a blank canvass, with all the colours available, after you have added the instruments and VST that you actually use.
I'm not knocking Logic, but I need to be across both platforms, the OS and Ilok are the main stumbling points for me.
Bluekat is a good set of effects, but there are many to choose from.
Something like Voxengo SPAN is good, but the latest Reaper v6.3 has just had a big update with stuff for loudness monitoring and normalisation, so really all the mastering stuff is already included.
Don't expect it to be easy to begin with, but all the tutorials are on Reaper mania, ( Kenny ), and he has just done a series showing most of the freebies mentioned above.
At some point you will need an I Lok, even for some of the free stuff, and expect to be bombarded with spam.
Start with Kenny's vids before you get in too deep.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
In all the time I have been using it, about 3 years, I have opened the manual maybe 3 times.
Kenny has probably answered every question, and with every one of his videos there is something new to learn, and then the software is updated-adding new features.
Latest update adds Lufs monitoring and normalisation, which makes a large number of 3rd party plugins obsolete, and the previous update introduced razor edit, which I haven't even begun to look at.
The feature that got me excited, the web remote, was fully explained in a 4 year old Kenny vid, and the add on, web remote builder was made open source about a year ago. This allows fully customisation of any phone, tablet, computer attached to the same network, in essence making multiple control surfaces an easy reality, without needing any new expansion.
Record arming and transport can be done by a drummer in a drum booth for example, the only limit is your own imagination.
This is a very different approach to any other DAW, the tools are all available, and it is up to you to decide how you want to proceed, you are not forced to 'learn' the DAW, the DAW becomes what you want it to be.
Somebody starting out now, with a fairly small budget can build a very powerful system, based on the most current hardware with the only problem being some of the software has not caught up.
In my own case, my main machine is a fairly old MBP, with only usb3 expansion, and when I have to replace it I will have to build the whole thing up from the ground, probably based on an M1 Mac, by which time I am hoping the situation is a little clearer.
At least I can always fall back on my B rig, a Win10 laptop, or even run Reaper from a memory stick, which is something I will be getting comfortable with soon. A bit of preparation will be needed, but I can imagine having my studio on a keyring soon.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
I've had a go with Studio One and Luna on other people's systems but I'm so used to Reaper now I can't imagine swapping to them.
I have Ableton 10, and it is a very different workflow- based on using sample packs and loops, all demo projects I try to open do not allow editing, for what ever reason?, I am sure you can get similar results with Ableton, if you can absorb all the conventions.
Reaper does not have that limitation, it is as simple, or as complex as you make it.
Setting up IO, and recording is basically the same across DAWs, so I assume you have some of the basics already. understanding tracks and folder structures is pretty easy, and setting up projects depend very much on what the job is, all of these things can be saved and worked on as different project templates, with track templates being used to import anything specialised that is needed.
Reaper costs nothing to try-with no features disabled, so time is the only investment.
Don't waste your time with anything else, honestly.
Just try downloading Reaper, for example, to see how quick you will progress, what size is one of the Ableton packs these days? I'd guess at least 500mb,
IMO, that is an outdated way to work these days, I know memory is cheap, but you can't get the time back.
Reaper blog, and Reaper mania (Kenny) are THE main sources for information, if they haven't answered it, it isn't there.
View my feedback at www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/comment/1201922
I re watched, and there were a few things that make a lot of sense, folder structure, backups etc, but in my experience there are seldom problems that can't be easily solved, I can't remember the last time it crashed on me.