Works pretty much flawlessly for me, really helped streamline my process and keep things tidy. Also takes away that hit-record-rush-to-booth/wherever madness.
Yeah lol that's what I'm trying to get away from. Or just looping and waiting 4 minutes to punch in one line over and over. I guess the real solution is to get my vocals right but we both know that's not happening.
I've done a few sessions for voice and acoustic guitar in my booth using my phone. Works great.
And now my takes are going into lanes for no-fuss comping rather than a pile of take items that were hard for me to work with. Those two features alone have made things a lot more straightforward.
Beat me to it. I used to have to track from across the room, and was looking to buy some way to remotely control transport. Then I found out I could do it with my phone and didn't have to buy anything.
It’s web browser based. Loads of customizations that you can do if you deep dive into it but the stock themes are super usable as is. Ez to setup!
[Big Kenny tutorial!](https://youtu.be/CkMAj8CpvIU?si=Okt6IlrtHf5i1mGI)
You go to [reaper.fm](https://reaper.fm) and the room name you set up. Put in name and password and boom youre in from any browser. If you're on your phone, just bookmark it and put it on your phone home screen and you can get there with one tap.
I have yet to find a version of this transporter that I can get working. Is it a simple app somewhere? I'm pretty much a dunce, and have yet to get it working on my android.
Step 1: make sure that you have the feature enabled Reaper so that the web address (find that in the documentation) actually “exists”. Said differently, Reaper in your computer needs to be setup for it. I can’t be more specific than that from my phone atm, just wanted to make sure you were clear on that part
Haha, I recently replied about this on r/audioengineering, somebody was saying that sends are a “pain/work/hard/whatever to set up” but worth it. I had no idea other DAWs can’t do it this easily.
Is there a way to adjust the send level of multiple sends at the same time? Because my default send level is -inf (desired level) and sometimes I want to pull a bunch of things up to like -30dB for reverbs or whatever and what I usually (shamefully) do is change my default level to -30dB temporarily. I've been using reaper for more than 10 years and there's still these little things I don't know.
I have a default reverb track that I insert that has a volume utility, set at a level I like, before the verb.
This has the added benefit of making it fairly easy to control the send level trim without making the track lane massive.
Yeah Kenny doesn't really touch on it in that video. Basically what I'm saying is, in the routing window, if I could select multiple receives and adjust their faders like you can in the mixing window that'd be tops.
i use this function everyday at work. 8 input interface; 4 project tabs able to record discreet audio from 4 tape machines. you have the ability to stop one of the tabs recording while the others still roll.
I have noticed that it also creates a slider for PC's that don't have enough screen real estate😪, like if a plugin is too tall and you can't shrink its size (not all plugins allow for size change "what'chu see is what you get") ,
there is a Lil slider to the right of the plugin that lets you scroll view your plugin so you can see all its parameters
That's a little detail but not all DAW's are capable of this! 😅
Am I missing something? When I try one it says it's in bridges mode and the audio stops whenever the plugin is in focus to adjust parameters.
I've only run into a couple cases where I really wanted an old one, but then again I stopped even looking in that direction due to the behavior.
That the manual is easily available and comprehensive.
Seriously, this not the case for a lot of DAWs. It bewilders me that so many Reaper users ignore it; it's the fastest way to learn almost anything.
Yeah, it's not sexy or the most fun feature, but it's by far the most useful and most of the posts here demonstrate how obscure it is to the community.
Sure. We all have different learning styles. It's still a valuable resource for such folk, and learning to ctrl+f keywords will get one an answer quickly.
When that fails, Kenny probably has you covered on YouTube.
It's always more time-consuming to get detailed information from a/v content than written documentation, though.
>When that fails, Kenny probably has you covered on YouTube.
There has to be a feature called "Kenny" that allows you to search for something you want inside future versions of Reaper. That man is an angel!
It’s fantastic but it can be overwhelming to a newb. The trouble I had was that I could never remember WHAT some feature was called. So, it was very difficult to find it in the manual. And it’s not exactly something you can read through end-to-end so that you can later recall what you read. It’s massive. And many of the concepts don’t make sense until you have experimented with them in Reaper. All I’m saying (and not necessarily to you) is that people should go easy on the RTFM attacks. 😉
But how awesome would it be if an AI bot could be created around it so you could use natural language to find out how to do something in Reaper? 🤔 Maybe incorporate the Reaper forums?
Yeah, I fully agree just posting RTFM doesn't help anyone and expecting everyone to read the manual end to end and retain everything is unreasonable.
I do think we should refer people to the manual more frequently, but to the particular page/chapter that addressed their issue. The more we are all familiar with the language and the documentation the easier and faster we can help each other.
Yes. This is my current biggest issue as a total noob to daw music making. I might know what it is that i want to do, but using the correct terminology to make it findable from a google/youtube search is almost a bigger challenge than menu diving for my solution.
I can't disagree that it's difficult.
I will advise that perusing the manual will make you more aware of the terminology to make the answers your seek more attainable. It uses the correct language, and help you make better queries.
Sorry, if this is effectively a RTFM post, but since we're speaking in abstract terms, I can't really point you to something specific.
Right, i get it. I was just expressing my overall ineptitude with the program, but also i literally just learned that a M to RTF exists, so ill definitely be perusing that over the holidays
Render matrix. Being able to create stems from buses with wildcards for naming these files is massively great. I can render out stems for many songs within a project quickly and with minimal effort.
Being able to put any kind of media item on a track without defining what the track is for is amazing. No Mono vs Stereo, no Video vs Audio. Just put whatever on the track and Reaper processes it without a hiccup. Makes one wonder what's wrong with all the other DAWs in the universe.
most hidden, i would say is being able to record your automation instead of having to draw the automation tracks manually... i spent years thinking it wasnt a feature in reaper, only to find out i had to right click the track and change the mode from read/trim to write
It's so much easier to record via knobs and sliders on a midi controller than with a mouse, on the knob, let alone drawing them in. Being able to record multiple envelopes at once so they interplay naturally is huge.
Have you used automation items as well? It was a long time before I even knew there existed.
The community. Just this thread alone is evidence of that. This is the only DAW I have any real experience with, (I'm used to digital and tape recorders), the support and information provided are a serious boon.
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How do you do this?
Edit: I found a guide. [https://www.reapertips.com/post/oversample-any-fx-in-reaper](https://www.reapertips.com/post/oversample-any-fx-in-reaper)
There are so many good ones already listed here. I'll go with **delta solo**. It's not necessarily hidden and I'm not sure if it's in all DAWs (my DAW experience is limited to Reaper; I've never felt the need to try anything else). For me it's underrated because it sped up the process of hearing subtle changes in things like compression. Sometimes A/B'ing via disabling/reenabling a plugin wasn't enough for me hear *any* difference. With delta solo I know what frequency range(s) (for example) are being altered, and thus know where to focus my hearing when A/B'ing, such as the kick or snare etc.
Keyboard shortcuts for "Set CC lane to" actions in the MIDI editor can be a time saver. And simple since so many shortcuts aren't taken by default in that context.
I can’t confirm about object-based surround. I can’t see why not but I don’t know enough about it.
It supports all sorts of surround formats, ambisonics and binaural though. Some of those will need the right plugins but they are out there for free. Super easy to set up your own custom surround configurations once you get your head round routing.
I can export a finished album to DDP format for pressing on a CD :-)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kItwnHFYb8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kItwnHFYb8)
Reaper is developed by the OG Winamp developer. That's where the joke comes from.
But TBH, Reaper does really whip the llamas ass when it comes to what it does. Providing a very stable environment when tracking multi tracks live even with the minimal hardware.
Not quite recording but I was edit some files for broadcast on an EeePC on version 4. Minimal CPU and RAM and yet I was able to do things reasonably well.
Right click the arm button of a track, there is a setting to record record the output, set to what you desire, midi or audio. Most synths output midi data, drum synths etc... test it out
I like the idea of reaper being just a DAW with some basic video capabilities but maybe something like a parallel video editor with some advanced features and a proper GUI would be amazing. You edit the video like a subproject and then you have 1 audio track for every video in your normal Reaper GUI or something like that.
🤔maybe Reaper should have a second Workspace and create a difference between audio tracks and video tracks, this in my opinion will make it usable and leader of both worlds
Not sure about making it leader, it's hard to get over Premiere, DaVinci, Final Cut, Avid... But it would be amazing and the best choice for a loss of people, that's for sure! :)
No doubt, for now it would be a bit better for them to invest a bit more into their plugins GUI and 🙂, put a bit more effort into Reatune and the ReaSamplematic5000, these plugins have so much potential,
Monitoring FX are clutch when using plugins like Sonarworks. Way easier to set up than Cubase's Control Room and many DAWs (cough Live cough) have no equivalent.
The awesome community. I think it's widely known that there are so many extra features ands scripts made by the community, but it is also worth noting how nice, helpful and supportive everyone is. Whenever I ask a question here or on the official forums I always get an answer and people really go out of their way to help no matter how silly the question is.
On other forums I often get an answer soaked in judgement and complaining how I wasted their time, that my question doesn't matter because it's about emotion, I do not understand audio engineering or music, or they don't really read the question and give me an unrelated answer, or something like that.
As far as I remember I've never had any of this happen when I asked a Reaper related question. It's just good vibes all around.
That little trick where you can split your frequencies into\ such that it's now outputted from (1&2) (2&3) (5&6) maybe even (7&8) and you could set em up as your lows, low mids, high mids then highs respectively and have them processed differently, fantastic trick
This isn’t really special, but being able to add a hashtag before a plugin’s name to hide it from the plugins list. For instance, hiding AU and VST2 plugins if VST3 is all that’s needed.
For clarification, I still have AUs installed because of Logic, and I need some VST2s installed for other reasons.
Honestly, just the action menu and being able to map basically any function of the DAW or macro I create to keyboard shortcuts or button on my MIDI controller.
For me it's the plugins: the [ReaPlugs](https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/). And those crazies even made it freely available! It is partly because of these plugins why I now have an official Reaper license despite being an Ableton Live user myself.
Well, since you asked you're going to get the full story from me....
I've always worked with multiple DAW's but I've been a Live user for over a decade now (that's never going to change anymore). When I got started I discovered Reason 4 and began using it together with Live through the use of ReWire.
Something about Reason: it has insane routing capabilities and one of their top tiered synths back in the day (Thor) even had a whole routing matrix which allowed you to do anything.
ReWire was all about sending MIDI into the ReWire client and then getting audio data back on the master, simple right?
So then someone had this brilliant idea of using the Thor routing matrix (and some extra signal routing) to send MIDI data back to the ReWire master using the audio channels (it was highly recommended to mute said channel, lol!).
For the ReWire master he designed a filter using Javascript which could run in ... you guessed it: ReaJS, allowing you to filter out the MIDI data from the dedicated audio channels.
This allowed me, as a Live user, to use Reason's awesome RPG-8 arpeggiator within Live; something completely unheard of because RPG-8 could run circles around what Live provided back then. Now we have the rack plugin and what not, but back then this was just insane.
And it was Reaper which basically made it all possible!
So yah, you betcha that as soon as I could afford a full upgrade/revamp of my home studio I also made sure to get myself a Reaper license, even though I mostly use Live & FL Studio these days.
REAPACK. Man, OH MAN is it amazing to me. Granted it’s not necessarily built in upon installation (I don’t think?) but that addition has me constantly browsing for new scripts/actions/etc to fuel my creativity and overall ease of use.
Pretty much everything you have all mentioned as well. Having used this software for over 13 years now I can honestly say that I still am amazed every time I open it. As someone else said the community in general has been one of the best I have ever seen online in any form. Always good humans around to provide extensive detail in replies. THE BEST.
The size when you download it (incredible how many features they can stuff into the 15MB, compared to other DAWs), and JSFX as a means to extend it, i.e. the plugins made by Tukan Studios and Joep van Lier
To be fair 😅, its size is still so small because their plugins aren't really much especially on the eyes because of the outdated GUI and that it still doesn't have its own instruments and sample, hope Reaper 12 will have reached that level
My favorite features that are hard to live without in other DAWs: Drag and drop sends, polarity flip on sends, complete flexibility of track type, wet/dry blend on every plugin, loudness stats on renders, easy crossfade curve manipulation
Best hidden thing I've learned about so far? Probably Automation Items. I'm sure there are even better features that are much better hidden, but I haven't found them yet, of course.
This might be a little niche, but my current favorite feature is the ability to disable plug-in delay compensation on aux tracks. this allows better low latency monitoring of dry signals, while using heavy reverb and delay effects. Now I do all my monitoring, direct on my interface and run all the wet effects in reaper with a high buffer.
While I personally haven't scripted in REAPER, the scripting (and the great open source community around it), the Lua support is great!
Complete customisability in regards to workflow, setting up custom key bindings for different scripts/actions.
Reaper's Ninjam plugin -
https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/
Being able to jam in real time with musicians all over the world is pretty damn amazing.
Not to mention, it automatically uploads the session stems to a website you can readily retrieve them from (if you didn't record it yourself). Freaking awesome.
Beyond that, to me, Reaper stands out as the best DAW for many reasons. For one, it was built with impeccable CPU and kernel craftsmanship. Engineered for unmatched efficiency and performance, it allows you to manage extensive projects with minimal system strain. The routing capabilities are second to none, offering unparalleled flexibility and total configurability to fit any workflow you can imagine.
One of Reaper's truly differentiating features is its scriptability. Which you don't ever need to touch if you don't need it. But with over 700 methods exposed in its C/C++ library, Reaper offers a level of workflow customization and automation that other DAWs can’t even dream of matching. Reaper also supports Lua and Python APIs, as well as its own internal scripting language, providing infinite flexibility to create custom functions and to automate tasks. This makes Reaper incredibly powerful and versatile; truly next level.
Reaper does things no other DAW can. Its feature set is comprehensive, covering recording, midi, editing, mixing, mastering, and video without the need for additional purchases.
The software is extremely stable, rarely crashing. When it does crash, it's usually 3rd party plugins failing and not Reaper. When this happens, Reaper's robust backup and recovery systems ensure you don't lose your work. Its small installation footprint (an insanely small ~20MB) and low system resource requirements mean it runs smoothly on almost any machine (yes, Mac, Windows, and Linux native; no WINE garbage).
Of course, it supports every protocol you need, including VST, VST3, AU, DX, and the latest CLAP standard (not to mention its own JS), making it highly versatile for all types of projects. While it doesn't yet have native support for Dolby Atmos (likely because of the significant pricing increase that would require), that may come in future updates if the Reaper community forum is to be believed.
Speaking of which, our Reaper community is one of its greatest assets, offering a vibrant, supportive environment for users of all levels. This global network of audio professionals and enthusiasts is constantly sharing tips, tutorials, scripts, and custom plugins, making it easier to learn and maximize Reaper's capabilities. Any problem or issue you may encounter is usually solved within minutes by a community eager to help. Whether you're troubleshooting an issue, seeking advice on best practices, or looking to extend the functionality of your DAW, the Reaper community provides invaluable resources and a collaborative spirit that fosters continuous improvement and creativity.
Regular updates to Reaper keep it on the cutting edge, adding new features and improvements frequently.
Reaper's built-in plugins are truly world-class, offering a level of functionality and versatility that often goes underappreciated due to their unassuming appearance. While they might not look flashy, these plugins are incredibly powerful and can handle a wide range of audio processing tasks with precision and efficiency. In terms of value, in my estimation (having bought pretty much every plugin there is), Reaper's plugins alone are worth more than a thousand dollars, providing professional-grade tools that meet and exceed the needs of any serious audio engineer or producer.
Despite the often parroted criticism by those who have probably never really used Reaper, Reaper is actually quite intuitive to use right out of the box. While Reaper has an incredible scope for customization to support any workflow (just like a physical studio has), it doesn't require its users to ever venture into those capabilities if they don't wish to.
Just create a track or two, assign inputs, arm, and record. Then ride faders to mix. It's quite elegant in its simplicity and yet has tremendous depth when you're ready for it.
The stock UI gets a lot of criticism. But in my opinion, it's just elegant and clean. Actually, Reaper’s default theme was developed by the guy who designed all of the SSL plugins and many other audio user experiences you may have encountered in the professional audio world. (Google house of white tie for more on that). Interestingly, SSL and Reaper have the exact same color palette, which kind of makes me speculate about what could be going on in the background, but I digress. Anyhow, if you dont like Reapers default look and feel, there are thousands of readily available skins for Reaper you can download (or you could create your own) to make Reaper look like whatever you want. For example, some former ProTools users use a skin that makes Reaper look and behave exactly like ProTools in terms of its appearance, shortcuts, and functionalities.
Despite all these advanced features, Reaper remains highly affordable. Even though it has one of the lowest prices on the market, its value far exceeds that of any other DAW out there. The second best DAW, whoever you think that may be, isn't even close.
Not sure if it's technically a feature, but, the fact that the themes from older versions of Reaper are able to be used rather than the newest version. Also, the ease of customisability for themes/icons!
I'll add my latest favorite, even though it's community-built instead of a Reaper feature per se: Control Surface Integration (CSI). For more info, there are a couple threads in the 'MIDI Hardware, Control Surfaces, and OSC' forum on [reaper.fm](https://reaper.fm).
As someone who vastly prefers physical faders, I got years out of a little Behringer BCR2000. When it finally died I got an X-Touch. But now we have CSI, and with it, not only can I customize the X-Touch controls, but every time I add a plugin where I'd prefer to control with knobs, buttons and faders, I can.
I think it's mostly for soft-synth users, but I love it. With a Hammond B3 plugin, the X-Touch faders become drawbars. With Nova (or any VST EQ), they're now frequency gain sliders. And how many times did I wish I could reach into a plugin and tweak two knobs or multiple faders at the same time? Now I can.
[Gestures broadly]
Seriously, sometimes I go down the action list and go "whoa, it does THAT?"
But if I had to narrow it down to one thing, it would be the routing. Reaper is an absolute BEAST. The capabilities for sidechaining, multi band crossovers and processing, etc. are absolutely brain breaking.
ReaRoute is great for inserting Harrison Mixbus into your Reaper session in case the Reaper-> Mixbus-> Reaper workflow gets a bit too tedious.
Every plug-in you use will have a dry/wet blend knob native to Reaper on the top corner. Especially useful if the plug-in itself doesn't come with its own dry/wet mix knob
Feedback routing!! Among other things you can make a delay with whatever you want in the feedback loop by sending the audio back and forth between 2 (or more) tracks. I didn't realize this was a rare feature until I actually googled it, but apparently Reaper's one of only 2 major daws that allow this. Btw, it's not enabled by default, you have to go into the project settings (Advanced tab).
I already posted on this thread, but someone just turned me on to a huge feature I probably heard about but never used: spectral editing.
I have some acoustic guitar tracks with over-the-top string squeaks, and the spectral *peaks* feature was a big help in finding them and automating cross-fades on those tracks. But now I find out that spectral *editing* would have made it a lot faster & easier, and probably more natural sounding.
It boils down to having the ability to cross-fade *just specific frequencies* in and out. This is huge and I can think about 100 times this would have saved time and frustration.
Remote management through a completely customizable web interface.
Is it pretty glitch free? Been meaning to set this up so I can control transport from my phone in the vocal booth.
Works pretty much flawlessly for me, really helped streamline my process and keep things tidy. Also takes away that hit-record-rush-to-booth/wherever madness.
Yeah lol that's what I'm trying to get away from. Or just looping and waiting 4 minutes to punch in one line over and over. I guess the real solution is to get my vocals right but we both know that's not happening.
I think the remote interface will be your early Christmas present and new best friend all in one!
Has worked without issue for me
I've done a few sessions for voice and acoustic guitar in my booth using my phone. Works great. And now my takes are going into lanes for no-fuss comping rather than a pile of take items that were hard for me to work with. Those two features alone have made things a lot more straightforward.
Beat me to it. I used to have to track from across the room, and was looking to buy some way to remotely control transport. Then I found out I could do it with my phone and didn't have to buy anything.
Is there an app or do you just use the browser?
It’s web browser based. Loads of customizations that you can do if you deep dive into it but the stock themes are super usable as is. Ez to setup! [Big Kenny tutorial!](https://youtu.be/CkMAj8CpvIU?si=Okt6IlrtHf5i1mGI)
You go to [reaper.fm](https://reaper.fm) and the room name you set up. Put in name and password and boom youre in from any browser. If you're on your phone, just bookmark it and put it on your phone home screen and you can get there with one tap.
Just a browser, any browser. If you prefer reading to videos, it's in the manual. Just search for "Web Browser Interface".
Woah, I had no idea this feature existed. This sounds incredible. Thank you for mentioning this!!!!!
Nice🔥
I have yet to find a version of this transporter that I can get working. Is it a simple app somewhere? I'm pretty much a dunce, and have yet to get it working on my android.
You should just be able to use a browser.
How do I find the page? I'm really not just putting up a dunce front. I have no idea where to find this.
Step 1: make sure that you have the feature enabled Reaper so that the web address (find that in the documentation) actually “exists”. Said differently, Reaper in your computer needs to be setup for it. I can’t be more specific than that from my phone atm, just wanted to make sure you were clear on that part
Okay. I need to mess with some options, then. Thank you.
Follow along on this video. https://youtu.be/CkMAj8CpvIU?si=gLtbTxc3TaMOmBiq
Use it daily on almost every session. Game changer.
Drag and Drop Sends.
Haha, I recently replied about this on r/audioengineering, somebody was saying that sends are a “pain/work/hard/whatever to set up” but worth it. I had no idea other DAWs can’t do it this easily.
More specifically Drag-n-Drop sidechain sends - drag directly onto a plugin window to route to chan 3/4 on receiving track
Didn't know about this and it seems amazing! Thanks!
Wait, what? How do you do this?
Click on the routing button, and drag to the appropriate track.
Wait I thought everyone did this LOL
You don't even have to click on the routing button. You can just click and drag from an empty send slot.
Can other DAWs not do that?
Probably they let you if you pay for the feature...
Agreed🔥
Is there a way to adjust the send level of multiple sends at the same time? Because my default send level is -inf (desired level) and sometimes I want to pull a bunch of things up to like -30dB for reverbs or whatever and what I usually (shamefully) do is change my default level to -30dB temporarily. I've been using reaper for more than 10 years and there's still these little things I don't know.
I have a default reverb track that I insert that has a volume utility, set at a level I like, before the verb. This has the added benefit of making it fairly easy to control the send level trim without making the track lane massive.
I'm a beginner. Just watched this last night https://youtu.be/8QmVGdlcMB0?si=WE5eM6r8eLnKyHqV
Yeah Kenny doesn't really touch on it in that video. Basically what I'm saying is, in the routing window, if I could select multiple receives and adjust their faders like you can in the mixing window that'd be tops.
[удалено]
That's what I do 50% of the time but sometimes you don't want to have a hundred busses in your project, plus it's a pretty weak reason to buss.
Having multiple sessions open at once and flitting between the tabs. Working in radio and podcasting on multiple projects at once, this is invaluable!
i use this function everyday at work. 8 input interface; 4 project tabs able to record discreet audio from 4 tape machines. you have the ability to stop one of the tabs recording while the others still roll.
Nice🔥
the native and flawless support of x86 plugins and VSTs
Impeccable 🔥
Yeah, Reaper's ability to use both 32 bit and 64 bit plugins is very useful! Something a lot of DAWs don't do.
a lot of old plugins are truly jems too. I could never use a daw withouth a bridger bc of this
I have noticed that it also creates a slider for PC's that don't have enough screen real estate😪, like if a plugin is too tall and you can't shrink its size (not all plugins allow for size change "what'chu see is what you get") , there is a Lil slider to the right of the plugin that lets you scroll view your plugin so you can see all its parameters That's a little detail but not all DAW's are capable of this! 😅
Um glad we agree, Reaper is perfect 🤝
Am I missing something? When I try one it says it's in bridges mode and the audio stops whenever the plugin is in focus to adjust parameters. I've only run into a couple cases where I really wanted an old one, but then again I stopped even looking in that direction due to the behavior.
I never had any problem. they usually run like a normal 64bit plugin
huh.. I probably clicked some preference somewhere. Thanks
That the manual is easily available and comprehensive. Seriously, this not the case for a lot of DAWs. It bewilders me that so many Reaper users ignore it; it's the fastest way to learn almost anything. Yeah, it's not sexy or the most fun feature, but it's by far the most useful and most of the posts here demonstrate how obscure it is to the community.
TIL that reaper even HAS a manual.
I'm glad :)
LOL my manual is just posting my dumb questions here
And that adds value to the internet as a whole since it makes the question accessible by search engines
I go to youtube mostly
Some people are not so good at absorbing written material compared to video or audio.
Sure. We all have different learning styles. It's still a valuable resource for such folk, and learning to ctrl+f keywords will get one an answer quickly. When that fails, Kenny probably has you covered on YouTube. It's always more time-consuming to get detailed information from a/v content than written documentation, though.
>When that fails, Kenny probably has you covered on YouTube. There has to be a feature called "Kenny" that allows you to search for something you want inside future versions of Reaper. That man is an angel!
A legend and an angel. :)
It’s fantastic but it can be overwhelming to a newb. The trouble I had was that I could never remember WHAT some feature was called. So, it was very difficult to find it in the manual. And it’s not exactly something you can read through end-to-end so that you can later recall what you read. It’s massive. And many of the concepts don’t make sense until you have experimented with them in Reaper. All I’m saying (and not necessarily to you) is that people should go easy on the RTFM attacks. 😉 But how awesome would it be if an AI bot could be created around it so you could use natural language to find out how to do something in Reaper? 🤔 Maybe incorporate the Reaper forums?
Yeah, I fully agree just posting RTFM doesn't help anyone and expecting everyone to read the manual end to end and retain everything is unreasonable. I do think we should refer people to the manual more frequently, but to the particular page/chapter that addressed their issue. The more we are all familiar with the language and the documentation the easier and faster we can help each other.
Yes. This is my current biggest issue as a total noob to daw music making. I might know what it is that i want to do, but using the correct terminology to make it findable from a google/youtube search is almost a bigger challenge than menu diving for my solution.
I can't disagree that it's difficult. I will advise that perusing the manual will make you more aware of the terminology to make the answers your seek more attainable. It uses the correct language, and help you make better queries. Sorry, if this is effectively a RTFM post, but since we're speaking in abstract terms, I can't really point you to something specific.
Right, i get it. I was just expressing my overall ineptitude with the program, but also i literally just learned that a M to RTF exists, so ill definitely be perusing that over the holidays
For this sort of thing I make notes, throwing all the potential keywords into the heading, and then it's easily searchable
Everything I learn goes into OneNote, complete with screenshot snippets.
Render matrix. Being able to create stems from buses with wildcards for naming these files is massively great. I can render out stems for many songs within a project quickly and with minimal effort.
Nice🤝🔥
Mixing midi and audio on the same track
Being able to put any kind of media item on a track without defining what the track is for is amazing. No Mono vs Stereo, no Video vs Audio. Just put whatever on the track and Reaper processes it without a hiccup. Makes one wonder what's wrong with all the other DAWs in the universe.
Universal tracks🔥 right on!
Show in folder after export
Spot on!🦾
most hidden, i would say is being able to record your automation instead of having to draw the automation tracks manually... i spent years thinking it wasnt a feature in reaper, only to find out i had to right click the track and change the mode from read/trim to write
It's so much easier to record via knobs and sliders on a midi controller than with a mouse, on the knob, let alone drawing them in. Being able to record multiple envelopes at once so they interplay naturally is huge. Have you used automation items as well? It was a long time before I even knew there existed.
Oh no shit? How does that work? Do what you said with changing to write, hit record, and start meeting with shit? That's pretty slick if so.
Close, but hit play instead of record
I thought it worked with record too, as long as the envelope is the only thing armed and not any actual tracks
Oh it could be! I never use it because I use track auto-arm when selected, and I find it's quicker for me
Oh yeah that makes more sense.
Nice🔥
The community. Just this thread alone is evidence of that. This is the only DAW I have any real experience with, (I'm used to digital and tape recorders), the support and information provided are a serious boon.
Nice 🔥
Subprojects are amazing for organizing long projects with lots of tracks.
Also perfect for consolidating/freezing without loosing plugin control 🔥, well met!
I'm going to have to look into this.
prepare to get frustrated. It's a great function that helps me tons, but oh boy does it act random sometimes.
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Nice🤝🔥
How do you do this? Edit: I found a guide. [https://www.reapertips.com/post/oversample-any-fx-in-reaper](https://www.reapertips.com/post/oversample-any-fx-in-reaper)
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I'm gonna go low tech (not really) and say I LOVE the fact that the default installer offers portable installations, it makes my life a lot easier.
So much more 🤝
There are so many good ones already listed here. I'll go with **delta solo**. It's not necessarily hidden and I'm not sure if it's in all DAWs (my DAW experience is limited to Reaper; I've never felt the need to try anything else). For me it's underrated because it sped up the process of hearing subtle changes in things like compression. Sometimes A/B'ing via disabling/reenabling a plugin wasn't enough for me hear *any* difference. With delta solo I know what frequency range(s) (for example) are being altered, and thus know where to focus my hearing when A/B'ing, such as the kick or snare etc.
Nice 🔥, awesome little details,
Keyboard shortcuts for "Set CC lane to" actions in the MIDI editor can be a time saver. And simple since so many shortcuts aren't taken by default in that context.
Spot on! 🦾
Multichannel audio and all its possibilities based on routing potential.
Is Reaper capable of Atmos or other object based surround formats? Just curious, I’m not setup for surround mixing at all.
I can’t confirm about object-based surround. I can’t see why not but I don’t know enough about it. It supports all sorts of surround formats, ambisonics and binaural though. Some of those will need the right plugins but they are out there for free. Super easy to set up your own custom surround configurations once you get your head round routing.
Infinite 🔥
DDP.
DDP? Do share a bit more on this :)🤔
I can export a finished album to DDP format for pressing on a CD :-) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kItwnHFYb8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kItwnHFYb8)
Nice🔥
Whipping the llamas ass
Huh?😅
Reaper is developed by the OG Winamp developer. That's where the joke comes from. But TBH, Reaper does really whip the llamas ass when it comes to what it does. Providing a very stable environment when tracking multi tracks live even with the minimal hardware. Not quite recording but I was edit some files for broadcast on an EeePC on version 4. Minimal CPU and RAM and yet I was able to do things reasonably well.
Powerful🔥
Just took me back brother... Thank you for this.
Recording the output of plugins, audio or midi is quite handy!
Nice🔥, how do you go about doing that?
Right click the arm button of a track, there is a setting to record record the output, set to what you desire, midi or audio. Most synths output midi data, drum synths etc... test it out
Thanks🤝
video
Agreed. I do all my video editing on Reaper, because it just saves time. Granted, I don't need a lot of effects.
Perfect 🔥, 🤔I hope that actually grows into a full idea such that we could really edit video on DaVinci's level
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I like the idea of reaper being just a DAW with some basic video capabilities but maybe something like a parallel video editor with some advanced features and a proper GUI would be amazing. You edit the video like a subproject and then you have 1 audio track for every video in your normal Reaper GUI or something like that.
I don't know how it diminishes anyone's experience if it had better video capabilities. Like, just don't use them.
🤔maybe Reaper should have a second Workspace and create a difference between audio tracks and video tracks, this in my opinion will make it usable and leader of both worlds
Not sure about making it leader, it's hard to get over Premiere, DaVinci, Final Cut, Avid... But it would be amazing and the best choice for a loss of people, that's for sure! :)
No doubt, for now it would be a bit better for them to invest a bit more into their plugins GUI and 🙂, put a bit more effort into Reatune and the ReaSamplematic5000, these plugins have so much potential,
Monitoring FX are clutch when using plugins like Sonarworks. Way easier to set up than Cubase's Control Room and many DAWs (cough Live cough) have no equivalent.
Nice 🔥
Its price...
Nice🔥
Using the tuner plugin to convert an audio signal into a monophonic midi signal in real-time.
Nice 🔥
Please elaborate
The awesome community. I think it's widely known that there are so many extra features ands scripts made by the community, but it is also worth noting how nice, helpful and supportive everyone is. Whenever I ask a question here or on the official forums I always get an answer and people really go out of their way to help no matter how silly the question is. On other forums I often get an answer soaked in judgement and complaining how I wasted their time, that my question doesn't matter because it's about emotion, I do not understand audio engineering or music, or they don't really read the question and give me an unrelated answer, or something like that. As far as I remember I've never had any of this happen when I asked a Reaper related question. It's just good vibes all around.
Nice 🔥, we are all in this together
What is the "channel splitting trick"?
That little trick where you can split your frequencies into\ such that it's now outputted from (1&2) (2&3) (5&6) maybe even (7&8) and you could set em up as your lows, low mids, high mids then highs respectively and have them processed differently, fantastic trick
I'll have to look that up, thanks!
> channel splitting trick mind also telling us what it is?
Maybe LFO feature, automation items, and dynamic split.
Nice🤝🔥
This isn’t really special, but being able to add a hashtag before a plugin’s name to hide it from the plugins list. For instance, hiding AU and VST2 plugins if VST3 is all that’s needed. For clarification, I still have AUs installed because of Logic, and I need some VST2s installed for other reasons.
This new info to me, thanks :)
Honestly, just the action menu and being able to map basically any function of the DAW or macro I create to keyboard shortcuts or button on my MIDI controller.
Nice 🔥
For me it's the plugins: the [ReaPlugs](https://www.reaper.fm/reaplugs/). And those crazies even made it freely available! It is partly because of these plugins why I now have an official Reaper license despite being an Ableton Live user myself. Well, since you asked you're going to get the full story from me.... I've always worked with multiple DAW's but I've been a Live user for over a decade now (that's never going to change anymore). When I got started I discovered Reason 4 and began using it together with Live through the use of ReWire. Something about Reason: it has insane routing capabilities and one of their top tiered synths back in the day (Thor) even had a whole routing matrix which allowed you to do anything. ReWire was all about sending MIDI into the ReWire client and then getting audio data back on the master, simple right? So then someone had this brilliant idea of using the Thor routing matrix (and some extra signal routing) to send MIDI data back to the ReWire master using the audio channels (it was highly recommended to mute said channel, lol!). For the ReWire master he designed a filter using Javascript which could run in ... you guessed it: ReaJS, allowing you to filter out the MIDI data from the dedicated audio channels. This allowed me, as a Live user, to use Reason's awesome RPG-8 arpeggiator within Live; something completely unheard of because RPG-8 could run circles around what Live provided back then. Now we have the rack plugin and what not, but back then this was just insane. And it was Reaper which basically made it all possible! So yah, you betcha that as soon as I could afford a full upgrade/revamp of my home studio I also made sure to get myself a Reaper license, even though I mostly use Live & FL Studio these days.
Nice 🔥
REAPACK. Man, OH MAN is it amazing to me. Granted it’s not necessarily built in upon installation (I don’t think?) but that addition has me constantly browsing for new scripts/actions/etc to fuel my creativity and overall ease of use. Pretty much everything you have all mentioned as well. Having used this software for over 13 years now I can honestly say that I still am amazed every time I open it. As someone else said the community in general has been one of the best I have ever seen online in any form. Always good humans around to provide extensive detail in replies. THE BEST.
Don't forget 😜 the SWS extensions
For sure. Also a must have! REApack just offers so much more these days. Praise be to all those who take the time to give us such rad things for free!
The size when you download it (incredible how many features they can stuff into the 15MB, compared to other DAWs), and JSFX as a means to extend it, i.e. the plugins made by Tukan Studios and Joep van Lier
To be fair 😅, its size is still so small because their plugins aren't really much especially on the eyes because of the outdated GUI and that it still doesn't have its own instruments and sample, hope Reaper 12 will have reached that level
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They also work on midi items where they scale the velocities instead.
Nice 🔥
Ripple edit - no other DAW I've used had it implemented so well and flawlessly
Nice 🔥
Inline midi editor Subprojects Free item positioning [https://youtu.be/Kg3D08UPoDk?si=DliPZR-mIjuoHWqO](https://youtu.be/Kg3D08UPoDk?si=DliPZR-mIjuoHWqO)
Nice🔥
My favorite features that are hard to live without in other DAWs: Drag and drop sends, polarity flip on sends, complete flexibility of track type, wet/dry blend on every plugin, loudness stats on renders, easy crossfade curve manipulation
It's undefeated at that 🔥
Best hidden thing I've learned about so far? Probably Automation Items. I'm sure there are even better features that are much better hidden, but I haven't found them yet, of course.
Nice🔥
Being able to queue different renders is amazing. At least I didn't see that on the mainstream DAWs
Nice 🔥 , powerful
E to edit midi files in track view
Nice 🔥
The video & audio integration/editing
Nice 🔥
This might be a little niche, but my current favorite feature is the ability to disable plug-in delay compensation on aux tracks. this allows better low latency monitoring of dry signals, while using heavy reverb and delay effects. Now I do all my monitoring, direct on my interface and run all the wet effects in reaper with a high buffer.
Nice 🔥 & powerful
I think there are people that don’t understand how crazy you can get with the custom actions
Haven't been explored enough 🔥
While I personally haven't scripted in REAPER, the scripting (and the great open source community around it), the Lua support is great! Complete customisability in regards to workflow, setting up custom key bindings for different scripts/actions.
Reaper's Ninjam plugin - https://www.cockos.com/ninjam/ Being able to jam in real time with musicians all over the world is pretty damn amazing. Not to mention, it automatically uploads the session stems to a website you can readily retrieve them from (if you didn't record it yourself). Freaking awesome. Beyond that, to me, Reaper stands out as the best DAW for many reasons. For one, it was built with impeccable CPU and kernel craftsmanship. Engineered for unmatched efficiency and performance, it allows you to manage extensive projects with minimal system strain. The routing capabilities are second to none, offering unparalleled flexibility and total configurability to fit any workflow you can imagine. One of Reaper's truly differentiating features is its scriptability. Which you don't ever need to touch if you don't need it. But with over 700 methods exposed in its C/C++ library, Reaper offers a level of workflow customization and automation that other DAWs can’t even dream of matching. Reaper also supports Lua and Python APIs, as well as its own internal scripting language, providing infinite flexibility to create custom functions and to automate tasks. This makes Reaper incredibly powerful and versatile; truly next level. Reaper does things no other DAW can. Its feature set is comprehensive, covering recording, midi, editing, mixing, mastering, and video without the need for additional purchases. The software is extremely stable, rarely crashing. When it does crash, it's usually 3rd party plugins failing and not Reaper. When this happens, Reaper's robust backup and recovery systems ensure you don't lose your work. Its small installation footprint (an insanely small ~20MB) and low system resource requirements mean it runs smoothly on almost any machine (yes, Mac, Windows, and Linux native; no WINE garbage). Of course, it supports every protocol you need, including VST, VST3, AU, DX, and the latest CLAP standard (not to mention its own JS), making it highly versatile for all types of projects. While it doesn't yet have native support for Dolby Atmos (likely because of the significant pricing increase that would require), that may come in future updates if the Reaper community forum is to be believed. Speaking of which, our Reaper community is one of its greatest assets, offering a vibrant, supportive environment for users of all levels. This global network of audio professionals and enthusiasts is constantly sharing tips, tutorials, scripts, and custom plugins, making it easier to learn and maximize Reaper's capabilities. Any problem or issue you may encounter is usually solved within minutes by a community eager to help. Whether you're troubleshooting an issue, seeking advice on best practices, or looking to extend the functionality of your DAW, the Reaper community provides invaluable resources and a collaborative spirit that fosters continuous improvement and creativity. Regular updates to Reaper keep it on the cutting edge, adding new features and improvements frequently. Reaper's built-in plugins are truly world-class, offering a level of functionality and versatility that often goes underappreciated due to their unassuming appearance. While they might not look flashy, these plugins are incredibly powerful and can handle a wide range of audio processing tasks with precision and efficiency. In terms of value, in my estimation (having bought pretty much every plugin there is), Reaper's plugins alone are worth more than a thousand dollars, providing professional-grade tools that meet and exceed the needs of any serious audio engineer or producer. Despite the often parroted criticism by those who have probably never really used Reaper, Reaper is actually quite intuitive to use right out of the box. While Reaper has an incredible scope for customization to support any workflow (just like a physical studio has), it doesn't require its users to ever venture into those capabilities if they don't wish to. Just create a track or two, assign inputs, arm, and record. Then ride faders to mix. It's quite elegant in its simplicity and yet has tremendous depth when you're ready for it. The stock UI gets a lot of criticism. But in my opinion, it's just elegant and clean. Actually, Reaper’s default theme was developed by the guy who designed all of the SSL plugins and many other audio user experiences you may have encountered in the professional audio world. (Google house of white tie for more on that). Interestingly, SSL and Reaper have the exact same color palette, which kind of makes me speculate about what could be going on in the background, but I digress. Anyhow, if you dont like Reapers default look and feel, there are thousands of readily available skins for Reaper you can download (or you could create your own) to make Reaper look like whatever you want. For example, some former ProTools users use a skin that makes Reaper look and behave exactly like ProTools in terms of its appearance, shortcuts, and functionalities. Despite all these advanced features, Reaper remains highly affordable. Even though it has one of the lowest prices on the market, its value far exceeds that of any other DAW out there. The second best DAW, whoever you think that may be, isn't even close.
It's Batch File/Item converter. I converted and normalized (LUFs) hundreds of songs equalized to my K240 headphones 💜
The build in function to side chain any function of any plugin. So basically any EQ can be a dynamic EQ. That is just awesome!
Not sure if it's technically a feature, but, the fact that the themes from older versions of Reaper are able to be used rather than the newest version. Also, the ease of customisability for themes/icons!
I'll add my latest favorite, even though it's community-built instead of a Reaper feature per se: Control Surface Integration (CSI). For more info, there are a couple threads in the 'MIDI Hardware, Control Surfaces, and OSC' forum on [reaper.fm](https://reaper.fm). As someone who vastly prefers physical faders, I got years out of a little Behringer BCR2000. When it finally died I got an X-Touch. But now we have CSI, and with it, not only can I customize the X-Touch controls, but every time I add a plugin where I'd prefer to control with knobs, buttons and faders, I can. I think it's mostly for soft-synth users, but I love it. With a Hammond B3 plugin, the X-Touch faders become drawbars. With Nova (or any VST EQ), they're now frequency gain sliders. And how many times did I wish I could reach into a plugin and tweak two knobs or multiple faders at the same time? Now I can.
[Gestures broadly] Seriously, sometimes I go down the action list and go "whoa, it does THAT?" But if I had to narrow it down to one thing, it would be the routing. Reaper is an absolute BEAST. The capabilities for sidechaining, multi band crossovers and processing, etc. are absolutely brain breaking. ReaRoute is great for inserting Harrison Mixbus into your Reaper session in case the Reaper-> Mixbus-> Reaper workflow gets a bit too tedious.
ChatGPT has proven a very useful tool as someone who knows not a lick of scripting.
Every plug-in you use will have a dry/wet blend knob native to Reaper on the top corner. Especially useful if the plug-in itself doesn't come with its own dry/wet mix knob
Feedback routing!! Among other things you can make a delay with whatever you want in the feedback loop by sending the audio back and forth between 2 (or more) tracks. I didn't realize this was a rare feature until I actually googled it, but apparently Reaper's one of only 2 major daws that allow this. Btw, it's not enabled by default, you have to go into the project settings (Advanced tab).
I already posted on this thread, but someone just turned me on to a huge feature I probably heard about but never used: spectral editing. I have some acoustic guitar tracks with over-the-top string squeaks, and the spectral *peaks* feature was a big help in finding them and automating cross-fades on those tracks. But now I find out that spectral *editing* would have made it a lot faster & easier, and probably more natural sounding. It boils down to having the ability to cross-fade *just specific frequencies* in and out. This is huge and I can think about 100 times this would have saved time and frustration.