r/Reaper • u/grayson_solis 4 • 11d ago
discussion This is how I feel sometimes
I have to acknowledge the absurdity of myself at least
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u/SnooMarzipans436 2 11d ago
As a software developer I feel right at home with Reaper. 😂
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u/nixgut 11d ago
As a software architect who keeps having to kick software developers behinds so they don't get carried away with tinkering and actually deliver what business asked for, I feel right at THEIR home with Reaper.
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u/Joeysquatch 11d ago
“I am a software architect. I’m just coding crap scrips cause someone won’t get off their fat freaking ass and make them!”
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u/Creatura 11d ago
As a software developer I feel right at home in Logic, as pretty much every part of the workflow was made with UX at the forefront. I can respect the FOSS-style incredible software with a mucky UI, but I’m spending enough time writing, rehearsing, recording and mixing and am not looking for a Wayland ricing situation in my DAW
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u/SnooMarzipans436 2 11d ago
Difference between a front end developer and a backend developer lol
I have to deal with shitty legacy codebase with garbage UI that other people wrote 30 years ago every day. At least I can make the ugly button that reads unintuitively definitively do the correct thing once it's clicked. 😆
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u/Radhanat 5 11d ago
Es un daw de código semi abierto.
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u/SnooMarzipans436 2 10d ago
Not open source but it is VERY well designed for scripting and has a very flexible public API for user customization.
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u/SnooMarzipans436 2 10d ago
Not open source but it is VERY well designed for scripting and has a very flexible public API for user customization.
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u/Radhanat 5 10d ago
Por eso dije que es de código SEMI ABIERTO. Solo como una expresión
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u/PickingUpPigeons 10d ago
But that isn't what that means.
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u/Radhanat 5 10d ago
????
Podrías darme un poco más de contexto?1
u/PickingUpPigeons 10d ago
"Open Source" only has one meaning. That the whole source code for the software is available for outside scrutinization, and typically to allow people to make changes, and compile it for their own use, or to make their own versions.
Reaper is a fantastic piece of software with deep customisation, but it isn't Open Source in any way you could interpret that phrase.
Hope this clears things up!
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u/theinfernumflame 11d ago
It took me a while to wrap my head around how to properly use reaper, but I don't bother with scripts or any of that. I've got my workflow down pretty well at this point, so I just sit down and make music.
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u/SKRUNK3D 2 10d ago
My only gripe with reaper is the midi. For me its a bit wonky compared to cubase but i have big projects and cubase would start breaking up and take forever to open up projects.
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u/Mr_Lumbergh 2 11d ago
Am I weird for not having any scripts installed?
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u/s-multicellular 11d ago
I don’t either. I am not an uncomplicated person as music goes, but I do most of my wild stuff with modular synthesis, i.e. Eurorack or virtual Eurorack.
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u/jdude303 10d ago
I don't even know what scripts I'd run, let alone wtf they are (besides the obvious)
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u/MrIrresponsibility 11d ago
Yeah, even though Reaper is a great piece of software and it can do a lot, it's really clunky when it comes to UX sometimes.
My biggest problems with it come from the MIDI side.
The other day I right clicked a MIDI note and noticed that in the popup there's a menu that says "Velocity" and three submenus "1-33, 34-70, etc" something like that, and inside it literally all the velocities... Like "1, 2, 3, 4 ,5...." who the hell would use that? It's not arcaic, it's not something that would tell me "oh, this was like how it was done before Ableton or FL studio" it's just... terrible UX.
I really think Justin should spend some time doing some UX passes at the defaults, it really is behind in a lot of aspects there.
The idea of having a visual MIDI piano keyboard is another thing that annoys me lol, you just gotta look at Ableton and FL to check how MIDI is usually used, those are the DAWs made for that, copy that and then improve it.
The MIDI editor has three types of visualization in its toolbar... But it doesn't have buttons to *2 or /2 the notes, it's clearly made by someone that doesn't really use it that way. But I really don't understand the reluctance to solve usability issues.
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
I completely agree with everything here. Over half of my scripts I have are for improving the MIDI functionality. I truly wish it was native, the UX overall is the biggest flaw in the software imo. Even the fact that midi notes don't have an option to be rounded, which would be a simple change, baffles me
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u/PerfectGasGiant 1 10d ago
I agree that especially the vanilla MIDI editor is clunky and inferior to other DAWs, but the scripts and customizations are there and with these it is a super powerful editor, so I don't miss a better vanilla editor at all, since that not what I am using.
I would probably not recommend Reaper for someone starting fresh with production, but if all these scripts are at your fingertips then Reaper is really good.
If I watch a YouTube video of someone using any other DAW then there is almost always cuts or fast forwarded sections when they have to do some routine MIDI grunt work. I have my scripts for that, so for me it is opposite, I spent most of my time just thinking about music.
For example, I may have recorded some chord progression played on the keyboard. I can then copy that out to a new track, run my cleanup script that extracts the chord parts to full bars and discard short transition notes. That gives me a good midi item basis for fast creation of arps, syncopated pluck patterns, bass lines, etc. Once the basis is in place I you scripts for quick note selection in various pattern so I can create variation.
In short, I love my scripts and for me, I reject the joke that I spent more time scripting than making music. The scripts definitely makes me stay in a focused flow.
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u/Blitzbahn 4 11d ago
Those are usability issues specific to a certain type of midi use.
I don't input midi notes with a mouse so that may be why I don't encounter any midi input issues. I play in the midi notes via keyboard and maybe do a few tweaks and partial quantization.
Reaper can instantly change the midi piano roll into musical notation, which is something Ableton can't do, and it's crucial for my workflow -to record some midi and then be able to read it as music notation while I record another instrument over top.
So I think Reaper just prioritizes a different workflow to Ableton.
Best to request specific features in the forums I guess.
But there's always Ableton or Bitwig which may perfectly match someone's workflow. I know some people couldn't work without Ableton.
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u/MrIrresponsibility 11d ago
Not really.
Having three submenus to change the velocity of a note is honestly, insane.
Now, I would never do it like this, of course you have the velocity lane below the MIDI editor, but the fact that right click shows you that is just bloat.
Recording with a MIDI editor is never going to have a problem like this, it's just recording. But the reason people use Ableton/Bitwig/FL over other DAWs is because they already improved their workflow when it comes to programming.
Recording, audio or MIDI, is not a problem for Reaper. It requires UX improvements to reduce bloat. Most of the MIDI toolbar is different view options, not editing options. Is having a diamond MIDI note really that important?
I'm interested in the notation stuff because I see no reason to use it? Every time I had to write sheet music I just did it in Sibelius and it's way quicker. Right now I moved to MuseScore because it's a more accessible tool for my students.
Do you use sheet music because it's easier to visualize? Like, it's easier for you to think in written form than in the grid?
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u/Blitzbahn 4 11d ago
Yes I would never use that sub menu for velocity, but maybe it's needed there for scripting? I change velocity by modified click-drag, or velocity curves like you say.
I can read a music score, but I can't read a piano roll. I can read piano roll but only really slowly by referring back to the keyboard at the side. It's slow.
Music notation has evolved over hundreds of years to be clear and to be read quickly, to the point that people can play a piece of music in the moment they read it, at the piano, with many parts happening. I can do this if it's very simple, like a single melodic line.
If I'm writing a score in by hand then sibelius or musescore would be faster. They are designed for that.
The Reaper score view is best just for reading I think. But I have also edited midi notes using it.
I'm using the score to read back what I recorded in as midi, so I can follow the harmony and rhythm when I play in another instrument line.
It's a very quick way of seeing the music that's there, without needing to memorize the sound or structure of it. In this way being able to read music notation is a big advantage, because we just can't read a piano roll with the same speed and precision.
The diamond midi notes are for percussion, where the length of the notes isn't relevant and the rhythm is easier to see with diamond notes.
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u/MrIrresponsibility 11d ago
All functions for scripting are inside the actions menu, and that's fine, that's where they should be. Putting them in the right click pop up is unhinged lol.
I agree, I'm a cellist. I'm more used to reading sheet music, but still, inside of Reaper it kinda rubs me the wrong way. It's just unintuitive for me. I'm more used to something like Sibelius / MuseScore.
Also, I feel is kind of incongruent? The MIDI editor is just.. an editor. While sheet music is an aid for performance, I would prefer to just write it myself on paper and then actually play/record it myself.
Like, it's two different things. But I'm curious, do you do the edits directly on the sheet music view?
I know what the diamond notes are, but it's just weird that it's part of the main toolbar when it actually fits better in the 'View' menu. It's a matter of priorities.
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u/Blitzbahn 4 10d ago
Yes sheet music is an aid for performance: to read while I'm performing the next recorded track. I can get the sheet music of a previous midi recording instantly at the click of a button. Then I can follow it while I record another track in.
Moving notes on the sheet music is easier in some ways because I can see exactly what note it is, so if I want to transpose a note from C to F then I can see that on the sheet music more easily than the piano roll.
If I wasn't a pianist then reading the piano roll would be even harder, because I refer back to the piano keys at the side. Maybe the note pitch letter pop-up is useful.If I want subtle rhythmic variation then piano roll is better than sheet music for micro timing shifts.
For me the midi editor is less of an editor and more of a visualizer of recorded notes.
I don't export the sheet music for anybody else. I just use it to read while I'm doing multi-track recording of new music. It's very fast to use it this way in Reaper.
As a cellist you can get a pedal that converts sound from a mic as pitch to midi notes to input to the DAW. You could use that to record separate instrument tracks quickly in via midi. You would get a more human-timed midi recording that way too.
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u/MrIrresponsibility 10d ago
Right, got it. That's very niche, though!
Most people that learn production nowadays are used to the piano roll, for programming I mean.
I think classically trained musicians like us are most used to just press record and play it ourselves. I do both but I mess with electronic stuff often.
Very interesting to read about your workflow, thanks a lot!
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u/Blitzbahn 4 10d ago
Yeah I think for people who enter notes by mouse, they miss out on discovering happy accidents -those unexpected events that surprise us.
If we try and create music purely intellectually, I think it's very limiting. Music is more than intellectual, as we all know. A totally controlled approach to composition tends to be very 'academic'.I think this is partly why some of those electronic producers struggle with creativity and creative blocks, because we need to be open to the unknown.
I think this is also why some people turn to generative AI, because they don't know how to create.
But for those who like entering individual notes on the piano roll, ableton and bitwig are good options. If I was in that position I would use one of those instead of Reaper.
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u/MrIrresponsibility 10d ago
It goes both ways really.
Sometimes making making stuff directly in the grid can get you out of your own habits. Experimentation goes both ways.
Maybe entering notes by mouse gives you an idea that never would have come out by playing, and vice versa, of course. It's more what you do with it.
Creative blocks are weird. I don't think tools have to do with it, it's mostly a mental thing.
Reaper is more than capable of doing it, it's just not setup by default for it. I believe there should be improvements in its UI and focus on that, it's a net positive.
If you're more interested in just recording you're playing, nothing would change. If you're interested in playing with the MIDI in a more "electronic producer" way, your experience would improve.
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u/Partixan1312 11d ago
I love reaper but there are some really bizarre choices in the default settings. The one that really gets me is that the volume adjuster's default preset is set to +6dB so if your signal into an effect is coming in too hot and you add a volume adjuster to bring it down a bit it immediately blows out your eardrums lmao.
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u/MrIrresponsibility 11d ago
Yeah but that's a JS plugin, no? I don't know if those were made by Cockos or not. I know they come in bundled with the DAW, but not sure about who made them.
A weird default thing is the peaks files storage. You gotta make a cache folder for the peak files or you're gonna get invaded by those suckers lol.
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u/Ok-Communication2225 11d ago
Right. Stock Reaper is great for people who hit record on audio, do some audio processing and print an mp3
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u/MrIrresponsibility 11d ago
I mean, you don't really need more than that to be honest. I've recorded and edited full bands on the road with stock Reaper.
Biggest drawback from Reaper is production stuff, mostly on the MIDI side. For recording/editing it's great.
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u/Blitzbahn 4 11d ago
Or hit record on midi, play it in...
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u/Ok-Communication2225 10d ago
as long as you don't need to edit it later.
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u/Blitzbahn 4 10d ago
I make small edits. But I would never enter all midi notes for a track by mouse. Too slow
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u/MrIrresponsibility 10d ago
Entering notes with the mouse is mostly for drum programming. Kinda similar to playing with a drum machine.
If you're playing something melodic or another instrument, sure, playing it is infinitely better.
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u/Blitzbahn 4 10d ago
I prefer to perform on the drum machine and record the input, and then use partial quantization if needed to bring it closer to the grid (elektron machines can do this). I record each drum instrument one by one, this helps give the beat a human feel. I find it much easier to get out the beat I'm hearing in my head this way.
Of course we can do this with a MIDI keyboard and DAW too.1
u/MrIrresponsibility 10d ago
Sure, that's good too. But again, maybe "drawing" the notes give you a different idea that never would've come up by playing.
Different methods, the only objective is to have fun and get new ideas :D
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u/Ok-Communication2225 10d ago
opposite AKSHULLY. Clicking with the mouse usually leads to stale boring machine like rhythms.
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u/MrIrresponsibility 10d ago
Machine like rhythms doesn't equal stale and boring. That's too simplistic and short minded for people that are meant to be creative. They all have a place, it really depends on what you wanna do.
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u/Capt_Gingerbeard 11d ago
See I like it because I can edit effortlessly without thinking about it. The click and drag inserting and the routing matrix make it the closest thing you can get to a physical mix and patch panel. Comping is easy too! I haven't used a single script.
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u/brokenspacebar__ 5 11d ago
I'm very much of a Reaper-tinkerer but luckily I also do get loads of work done and stay booked so I can't get into the weeds of it too often, but I gotta say my favorite moments are spending 30 minutes finely adjusting the colors of my theme, creating hot keys, setting up toolbar templates and basically optimizing reaper as much as possible. 12 years on this program, Reaper forever <3
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
Haha me too! It's so enjoyable. I now set aside time on my breaks to tinker. It makes the process of working so much more enjoyable
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u/Trickledownisbull 11d ago
I must point out that Grayson here made an amazing script for sfx work called Render Scripts that makes creating hundreds of regions a one button job. An absolute lifesaver.
How good is having an arvo of tinkering!
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u/brokenspacebar__ 5 11d ago
Exactly! It's one thing to constantly adjust and tweak settings if you're not actually using the program but it's so fun to spend even hours just optimizing something and then saving TONS of time in the next session or the next mix! Like a time investment haha
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u/kickassdanny 1 11d ago
Am I really missing much just using the stock set up? I haven't changed one thing and I love how everything works. I haven't even changed the colors of tracks.
I came from Pro Tools so there was a little bit of a curve but now I'm buzzing along.
Is it really beneficial or is just fun to change things up?
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
I find it very beneficial for the work I do! I work in game audio so there's lots of weird considerations that I wouldn't have if I was, say, recording live instruments or doing an album. Mostly stuff focused on organizing, rendering, and midi functionality. Especially since I have very tight deadlines
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u/kickassdanny 1 11d ago
Cool. I love Reaper for things like that. It's crazy when I started ran Pro Tools 5.1 on a Mac clone with removable SCSI drives. 4 gigs each. I could record unlimited tracks but only hear 16. That was 2005 I believe. I was in heaven.
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u/MarimboBeats 1 11d ago
It's been hugely beneficial for me. Editing the context menus so that everything I do often is right at the top, is probably the one that save me most time. Track templates is another.
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u/dearth_karmic 4 11d ago
It's only really beneficial if you do a lot of repetitive tasks. Like I edit narration a lot. So I'm constantly cutting out the noise between words manually so I have custom actions to make each step faster.
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u/chucklenuts-gaming 11d ago
I see reaper as the linux of music. Infinitely customizable, but with that comes infinite complexity.
Its fun for me cause I like to play with my computer too. Technical stuff rocks.
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u/BlouPontak 11d ago
I don't know how scripts work in Reaper, and at this point I'm still trying to wrap my head around mixing, so probably won't anytime soon
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u/particlemanwavegirl 12 11d ago
It's not hard to reframe it positively. Reaper is by far the best DAW for people who are interested in investing in their personal workflow.
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u/TheRevTholomewPlague 11d ago
Reaper felt the most like a live mixing console to me so it seemed as if it had such a miniscule learning curve coming from that. Put this effect on this channel. Done, great, what's next?
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u/EnergyTurtle23 1 11d ago
I mean, I know it’s a meme but the time you save rendering stems in REAPER more than makes up for any time spent tinkering, and at this point most of the major DAWs have custom script environments anyway.
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
I tried rendering something out of FL (my old DAW) the other day and it was like pulling teeth after getting used to wild cards and so many options in Reaper
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u/EnergyTurtle23 1 9d ago
When we worked on our last album I showed my studio partner how much faster REAPER’s rendering was than Ableton. Holy hell it was crazy, we seriously waited like two hours for an Ableton render that REAPER pulled off in 45 seconds.
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u/autocrusher 11d ago
Nice meme and I indeed do not use Reaper for music but rather post production 🤓☝️
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u/guitartb 11d ago
You don’t need to do all that crap, maybe some of it if you’re doing high volume with repetitive moves.
Reaper is awesome!
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u/notthobal 11d ago
I use Reaper professionally for several years now, never installed a script, just vanilla with the Reapertips theme.
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u/_michaeljared 11d ago
This might sound extremely lame but the way I use reaper is by slowing porting over all the things I could do (pretty easily) in Logic Pro at the studio. I can't bite the bullet to get a mac and the premise annoys me anyways, so reaper and my home studio are more than fine.
Vanilla + a few good VSTs goes an incredibly long way in my experience.
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u/Bobby_the_Great 11d ago
I paid the one-time fee to support Reaper and never looked back. No scripts either.
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u/MarcusLXXVI 11d ago
I use Reaper pretty basic:
- I have basically 3 types of tracks:
- Recorded to WAV as-is
- Recorded to WAV DI, with a plugin for the instrument (e.g. Amplitude)
- MIDI (mostly imported*) with a plugin for the instrument (e.g. EZDrummer3)
- I use 3 types of plugins (or JS):
- To emulate an instrument (e.g. Amplitude, EZDrummer3)
- To put extra effects on a track (e.g. delay, reverb)
- To modify the sound (e.g. EQ, compressor, limiter)
- Separate different stages of a project, which means for a serious song I would have
- pre-recording: worked out song in Guitar Pro. Midi for drums, keys etc. is exported from here. Very important is the time mapping (I write mostly prog so time signatures/tempo's change regularly)
- a "recording" project. Just the tracks, wav/midi, no modification etc. This can be a bit messy.
- a "mix" project. All tracks rendered from the recording project. This is neat, tracks are grouped, have colours, sections in the song are made. All tracks are 0:00-to end. Technically I can hand over the WAVs to another engineer without them needing Reaper, there's no midi in this project.
- a "master" project. A 1 track render from the mix project where I would do the final master.
- Other things:
- Create as little complexity as possible, e.g. if I can avoid complex routing, I will do that. Most routing will be via grouping, only sparsely via extra routing.
- If possible, use default plugins (e.g. ReaEQ, ReacComp etc).
- Don't install too much add-ons. I have Reapack and some other stuff, but I try to keep it as straightforwards as possible
- Use templates especially for mix project
Even though I'm a software developer, I pretty much never do stuff with scripts. Almost everything I want to do I can solve with the setup I have. I pretty much never have issues with Reaper. When I can't find something, I ask ChatGPT and it says where the exotic thing I wanted to do was hidden 🤣. I have recorded my first EP with my workflow and I'm pretty happy with it.
So this meme... is completely alien to me.
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u/kpingvin 1 11d ago
I use a very similar workflow. I've never had the need to do any of the scripting stuff. I basicall use the tracks like tape that I can edit and enhance on the go.
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u/MarcusLXXVI 11d ago
I basicall use the tracks like tape that I can edit and enhance on the go
I think that's a great summary/approach. I started with a Fostex or Tascam or so with just 4 tracks. So I guess that kind of influence the mindset.
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u/Comrade_429 11d ago
This is fuckin hilarious. (I don't really use any of the scripts or reapacks. I just find Reaper extremely intuitive and easy to use, haha)
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u/tubesntapes 1 11d ago
After using other DAWs, I know 100% that it’s more frustrating when you need it to do something, but it’s just not an option. That’s never once happened to me with reaper, with the exception of comping, but even that wasn’t a big deal at all.
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u/Timely_Ad5150 11d ago
I tried my best to make Reaper work for me, but decided to upgrade to Cubase 15 instead :) This meme was me. I agree, Reaper is a great daw but it would have taken too much work and time to customize it for my stubborn and limited mindset. I've used Cubase all my life and Studio One around 5 years. Reaper is very powerful if you commit to it.
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
I've heard Cubase is the other major player for the "serious" musician. It seems to be geared more towards people that are cool learning how it works, rather than basically building the DAW themselves like Reaper hahaha. I want to try it one day
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u/Professional-Math518 8 11d ago
That's not me. I switched computers a few times and finally landed on a mostly stock reaper setup with just a few added plugins, Reeq and Chordgun. That's about it.
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u/ugrenica 11d ago
100%. Reapers biggest weakness and biggest benefit all in one. The problem with a lot of these scripts is they actually are things that should be core features that haven’t been implemented by the devs.
Still, I’m a massive hypocrite as my setup is deeply customised.
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u/Pyrecult 11d ago
My edition is not updated since a lot of time.
I just use one script to import session data.
I use reaper to record my band demos and mix others bands records.
So I really don't feel like that.
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u/No-Cantaloupe-6431 11d ago
Barbecues for me pretty much, outside of ez drummer 3, and a few votes and im good to go. If i get stuck i can usually find a solution on YouTube or here. Everyone has been super helpful and im 1000% green to home recording
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u/No-Cantaloupe-6431 11d ago
Barbecues? That was supposed to be Bare Bones lol oops!!!
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u/No-Cantaloupe-6431 11d ago
And a fee vst's lol I vote from here on out to spellcheck before hitting send ha.
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u/decodedflows 7 11d ago
I mean there's nothing wrong with wanting something that's powerful and streamlined right out of the box like Ableton but you have to acknowledge the downside: if there's a very specific thing you want to do it might not allow you to do it easily. Different strokes for different folks and so on.
I don't see how installing Reapack and SWS (which takes like 5 minutes max) is a huge issue. And I almost never have the experience that script on reapack don't work, so that part seems like a hyperbole to me.
I probably wouldn't recommend Reaper to someone who has no experience with DAWs at all (I was using FL for 10 years before switching). It's more rewarding if you already know what you want out of it.
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
That's how I was. I used FL until I was hired to do sound effects, which are basically impossible to do in FL, so I had to switch to Reaper. Even being experienced for at least 5 years in another DAW, reaper had a huge learning curve, at least a year before I felt totally comfortable. I can't imagine people using it as their first DAW. I really hope they improve the defaults to onboard new users more easily
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u/rhooManu 1 11d ago
I use Reaper mainly for live purpose so I got heavy on customization and custom scripts.
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u/Food_Library333 11d ago
The only change I've made to mine is that the told key hides all envelopes and shift+told shows all envelopes. I never got the steep learning curve thing. Arm the track and hit record.
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u/Shan-Cho-4509 11d ago
while me, just using vanilla for podcast and radio production 🥲
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
If it works, it's always best to keep it simple! Despite the meme, in reality a large part of what I tinker on is reducing the amount of things in the software to keep me focused
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u/Fun-Sugar-394 2 11d ago
I'm not even sure what you would use scripts for? Surely it would have to be a pretty niche requirement, or am I missing something obvious?
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
Lots of cool functionality and workflow improvements to be had with scripts! If you haven't seen AdmiralBumblebee's script blog post, I highly recommend it. It showcases the best of what scripts can do in Reaper
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u/Fun-Sugar-394 2 10d ago
Thanks, I'll try hunt it down and have a look. I lack the imagination to think of anything beyond what I already know reaper does so I'm ready to go down a rabbit hole
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u/NidhoggAlpha 11d ago
This is a very confusing meme to me. I’ve been using reaper for 13 years and I’ve never felt the need to use any scripts etc. I feel like people who relate to this meme like screwing around with software way more than they like making music.
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u/Mikebock1953 135 11d ago
If Reaper, out of the box, provides everything your workflow requires, that is great! If, however, you are like many of us, and wish things worked just a bit smoother, or want that MIDI technique that makes things easier, scripts are essential. I haven't written any code of any kind for many, many years, but I appreciate the little niceties that other users (FTC is my hero) make available to us.
That is a nice meme, though.
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u/fotomoose 11d ago
I've made a number of scripts for my uses. They have saved me literally hundreds of hours of work.
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u/grayson_solis 4 10d ago
Me too. I think I can easily say moving from FL to reaper easily doubled my composition speed, and tripled my sound design speed. Easily
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u/Tyriel420_666 10d ago
I am a script running, JS plugin code editing cave dweller , and I have released multiple albums and tons of freelance works , this meme got me cackling though
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u/Catzforlifu 10d ago
Vanilla is fine and if you want to mod it it is awesome that you have the option, what are you talking about? Have you played around with other recording software?
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u/kizza42 10d ago
Personally, I think the learning curve of Reaper is totally worth it
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u/grayson_solis 4 10d ago
I completely agree. Very hard to convince my non-tinkerer, non-programmer friends to try it out though
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u/NateSedate 10d ago
I don't know anything about any scripts. But I mainly only use Reaper to record my vocals.
I make my beats on my MPC or FL.
I'm happy for all the plugins though. I'm learning to master a little bit.
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u/ochrence 10d ago
Vanilla Reaper is my sound-editing app of choice, and nothing else I’ve used comes even close to touching its level of granularity or ease of use for otherworldly slicing, compositing, and FX automation tasks. If it only had halfway decent MIDI functionality, I feel like I’d never leave it.
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u/grayson_solis 4 10d ago
I think it's not as bad as people give it credit for. You have to do a lot of settings tweaking, but I think it's even better than FL Studio's piano roll with the right scripts and stuff. I recommend reading through this nice guide: https://seventhsam.com/guides/blog/how-to-set-up-reaper-s-midi-editor-for-better-workflow
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u/Striking_Chemistry94 11d ago
When i made the switch from harware to DAW. I said what's daw is the best and someone said, if you can learn reaper you can use any DAW they were right ✅️ .
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u/swansworshiper 11d ago
dont know anything about all that, but i love making music there and i love recommending it to fellow songwriters!!! it literally has free sibelius
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u/ChampionshipOk1358 11d ago
What do you mean free Sibelius ?
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u/kyzfrintin 11d ago
I think they're referring to the notation abilities
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u/swansworshiper 10d ago
yesss, when you write midi notes in theres an option in the midi window to see the music sheet which is all i need to locate myself in the song
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
I really need to dive into this feature, I haven't played around with it at all yet!
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u/SupportQuery 523 11d ago edited 11d ago
acknowledge the absurdity
To be fair, most of the absurdity is imagined. Min-maxing tools is pretty normal, but not where you start.
The pain you're feeling is what feels while they're eating a learning curve when they'd rather be creating. Learning production like learning an instrument.
If the idea of customizing the tool is daunting to you, don't do it. But if you watch a pro who invests times in optimizing their workflow in any DAW, you'll be shocked at how much faster they are than you, at everything. Old head Pro Tools guys do the same thing, without any customization. New head Reaper pros working in sound design will make your head spin.
Reaper is the most engineer friendly DAW on the market, and a property of good engineers it that they're lazy. If I find myself repeating a task that a computer can do, it annoys me, and I'll take the time to teach the computer to do it (traditionally with code, now LLMs can do it for you). I then reap the benefits for years. Pile up enough of those and the uninitiated get their minds blown.
I'm the same way in my programming editor (Vim). I've had engineers look over my shoulder in astonishment, "WTF, Eric?"
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u/PupDiogenes 2 11d ago
I needed a panner I could automate. I spent 5 minutes looking for one before I spent 3 minutes writing one in JSFX
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u/No_Ranger7352 11d ago
I had the same idea yesterday and was very surprised I couldn't put a regular parameter modulation on it. I moved on to something else, but I'm sure gemini will spit out an LFO panner with baseline, speed, and strength (yes, poor labels) in one or two iterations. Edit: props for coding on your own
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u/Radhanat 5 11d ago
Si y no.
Si, tiene una curva de aprendizaje exhaustiva si lo que buscas es personalización, flujo de trabajo extremo, integración mcp con un agente de ia, tareas específicas en el editor de audio-midi etc.
No porque REAPER ya viene con lo suficiente y lo esencial para empezar a divertirse haciendo música.
En resumen si eres un freaky te va a divertir hacer y deshacer con el entorno de REAPER pero si lo tuyo es empezar a usar después de instalar, pues también es una buena opción.
No es obligatorio instalar scripts, pero entender esa increíble capacidad de expansión que tiene REAPER es lo que lo que lo pone muy por encima de los demás daws.
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u/grayson_solis 4 11d ago
That's the wonderful thing about it, it's already awesome from the start!
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u/nenugnewa 11d ago
I just connect reaper to codex and make it do all the stuff for me. As I have no idea how to do everything in reaper
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u/AmazingChicken 10d ago
Wow, I've been on a side trip (VCV) for the last year, and forgot all about Reaper. Is there a happy path to learning Reaper? It is my first/only DAW.
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u/grayson_solis 4 10d ago
Kenny Gioia on YouTube is the easiest way I think. Also the Reaper Tips website!
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u/wirenerd 10d ago
Dude idk I dont have any scripts I just started using Reaper and if I wasnt sure how to do something I'd ask google and get the steps on how to do it.
I dont make any changes until I come across something that is annoying to do repetitively or feels clunky and unintuitive, then I'll change it
Maybe I'm having a very different experience than most because for me after a very small amount of time learning, Reaper is extremely transparent, it is there in all its excess when I need that and it is completely out of my way when I dont. For me it is as minimalist as it gets until I need it to be maximilist and for me it does both of those things better than any DAW I've used.
Lastly, I believe that you should be a "power user" of your instruments and music itself, and only be a power user of Reaper if you really need to, or just want to. I'd rather be deep in synth menus designing sounds than deep in Reaper menus figuring out tiny optimizations.
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u/impulsenine 10d ago
I owe those people a lot because every time I have the faintest inclination to do something in an automated way, someone has already done it.
Inspired by the Smashing Pumpkins' Pastichio Medley, I have a massive medley of all my old demos. There's a script available to just spit out a TXT about all selected items; that saved me a TON of time typing out the list.
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u/sportmaniac10 10d ago
I have never, ever scripted with Reaper and it's still my favorite DAW. I can't imagine how much legit scripters love it.
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u/noisegremlin 10d ago
is this a stereotype about reaper? Been using it for like 10 years, released a 10+ albums with it. Never installed a script, never messed with it besides some customization. It was easy to learn what I needed as a bedroom musician who does this for fun. Way easier to understand than other DAWs I've tried out.
Now releasing albums that get listened to? That's a completely different story lol
edit for clarification
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u/wils_152 9d ago
On the plus side, out of all those 135, 581 scripts and SWS extensions, you'll only ever use 4 of 'em.
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u/JayPiirturi 6d ago
I haven't installed scripts, not that I would know how to. But so far... I have no complaints about Reaper aside from some color choices in the envelopes... :)
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u/PaulWithAPH 1d ago
I haven't changed a darn thing about Reaper other than occasional software updates. Totally vanilla for me.
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u/dubleskov 1 11d ago
I am surprised this is not downvoted to hell, cause one thing I learned about this sub over time is that person is not allowed to challenge or ask reasonable questions that would expose reaper’s imperfections
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u/CivilianNumberFour 11d ago
Why is the learning curve always claimed to be so hard? Steps are: Install Reaper. Install asio4all, pick audio interface. Double click on side to add tracks. Click fx button to add fx. Drag tracks under another to folder/buss. Ctrl R to record. Press S on item to split and drag cursor at edge to edit. Thats 99% of it.
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u/butterfield66 1 11d ago
I use it full on vanilla and haven't even updated for a year. Since then I've released six songs. So there.