Just getting into producing electronic music,from being a live artist for most of my life. The thing that this vedio showed me about Reaper, and answered a major question I had of why is this thing is so weird, is that it's like a blank canvas. It comes raw and you as the Artist have to take the time to learn how to put your paint on the canvas the way "you" want to. It's an instrument and you have to learn how to play it. Modern rap, pop, It all sounds the same, because every one is doing the same thing, the same way. If you listen to people who use the program they will tell you there is a learning curve, which is why most people would rather use some thing else,if you have ever learned to play and instrument you understand what i mean. I learned audacity on the fly, Reaper is not like that, but it can do so much more. Most "home based Producers" aren't useing Pro tools either, because of the learning curve and the price, i would guess, but once you know what you are doing there is nothing that you can't do. I feel that way about Reaper this is my gateway into doing serious music production, not just drag and drop stuff. Do you think artist like KOAN, are doing drag and drop stuff. Yeah it's a pain to have to learn how to properly use Reaper, but i like learning.
Absolutely essential settings to make life of a producer easier in Reaper. Thank you sooooo much, many of these things were something I wished for to be default.
Thank you so much! Great video (also thanks for showing the smaller details and adjustments in the settings... Very much appreciated(aka how to make it zoom to where mouse is lol))
The Groove tool in sws extensions lets you swing media items as well. you can set a sample length to grid, enable item looping, drag it out to prefered bar count, split at transients, and then use the groove tool to swing that bby. great video, thank you, lots of awesome tips!!
Dude thanks a bunch. I was beginning to think there was no decent way to go about programming drums in REAPER. Shame there isn't a built-in Drum Rack sampler thing, but this is cool too. Plus, with placing audio directly on the timeline (as opposed to programming MIDI), you can see the waveforms in the arrangement, which is neat :)
Interesting to see other peoples work methods. Thanks. Also, the reason the items weren't snapping till you moved the track was because you have a hidden track (called "voice") in between them and the snap set to only one track. It's kind of a bug though and probably worth one of us asking for it to ignore hidden tracks :) I might get round to it at some point sigh ;)
oh shit, this is exactly what i want to get into !! reaper blog, youre the best! thanks! django, thank you man! im in the first minutes of the video - thanks for delivering such nice content! :)
I'm new to edm production. I've used Reaper for other genres before. Wouldn't it be easier if set up a drumkit using resamplomatic and then route the outputs through different channels? That way you can write beats like this using the midi piano roll or your midi keyboard. Instead of copying and pasting individual clips like this? Am I missing something? Is this way better for some reason?
Hey great video! I've been following along with this video for a few hours now, and I can not for the life of me figure out how you are able to get the copy/paste behavior that you do. An example is at 7:05...you copy the media item, then when you paste it your cursor is automatically at the next gridline. When I copy/paste a selected section, which includes a media item, my cursor ends up at the end of the media item and not on the grid line. I have to copy, paste, then click on the grid line so I can start the next paste at the correct spot. I followed every step of this video exactly, but I still can't figure out this one thing. If you happen to read this, I'd really appreciate it if you could help. Thanks!
absolutely epic video, very good, many thanks When I paste a selection, it pastes the selected media at the play head and not were the time selection ends. Did I miss something in your settings? How do I fix this?
On the bottom in your file explorer you have a Reaper file list, are those plugins you added? cuz you said this was a fresh instalation of reaper, and if these drums and affects are with the default, where do i find them, cuz i have no idea.
Interesting. How is your method different than loading the sample in ReaSamplomatic5000, and editing the arrangement through the midi editor where swing is already available? Perhaps I'm missing something?
It's just a different workflow. I like being able to pitch things up or down, change volumes, stretch or reverse things without having to open other windows - it's all right there in front of me. I've seen some Ableton users work this way too - it's down to whatever inspires you. I still use ReaSamplomatic and other samplers from time to time for things I want to play in live, or if I have samples with long release times that need to overlap.
when I go to copy and paste (ctrl+c , ctrl+v) it doesn't properly do so.I'd like for it to keep the time and item I've selected like it does in the video. i followed every step and rewatched the video at least 7 times. please help.
For me it works using the action "Copy ... within time selection" (cmd+shift+c, I guess ctrl+shift+c on Windows) instead of "Copy ... ignoring time selection" (cmd+c, I guess ctrl+c on Windows).
It appears that you are running Reaper in Windows in High DPI mode. How are you doing this? I cannot get Reaper to display correctly at all when I try.
Alexander Sherstnyov If you're in need of free options, check out Grace VST by One Small Clue (Windows only), or a sampler called TX16WX (cross platform). I've also built a drum machine using Reaper's ReaSamplomatic5000. You can have multiple on a track and save it as a track template. Only thing is it doesn't seem to have choke groups.
I will always love shortcircuit which is useful for drums as well as other instruments. It basically acts like a soundfont editor in a VST plugin (so many options!) but it's nice and snappy.
Actually Sequencer Megababy, which comes with Reaper is quite nice and probably exactly what you need. It is lightweight and simple. Use ReaSamplomatic5000 to load your samples in a track, each sample applied to one key. Load Megababy before your samples to sequence. Once you like your sequence, record to midi. I use this workflow all the time. It's quite nice because you can record right into Sequencer Megababy and it has auto quantization.
I use a subscription service called Splice Sounds. They have tons of sample libraries (from Loopmasters, Wave Alchemy, Black Octopus and many other well-known brands) and instead of buying the whole library you get to pick individual sounds from them. I wish I had an affiliate link as I'm constantly recommending it to people :). Sorry for delayed response - I don't get notified since it's not my channel.
I produce electronic music with Reaper since 5 years , but i use drum machines like Arturia Spark or Geist. I don't get it why Ableton is so popular in electronic production, it's a so weird and complicated DAW.
Gabriel Landjeen Yeah, I have a couple of samplers I use, but I run into issues with missing samples when I switch computers. If Geist lets you save samples within the project, I should probably start saving up.
I don't use Ableton but I watched many people work in it or make certain tutorials in it and I can definitely see the appeal. It's a great DAW for EDM production, you just have to get used to it. As with almost every other powerful DAW really.
You can see me fiddling with it at 1:14. It should highlight in blue where you're moving the tab to. In my case I had to shrink/restore down the window before it would work.
Why are all the Reaper-based producers using *audio items* instead of actually *recording and sequencing with Midi*? I guess Reaper is still horrible as a Midi sequencer? Last time I checked it was literally unusable. Too cumbersome, too inefficient, too many steps were necessary for the easiest task (like recording a Midi sequence in loop mode). I guess as someone who is used to working with Cubase, Ableton and Logic, I will never be able to adapt to the inefficiency of Reaper in terms of Midi sequencing.
I've never seen anyone moving around audio elements with the mouse in the Ableton arranger view. Of course, you can make music by moving around audio files in the sequencer, but that's not how any serious composer does it. Here is my question (please answer honestly): why has no one succesfully used Reaper as a Midi sequencer? Trust me, I've seen lots of Reaper videos and most of them do what you did: moving around some audio elements with the mouse. That's NOT how 99% of the people usually work in a DAW when they want to make music. Just admit it: Reaper is totally useless when it comes to Midi-based composing with virtual instruments and such. If not, prove to me that there are people successfully using Reaper as a Midi sequencer!
"why has no one succesfully used Reaper as a Midi sequencer?" Probably too busy working to make videos, or under contract and can't show anything. Here's something recent I know of composed in reaper with MIDI th-cam.com/play/PLlMJvfGR0YzjPJustjCHFVGcyFuNbedA2.html
I would like to see a video of someone actually composing in Midi. Yes, Reaper is great for recording, arranging and mixing audio. But it's unusable as a midi-based DAW! Have you tried it before? I mean, it's one of the main functions of a DAW: recording virtual instruments and composing songs. Dragging around audio files is not what I want to use a DAW for, I want to make music, record sequences, add additional instruments etc. Reaper is a pain in the ass when it comes to that. Yes, it's possible, but in a very inefficient, counter-intuitive and non-productive way.
... (continued: see last comment) I think Reaper is attractive for people who have no musical intuition at all and who approach music making more from a technical side of things, rather than from a artistic one. Yes, Reaper has all these Routing abilities, all these ways of customizing your shortcuts, of using unique themes and so on. But none of that matters for the process of actually making music. I have not heard one artistically sophisticated song that was made in Reaper in my whole life. Reaper is the DAW for non-musical people, who have the analytical mind of a computer nerd, but lack the intuition, spontaneity and emotionality of an artist.
![TEEDEE TADA - DIAMOND NARAKORN X LEGO LYKN [Special Dance Performance]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QgtZedFeumA/mqdefault.jpg)
Just getting into producing electronic music,from being a live artist for most of my life. The thing that this vedio showed me about Reaper, and answered a major question I had of why is this thing is so weird, is that it's like a blank canvas. It comes raw and you as the Artist have to take the time to learn how to put your paint on the canvas the way "you" want to. It's an instrument and you have to learn how to play it. Modern rap, pop, It all sounds the same, because every one is doing the same thing, the same way. If you listen to people who use the program they will tell you there is a learning curve, which is why most people would rather use some thing else,if you have ever learned to play and instrument you understand what i mean. I learned audacity on the fly, Reaper is not like that, but it can do so much more. Most "home based Producers" aren't useing Pro tools either, because of the learning curve and the price, i would guess, but once you know what you are doing there is nothing that you can't do. I feel that way about Reaper this is my gateway into doing serious music production, not just drag and drop stuff. Do you think artist like KOAN, are doing drag and drop stuff. Yeah it's a pain to have to learn how to properly use Reaper, but i like learning.
Bro you have just changed my life
The setup tips here are gold. A few of these preferences I didn't even know existed. My workflow is already wayyyy faster. Huge thanks!
Absolutely essential settings to make life of a producer easier in Reaper. Thank you sooooo much, many of these things were something I wished for to be default.
Yes yes yes! I'm diggin the "Snap to mouse tip"! gonna be very handy. Thank you very much!
Nice! Just what I needed, been waiting for a video like this. Really well done. Do MOAR!!!
Thank you so much! Great video (also thanks for showing the smaller details and adjustments in the settings... Very much appreciated(aka how to make it zoom to where mouse is lol))
Thank you, I have been switching to Reaper from Ableton Live and these settings are helping me a lot with the transition.
Awe South African here learning to make dubstep. Your video is very helpful thanks
Awe! I've started my own channel if you're interested.
The Groove tool in sws extensions lets you swing media items as well.
you can set a sample length to grid, enable item looping, drag it out to prefered bar count, split at transients, and then use the groove tool to swing that bby.
great video, thank you, lots of awesome tips!!
I need to check that out. Thanks for the tip.
Been enjoying the Groove Tool. Thanks! Now they're adding swing to the TCP!
forum.cockos.com/showpost.php?p=1797220&postcount=22
Django Flaherty Great! Didn't know that! Thanks!
So useful! I have been using Reaper for years... but discovered some nice tips here ! Thanks!
Dude thanks a bunch. I was beginning to think there was no decent way to go about programming drums in REAPER. Shame there isn't a built-in Drum Rack sampler thing, but this is cool too. Plus, with placing audio directly on the timeline (as opposed to programming MIDI), you can see the waveforms in the arrangement, which is neat :)
TGank u for sharing this. There's not enough edm reaper videos.
Interesting to see other peoples work methods. Thanks. Also, the reason the items weren't snapping till you moved the track was because you have a hidden track (called "voice") in between them and the snap set to only one track. It's kind of a bug though and probably worth one of us asking for it to ignore hidden tracks :) I might get round to it at some point sigh ;)
Well spotted! It had never failed me before - was most puzzled.
oh shit, this is exactly what i want to get into !! reaper blog, youre the best! thanks!
django, thank you man! im in the first minutes of the video - thanks for delivering such nice content! :)
WELL WELL WELL. just finding this alone is like a huge boost
I'm new to edm production. I've used Reaper for other genres before. Wouldn't it be easier if set up a drumkit using resamplomatic and then route the outputs through different channels? That way you can write beats like this using the midi piano roll or your midi keyboard. Instead of copying and pasting individual clips like this? Am I missing something? Is this way better for some reason?
wow amazing! needed stuff like this so much. reaper and electronic music need friendship!
thanks, super useful tutorial
Hey great video! I've been following along with this video for a few hours now, and I can not for the life of me figure out how you are able to get the copy/paste behavior that you do. An example is at 7:05...you copy the media item, then when you paste it your cursor is automatically at the next gridline. When I copy/paste a selected section, which includes a media item, my cursor ends up at the end of the media item and not on the grid line. I have to copy, paste, then click on the grid line so I can start the next paste at the correct spot. I followed every step of this video exactly, but I still can't figure out this one thing. If you happen to read this, I'd really appreciate it if you could help. Thanks!
Same issue Brian. Have you solved the problem
I think he’s duplicating (ctrl/cmd + D)
@@arti5musicc thank you homie
Proudly South African - Love u man
Infinitely Reaper !
absolutely epic video, very good, many thanks
When I paste a selection, it pastes the selected media at the play head and not were the time selection ends. Did I miss something in your settings? How do I fix this?
ah! shift + ctrl + D duplicates the selected area. never mind!
In my elementary things it shows, and also within 10 minutes, almost fell asleep, and thanks to it :)
very helpful, thank you
enjoy reaper function despite knowing bit ..Helpful such tutorial .
Great tutorial, many thanks!
Some great wee tips in here!!
On the bottom in your file explorer you have a Reaper file list, are those plugins you added? cuz you said this was a fresh instalation of reaper, and if these drums and affects are with the default, where do i find them, cuz i have no idea.
not plugins but recordings or samples and loops on the hard drive
so those are files i wouldnt find normally on a default installation right?
CabooseIsGod Reaper doesn't come with anything but the plugins that you're familiar with
Good job. Really useful video.
Thank you
I've just discovered reaper, how does it and it's plug ins/sounds compare to FL and Ableton?
Interesting. How is your method different than loading the sample in ReaSamplomatic5000, and editing the arrangement through the midi editor where swing is already available? Perhaps I'm missing something?
It's just a different workflow. I like being able to pitch things up or down, change volumes, stretch or reverse things without having to open other windows - it's all right there in front of me. I've seen some Ableton users work this way too - it's down to whatever inspires you.
I still use ReaSamplomatic and other samplers from time to time for things I want to play in live, or if I have samples with long release times that need to overlap.
Thank you for the video!
Is it okay if I use high BPM like 205?
Nice and handy!
Hey dude nice video, but how can I stop music from repeating after i click it in the files?
God this is so perfect thank you
when I go to copy and paste (ctrl+c , ctrl+v) it doesn't properly do so.I'd like for it to keep the time and item I've selected like it does in the video. i followed every step and rewatched the video at least 7 times. please help.
For me it works using the action "Copy ... within time selection" (cmd+shift+c, I guess ctrl+shift+c on Windows) instead of "Copy ... ignoring time selection" (cmd+c, I guess ctrl+c on Windows).
It appears that you are running Reaper in Windows in High DPI mode. How are you doing this? I cannot get Reaper to display correctly at all when I try.
I'm running at 1920x1020 through DVI on an old Radeon HD4850. Does that count as high DPI mode?
i don't think so. 1080p isn't that big.
Latest pres are adding some DPI improvements :)
And when the Reaper team will make any simple drum sampler like "Impact" in Studio One or "Groove Agent" in Cubase? PLeeease!
Don't wait, use your favorite today. I'm a big fan of FXPansion Geist.
Alexander Sherstnyov If you're in need of free options, check out Grace VST by One Small Clue (Windows only), or a sampler called TX16WX (cross platform).
I've also built a drum machine using Reaper's ReaSamplomatic5000. You can have multiple on a track and save it as a track template. Only thing is it doesn't seem to have choke groups.
I will always love shortcircuit which is useful for drums as well as other instruments. It basically acts like a soundfont editor in a VST plugin (so many options!) but it's nice and snappy.
Actually Sequencer Megababy, which comes with Reaper is quite nice and probably exactly what you need. It is lightweight and simple. Use ReaSamplomatic5000 to load your samples in a track, each sample applied to one key. Load Megababy before your samples to sequence. Once you like your sequence, record to midi. I use this workflow all the time. It's quite nice because you can record right into Sequencer Megababy and it has auto quantization.
where did you get all those drum samples from ?
I use a subscription service called Splice Sounds. They have tons of sample libraries (from Loopmasters, Wave Alchemy, Black Octopus and many other well-known brands) and instead of buying the whole library you get to pick individual sounds from them. I wish I had an affiliate link as I'm constantly recommending it to people :).
Sorry for delayed response - I don't get notified since it's not my channel.
example... Drum kit - (kick, Snare, Nice tutorial-Hats ETC) all RED, app all Purple, Keyboards all Yellow, softs all Green and on..
where can we get the kick sample?
How did he copy and paste so fast like that
I produce electronic music with Reaper since 5 years , but i use drum machines like Arturia Spark or Geist.
I don't get it why Ableton is so popular in electronic production, it's a so weird and complicated DAW.
Gabriel Landjeen
Yeah, I have a couple of samplers I use, but I run into issues with missing samples when I switch computers. If Geist lets you save samples within the project, I should probably start saving up.
I don't use Ableton but I watched many people work in it or make certain tutorials in it and I can definitely see the appeal. It's a great DAW for EDM production, you just have to get used to it. As with almost every other powerful DAW really.
Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with the fundamentals but some parts were a bit unclear for me.
yeah homey
How do you split the docker?
A lot of carefully dragging and dropping with fingers crossed that it will work right. Search my channel for the docks and toolbars tutorial.
You can see me fiddling with it at 1:14. It should highlight in blue where you're moving the tab to. In my case I had to shrink/restore down the window before it would work.
Now there is swing in arrange. forum.cockos.com/showpost.php?p=1799191&postcount=48
Go Reaper Go!!!
Wow! Thanks for pointing me there :). I've been too busy to be watching forums lately.
I did it all but I still can't figure out how to add the instrumentals I think I need a really dumbed down video can anyone help?
Did You mean Instrument, like in Virtual Instruments? A Piano or Synth for instance i don't want to assume incase i am wrong?
Im totally new to this and all i can say is "what the fuck"
I'm amazed at how fast he did that jeez I'm slow lol
Music really is a mathemeticians skill nowadays.
Only if you consider this "maths". I personally don't.
So this is what Joshua did after giving up on Tic-Tac-Toe.
Wut
Definitely not for beginners.
Part 2 is here: th-cam.com/video/meRfb2dwCog/w-d-xo.html
Why are all the Reaper-based producers using *audio items* instead of actually *recording and sequencing with Midi*? I guess Reaper is still horrible as a Midi sequencer? Last time I checked it was literally unusable. Too cumbersome, too inefficient, too many steps were necessary for the easiest task (like recording a Midi sequence in loop mode). I guess as someone who is used to working with Cubase, Ableton and Logic, I will never be able to adapt to the inefficiency of Reaper in terms of Midi sequencing.
I see the same workflow for many Logic and Ableton users too. Just personal preference. Do what works for you.
I've never seen anyone moving around audio elements with the mouse in the Ableton arranger view. Of course, you can make music by moving around audio files in the sequencer, but that's not how any serious composer does it.
Here is my question (please answer honestly): why has no one succesfully used Reaper as a Midi sequencer? Trust me, I've seen lots of Reaper videos and most of them do what you did: moving around some audio elements with the mouse.
That's NOT how 99% of the people usually work in a DAW when they want to make music. Just admit it: Reaper is totally useless when it comes to Midi-based composing with virtual instruments and such.
If not, prove to me that there are people successfully using Reaper as a Midi sequencer!
"why has no one succesfully used Reaper as a Midi sequencer?"
Probably too busy working to make videos, or under contract and can't show anything.
Here's something recent I know of composed in reaper with MIDI
th-cam.com/play/PLlMJvfGR0YzjPJustjCHFVGcyFuNbedA2.html
I would like to see a video of someone actually composing in Midi. Yes, Reaper is great for recording, arranging and mixing audio. But it's unusable as a midi-based DAW! Have you tried it before?
I mean, it's one of the main functions of a DAW: recording virtual instruments and composing songs. Dragging around audio files is not what I want to use a DAW for, I want to make music, record sequences, add additional instruments etc. Reaper is a pain in the ass when it comes to that. Yes, it's possible, but in a very inefficient, counter-intuitive and non-productive way.
... (continued: see last comment) I think Reaper is attractive for people who have no musical intuition at all and who approach music making more from a technical side of things, rather than from a artistic one. Yes, Reaper has all these Routing abilities, all these ways of customizing your shortcuts, of using unique themes and so on. But none of that matters for the process of actually making music. I have not heard one artistically sophisticated song that was made in Reaper in my whole life. Reaper is the DAW for non-musical people, who have the analytical mind of a computer nerd, but lack the intuition, spontaneity and emotionality of an artist.
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