I really, really, REALLY wanna switch over to Waveform Completely, but... Tracking Experiences/ Metering...

[tmaworks]

For "big meters mode" press F12.

Is this only applicable while you are setting the levels? Because I'm trying this now and although the waveforms are disappearing and I'm still getting sound, I'm only able to get the meter on one track (even though many are selected), and it's not reacting to the recorded audio...

Is there some way to get this going on vertically when tracking?? Even the meters in the MIX window are enough for me, but for some reason when tracking I'm not getting any movement down there -Only on the little horizontal bars on the left hand side of the tracks. -Which have no numbers on them...

[pough]

Big meters F12 is only for inputs, so it's useful for setting levels and seeing the levels while you are recording. I'm not sure what you mean by "I'm only able to get the meter on one track (even though many are selected)". It sounds like you are selecting a track an expecting that do display the meters but the meters only display for tracks that have inputs set.

I don't know of any way to have them be vertical. They display across the tracks and the tracks are horizontal.

Can you be a bit more detailed about "Even the meters in the MIX window are enough for me, but for some reason when tracking I'm not getting any movement down there"? I don't often use the Mixer, but I just did a test where I recorded some audio and the meters in the mixer were working fine.

[pough]

By the way, check out the icons to the lower right of the Master channel in the Mixer. It shows and hides sections. I set it to show "Big Meters" (the second icon) and hide the others. I also used my mouse to stretch sections so that the meters are as big as possible and the other section is as small as possible. As you mouse-over the area between sections a horizontal line will appear that signals your ability to stretch/compress the sections.

You can get it to look like this.

[tmaworks]

Big meters F12 is only for inputs, so it's useful for setting levels and seeing the levels while you are recording. I'm not sure what you mean by "I'm only able to get the meter on one track (even though many are selected)". It sounds like you are selecting a track an expecting that do display the meters but the meters only display for tracks that have inputs set.

I don't know of any way to have them be vertical. They display across the tracks and the tracks are horizontal.

Can you be a bit more detailed about "Even the meters in the MIX window are enough for me, but for some reason when tracking I'm not getting any movement down there"? I don't often use the Mixer, but I just did a test where I recorded some audio and the meters in the mixer were working fine.

Yes! -By "meters in the mix windows" I was simply referring to the exact meters that you have pictured in the image there! -When I'm setting my levels, there was no movement in them at all -Only in the little horizontal meters that appear on the left hand side by the track name. Not sure why... I'm going to do another tracking session just to confirm. WIll report back...

Also, it loooooks... like I have to re-assign the tracks to their respective inputs when I open the session back up to do more tracking?? I would've thought that would've been saved...?

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

Im responding to the OP wanting to hear from a die hard Reaper user that has some knowledge of Waveform.
I have used Reaper for 8 yrs nearly every day. It is my sample library creator, my video production tool, and tracking/ mixing DAW. I come from the analog tape/mixer world. Reaper felt more comfortable to me transitioning into DAW Land. Having tried em all at some point I stuck with Reaper due to familiarity and stability. I have spent the time to customize Reaper to look and act the way I want.

That being said.....when it comes to creating on the fly or capturing ideas fast, Reaper leaves me wanting. I have turned to Mulab and now Waveform to fill the gaps. I really like the work flow in Waveform for quickly capturing and arranging ideas. It its a bit quirky to me but I am trying to maintain an open mind to embrace the developers intentions.
Reaper is a click fest for me where Waveform allows me easier access to what I need at a glance. I seem to get results much faster with less 3rd party vst. I would not be ready to track a 16 input session with Waveform. Mainly because that is where Reaper really shines especially considering stability. Waveform has not been the crash fest for me that some folk experience but it has had its share of crashes. Reaper simplly doesnt crash for me.
The efficiency would be another area of concern. Waveform isnt terrible but Reaper is clearly a cleaner code compared to anything. I am on a 10 year old laptop so it matters to me. It may not if I had a modern PC.
I would imagine with time, I will track more with Waveform and steal some of Waveforms workflow and layout and modify Reaper to resemble WF.
It is OK to use a couple of DAWs that suit your needs as they all excell at something and struggle with others.
Reaper is hard to beat for tracking and complex routing.
Waveform feels more inspirational.

[tmaworks]

Im responding to the OP wanting to hear from a die hard Reaper user that has some knowledge of Waveform.
I have used Reaper for 8 yrs nearly every day. It is my sample library creator, my video production tool, and tracking/ mixing DAW. I come from the analog tape/mixer world. Reaper felt more comfortable to me transitioning into DAW Land. Having tried em all at some point I stuck with Reaper due to familiarity and stability. I have spent the time to customize Reaper to look and act the way I want.

That being said.....when it comes to creating on the fly or capturing ideas fast, Reaper leaves me wanting. I have turned to Mulab and now Waveform to fill the gaps. I really like the work flow in Waveform for quickly capturing and arranging ideas. It its a bit quirky to me but I am trying to maintain an open mind to embrace the developers intentions.
Reaper is a click fest for me where Waveform allows me easier access to what I need at a glance. I seem to get results much faster with less 3rd party vst. I would not be ready to track a 16 input session with Waveform. Mainly because that is where Reaper really shines especially considering stability. Waveform has not been the crash fest for me that some folk experience but it has had its share of crashes. Reaper simplly doesnt crash for me.
The efficiency would be another area of concern. Waveform isnt terrible but Reaper is clearly a cleaner code compared to anything. I am on a 10 year old laptop so it matters to me. It may not if I had a modern PC.
I would imagine with time, I will track more with Waveform and steal some of Waveforms workflow and layout and modify Reaper to resemble WF.
It is OK to use a couple of DAWs that suit your needs as they all excell at something and struggle with others.
Reaper is hard to beat for tracking and complex routing.
Waveform feels more inspirational.

Dude, I am so, soo happy you mentioned all that...

The STABILITY, man. OMG -I just got done doing a multi track drum session (also, on a 10 year old Toshiba laptop) in Reaper. I was intentionally doing take after take just to see what it could handle -Easily over 150 tracks -each mic track just stacking on top of the previous one -and it didn't even bat an eyelash... I tried to push Waveform just over 40 tracks and it started sputtering on me during tracking... Not sure if I did something wrong, but whatever was going on was unacceptable. I'm going to go back down there and confirm that all my buffers and bit rates etc line up, but i'm pretty sure they're fine...

I find Reaper INCREDIBLY unintuitive. As soon as I learn how to do something I forget it the next day. Like, it is NOT the DAW for me - But for TRACKING. Omg, for tracking you are correct - It's a monster. Can't be beat...

I'm looking into adapting the control commands to my liking, but honestly, it's just too much. Haha! There's TOO MUCH to Reaper. It's like every time I push a button 16 different things seem to happen...

[nowgad]

regarding the 4 points: you can use Ctrl to select as many plugins as you want and disable them using F, or right-click the menu on them. you can also make comparisons to select one plug-in enabled and one disabled and use F to switch them, comparing the work of plug-ins. There are a lot of non-obvious things in Waveform, but if you start to find them and use them, you can't tear yourself away))

[tmaworks]

regarding the 4 points: you can use Ctrl to select as many plugins as you want and disable them using F, or right-click the menu on them. you can also make comparisons to select one plug-in enabled and one disabled and use F to switch them, comparing the work of plug-ins. There are a lot of non-obvious things in Waveform, but if you start to find them and use them, you can't tear yourself away))

Thank you soo much!! yeah, I'm really starting to enjoy working in Waveform... I can really see it's effectiveness for mixing and editing, especially!! It started to get a little bogged down once I started to go above 45 tracks or so when tracking, but that could just be my dinosaur laptop... My other one with a better processor is coming back from the shop, soon. If I could, I would use exclusively waveform, but there are some limitations for tracking, especially that bug me... We'll see!!!

[UnionS8]

Also, it loooooks... like I have to re-assign the tracks to their respective inputs when I open the session back up to do more tracking?? I would've thought that would've been saved...?

You don't need to assign inputs every time. Go to the Settings -> General and at the bottom turn off the last two buttons to prevent assigning default inputs to each track.

[tmaworks]

Also, it loooooks... like I have to re-assign the tracks to their respective inputs when I open the session back up to do more tracking?? I would've thought that would've been saved...?

You don't need to assign inputs every time. Go to the Settings -> General and at the bottom turn off the last two buttons to prevent assigning default inputs to each track.

Hey, thanks a bunch!!

You using Waveform for heavy tracking sessions??

[UnionS8]

Well. Not really. Three reasons:
1) My graphic card isn't strong enough (an integrated Intel's Iris XE). It can't handle heavy projects. The interface is slowing down with growing number of tracks.
2) For me, heavy projects mean soundtracks. And with only one timeline it's quite difficult to align beats to cuts.
3) The same as you. I need color-coded meters for mixing. (-18 dB, -12 dB, and so on...)

But it's a pity! Waveform's workflow is great. I can come with fresh ideas in no time. And the routing is awesome. My second DAW is Cubase and audio and MIDI routing is PITA.

[tmaworks]

Well. Not really. Three reasons:
1) My graphic card isn't strong enough (an integrated Intel's Iris XE). It can't handle heavy projects. The interface is slowing down with growing number of tracks.
2) For me, heavy projects mean soundtracks. And with only one timeline it's quite difficult to align beats to cuts.
3) The same as you. I need color-coded meters for mixing. (-18 dB, -12 dB, and so on...)

But it's a pity! Waveform's workflow is great. I can come with fresh ideas in no time. And the routing is awesome. My second DAW is Cubase and audio and MIDI routing is PITA.

Yeah -Waveform is ALL about the workflow, man!! I really love about 75% of it -But, that extra %25 is what I REALLY need to track and mix seriously in it. So, alas -It has been reduced to a scratch pad and audio editor for me, essentially -Until they fix those things, at least...

-I'm glad you brought up the volume/ gain meters again -How can you make a DAW with gain meters that aren't marked at -18?!?!?

-What do you mean by only one "timetable"? Are you referring to having lines going for multiple tempos on the grid??

[Watchful]

-What do you mean by only one "timetable"? Are you referring to having lines going for multiple tempos on the grid??

The scale across the top of the screen that shows either bars and beats, or it shows minutes and seconds.

I've also (previously) requested this be able to show both bars and beats as well as time, which is important in synchronizing audio file clips to MIDI clips. As of now, I'm doing this by eye and ear, and I'd rather be more precise than that.

[tmaworks]

[/quote]

[tmaworks]

-What do you mean by only one "timetable"? Are you referring to having lines going for multiple tempos on the grid??

The scale across the top of the screen that shows either bars and beats, or it shows minutes and seconds.

I've also (previously) requested this be able to show both bars and beats as well as time, which is important in synchronizing audio file clips to MIDI clips. As of now, I'm doing this by eye and ear, and I'd rather be more precise than that.

Hmm... I'm never gonna understand why waveform doesn't/ hasn't incorporated some of these very sensical things that almost every other DAW seems to have... For me, Waveform is just wasted potential -I'll definitely use it for some things, but it falls pretty far short of a standalone DAW for me... They should hire me to whip it into shape...

Lol!!