Why does Reaper keep selecting everything?

[writheuk]

Getting frustrated with reaper tbh. The changes they keep making don't seem beneficial to me. I find the MIDI editor a pain in the ass. For some reason, if I try and select what is in the editor, it selects EVERYTHING across the entire song for some reason...


This is extremely annoying. Why does this happen?

Thanks

On the top right side lock the other tracks from being affected by clicking the lock icons on them?

Yeah, this is a good point.... In the action list for the MIDI Editor if you click on "show/hide track list" a pop-up box opens up top right where you can lock tracks/items which you don't want to be editable.

EDIT: I just noticed from your initial attachment that you're already aware of this
So maybe you should try locking some of those 'parts'....

[ghostwhistler]

The CTRL A function needs patching.

This is what is being ignored. It selectively decides sometimes to select everything or just what I want. That isn't a problem of my settings being incorrect, it's a fault in the programming

[BertKoor]

Select what you want?
It should select all. Not just in Reaper, but in all programs.

[ghostwhistler]

I just want to select everything i am looking at when I click on a part to open it in the MIDI editor.

Why is that not possible? If I have to lock parts every time I open the Editor then that is stupid

[TheMaestro]

I just want to select everything i am looking at when I click on a part to open it in the MIDI editor.

Why is that not possible? If I have to lock parts every time I open the Editor then that is stupid

I have still no idea what you mean by a "part", or what gets selected for you.

Ctrl+A selects everything. It's a very universal command, working across almost every app, ever.
So inside the midi editor, you're going to select everything in that midi item with Ctrl+A.

Is it only the visible notes in you current view/zoom level you want to select?

[hma]

I just want to select everything i am looking at when I click on a part to open it in the MIDI editor.

Why is that not possible? If I have to lock parts every time I open the Editor then that is stupid

For me it works automatically, if I lock all the other parts except active one and close midi editor window, then open another midi item and now the rest are locked and new one editable. Click around with ctrl+shift-click on track list in midi editor to set only one editable part.

[writheuk]

No-one knows what you mean by "part". It's not a REAPER expression. If you look in the Action List there's NOT ONE mention of "part". Presumably you mean "item", but we're not 100% sure.

I suggest you make your settings thus then go from there:

Screenshot 2025-06-18 202923.png

Especially:
1 One MIDI item per Project.
2 Open the clicked MIDI item only.
3 Also read the "More Information" bit.

It's the most basic set-up!

1 Select ONE MIDI item only from the Arrange view.
2 Double-click on it. It should open in the MIDI Editor. There shouldn't be any other MIDI items there.
3 Select CTRL-A and all the notes in that item will be selected. If they're not then I guess REAPER's not for you...

But if you manage to do that and get it to work, then maybe tell us more about what you're trying to do (without using the word "part"). You need to be as precise as possible with your wording, especially if you don't provide any screenshots, otherwise no-one's gonna have a clue what you're on about.

[ghostwhistler]

No-one knows what you mean by "part". It's not a REAPER expression. If you look in the Action List there's NOT ONE mention of "part". Presumably you mean "item", but we're not 100% sure.

I suggest you make your settings thus then go from there:


Screenshot 2025-06-18 202923.png


Especially:
1 One MIDI item per Project.
2 Open the clicked MIDI item only.
3 Also read the "More Information" bit.

It's the most basic set-up!

1 Select ONE MIDI item only from the Arrange view.
2 Double-click on it. It should open in the MIDI Editor. There shouldn't be any other MIDI items there.
3 Select CTRL-A and all the notes in that item will be selected. If they're not then I guess REAPER's not for you...

But if you manage to do that and get it to work, then maybe tell us more about what you're trying to do (without using the word "part"). You need to be as precise as possible with your wording, especially if you don't provide any screenshots, otherwise no-one's gonna have a clue what you're on about.

I'm afraid those changes made no difference. Pressing CTRL A still causes it to either select what I see on screen (the midi in the part I am working with) or everything in the entire song.

I don't really understand what the issue is. the word part obviously refers to a piece of music that I've recorded on a track using midi. What else do you call it? You double click on a discreet part to ender the Midi Editor

[writheuk]

Mate, I haven't a clue what you're on about, and I'm pretty sure no-one else has either.

Maybe you could try a workaround. If CTRL-A selects "parts" you don't want selected, unselect them.

However I'll guarantee what I wrote above works for 99.99% of other users of REAPER. If it's not working for you, then you've obviously messed up your set-up somehow.

Make sure the "selection is linked to visibility/editability" settings are turned off.

[ghostwhistler]

This is ridiculous.

I have a track in reaper that has a VST which plays MIDI data recorded on that track. Each instance of said data is a part. What else do you call that?
https://ibb.co/XxmGGGz0

[TheMaestro]

This is ridiculous.

I have a track in reaper that has a VST which plays MIDI data recorded on that track. Each instance of said data is a part. What else do you call that?
https://ibb.co/XxmGGGz0

That's a midi item.
Do you double-click it to open the midi editor, the midi editor is the active windows, and you do Ctrl+A and it randomly selects either all the midi notes sin the midi editor (which is the normal behavior) or all the midi and audio items in the Arrange View?

[writheuk]

As TheMaestro has just said, in REAPER those little boxes you can see are called MIDI Items. YOU might refer to them as "parts", but no-one else does. Part/parts is not a term in REAPER. You have Tracks, MIDI/Audio Items, Projects etc, but NO "parts".Take a look at these 2 screenshots of searches in the Action List - one for "parts" and one for "MIDI Items". In the search for "parts" NOTHING comes up. It's YOUR term, not REAPER's. I mean, if you're gonna call them "parts", you might as well just call them "little boxes".

Screenshot 2025-06-19 223705.png

Screenshot 2025-06-19 233358.png

An explanation: You might have a track containing 20 individual MIDI items of say various recordings of a synth preset. You could say the first PART of the track (eg the first 8 MIDI items) is good, and the second PART (ie the last 12 MIDI items) is crap. In YOUR terminology the "first part of the track" refers to the FIRST MIDI item, and the "second part of the track" refers to the SECOND MIDI item. Which leads to total confusion when trying to explain what you mean to someone else. Maybe now you'll begin to understand why no-one (except presumably you) refers to MIDI items as "parts" . (But somehow I doubt it...)

Bud, all this is completely BASIC.

[Morgaxx]

Is it possible that sometimes you do not have the midi editor window in focus? If you open a midi window and then click off it in the arrangement or whatever, it is no longer in focus, even though it is open. Selecting all would then select your entire project not just the midi notes open in the unfocused window. I have done this many times

[ghostwhistler]

double click opens the midi editor for, I assume, that part/item whatever.

Then it decides, at random, to select either the midi data on screen for that part/item, or all the midi data in every part/item.

[TheMaestro]

I think I got it.

You have a list of all tracks to the right when you open the midi editor.
If you've clicked in that area on the right, then do Ctrl+A, you will select every thing in all those tracks.
Click in the midi notes area to the left, and it selects only those midi notes.

There's nothing in my Reaper theme/setup that shows which of those area are active, so I can see that be a pain.
Maybe it's possible to do, but I don't show all tracks in the midi editor like you have there.