Reaper - What's the catch?

[trueparadox]

I don't know how logic is, but in weaper you must either glue all the midi parts together to edit them all, do every clip one at a time, or use the groove tool (which isn't super stable)

Sorry hibidy, can you elaborate on that? When you say edit them all, what kind of editing are you referring to?

This! I've been annoyed by that many times. To edit midi notes, all needs to be in the same "piece", OR you can select all midi items, open them in the MIDI editor, and then swap between them by double-clicking on the different MIDI notes.

However, i have had problems with the MIDI editor for sure. It's difficult to say exactly what makes it clunky, it just feels much less smooth than for instance cubase (which i used way back when). However, i've been taking time to add a lot of shortcuts, and now it actually behaves really well! Tips - use the mousewheel a lot! For instance for position of note, and velocity of notes. Use a 5button mouse, and use the side buttons for things like double/half note length. Also - DESELECT ALL on a side mouse button (or keyboard shortcut). This is, by far, the biggest flaw of the REAPER editor! Horrible, horrible way that the notes are staying selected when I dont want them to be! So, "unselect all" on something really close by is a big plus. Also, look into the mouse modifiers, a lot of good stuff there. You can get an erase tool which is ok useful, and alot of selection tools. The problem (or plus?) with reaper is that you need to plan and really think about your workflow. But - that is also its great advantage, the fact that you can "script" stuff. I scripted a "make mix" which would be impossible in other DAW, "scripting" a command to add a batch of effects onto every single track in the project works with a little thinking. Opportunities for weirdness are very good, to suit your workflow with reaper, and the more you work with it, the better it gets, as you assign more keys you often use to the keyboard. BUT - this is the problem, it does not have a streamlined workflow, you have to make it yourself! Same with the midi editor. It does behave poorly often, especially the length, but using shift+drag for selectively shutting off the snap, or something like that, helps a lot. Also, again, mouse wheel for position. Lifesaver!

Long post. Dont know if i added anything of value . Hope i did. REAPER is fantastic. Now, that i have gotten stuff set up, i wouldnt want to switch for anything. The midi editor is its weakest link. But when you set it up, it works really well!

[trueparadox]

I don't know how logic is, but in weaper you must either glue all the midi parts together to edit them all, do every clip one at a time, or use the groove tool (which isn't super stable)

Sorry hibidy, can you elaborate on that? When you say edit them all, what kind of editing are you referring to?

You CANNOT select more than one midi clip and edit the Q or H. I'll bitch about it till they implement Like I said, you can use the SWS extentions groove tool but that is not the same and it's a tad buggy.

Ooops, too late...

Because you CAN edit more than MIDI clip - simply select them and choose "Item properties".

If you want to change the notes, you can make from one clip many instances of "ghost copies". Then when you change the notes from one clip, the others will be changed, too.

Whoa! Ghosts! That's fantastic, using that for sure. Added a keyboard shortcut to that one immediately

[Tricky-Loops]

With the menu point "Item processing" -> "Convert active take MIDI to .mid file reference" you can save the MIDI file, then copy the item and create so called "ghost copies" of it. Then when you change the notes in one MIDI file, the others will be changed automatically, too.

[h2ogun99]

Good stuff! Thanks for all of this.

[liquidsound]

Ghost is like an everyday thing in MuLab or energyXT. I'm surprised it was not so popular with reaper users.
I got the Pianoroll as I like except the diselect notes which I need to use a keyboard modifier still.

I'm too new to this.

[trueparadox]

With the menu point "Item processing" -> "Convert active take MIDI to .mid file reference" you can save the MIDI file, then copy the item and create so called "ghost copies" of it. Then when you change the notes in one MIDI file, the others will be changed automatically, too.

You dont have to do all that. Just copy the item you want to ghost with ctrl-c, then use the following action (assign it to a good keystroke, i chose "ctrl+g")

item: paste items/tracks, creating pooled (ghost) MIDI items regardless of Preferences/media/MIDI settings.

[trueparadox]

Ghost is like an everyday thing in MuLab or energyXT. I'm surprised it was not so popular with reaper users.
I got the Pianoroll as I like except the diselect notes which I need to use a keyboard modifier still.

I'm too new to this.

I have my side mousebutton for deselect. It works really well for me. Recommend it .

[LawrenceF]

Pardon me for repeating the same questions but I am also curious to know what exactly is lacking in MIDI department.

Second rule of Reaper club, don't ask that question.

Hibidy answered it though.. The main problem is the very limited scope of editing as relates to multple parts. You cannot edit more than one clip at a time in the editors. The second problem is notes getting split when you split clips.

Irrelevant to you as a user if you like it.

[Tricky-Loops]

With the menu point "Item processing" -> "Convert active take MIDI to .mid file reference" you can save the MIDI file, then copy the item and create so called "ghost copies" of it. Then when you change the notes in one MIDI file, the others will be changed automatically, too.

You dont have to do all that. Just copy the item you want to ghost with ctrl-c, then use the following action (assign it to a good keystroke, i chose "ctrl+g")

item: paste items/tracks, creating pooled (ghost) MIDI items regardless of Preferences/media/MIDI settings.

Thanks for the tip!

[Tricky-Loops]

Pardon me for repeating the same questions but I am also curious to know what exactly is lacking in MIDI department.

Second rule of Reaper club, don't ask that question.

Hibidy answered it though.. The main problem is the very limited scope of editing as relates to multple parts. You cannot edit more than one clip at a time in the editors. The second problem is notes getting split when you split clips.

Irrelevant to you as a user if you like it.

First rule of the Reaper club: read the replies above before writing a new one...

You CAN edit the MIDI of more than one clip if you have them as ghost copies (or MIDI file reference).

And you CAN edit the Item properties of more clips if they are selected.

[trueparadox]

With the menu point "Item processing" -> "Convert active take MIDI to .mid file reference" you can save the MIDI file, then copy the item and create so called "ghost copies" of it. Then when you change the notes in one MIDI file, the others will be changed automatically, too.

You dont have to do all that. Just copy the item you want to ghost with ctrl-c, then use the following action (assign it to a good keystroke, i chose "ctrl+g")

item: paste items/tracks, creating pooled (ghost) MIDI items regardless of Preferences/media/MIDI settings.

Thanks for the tip!

Hehe, thank YOU! I didnt know about ghost items before i saw you talking about them in the thread just now . And then looked in the action window, searching for "ghost", and the command popped up. Loving how i could give you a tip right after you gave me one - about the same general thing, no less. Fantastic example of community efficiency .

[Tricky-Loops]

With the menu point "Item processing" -> "Convert active take MIDI to .mid file reference" you can save the MIDI file, then copy the item and create so called "ghost copies" of it. Then when you change the notes in one MIDI file, the others will be changed automatically, too.

You dont have to do all that. Just copy the item you want to ghost with ctrl-c, then use the following action (assign it to a good keystroke, i chose "ctrl+g")

item: paste items/tracks, creating pooled (ghost) MIDI items regardless of Preferences/media/MIDI settings.

Thanks for the tip!

Hehe, thank YOU! I didnt know about ghost items before i saw you talking about them in the thread just now . And then looked in the action window, searching for "ghost", and the command popped up. Loving how i could give you a tip right after you gave me one - about the same general thing, no less. Fantastic example of community efficiency .

That's the problem of ghosts: most people don't see them...

[jam92189]

thats actually very helpful thanks. I dont work with much midi but its good to know when i do have to

[liquidsound]

Ghost is like an everyday thing in MuLab or energyXT. I'm surprised it was not so popular with reaper users.
I got the Pianoroll as I like except the diselect notes which I need to use a keyboard modifier still.

I'm too new to this.

I have my side mousebutton for deselect. It works really well for me. Recommend it .

Need new mouse ASAP!

[trueparadox]

With the menu point "Item processing" -> "Convert active take MIDI to .mid file reference" you can save the MIDI file, then copy the item and create so called "ghost copies" of it. Then when you change the notes in one MIDI file, the others will be changed automatically, too.

You dont have to do all that. Just copy the item you want to ghost with ctrl-c, then use the following action (assign it to a good keystroke, i chose "ctrl+g")

item: paste items/tracks, creating pooled (ghost) MIDI items regardless of Preferences/media/MIDI settings.

Thanks for the tip!

Hehe, thank YOU! I didnt know about ghost items before i saw you talking about them in the thread just now . And then looked in the action window, searching for "ghost", and the command popped up. Loving how i could give you a tip right after you gave me one - about the same general thing, no less. Fantastic example of community efficiency .

That's the problem of ghosts: most people don't see them...