Cockos Reaper

[Distorted Horizon]

if i cannot find a way to 'return cursor to zero' it's like an itch i can't scratch.

Hit home key?

[ENV1]

i am also a bit OCD. if i cannot find a way to 'return cursor to zero' it's like an itch i can't scratch.

Just press the <- button right after pressing stop and the cursor will go straight to the start.

(Yes, its an extra click, but think of it this way: If you work on a passage, and you want to let it run from a certain point repeatedly to check out say automation changes, pressing stop will not send the cursor back to the start but rather to where you positioned it. That way you dont always have to re-find the spot you want the playback to start from after having pressed stop.)

[machinesworking]

Problem is, with Reaper, you will actually spend more time housekeeping than actually living in your home.

I would compare it more to owning your own home VS renting or a hotel room, that analogy actually works pretty well. I bought a house that was gutted, part of the loan was to build the kitchen, fix the electricity etc. In the end I have the house I want, not some tract home. Looking around my neighborhood, it's obvious most people like the turnkey nature of tract homes, don't mind sharing walls with neighbors etc. I 100% hate the idea of living in a tract home. Hotel rooms don't even have kitchens for the most part...

There is no wrong or right here, it's the choice between an intuitive experience right away and power later on. I will say this though, power later on means speed later on, it's one thing people keep on leaving out of this conversation. The example of Reapers rendering VS any other DAW I know of, Stems are created, named with BPM, dates, track names, song name etc. if you want them to be, all in one pass, it's much faster than any other DAW I've used. The trade off is setting up all the basics you like from other DAWs as key commands, which takes some time.

To the detractors here's a bone, I get it, Reaper demands you throw out everything you know to a degree. I can't say about the Windows version, but one thing Cockos did that does them no good IMO is not adhere to OS standards, for instance click dragging to copy in Reaper is not OSX compliant at all. In the MIDI editor click dragging in any other DAW is a left click function, in Reaper it's right click etc. It's a caveat that things are going to be an uphill battle for some I'm sure.

[EvilDragon]

Right-click methodology is inherited from Sony Vegas which was the kinda-sorta blueprint for Reaper. Many other things were carried over from it, too (the way looping items works, for example). Also as a Windows-first program, it is perfectly compliant, it's the Win-to-macOS translation layer they're using (also home-brewed) which doesn't fully adhere to macOS standards, for a myriad of reasons I would assume. In any case, as far as mouse interaction, majority of things can be changed via mouse modifiers...

[BMoore]

Reapers summing is also warmer, and it's the best DAW for Neurofuck, Freakbeat, Complextro, Nintendocore, and complaining by non users.

[Distorted Horizon]

Sony Vegas which was the kinda-sorta blueprint for Reaper.

Source?

[machinesworking]

Right-click methodology is inherited from Sony Vegas which was the kinda-sorta blueprint for Reaper. Many other things were carried over from it, too (the way looping items works, for example). Also as a Windows-first program, it is perfectly compliant, it's the Win-to-macOS translation layer they're using (also home-brewed) which doesn't fully adhere to macOS standards, for a myriad of reasons I would assume. In any case, as far as mouse interaction, majority of things can be changed via mouse modifiers...

Isn't it Control click drag for copying a file in Windows? With OSX the standard is Option (or Alt) click drag, in Reaper it's Command click drag. The other annoying OS level broken functionality is scrolling through open windows in Reaper, with plug ins it doesn't really work well at all. Open plug in windows will hide behind the main arrangement window or MIDI editor etc. and only can be recalled by the OSX standard key command of Command ~ if, and only if one is manually brought to the front. I can't really imagine this is something that can be scripted, it's something Cockos would need to fix, and I think it does the rest of the program a disservice, since it will turn off new users. I suppose it's the kind of thing you really only notice if you quickly and easily do it in other programs, ( a lot of users will simply double click on the plug in in the Mixer or track to call it up from behind an edit window ), but because it's broken more or less it gets in the way of the rest of the distinct advantages Reaper has over other DAWs for users who are used to OS level functions. That brings up the other downside to Reaper to me anyway, I don't see any other way to report a bug besides registering to the forums and posting it in the bugs / suggestions thread??

Since this is basically a comparative DAW thread and I'm as a newer user pointing out what I see as big advantages in Reaper I think it's only fair to point out where it falls short. Adherence to OS standards, or even certain DAW standards is one of the areas it falls short.

[machinesworking]

Sony Vegas which was the kinda-sorta blueprint for Reaper.

Source?

He mentions Logic and Vegas as DAWs he wanted to improve upon with developing Reaper.

[EvilDragon]

Sony Vegas which was the kinda-sorta blueprint for Reaper.

Source?

Justin himself used it before he created Reaper, and he said that on many occasions. For example here:

https://tapeop.com/tutorials/80/justin- ... -thibault/

[EvilDragon]

Isn't it Control click drag for copying a file in Windows? With OSX the standard is Option (or Alt) click drag, in Reaper it's Command click drag.

Yes, it is Ctrl+drag on Windows, and Ctrl+drag copies items/MIDI notes by default, too. And Reaper maps Ctrl to Cmd when using the Win-to-Mac translation layer (SWELL).

[machinesworking]

Isn't it Control click drag for copying a file in Windows? With OSX the standard is Option (or Alt) click drag, in Reaper it's Command click drag.

Yes, it is Ctrl+drag on Windows, and Ctrl+drag copies items/MIDI notes by default, too. And Reaper maps Ctrl to Cmd when using the Win-to-Mac translation layer (SWELL).

Yeah that was a total mistake. In terms of OSX users, you're looking at a group of people who besides maybe using OSX for certain applications, are not wanting to think about OS level things at all, and every application on OSX besides Reaper uses Option as the modifier key as per the OS level standards. Just from a basic psychological perspective choosing to ignore this is hurting Reapers traction on OSX, no doubt about it.
This is coming from someone whose very sold on it, I think it's a great program, and their port adds no instability to speak of which is great, but just getting scrolling through open windows fixed, and adhering to other OSX keyboard shortcuts would really help Cockos lose this image as intractable. Imagine if you use both OSX and Windows, Reaper then adds a third key command for the exact same function of click drag copying.

[EvilDragon]

Reaper does have an option to swap Cmd and Opt modifiers in Mouse Modifiers prefs, AFAIK...



See?

[machinesworking]

Reaper does have an option to swap Cmd and Opt modifiers in Mouse Modifiers prefs, AFAIK...
See?

Cool, looks like most things can be fixed. So you would essentially have to go through and do this for all parts of Reaper that currently use click drag from what I can tell from the way it's not a universal reassignment?... even freaking CC notes... To not destroy current assignments to Option drag, requires hours of time and patience... just to have basic OSX UI functionality in Reaper....
I posted in the Reaper forums about this, that Reaper doesn't conform to OSX UI standards and people were aghast, it's not a mystery or an uncalled for attack, Reaper drops the ball big time in regards to this, and it's a shame. IMO the standard instal of Reaper in OSX should conform to basic OSX key commands, it's just common sense, and that it doesn't is a PITA. I'm glad you can fix it, but it adds to the multitude of common DAW tasks that have to be assigned by the user if they want them in key command form, and in the case of things like Option dragging, to not assign it adds another DAW specific anomaly to learn.. I just wish Justin and crew would have spent even a day with a UI expert of some sort, it's the kind of thing that happens when a developer thinks like a developer and designs an interface.

[EvilDragon]

I think it's universal for all mouse modifiers.

[baaz]

I just wish Justin and crew would have spent even a day with a UI expert of some sort, it's the kind of thing that happens when a developer thinks like a developer and designs an interface.

Actually, WhiteTie designed the REAPER interface, his goal was providing power and flexibility to the user, not conforming with standards of an OS designed for touch screens and consumer market that only a small percentage of people use around the world.

The default theme for REAPER 5 has been designed to be more easily edited by you, the user. I have done this by controlling some sections of the theme’s complex underlying WALTER script using a system of macros that I call ‘Flow’.

Flow responds to the most common requests that I hear from users – to be able to decide the order in which interface elements are hidden when a panel is shrunk, and the size of elements – without learning WALTER. With Flow, you can do just that merely by changing a few clearly labelled numbers in a text file.