Hey - how do you guys do MIDI instruments in Reaper?

mayfly

mayfly

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Attention Reaper users!

How do you guys do MIDI instruments in reaper?  I'm coming over from Garageband (Hey!  Some of our songs recorded in Garageband made the Billboard top 100!  Well, for a week, but still...) and although Garageband generally sucks, it handles fake instruments well. 

I need the fake instruments, specifically drums, bass, piano, and (in my dream world) violin for doing demos for the band and arranging.  Printing scores for the players is also important.

I'd like to completely switch to Reaper.  How do you guys do it there?

Thanks,
Trevor

 
The first paradigm shift you have to make is that Reaper makes no distinction between audio and MIDI tracks. Any track can be used for either.

To load a VST instrument onto a track, just insert into the effects bay, right along to all the other VST effects.

Couldn't be easier.


MIDI VST's in my projects always include Superior Drummer 3, and occasionally something for piano, organ, or strings. I also always have one or more of of the Nerual DSP or Kuassa guitar amp sims, and a bass sim of some kind. They are all inserted into a track exactly the same way as the MIDI VST's, as I described above.
 
Cool  - but where does the MIDI come from?  With garageband I can just create a MIDI track inside the tool.  Essentially I can build up a part with mouse clicks inside garageband.  How can I do this with Reaper?  Do I need some kind of external MIDI creation device / software?
 
Mayfly said:
Cool  - but where does the MIDI come from?  With garageband I can just create a MIDI track inside the tool.  Essentially I can build up a part with mouse clicks inside garageband.  How can I do this with Reaper?  Do I need some kind of external MIDI creation device / software?
Click to expand...

Two ways:

  • Via a MIDI controller through your interface (keyboard, most likely)
  • Select a track, and position the time swipe where you want it. Then click on Insert > New MIDI Item. It will put a blank MIDI event in the track. Double click on that event and it will bring up a piano scroll window where you can start editing it via mouse.
 
I was about to reply "Never mind - I found it!"

but you beat me to it ;)

Thanks for your help Aaron!
 
Ya, it's great. Printing scores also happens from within that piano scroll window.

You'll find Reaper is pretty easy for most things. Routing is a breeze. Track folders are super easy. Etc, Etc.


The real downsides are:
  • The included plug-ins leave much to be desired. What you save on teh program itself you'll spend on third-party plugins.
  • It's almost too customizable, to the point of being productivity-inhibitingly geeky/fidgety/wonky. A lot of people on the Reaper forum spend so much of their time creating themes, scripts, etc, that they can't have much time left for making music. Avoid this pitfall if making music is your prime directive. If you're like me, 90% of the time-saving deep features they talk about on the Reaper forum will just eat at your music-making time. Avoid.
 
The Aaron said:
The real downsides are:
  • The included plug-ins leave much to be desired. What you save on teh program itself you'll spend on third-party plugins.
Click to expand...

Yep - i just spent some quality time (and cash) over at IK MultiMedia.  Got a great sound now... and I don't even have any real instruments on it!
 
Instruments and plugins has been the big shortcoming of trying to do this in Linux. Ardour is awesome. No problems with the recorder itself. It's almost enough to make me spend money. Almost.
 
Hi, Frank!  Long time, no see!  Glad to see you're still a smart aleck.  Fatherhood tends to amplify, rather than reduce, that tendency.  How's the wife and younguns?
 
Bagman67 said:
Hi, Frank!  Long time, no see!  Glad to see you're still a smart aleck.  Fatherhood tends to amplify, rather than reduce, that tendency.  How's the wife and younguns?
Click to expand...

I'll bite on that non sequitur@!

Doing well and glad to see you guys are still oot and aboot!  We are all well thus far.  I've now reached the point where I've handled more poop than boobies and I'm led to believe I'll never see the ratio inverse.  How is life?

MayFly: My bad lol.  Reaper is a pretty cool tool that my friend has used to land sync deals, so it's def capable of producing stellar mixes.  I've also used IKMedia's Amplitube 3/4 and have gotten tones that rival any of the NeuralDSP plugins.  Since you're talking about midi, I can only add that SampleTank is pretty good.  I do find that the updated software in LogicX is on par and a bit nicer.  If you liked the general workflow of GB, then Logic is a perfect next step. The thing about IKMedia that rubs me the wrong way is once a new version of the sw is out, you will lose the previous version's sounds/settings once you open up a project.  Consider putting that stuff on a computer that doesn't see the internet lol.  I've found a workaround for Amplitube, but it's annoying.
 
If you're into VST amp sims be sure to check out the Kuassa Caliburn. I own four of the Neural ones (Plini, Fortin Cali, Darkglass, and Parallax), and the Caliburn is better than them all when it comes to raw Marshall tonez. It is eerily good. I also love the Plini, but it can be a bit too polite sometimes. Caliburn is snotty, gnarly AC/DC up through 80's stuff.


However, after buying both of the Neural bass VST's I'm still looking.
 
The Aaron said:
If you're into VST amp sims be sure to check out the Kuassa Caliburn. I own four of the Neural ones (Plini, Fortin Cali, Darkglass, and Parallax), and the Caliburn is better than them all when it comes to raw Marshall tonez. It is eerily good. I also love the Plini, but it can be a bit too polite sometimes. Caliburn is snotty, gnarly AC/DC up through 80's stuff.


However, after buying both of the Neural bass VST's I'm still looking.
Click to expand...

Good looking out!  I've got the Nolly VST and it's really nice once you wrap your mind around it.  Mercuriall Spark 1.1 is pretty inexpensive and does great Marshall, too.  I just listened to some Caliburn videos and it sounds pretty nice!
 
Hey, this just in:  An investment bank just commissioned me to write some theme music for their podcasts.  The guy in charge happened to say that he was a fan of the 'hip - so I came up with a minute of 'hip style guitar jamming.

The loved it!  I'll post a link to the first podcast when they release it so you can hear the intro music  :)

oh yea - did it in reaper.  Used steven slate drums, but everything else was me.  and yes - I Got Paid (!)
 
Mayfly said:
Hey, this just in:  An investment bank just commissioned me to write some theme music for their podcasts.  The guy in charge happened to say that he was a fan of the 'hip - so I came up with a minute of 'hip style guitar jamming.

The loved it!  I'll post a link to the first podcast when they release it so you can hear the intro music  :)

oh yea - did it in reaper.  Used steven slate drums, but everything else was me.  and yes - I Got Paid (!)
Click to expand...

My Congratulations to you! You will soon be rolling in the dough, as they say, I'm sure. :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:
 
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