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Old 06-05-2012, 06:31 PM   #1
zappa
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Default Howto: basic audio item editing & arranging in Reaper (for other DAW migrants)

I keep getting asked by Cubase, PT etc. users why basic audio editing behaviour differs in Reaper so I'm starting a few tip threads that are going to seem as obvious as the proverbial nose on a Reaper expert's face. This stuff's mainly for migrants to Reaper so mods feel free to move over to newbieland if it's more relevant there.

Editing audio - rearranging, snipping and moving audio items in Reaper

This guide provides a simple explanation of how to edit out and splice together chunks of an audio file pulled into Reaper into more useable items.

1. Control Snap in Reaper

For precise control of item movement you can toggle off snap altogether with Alt+S, or toggle off gridlines with Alt+G. The former is the Magnet icon on the toolbar, and the latter is the icon to its left. Snap snaps to the grid divisions, so if the grid's off, grid-based snap is effectively off.

Why the separate options? Because Reaper can snap both to grid divisions and also to items - Reaper's name for "parts" or "regions". Both are fully controllable, and Alt+L gives you the options to adjust snap behaviour more precisely. For the purpose of splicing out sections of unwanted audio and butting remaining segments together, set "Media items snap at" to "Both start/end". That way, items will snap to eachother at either end when you're sliding them around with no grid. With item snap, there's no danger of going too far and creating unwanted crossfades.

2. Control crossfades

Alt+X toggles auto crossfade behaviour which happens if you drag one item over another. On the occasions you don't want this, Alt+X is your friend. The toolbar button is the leftmost on row 2.

3. Split

Reaper's split behaviour is pretty intelligent. Place the edit cursor by clicking somewhere on an item and hit "S" to split at the edit cursor. By default, when you split audio items, it creates a really tiny fade-in/fade-out at end and beginning of the new items either side. Not for you to hear it, but to help avoid potential clicks created by splitting audio at non-zero crossing points. It's practically inaudible unless you lengthen the fades, which of course you can to create an audible fade in/out for an item.

You can also split at zero crossing points using ALT+Z to split, which typically splits a few samples to the left of the edit cursor according to where all channels of the audio cross the zero point. The normal split behaviour as above is usually sufficient, but if you're getting clicks in transitions between items, you can look here to find out how to use crossfades to make edit transitions smooth in any scenario.

4. Move

Once you've split and deleted unwanted sections of audio, with grid disabled but snap enabled (and configured as above), just move the items together and allow them to snap to eachother. Job done. Transition between items should be smooth with no clicks - the tiny fades take care of that.

5. Glue together to create new single items.

When you're ready, select several items separated by splits (click & ctrl+click) and glue them together with Ctrl+Shift+G or right-click->Glue items.

Whenever you glue audio items, Reaper will render them into a new audio file which can be seen in the media bay (Ctrl+B). Take note that, with the exception of fade-in on the first item and fade-out on the last, all other non-destructive item processing will be rendered into the new (glued) item. That includes any Take (item) FX and Take (item) envelopes that may exist on one or more of the items that you're glueing.

Further info - Nondestructive editing and The power of glue

Quite a few Reaperites don't know this (I didn't until recently) but you can also glue just a single item. This is a super-quick way of rendering down "What you see and what you hear" from a given audio item into a new audio file in Reaper. Why is this handy? Because in the non-destructive world of Reaper, sometimes you want to work with small snippets of a bigger audio file and you're not interested in the rest.

So "glue" on a single item gives you the power to snip out a piece of an item and turn it instantly into a new audio file for looping. Ordinarily, if you snip out a little piece of audio from a big file, copy that somewhere and extend it, it'll bring back the hidden audio beyond the item's edge. This is because in Reaper all edits are nondestructive, including snipping, unless you use a function that renders a new file. Looping in Reaper is always governed by the item's underlying audio file; if you extend beyond it, Reaper will loop.

So by glueing an individual item, you create a file that represents the item you see. Once "glued", you can extend the right edge and loop away.

Items can overlap

Unlike some other DAWs, if you overlap items Reaper will just sum (mix) them together for the overlapping portion, and the waveform you see on the track represents the mixed waveform. With auto-crossfading enabled, Reaper will automatically place a crossfade on the overlapping portion - which you can adjust by grabbing to the top-left of the crossfade edge at either side (the mouse will change to a fade pointer). Without crossfades, the audio's just mixed together. Using this along with Item properties: Volume, take envelopes for example, with or without crossfading, the behaviour of overlapped items can be very useful to create mini-mixes of audio. The final step is to glue the overlapped items, which are then rendered to a new audio file that can be used in your project. If you want to include track-based automation or effects in your render, mark a region and use the track render options.

Overlapping items can be shown in two ways. The default is to show them literally one atop the other, where the waveform seen represents the mix of the overlapping items. The other is to show them in lanes within the track. This view can be enabled with "Options.. Show overlapping media items in lanes".

Summary

To get the best out of Reaper's editing/arrangement of audio, get familiar with split behaviour (snipping), snap options, fades and glueing. Remember that almost everything in Reaper is non-destructive, apart from functions that specifically render to a new file. Glue is one such function and most others have the word "Render" in their title, so it's pretty obvious. All "destructive" functions create a new file, leaving the original in tact, so you'll never lose the audio before a destructive process. Plus, Reaper's undo always allows you to go back, so you can experiment freely and should never lose anything - though new audio files generated by any render functions (including glue) won't be deleted if you undo them: you do this manually with File..Clean current project directory.
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Last edited by zappa; 06-07-2012 at 10:09 AM.
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Old 06-06-2012, 08:38 AM   #2
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Thanks for this!

3 quick questions:

1. How do you make an item snap to the next item with just a 'nudge' from the mouse instead of having to drag it all the way? Like shuffle mode in Protools.

2. How do you COMPLETELY disable the annoying little cross-fades created from splitting items? Deleting these manually is a pain - can't find the preference for this.

3. How do you disable the cross-fade happening when you overlap regions (sorry, items)? When I drag an item over the top of another, I want the hidden part pasted over (removed). I never don't want this and I don't want to have to edit/delete in a separate step.

I'm really hoping to completely abandon Protools HD. The colossal DOA bugs in v9 along with bumping up the upgrade price to $1400... They really just pissed their company away. Reaper, I'm looking at you as the new flagship DAW. Please don't ever do that!
The problem is I have muscle memory for the keyboard editing shortcuts in Protools.
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Old 06-06-2012, 09:23 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by serr View Post
Thanks for this!
2. How do you COMPLETELY disable the annoying little cross-fades created from splitting items? Deleting these manually is a pain - can't find the preference for this.
Preferences->Media Item Defaults-> "Overlap and Crossfade Items when splitting"
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Old 06-07-2012, 06:43 AM   #4
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Originally Posted by serr View Post
1. How do you make an item snap to the next item with just a 'nudge' from the mouse instead of having to drag it all the way?

The problem is I have muscle memory for the keyboard editing shortcuts in Protools.
This should be no problem, cos you can assign the shortcuts to your muscle memory.

1. A look at "Options -> Snap/grid -> Snap/grid settings..." into the "Snap settings" frame might help. Maybe there's an option that fits your needs.


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Old 06-07-2012, 10:56 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
Thanks for this!
2. How do you COMPLETELY disable the annoying little cross-fades created from splitting items? Deleting these manually is a pain - can't find the preference for this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Schmidty View Post
Preferences->Media Item Defaults-> "Overlap and Crossfade Items when splitting"
Schmidty I think serr is looking for the option above the one you mentioned: "Create automatic fade-in/fade-out for new items". The option you're referring to creates an auto crossfade of specific length whose midpoint is where you split.

Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
1. How do you make an item snap to the next item with just a 'nudge' from the mouse instead of having to drag it all the way? Like shuffle mode in Protools.
Actions are your friend

I don't think there's a mouse function that'll exactly duplicate that behaviour. But you can get close. The vast majority of Reaper's cool functions lie in its "Actions". Basically any function of Reaper is an action, some of which are bound to menus, toolbars, the mouse and keyboard shortcuts. But only a few are bound by default, and the vast majority are just waiting there silently for you to enjoy. If you use them occasionally they can be run from the actions list, or for regular use you can bind them to your preferred keyboard shortcuts, menus or toolbar buttons. Press ? to bring up the actions list, and remember you can type to filter the list

There are a few actions of interest to you:
1. Item navigation: move cursor left to nearest item edge
2. Item navigation: move cursor right to nearest item edge
3. Item edit: move position of item to edit cursor
4. Item edit: move right edge of item to edit cursor

Actions 1, 2 above will hop the edit cursor along the timeline left and right, snapping to item edges. Actions 3, 4 will move the selected item(s) left and right so that the corresponding edge meets the edit cursor. You also have:

5. Item edit: move position of item under mouse to edit cursor
6. Item edit: move right edge of item under mouse to edit cursor

Which do the same as 3, 4 but don't require you to select the item first; ie. they act upon the item your mouse is floating over, and will work with single unselected items or any selected items together with the item the mouse is hovering over.

So, if you bind 1,2 to a pair of keys and 5,6 to another pair closeby, the working method is: use keys 1/2 to move edit cursor to desired edge, float mouse over item, hit key 5/6 to move item. Or you can skip the first step (keys 1/2) by just placing the edit cursor with the mouse, then floating back over what you want to move and hitting 5/6.

Remember too that with this approach you could move groups of items around. Doing this often, you'd probably want to bind keys 3/4 above instead of (or in addition to) 5/6. Then you place the cursor with 1/2 or click, select 1 or more items with the mouse (ctrl+click items), and move the bunch to the edit cursor with 3/4.

z.
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Last edited by zappa; 06-07-2012 at 11:12 AM.
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Old 06-07-2012, 12:24 PM   #6
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Thanks for the tips guys. I imagine at the end of the 6th day I'll have such a flexible system that I'll wonder how I ever got anything done with the limitations of PTHD!

I use the shuffle feature all the time so I'll need to put together a few things to get started...
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Old 06-10-2012, 04:32 AM   #7
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Brilliant post. Would love to see some licecap or youtube movies explaining some of these..

I am still used to SF after 12 years and there are some things that i can't seem to do in Reaper, but thats down to me and my workflow.

I do like SF's way of loading up a wav, editing a tiny part (volume down or fx add over an area) and then re-saving directly over destructively so the new file is updated.

It seems to be a little long winded with cut, apply fx, glue, delete old version etc in Reaper.

I would still love a disc icon (like Save As) on the actual item to change and re-save over the old item, and replace it?
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Old 06-10-2012, 04:46 AM   #8
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Brilliant post. Would love to see some licecap or youtube movies explaining some of these..

I am still used to SF after 12 years and there are some things that i can't seem to do in Reaper, but thats down to me and my workflow.

I do like SF's way of loading up a wav, editing a tiny part (volume down or fx add over an area) and then re-saving directly over destructively so the new file is updated.

It seems to be a little long winded with cut, apply fx, glue, delete old version etc in Reaper.

I would still love a disc icon (like Save As) on the actual item to change and re-save over the old item, and replace it?
I also used SF for years before REAPER. I found REAPER's non-destructive editing liberating in most cases.

I use glue or "render as new take" when I need to "destructively" edit audio files. I only really ever need to do this if I want to encode a new time (sample) offset into a Broadcast Wav Format file, usually for exporting to a client or other platform.

If I am using REAPER for mixdowns, audio for video, etc, I just render the result and leave the source files as they are (unless I want to print source or stem tracks for archiving).

Are you producing edited audio source rather than mixdowns, Buckman?

>
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Old 06-10-2012, 06:14 AM   #9
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I also used SF for years before REAPER. I found REAPER's non-destructive editing liberating in most cases.

I use glue or "render as new take" when I need to "destructively" edit audio files. I only really ever need to do this if I want to encode a new time (sample) offset into a Broadcast Wav Format file, usually for exporting to a client or other platform.

If I am using REAPER for mixdowns, audio for video, etc, I just render the result and leave the source files as they are (unless I want to print source or stem tracks for archiving).

Are you producing edited audio source rather than mixdowns, Buckman?

>
Yes i need to get out of the SF way of thinking i think, but finding it hard as SF is so quick and easy and what I see on screen is exactly what is going to CD/finished file without re-rendering like alot of the DAW's.

I do sometimes do edits on my finished mixdowns or burnt in CD renders so a quick extension of a section, a volume dip or an fx over the top of a cd track is easy. In SF I burn the track in, drag an fx over and 'mix' it in, highlight a peice with area selection drop the volume slightly, or eq or reverb a section, THEN just press SAVE and my new edits are part of the new track as a stereo file - its that quick (prob like all other editors do)

As Reaper is a multi-track DAW, I always hated the render or bounce again to incorporate the new edits or changes. BUT Reaper is very close, as some things like re-arranging in slip mode are 10x easier that in SF which is all in 'shuffle' mode (but I got used to it)

If Reaper just had a few more editing tools for audio, i would be happy, especially now BIAS peak is dead. Cockos could clean up and incorporate some newer SF style functions for working on audio, especially for us OS X users

Atm I'm on Mac, so I either have to use Parallels, Windows, and SF just to have that as my editor, or I use an Ethernet cable to send my files to another old PC just for SF! so some of my edited files are spread between the old PC and my Mac which can be frustrating..

I should check my PATHS and set up a seperate folder for all my old shit and edits in REAPER and then clean it out regular and try and put Reaper to the test. I suppose its that different workflow though which i need to get used to with glue etc..
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Old 06-10-2012, 08:01 AM   #10
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Atm I'm on Mac, so I either have to use Parallels, Windows, and SF just to have that as my editor
Install Wine http://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/
This lets you run any Win app that comes along directly in OSX. Faster and more stable. Everything just runs in OSX.
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Old 06-20-2012, 02:27 PM   #11
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Thanks for this post! I'm having trouble finding a way to split an item by clicking on it. Coming from Cubase, I'm used to having a "cut" tool that allows me to do quick splitting just by clicking on the item where I want to split it. I'm sure Reaper can do this but can't figure out how.
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Old 06-20-2012, 02:36 PM   #12
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@ campersand

Have a look at this thread:

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=42144

you can use armed toolbar buttons to emulate 'tools'

and welcome to Reaper forum.
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Old 06-20-2012, 02:54 PM   #13
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Thanks and thanks!
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Old 06-20-2012, 05:30 PM   #14
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@campersand

I find the easiest approach to the quick splitting behaviour of Cubase is to reassign the split key "S" to the action "Item: split item under mouse cursor". With this mod you can float the mouse about and hit S to split, without first placing the edit cursor.

This method also obeys snap rules, so if you've a grid and snap is on, the split will happen at the appropriate quantise points.

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Old 06-21-2012, 05:18 AM   #15
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hi everyone! ive been using reaper for about 3 days now and i have to say, although the learning curve is pretty steep, i may well be making the jump from cubase to reaper very soon

one thing i have been trying to do is to split an audio item at regular intervals with one click. in cubase i would select the scissors tool and ctrl click, say, 1 bar from the start of the audio event and the whole event would be sliced into 1 bar sections.
is there a way of doing this in reaper? i've found the dynamic split menu but thats not quite what i'm looking for.

thanks
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Old 06-21-2012, 05:26 AM   #16
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Really nicely covered Zappa.

Back when I first started dabbling with Reaper what I wanted (or would have found useful) was a "translator" chart, maybe a spreadsheet that equates X command or function in Cubase to X command or function in Reaper, so this kind of thing you're doing is really useful.

Sometimes those things have different names and sometimes we newbies spend a bit of time trying to find the identical function when it's maybe just called something else, or the action is named something different.

Very cool overview. Good looking out.
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Old 06-21-2012, 09:25 PM   #17
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Really nicely covered Zappa...
Thanks for your kind words Lawrence. These posts do take a little while to knock together in a way that's readable and clear. I enjoy writing and have written for magazines and academic journals in the past, so I hope to put together pieces like this regularly and it's great to know that people find them useful. I was thinking to cover basics, intermediate and advanced, perhaps collecting them together in time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Abstraction View Post
one thing i have been trying to do is to split an audio item at regular intervals with one click. in cubase i would select the scissors tool and ctrl click, say, 1 bar from the start of the audio event and the whole event would be sliced into 1 bar sections.
is there a way of doing this in reaper? i've found the dynamic split menu but thats not quite what i'm looking for.

thanks
Check post #14 (the one above yours).

Some backround (or why it's sometimes better to do things differently)

I also came over from Cubase/Nuendo originally. Cubendo has a modal workflow, so mouse behaviour is determined by the tool that's currently selected. Reaper is modeless, so one-click to split requires a mouse modifier key, because click will always select/place edit cursor/etc.. Both approaches bring advantages, but it's important to spend time familiarising with each if you want to find out which might be best for you.

During the early transition from Cubendo to Reaper, I experienced similar frustrations, loosely falling into the category of "I want Reaper to work the way I like to work in Cubendo". I went to some lengths customising Reaper to work like Cubendo. But over time I had the lightbulb: Reaper works differently, and works better if you learn to take advantage of its workflow features.

I like to quickly split and rearrange items (parts) since changing arrangements are a big part of my creative workflow. Reaper (together with SWS) has a ton of actions to make this easier than Cubendo and without needing to swap modes back and forth in the process. In my opinion it's actually much faster in real world use, and easier if your splitting across a whole bunch of tracks and moving that "column" around. Yes - Cubase can do that, but it's quite buggy (up to v5 and beyond if I know Steinberg) and there are a bunch of gotchas to watch out for. Big rearrangements used to be a PITA for me in Cubendo, not so in Reaper.

The little mod I suggest in #14 is for those who like to quickly split things without having to keep clicking before hitting "S". Making that mod, you have one hand on the mouse and the other hovering the "S" and you can split all over the place very quickly. It's intelligent too, acting as you'd want Snap/Grid enabled or disabled. Though it's different to Cubase, in practice it's much faster, because you don't have to keep swapping in and out of the snip tool. Try it.

The key point here is to dip your toes into driving Reaper without trying to swim against its natural workflow. Allow yourself time to work differently and see how that works for you when your muscle memory's imprinted with the new method. And of course you still have the opportunity to customise the heck out of Reaper within that workflow. Which you'll want to do, because once you know Reaper's workflow, ultimately you'll want to tailor it to suit yours.

z.
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Old 06-22-2012, 12:53 AM   #18
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I also came over from Cubase/Nuendo originally. Cubendo has a modal workflow, so mouse behaviour is determined by the tool that's currently selected. Reaper is modeless, so one-click to split requires a mouse modifier key, because click will always select/place edit cursor/etc.. Both approaches bring advantages, but it's important to spend time familiarising with each if you want to find out which might be best for you.
This is brilliant and exactly how I feel with Sound Forge as an editor.. Great description and post.

I learnt SF 12 years ago, and looking at it now, it seems very backwards, as it only operates in "slip" mode if you like. But the plus points are that it has area selection, apply fx directly to the waveform, and saving exactly what you see as a waveform.

I know Reaper is more flexible and better than an older program like SF and I do really need to do everything in Reaper, especially as its native to Mac and SF isnt!

I suppose that 'known' way of working is very quick and valuable, but I do need to break away and probably find that Reaper is faster, leaner and quicker with more editing flexibility.

I may just un-install SF in an order to force myself to set up my customize, and use Reaper as an editor. Each time I try this, I end up going back! But from many posts on here have helped and i'm constantly finding new tips and tricks - as well as the new versions which add new tools...
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Old 06-22-2012, 01:35 AM   #19
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great stuff, thanks for making the effort to type this all out.
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Old 06-22-2012, 02:37 AM   #20
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thanks for your reply zappa, and for starting the thread, very helpful to a struggling migrant i dont know why we get so attatched to our DAWs, it's crazy!
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Old 06-22-2012, 02:53 PM   #21
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Originally Posted by Abstraction View Post
hi everyone! ive been using reaper for about 3 days now and i have to say, although the learning curve is pretty steep, i may well be making the jump from cubase to reaper very soon

one thing i have been trying to do is to split an audio item at regular intervals with one click. in cubase i would select the scissors tool and ctrl click, say, 1 bar from the start of the audio event and the whole event would be sliced into 1 bar sections.
is there a way of doing this in reaper? i've found the dynamic split menu but thats not quite what i'm looking for.

thanks
There's an action "Item: split items at timeline grid" I just discovered myself that might help. You have to fiddle a bit with the snap/grid settings, 'cos there seems to be a little weirdness there. However, it works and if you have a long item that needs to be split at every bar, it's certainly better than clicking bars one by one and split. But if you want to do it that way, you could even create some simple macros in the form

Code:
Go to start of next measure
Item: Split items at edit cursor (no change selection)
or

Code:
Item: Split items at edit cursor (no change selection)
Go to start of next measure
(which are a bit different) .

@ Zappa: I just want to underline what a few posters have written before; very good explaining you did there.


-Data
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Old 06-24-2012, 07:18 AM   #22
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Install Wine http://www.davidbaumgold.com/tutorials/wine-mac/
This lets you run any Win app that comes along directly in OSX. Faster and more stable. Everything just runs in OSX.
Thanks but looking at the WineHQ and the versions I need of Acid Pro and Sound Forge, it says they are not very stable in Wine unfortunately
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Old 06-24-2012, 07:56 AM   #23
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@Zappa.

So if i get this right, the "glue" tool is really the same as SAVE AS on an editor, so if i bring in the ends of a long sample and hit glue, the file on screen (what you see is what you get) becomes a new sample?

I then have an Action for "rename take and source file" which renames then new sample at source/take as a new file ie: instead of" 1342_45446.wav", this exact file becomes (without render or copying) "My Loop.wav"

I also if i need it, use Batch Convertor to change the file on screen into an Aif, WAV or MP3?

Am I doing this right?

The biggest hurdle for me coming from an Editor, is the un-named and un-used discarded files.
I haven't been that good, and even though I have a folder set up in Prefs for all audio recorded and edited, I never "clean current directory" after each session, (lazy i know and I'm not used to it) so this folder has 1000's of edits and unused audio taking up space.

With an editor you make your edits and saves, and close down and everything is deleted thats unused and unsaved which is great. With Reaper I'd like to get an action to delete any audio that isn't shown, or isnt saved within a project, and it clear out on shutdown of the program?
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Last edited by buckman; 06-24-2012 at 08:12 AM.
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Old 06-24-2012, 03:58 PM   #24
zappa
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Quote:
Originally Posted by buckman View Post
So if i get this right, the "glue" tool is really the same as SAVE AS on an editor, so if i bring in the ends of a long sample and hit glue, the file on screen (what you see is what you get) becomes a new sample?
That's it. Any item/take based modification (crossfades, take envelopes & fx) will be rendered also, except the leading and trailing fades, although there is a glue action that will include those fades as well.

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Originally Posted by buckman View Post
I then have an Action for "rename take and source file" which renames then new sample at source/take as a new file ie: instead of" 1342_45446.wav", this exact file becomes (without render or copying) "My Loop.wav"
The action you are looking for is part of the SWS extensions:

Xenakios/SWS: Rename take source files

By default, the rendered file will be WAV according to the current project settings. If you have more than one item/take selected, you will be asked to rename each in seccession.

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Originally Posted by buckman View Post
I also if i need it, use Batch Convertor to change the file on screen into an Aif, WAV or MP3?
You could. Be aware that file conversions will not affect the items which are referenced in your project. Ie. the converter will leave the original WAV files untouched and they'll remain the source used in Reaper.

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Originally Posted by buckman View Post
The biggest hurdle for me coming from an Editor, is the un-named and un-used discarded files.
I haven't been that good, and even though I have a folder set up in Prefs for all audio recorded and edited, I never "clean current directory" after each session, (lazy i know and I'm not used to it) so this folder has 1000's of edits and unused audio taking up space.

With an editor you make your edits and saves, and close down and everything is deleted thats unused and unsaved which is great. With Reaper I'd like to get an action to delete any audio that isn't shown, or isnt saved within a project, and it clear out on shutdown of the program?
The best solution to that is to adjust your working method a little. Reaper doesn't have an intelligent "clean" function as such, but you can get where you need by using "copy all media" or "move all media" functions when you Save as, together with "Create a subdir for project". Once a project resides in its own subdir along with its media, any new media created by the project (from glueing, rendering etc.) will be created there also. If you save all your active projects in this way everything else in the default "Reaper Media" folder can then be discarded - backing up beforehand if paranoid.

Then when editing audio, you can use the above functions to create stuff in the default Reaper Media dir, without saving a project, do what you want with the resulting files afterwards, and clear out the dir with Reaper's "Clean" function. Which, FWIW, simply lists all media files in the "current" media directory that are not referenced by the currently opened project and allows them to be deleted.

Yes, these functions could be improved, and yes, there are some FR's relating to this

z.
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Old 06-24-2012, 05:08 PM   #25
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hi Zappa, I sent you a PM
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Old 06-25-2012, 12:28 AM   #26
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@Zappa, with regard to your first answers, I think I'm almost on track with what you suggested anyway

Yes my Actions that I have stumbled upon and am learning to work with are :

G = Glue items including fade in/outs

SHIFT +S = SWS Rename take and source files

Also I have a button set up for the File Conversion, and yes understand that this creates a new 'copy' be it an mp3 etc of whats in the timeline, which is the same as an editor anyway

Quote:
Originally Posted by zappa View Post
The best solution to that is to adjust your working method a little. Reaper doesn't have an intelligent "clean" function as such, but you can get where you need by using "copy all media" or "move all media" functions when you Save as, together with "Create a subdir for project". Once a project resides in its own subdir along with its media, any new media created by the project (from glueing, rendering etc.) will be created there also. If you save all your active projects in this way everything else in the default "Reaper Media" folder can then be discarded - backing up beforehand if paranoid.

Then when editing audio, you can use the above functions to create stuff in the default Reaper Media dir, without saving a project, do what you want with the resulting files afterwards, and clear out the dir with Reaper's "Clean" function. Which, FWIW, simply lists all media files in the "current" media directory that are not referenced by the currently opened project and allows them to be deleted.

Yes, these functions could be improved, and yes, there are some FR's relating to this

z.
Thanks for this. It still seems a little backward, but i'll persevere

I think one of my main reasons for Area Selection and processing in Reaper, would give me the same editing and closer to a multi-track editor, as I'm so used to it, it would give me a little familiarity

If not, even though I love REAPER, are there any batch of the new DAW's that are springing up that do area selection and allow editing in the timeline destructively, like Studio One?
(I have never tried it but it does seem intruigiung as its always popping up and some have said its editing is slightly better?) I still can't get used to the loop/area selection in Reaper as an editing area, as I've always differentiated between the loop area on a DAW, and the area selection on an editor..
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Old 05-21-2013, 08:12 AM   #27
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Hi, i'm moving from nuendo and i found reaper very very cool but i could not find a good way to edit different takes in a multitrack recording drum. In other words, i have 10 tracks of a recorded drum, and the drum player recorded different takes and i want to edit and change take in every track at the same time. Thanks!! Viva el reaper!
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Old 04-18-2014, 09:55 AM   #28
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I came to Reaper from C7 and didnt find any issues with audio editing, neither functionality or keybindings.

Perhaps because I have always stayed up to date with other software.

I suspect this is one of those internet myth rumors that got started by some oldtimer who got a mental breakdown with things he was not used to...

Trust me, there are alot of oldtimer noobs, veterans with 20years in the industry, who simply cannot grasp another software.


I met my fair share of these veterans while living in cubase land over the years and despite their "veteran status" they are nothing more than noobs who will never learn any other software, no matter how easy things are made.

"Cant learn an old dog to sit" :P
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Old 03-06-2015, 09:43 PM   #29
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Default I am looking to move from Cubase 7.5

I too am looking to move from Cubase 7.5 to reaper. Steinberg support is Lame there are just too many bugs and Steinberg just keeps releasing new Versions and breaks stuff and never really fixes it the old stuff.

Cubase 8 is a disaster from what I am reading. I spoke to a manager
in support and he is so totally sold that Cubase is a leader. I agree with him. They are the leader in bugs and creating more bugs when they fix things. The fix is sell a new version forget fixing it. They just broke the full monitor mode on the mixer that it took them 2 version to fix in cubase 8.

I am an IT professional for 15 years and I swear I have never in my life seen such $H%& programers as the one that are programing Cubase. Sorry moderator had to curse. There QA is or should I say what QA.LOL

I know the learning curve is step but I have to take the jump. I went thought this with Cakewalk a while back.

Quote:
Originally Posted by syntaxed2 View Post
I came to Reaper from C7 and didnt find any issues with audio editing, neither functionality or keybindings.

Perhaps because I have always stayed up to date with other software.

I suspect this is one of those internet myth rumors that got started by some oldtimer who got a mental breakdown with things he was not used to...

Trust me, there are alot of oldtimer noobs, veterans with 20years in the industry, who simply cannot grasp another software.


I met my fair share of these veterans while living in cubase land over the years and despite their "veteran status" they are nothing more than noobs who will never learn any other software, no matter how easy things are made.

"Cant learn an old dog to sit" :P
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Old 03-06-2015, 09:57 PM   #30
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zappa good idea to write this up... did I miss it or did you mention that if you create a time selection and hit Shift+S you will get the item split at both ends of the time selection.... very handy thing for me.
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Old 03-06-2015, 10:17 PM   #31
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did I miss it or...
Necro'd again!



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Old 04-10-2015, 04:58 AM   #32
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Default zero crossing!! (+quick DAC monitoring/latency q)

thanks man! I'm trying to cull bookmarks and sort all my info-findings re the reaper.

I've just READ ~1/2 this... great stuff.

If it hadn't been for this article I might never have stumbled upon the understanding (http://goo.gl/I9PFTO)...

I'm still a total noob. I've got a keyboard and I've often just tinkered midi > digitech rp6 fx > boss rc-3 loop > gibson practice amp (lovely warm tone). I daren't go amp > input (pc or loop) cause I don't wanna fry anything.

I've ordered a behringer low-latency usb interface. I currently have a stereo with optical in, and I have a cable (used downstairs for tv>soundbar that I can borrow)

My questions are

will using digital audio out improve (reduce) latency ?
will using digital audio out improve sound quality ?

(digital out from realtek soundcard, which has hd audio but I think that that will add latency)

back to the threads!
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Old 01-03-2016, 07:55 AM   #33
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Data View Post
There's an action "Item: split items at timeline grid" I just discovered myself that might help. You have to fiddle a bit with the snap/grid settings, 'cos there seems to be a little weirdness there. However, it works and if you have a long item that needs to be split at every bar, it's certainly better than clicking bars one by one and split. But if you want to do it that way, you could even create some simple macros in the form

Code:
Go to start of next measure
Item: Split items at edit cursor (no change selection)
or

Code:
Item: Split items at edit cursor (no change selection)
Go to start of next measure
(which are a bit different) .

@ Zappa: I just want to underline what a few posters have written before; very good explaining you did there.


-Data


Thanks!
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Old 01-17-2016, 08:08 AM   #34
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
Thanks for the tips guys. I imagine at the end of the 6th day I'll have such a flexible system that I'll wonder how I ever got anything done with the limitations of PTHD!...
Hi Serr!

I don't suppose you've uploaded (m)any instructional/demonstrative 'custom-actions' for the proverbial noob, illustrating just some of the powerful 'workflows' ('selection-operations'?) you're reaping the rewards of?

One thing I don't get is actions that have menus and toolbars.. they reference each other, but don't/can't be packaged together?

say for example some of those cool-configs mentioned above are stashed, you'd have to import both the menu/shortcut, & the action-set?

I think I'm gonna need some spreadsheets
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Old 01-17-2016, 10:06 AM   #35
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aspiringSynthesisingAlch View Post
Hi Serr!

I don't suppose you've uploaded (m)any instructional/demonstrative 'custom-actions' for the proverbial noob, illustrating just some of the powerful 'workflows' ('selection-operations'?) you're reaping the rewards of?

One thing I don't get is actions that have menus and toolbars.. they reference each other, but don't/can't be packaged together?

say for example some of those cool-configs mentioned above are stashed, you'd have to import both the menu/shortcut, & the action-set?

I think I'm gonna need some spreadsheets
Actions are the commands.

Menus, buttons, toolbars, & keyboard shortcuts are the 'containers'.

You are free to tie an action to whatever kind of 'container' you wish. Menu option, button, etc... the choice is yours.

The menu items and buttons and so forth that are already created are simply the default set. Just because an action is tied to a menu at present doesn't mean anything - ie. it's not a "menu action". It's simply an action that happens to be tied to a menu instead of one of the other choices. You can change existing defaults as you please.
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Old 09-19-2016, 01:21 PM   #36
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Default edit in, out points?

I've been using Reaper for years and it is slowly taking duty from other DAWs. However, I cannot figure out any way to replicate the jog wheel in/out editing from other systems. Is there a way to pick up and move an in/out point or say "move in point to cursor position"? To do dialog editing in Reaper with my trackball would be a nightmare. A bonus would be some autoplace options such as "snap media start time to cursor" and "add multiple clips with defined gap between"

Thanks for any insight,
Jesse
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Old 02-09-2018, 08:49 AM   #37
mike_r630
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Default How to stop overlapping when dragging?

Hello all.

I am new to reaper and am producing an audio book. I have TONS of splits in a single super long track, and have encountered an issue that audacity did automatically.

When I try to click and drag one section of the audio, it will end up overlapping the track with a crossfade. I do not want it to overlap at all, I want it to shift the ENTIRE track forward or back, while still retaining all of the splits (takes) that I did before.

Hopefully this makes sense.... Does anyone know how to achieve this?

Thanks
-Mike
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Old 02-09-2018, 11:55 AM   #38
serr
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mike_r630 View Post
Hello all.

I am new to reaper and am producing an audio book. I have TONS of splits in a single super long track, and have encountered an issue that audacity did automatically.

When I try to click and drag one section of the audio, it will end up overlapping the track with a crossfade. I do not want it to overlap at all, I want it to shift the ENTIRE track forward or back, while still retaining all of the splits (takes) that I did before.

Hopefully this makes sense.... Does anyone know how to achieve this?

Thanks
-Mike
Turn on 'snap'. (The button with the magnet looking icon.)
Right-click it to explore the settings.
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Old 02-09-2018, 11:36 PM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
Turn on 'snap'. (The button with the magnet looking icon.)
Right-click it to explore the settings.
I think you meant “Ripple Edit”, Serr


>
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