Multichannel Item's path config on output

[JerContact]

PROBLEM = Multichannel audio is a bit funky on Reaper. I'm having an issue in rendering an item. When I select 2 channels, or 4 channels, or 6 channels in rendering, I have no choice or ability to choose which item channel paths I want to use. My feature request:

FEATURE REQUEST - In rendering out files, I want a button for "advanced" next to "channels" so that I can pick which item channels paths in my selected item are going to be used in the selected channels in the render menu (2, 4, 6).

WHY - I work in games. We use a lot of quads. It is a lot more work to put in a plugin, reconfigure my output to quad, not be able to hear the sound correctly, and render that file to get 4 channels of quad (especially when leveraging the subprojects). That is currently the way to create quad sounds when you are working in surround. OR, you have to make a complicated surround setup for the routing that makes using surround bulky and a headache. Reaper chooses to have surround L, R, C, LFE, LS, RS. If that is what it has chosen for it's surround, then when I output a quad, I should be able to choose L, R, LS, RS. Right now, if you select a 5.1 sound, but want to render it to Quad, it automatically chooses L, R, C, LFE. I have no options to select the correct configuration in the render. There are ways to get around this, yes, but it's not elegant. It seems more elegant to leverage the current way Reaper works and support multi options for all designers. For instance, our game uses film standard, L, C, R, LS, RS, LFE. When I create a 5.1 file in Reaper, i have no way in the program to select which multichannel path I want. I have to go to a 3rd party plugin, reorder the channel path, not hear it correctly on my output, and render the file. This isn't elegant, nor is it user friendly. An easy fix is to give an option to reorder the path at render, this would solve a lot of multichannel issues people have with Reaper!

[vectorwarrior]

Also work in games, also have to work around this issue. I use Melda's Channel Matrix to reorder the channels, have you considered putting it (or whatever you use) in the monitoring chain rather than on the master bus?

[Bri1]

Hey JerContact- have you tried user set up?
There's a checkbox for lfe,and you can move the cones around to suit your set-up.
v5.40

[JerContact]

Originally Posted by vectorwarrior

have you considered putting it (or whatever you use) in the monitoring chain rather than on the master bus?

Hey Vectorwarrior, do you mean within Reaper or through hardware/software outside of Reaper? How would you do this within Reaper?

[JerContact]

Originally Posted by Bri1

Hey JerContact- have you tried user set up?
There's a checkbox for lfe,and you can move the cones around to suit your set-up.
v5.40

What do you mean by user setup? Within Reaper? Where would you find this within Reaper? Thanks!

[vectorwarrior]

Originally Posted by JerContact

Hey Vectorwarrior, do you mean within Reaper or through hardware/software outside of Reaper? How would you do this within Reaper?

Yeah, in Reaper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk8qN-69tNE

You'd set your master bus as if you're going to render in quad, although set it to 6 channel and the last two would be truncated when you render. Then in the monitoring fx you would add your channel redirect effect to route 3 and 4 to 5 and 6.

[JerContact]

Originally Posted by vectorwarrior

Yeah, in Reaper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk8qN-69tNE

You'd set your master bus as if you're going to render in quad, although set it to 6 channel and the last two would be truncated when you render. Then in the monitoring fx you would add your channel redirect effect to route 3 and 4 to 5 and 6.

Ahhhh, yeah, that's an option. That solves the monitoring issue, which is totally cool! Though, on the flip side, now it adds a whole other step and can make things pretty confusing from project to project if someone forgets they have this selected.

Seems like Reaper should have a better built-in system to handle surround.

But thanks for help, definitely helps with monitoring issues!

[Bri1]

What do you mean by user setup? Within Reaper? Where would you find this within Reaper? Thanks!

It's the 1st option in the rea surround channel dropdown menu.
Hidden in plain sight it is. =)

[JerContact]

Originally Posted by Bri1

It's the 1st option in the rea surround channel dropdown menu.
Hidden in plain sight it is. =)

Nice! But, the same issue happens with using a plugin. It doesn't matter if it's 1st party or 3rd party. If you rearrange item channel path, you won't hear it output correctly. This is a big problem when using subprojects in a master project. Especially in games where not all your stems are 5.1. This is still a clunky way to have surround.

The feature request I have would really solve all these issues, as you don't really need to change the path order until output.

[junh1024]

Better builtin solution:

Use Reastream + custom FXIO routing to change the routing. You can en/disable it for preview/render.

SOrry that you learned this late but everywhere else uses the SMPTE LRCLFE... order but PT/DD uses film LCR... amd imo, SMPTE is easier to work with.

Unless you're using WAV, empty channels in FLAC , vorbis & the like take up very little space.

This issue http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.p...12#post1841012 may be of intrest to you if you use vorbis