The proper way to add empty space after a midi take ?

[elena_2]

Sorry this is still quite a beginner's question, I know, but it will take me some time before fully mastering all Reaper's features...

Which is the "correct" (read: the "intended") way to add empty room at the end of a midi item ?
For example... I recorded a take and later I want to make room at the end for hand editing to add notes, or just I
created one from scratch with Add Midi Item and I simply want to make more room for more stuff at the end...

Because if I drag the part boundary rightwise strange things happen which I'm still not familiar with (sometimes I get
the expanded part with two "nudges" and replicated content, sometimes else not, and sometimes else if I try to
move the end the whole content scrolls aswell... ok I admit I have still to read those parts of the manual over and over...)

The other way I can figure out is simply to select a wanted portion of empty space then Insert new midi item and then glue the parts together but I thought a smarter way to achieve the same existed...

Thanks and sorry for my beginner's question

[Judders]

No need to be sorry, that's what this place is for!

In REAPER preferences, under Project > Media Item Defaults, there is a check box for "loop source for new MIDI items" and "Loop source for recorded items". If you uncheck them you will not have looping MIDI and when you pull out an edge of a MIDI item you will get empty space.

Also, if you right-click on an item and navigate to the "Item settings" menu, you can turn looping on and off per item.

I'm not sure about your scrolling problem, can't say I've encountered that. Are the notes inside the item definitely moving, or is the just the preview in the arrange window that moves?

[RobertP]

Thats helpful Judders.
Can you tell me, I assume the default is for looping to be on, so is there a way to have looping unchecked more or less permenantly then check it on if I need it. Not a big deal really but I have a notion that looping is sometimes checked and sometimes unchecked but I am not sure why.

[Judders]

Originally Posted by RobertP

Thats helpful Judders.
Can you tell me, I assume the default is for looping to be on, so is there a way to have looping unchecked more or less permenantly then check it on if I need it. Not a big deal really but I have a notion that looping is sometimes checked and sometimes unchecked but I am not sure why.

There are a few check boxes for looping in REAPER preferences, under Project > Media Item Defaults. have a play with them and see if you can get consistent behaviour. If it isn't consistent, post a bug report!

[colonelporridge]

Make a timeselection of the area where you want your midi and empty space, then insert empty item from the top menu, then highlight the midi item and the new empty item which might be a little hard to see, and glue them both. You will then have your original midi item with a bit of space at the end. making action buttons for glue items and insert empty item will make this process quicker.

[SoulOne82]

The action 'Item: Fit items to time selection, padding with silence if needed' is the quickest solution I guess. No need to insert empty items and glueing these.

[colonelporridge]

Originally Posted by SoulOne82

The action 'Item: Fit items to time selection, padding with silence if needed' is the quickest solution I guess. No need to insert empty items and glueing these.

Nice, thats much better!

[elena_2]

Thank you all people, you helped a lot, all valid ways to achieve the same

No really I have still to get confident with all those looping / event end /event boundaries -things LOL. Sometimes, depending on how a take was created and its exact "history" (recorded, created from scratch, glued, resized,....)
it still happens that if I move the event end (from within the midi editor) farther apart to make room I'm still getting the whole content BEFORE IT scrolling along with it... but I didn't know of those loop options you pointed out, I hope with time I will figure out everything. I will now try everything out, thanks.

Btw, Reaper is a very complex and extremely powerful piece of software and its learning curve may be extremely asymptotical. Even if now I can master all its essential features (I can create quite complex projects now), I admit I'm still useing perhaps only the 30% of its full potential

[Judders]

Originally Posted by elena_2

Btw, Reaper is a very complex and extremely powerful piece of software and its learning curve may be extremely asymptotical.

I learnt a new word today.

Thanks!

[elena_2]

Originally Posted by Judders

I learnt a new word today.

Thanks!

LOL sorry the mathematician inside me often tends to turn out