Old 08-04-2019, 01:53 PM   #1
pianogineer
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Default Live Playback Loop Use Case

I've been an on-and-off studio REAPER user for probably 10 years now, and am looking at going all in, including live. Currently building up a Mainstage setup to do the following, and wondering if REAPER can be used for all of these use cases:

1. Song selection controlled via iPad App (On Song) sending MIDI PC messages to REAPER.
2. PC message queues the correct REAPER song up (leaning towards separate project per song per a reason below).
2.a. Mainly using for backing tracks, but would be nice to have VSTi flexibility if needed.
3. REAPER needs to send a PC MIDI to my keyboard to pull up the right patch there.
4. The backing track use case is usually 2-4 sections of a song, which need to be looped on demand. I have a footswitch that will send a specific CC. These CC's will be the same 4 CC's over and over, so each song needs to respond to those same CC's (e.g., CC1 = Section 1, CC2 = Section 2, etc.). This is why I'm leaning towards a separate project per song, as I can't figure out how you would make this work with a single project and a diverse set of markers/regions.
4.a. Looping would be smooth seeked. Would like "absolute" control of sections (e.g., jump from section 4 to section 2 without hitting "previous section" twice).
5. Ideally would love to have a simple config file that controls all of this. That is, 1 row per song, which would list the project file, input PC, and output PC (to keyboard).

Have done lots of reading and feels like this should all be achievable, just not sure I can wrap my mind around the best way, especially #4. I can code, so if I need to get fancy with JSFX I can.

Seems like 1, 2 and 4 should be achievable with SWS Resources and slot actions (SWS/S&M: Resources - Open project, slot N (new tab)). #3 I'm sure is possible but I'm not sure exactly how to do that. Feels like the most tricky would be #5 which is how I want to scale and manage say 100 songs. I could do it via MIDI assignment in the actions list (depending on how #3 is solved), but seems like at scale this could get bulky/tricky.

Thanks for any insight!
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Old 08-04-2019, 02:28 PM   #2
mschnell
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I can confirm that 3 will work.

Supposedly 4 will be doable either using Playtime or some dedicated programming JSFX or ReaScript and using SWS region playlist.
No idea about the others, hopefully someone will chime in.

Please read the stick thread here and see if there is some information that gets you started.

-Michael
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Old 08-04-2019, 04:06 PM   #3
pianogineer
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Thanks! What's the general hint at getting 3 working so that it sends the PC when the new project is loaded?
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Old 08-04-2019, 09:54 PM   #4
mschnell
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I suppose ReaPack -> Slider To Midi CC will send out a CC not only when pushing a preset onto it (that is what I use it for) but also on loading the project (but I did not test yet). It easily can be modified to send out a program change message instead of a CC.

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Old 08-06-2019, 06:35 AM   #5
mschnell
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mschnell View Post
I suppose ReaPack -> Slider To Midi CC will send out a CC not only when pushing a preset onto it (that is what I use it for) but also on loading the project (but I did not test yet).
In Fact its "ReaPack -> Slider To Midi PS" and it already sends out Program Change messages. And I tested that it indeed sends out a program change message when a project is loaded.
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Old 11-05-2019, 02:41 PM   #6
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As I'm just starting to prepare a live performance* with Reaper, I came across similar questions and requirements, and already stumbled over some issues:

1) if Reaper is NOT running, switching the regions back and forth works flawlessly. As soon as it plays, it won't react anymore.
Note: I used the "native" Midi control path as well as ReaLearn (sooo good!). Should I use ReaLearn exclusively?

2) when I start playing a loop/time selection (region) from the first bar, the first Midi note won't play. Neither does the 2-bar count-in click when I set the the start marker right on the grid (or even a millisecond on top of it). Which setting is causing that? "Allow live FX multiprocessing"? Media buffer size? ("Tiny fade-in on playback start" is switched off of course)

But anyways, it's great fun coming up with all the actions and customizations that in the end will make this live set work as it should.

* loops, fixed arranged parts (I toggle the "transport repeat" via action markers), VSTi's, hardware synths, 2 guitars, drums, vocals: all of them with FX and automation. Insane )
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