How do I automatically assign an FX Chain to a track?

sjs94704 · 11-18-2018, 08:01 PM

I am working on the auto color/icon settings in the SWS of Reaper and was just wondering if there was a way to have the Fx Chain for each track get pulled in with them at the time they first get imported into a project?

If there is a video on YouTube about this can I get the link to it?

Eliseat · 11-19-2018, 02:02 AM

No video needed. You can open the FX window and go to the menu fx -> Save chain as default for new tracks. Every FX constellation will be saved and automatically recalled if a new track gets created.

So you could place an EQ and a compressor as default for every track and channel.

hopi · 11-19-2018, 07:18 AM

and\or create the tracks with various chains as desired and save each of those as a track template with a name of your choice....

so you could have a bass track 1 and 2, each with a diff fx chain, etc., etc.

foxAsteria · 11-19-2018, 02:12 PM

Yea it's probably best at that point to just start using track templates. You can use auto color to help you set them up quicker, then add your fx chains and save them each as templates to import at any time.

I have a toolbar of different colored icons to import track templates by color, since I use the same colors for instrument types across all projects.

Slightly more advanced, but an incredibly handy thing to do here is to also assign your tracks to VCA slave groups before saving the templates. This is done in Grouping Matrix. That way you can have each color of track controllable from VCA master tracks of the same color (e.g. for solo/mute/volume adjustment of all vocal tracks at once). The master VCA tracks can be a track template as well.

sjs94704 · 11-19-2018, 03:57 PM

Thanks, Everyone for your feedback!

However, let me be more clear what I am doing.

I am a singer and I have downloaded pre-recorded music that has each instrument as a separate track. I have named each track in a specific way to identify what the instrument is. For example:

1-6-DRUMS.MP3
2-6-PCN.MP3 (PERCUSSION)
3-6-BASS.MP3 (BASS GUITAR)
4-6-EGT.MP3 (ELECTRIC GUITAR)

I have a database that I keep track of what I'm doing on each song. In this case the #6 in the file name represents the record # in my database.

In my SWS the DRUMS, PCN, BASS, EGT is what triggers the SWS to auto color my tracks as well as set the both the TCP and MCP layouts so that when I import my tacks into a project the SWS does all of this for me.

I have saved all my Fx chains to use over and over again and can certainly pull them in manually, but, it would be great to have the chain pre-determined just the same as things are in the AUTO COLOR/ICON/LAYOUT plugin.

So, it would just be great to assign the Fx chain as well to with each track.

foxAsteria · 11-19-2018, 04:51 PM

Yes it would be great, but short answer is "you can't."

However, you can load up your templates into SWS Resources Track Template slots and then you can use those slots to either import templates or apply their settings to existing tracks (there are sws actions for this). Auto-color doesn't extend to fx chains atm, so you're stuck with using track templates.

Eliseat · 11-20-2018, 12:04 AM

But the idea is really nice. Imagine a track named "bass" loads automatically its color plus bass professor mark II and a bus compressor with the right standard presets ...

Would be awesome.

Not sure if this should be a request in Reaper forums or directly to the SWS team.

fourdogslong · 10-01-2023, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eliseat

But the idea is really nice. Imagine a track named "bass" loads automatically its color plus bass professor mark II and a bus compressor with the right standard presets ...

Would be awesome.

Not sure if this should be a request in Reaper forums or directly to the SWS team.

I'm late to the party but this would be awesome, since some time has passed since these posts I gotta ask, is there any way to do this in the current version?