What is the maxumum length of time I can record at once?

Musicianaire · 10-13-2018, 04:06 PM

If I want to hit the Record button and start playing random, improvised stuff on my guitar until I get tired, what's the maximum length I can do that in Reaper?

Disclaimer: I Googled and I searched these forums for an answer but couldn't find anything.

jinotsuh · 10-13-2018, 04:12 PM

I would say it depends on how much free space you have on the hard drive that is being recorded to. That would be the limiting factor, I could be wrong though.

I have often thought about what you are wanting to do, interesting to know.

domzy · 10-13-2018, 04:14 PM

i think this depends on how much free hard drive space you have and the bit depth, sample rate and format of the audio.

Mikethebass · 10-13-2018, 04:35 PM

I may be wrong but I think that the maximum possible recording length is limited to the maximum size that your file can be. This depends on what format you are recording in.

I think that the maximum size for a WAV file is about 3Gb Apples CAF can be bigger.

Glennbo · 10-13-2018, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by domzy

i think this depends on how much free hard drive space you have and the bit depth, sample rate and format of the audio.

I believe that this is the correct answer. Wave files have a 2GB limit, but REAPER is smart enough to automatically switch to Wave64 if you exceed the 2GB limit of 32 bit wave files.

Musicianaire · 10-13-2018, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikethebass

I may be wrong but I think that the maximum possible recording length is limited to the maximum size that your file can be. This depends on what format you are recording in.

I think that the maximum size for a WAV file is about 3Gb Apples CAF can be bigger.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glennbo

I believe that this is the correct answer. Wave files have a 2GB limit, but REAPER is smart enough to automatically switch to Wave64 if you exceed the 2GB limit of 32 bit wave files.

Thanks guys, that sounds logical.

synkrotron · 10-14-2018, 12:48 AM

Hi Joel,

Thanks for asking the question and thanks for the answers regarding a 2gb WAV limit... I never knew that, now I do

cheers

andy

siehorst · 10-14-2018, 01:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Musicianaire

what's the maximum length I can do that in Reaper?

Quote:

Originally Posted by synkrotron

... a 2gb WAV limit...

But that is no limit. Reaper ist starting a new file if it comes to the 2Gb end.
I have recorded the live gigs with my band regularly, no problems, no gap between.
So the anwser will be: the limitation is the free space of your disk / SSD. Never have reached that :-) .
horst

synkrotron · 10-14-2018, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siehorst

But that is no limit. Reaper ist starting a new file if it comes to the 2Gb end.
I have recorded the live gigs with my band regularly, no problems, no gap between.
So the anwser will be: the limitation is the free space of your disk / SSD. Never have reached that :-) .
horst

Ah, I think I understand... So you simply stitch them together. Or, I suppose if you were bringing them into REAPER that you can leave them as separate WAVS?

siehorst · 10-14-2018, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by synkrotron

... you simply stitch them together.

No :-) : reaper is doing that. ok, there are two files but fitting perfectly together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by synkrotron

... if you were bringing them into REAPER

As you want to record with reaper, y o u don't bring them into reaper, they are already there. But reaper will create seperate files.
Or do I misunderstand you?
Suggestion: just do it and you will see.

synkrotron · 10-14-2018, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siehorst

No :-) : reaper is doing that. ok, there are two files but fitting perfectly together.

As you want to record with reaper, y o u don't bring them into reaper, they are already there. But reaper will create seperate files.
Or do I misunderstand you?
Suggestion: just do it and you will see.

Okay, I've got it now, thanks

Musicianaire · 10-14-2018, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by siehorst

But that is no limit. Reaper ist starting a new file if it comes to the 2Gb end.
I have recorded the live gigs with my band regularly, no problems, no gap between.
So the anwser will be: the limitation is the free space of your disk / SSD. Never have reached that :-) .
horst

Very good to know! Cool!

ashcat_lt · 10-14-2018, 08:36 AM

Yeah, there's been a couple times when I've forgotten to hit stop and ended up recording over 12 hours of guitar buzz and room noise.

serr · 10-14-2018, 08:57 AM

The 2GB or 4GB limit was with old disk formats (eg NTFS, FAT32). The original wav format before the w64 extension was limited to 4GB by its header. (Fun fact: Reaper will read all the audio from an improperly made w64 file using the old format whereas other audio apps read the header and truncate the audio. I like Reaper.

)

Obviously the answer is the limit is your hard drive size. You can use the feature to split to new files every xGB as well.

Hmmm... What's the max size of a w64 wav file?
Probably a moot point right? You could make a file so big you'd never be able to deliver it anywhere without network errors?

Tip for anyone recording long stretches where there might be some dead space: Use FLAC. FLAC compression makes areas of audio data where there is no level zero data and areas of very low levels (eg. background noise) nearly zero data. Saves you from having to clean up after to cut down on extraneous data.