Announcing ReaLearn: Sophisticated MIDI/MCU/OSC learn for REAPER

[helgoboss]

Hi everyone,

I'm just realizing how much better GitHub Discussions is to ask and answer questions. It automatically gives you a list of questions/replies that you have not answered yet (notification button on the top right). And you will get proper email notification. Plus, the threads are nicely separated.

@Everyone: If possible, please use GitHub Discussions instead of this REAPER forum thread. Thanks

---

A lot has happened since the initial release of ReaLearn. Since v1.10.0, the latest version can always be found on GitHub.

• GitHub project page including ReaPack installation instructions: https://github.com/helgoboss/realearn
• List of releases including direct downloads: https://github.com/helgoboss/realearn/releases
• Home page: https://www.helgoboss.org/projects/realearn

---

Dear REAPER users,

lately I've been working on another little REAPER plug-in called ReaLearn. Its purpose is to improve REAPER's MIDI learn capabilities. It's free. You can download it here: http://www.helgoboss.org/projects/realearn/

Right now it's still in beta stage. Any crash or bug report is appreciated.


Background:

As silent film accompanist working with keyboards and VST instruments mainly, I want to be able to quickly map MIDI controls to FX parameters. REAPER has this capability but I've always found it too limited for my use cases. Even with the new MIDI link feature added to the mix, I found there were many things left to be desired (I think MIDI link is tailored to other purposes).

Of course, in REAPER there's always a way: With a little bit of JS preprocessing and MidiToReaControlPath, most things turn out to be possible at the end. But it's fiddly to set up.

That's why I wrote ReaLearn. It's a REAPER-only VSTi plug-in (like Playtime). You load it exactly like other VSTi's - although I recommend to load it into the input FX chain instead of the normal one.

Here's a screenshot:



Some basic wording before I introduce the features:

• Source = MIDI controller element (fader, encoder, note velocity, etc.)
• Target = Controlled parameter (FX parameter, action etc.)
• Mode = Absolute, relative or toggle mode (along with its settings)
• Mapping = Source + Target + Mode

Features:

• You can use REAPER's built-in MIDI routing capabilities to route MIDI events to ReaLearn. That's for example useful if you want different mappings depending on the song you are currently playing.
• You can preprocess incoming MIDI events before they are routed to the target.
• If you put ReaLearn into the normal FX chain (not the input FX chain), you can also route MIDI items on the track itself to ReaLearn. (I prefer not to do that and instead write automation in latch mode while recording already - track envelopes are much easier to edit and have a higher resolution than MIDI CC.)
• You can group mappings and activate/deactivate them group-wise simply by instantiating multiple ReaLearn instances and enabling/disabling them as desired in the FX chain window.
• You can save a bunch of commonly used mappings as preset and reuse it.
• You can map to actions on a per-project basis (vs. only globally). So you don't need to pollute your global action mappings just for the needs of one project.
• You can map to track volume
• You can map to track send volume
• You can "squeeze" the target values into a specific range
• You can use buttons for increasing/decreasing values (use a switch-like source combined with a relative mode)
• You can map multiple controllers to one parameter (e.g. necessary for the previous feature)
• You can react to just a sub range of a control. For example, you can use one knob for multiple parameters depending on the knob position
• In relative mode, you can let the parameter values rotate
• You can reverse the direction
• ReaLearn tries to guess the character of MIDI CCs when learning them (character = rotary encoder, switch or fader etc.)
• ReaLearn automatically detects and chooses useful modes (if enabled)

Technically, some of those things were possible already before by using a mix of Jeffos' MidiToReaControlPath and (JS) MIDI plugins. But it's a workflow killer because you would need to map one MIDI message to another one before actually mapping it to a parameter. Plus, MidiToReaControlPath forwards to the global control path which can lead to unintended side effects with existing global action mappings (I had that quite often already ... it's messy).

Following features are not part of ReaLearn yet:

• 14bit CCs (except pitch wheel)
• Soft takeover

For the developers among you: I'm planning to release the source code of ReaLearn later this year.

Cheers
Benjamin

[X-Raym]

HI !

I think your screenshot is on a private FTP cause a Login Popup is displayed when displaying the thread.

A part from that, thanks for sharing this tool for free

I will take a look.
but a video demo will surely help :P

Cheers !

[PitchSlap]

Looks interesting. I've also felt Reaper's MIDI learn is pretty cumbersome (especially compared to Ableton Live) so I never actually use it.

I'll have to play around with this to really understand what it does, but thanks in advance.

I'm not sure if this is within the scope of the plugin, but one things I've always wished for is a generic version of Novation's Automap.

I'm wondering if user's could create presets mapping MIDI controls to the most important parameters of third-party plugins and then share them to create something like a crowd-sourced Automap? Just load the preset for the effect you want to control and with one-click you're ready to start tweaking. It could be a huge workflow enhancement.

(I could be totally out to lunch here, but thought the idea was worth sharing )

[helgoboss]

Originally Posted by X-Raym

I think your screenshot is on a private FTP cause a Login Popup is displayed when displaying the thread.

Thanks for the hint. Fixed

[noise_construct]

MIDI devices need to be enabled for both notes and control for this to work, just control doesn't work.

I find this too fiddly to replace MIDI learn (a one key click operation), but for editing static mappings in a studio setup situation it offers some features that could be useful.

[airon]

Very interesting idea. Will certainly check it out when I am back in the studio.

Thank you for sharing this.

[snooks]

Nice work! I love the pass through options - I'll never understand why there isn't an option to automatically filter learned CCs in hosts.

There's an issue at the moment with controlling JS parameters where the parameters jumps from min to max, either immediately or within a small range.

Thanks for sharing!

[helgoboss]

Originally Posted by noise_construct

MIDI devices need to be enabled for both notes and control for this to work, just control doesn't work.

Almost correct. The MIDI devices you want to use with ReaLearn need to be set to "Enabled":

You don't need to "Enable input for control messages" though like with the built-in MIDI learn system. This was actually one of the most important goals of ReaLearn - that you can use REAPER's normal MIDI path. This is what makes it more flexible in certain scenarios (and naturally a bit more complex - because you need to deal with track MIDI routing).

Originally Posted by noise_construct

I find this too fiddly to replace MIDI learn (a one key click operation), but for editing static mappings in a studio setup situation it offers some features that could be useful.

It's not meant to replace built-in MIDI learn. Let me put it this way: As long as you are satisfied with the way REAPER's built-in MIDI learn works and you don't miss any features, I recommend you to stick to it. Whenever you need the additional functionality (and paradigm) that ReaLearn offers, I recommend you to use ReaLearn

I personally think it's not so much the static setups that can benefit of ReaLearn but rather the highly dynamic ones (because of the routing). It's another tool in the toolbox.

I'm planning to introduce some usability improvements like an action which you can map to a button or key for one-click MIDI learn. Concerning usability: Remember that you can always save FX chains, track templates and project templates in REAPER. You don't have to repeat the initial setup for ReaLearn over and over again. Just find your workflow once and save it.

Originally Posted by snooks

There's an issue at the moment with controlling JS parameters where the parameters jumps from min to max, either immediately or within a small range.

Thanks, I'll have a look.

Originally Posted by PitchSlap

I'm not sure if this is within the scope of the plugin, but one things I've always wished for is a generic version of Novation's Automap.

I'm wondering if user's could create presets mapping MIDI controls to the most important parameters of third-party plugins and then share them to create something like a crowd-sourced Automap? Just load the preset for the effect you want to control and with one-click you're ready to start tweaking. It could be a huge workflow enhancement.

Here's what's possible right now:

1. Insert ReaLearn on the same track on which is the third-party plug-in you want to control
2. Use ReaLearn to create the mappings
3. Export the preset as VST patch (.fxp)
4. You could pass this "fxp" file around and it would work for others who want to control the same third-party plug-in in REAPER

You can also export the ReaLearn FX as FX chain and pass this one around. Of course, it would need more than that to make it really usable. I'm planning an import/export like that with readable text files (not FXP or RfxChain files).

Ideally, there would be some automated online sharing possibility as well, but for now that's indeed out of scope One drawback however is that it would work in REAPER only (because ReaLearn uses the REAPER API). It would need substantially more work to make this work in other DAWs as well.

[helgoboss]

Released ReaLearn 1.0.0-beta2

Changes:
#3 Added action 'ReaLearn: Learn source for last touched target' for one-click MIDI learn (available as long as at least once ReaLearn FX loaded, I recommend to create a toolbar button for that)
#4 Fixed REAPER freeze when controlling FX parameter and writing new automation
#2 Fixed parameter jumps with JS effects
#1 Fixed pitch wheel range

The new action for one-click MIDI learn tries to figure out the most appropriate ReaLearn instance if there are multiple ones in the project.

[flyshe]

Hey, i like the tool a lot, but i recognized some strange bahviour:

If there is paramater-linking going on somewhere in the project and i use
the "learn target" function in realearn, it always detects all "parameter-linked" parameters, even if those parameters are not changeing.

Just make a new project, load reacomp and reaeq on a track and link with parametermodulation for example the threshhold from reacomp to the freq slider in reaeq. in realearn click the "learn target" button and the parameterlinked freq slider form reaeq is detected, even if the parameter is not changeing!
If there are is multiple parameter linking in the project and i click the "learn target" button multiple times all the linked parameters are detected alternatly.
Is this normal? a bug in realearn or a bug in reapers parameter linking?

[j.herran]

Thanks for sharing!

[memyselfandus]

Originally Posted by helgoboss

Dear REAPER users,

lately I've been working on another little REAPER plug-in called ReaLearn. Its purpose is to improve REAPER's MIDI learn capabilities. It's free. You can download it here: http://www.helgoboss.org/projects/realearn/

Right now it's still in beta stage. Any crash or bug report is appreciated.


Background:

As silent film accompanist working with keyboards and VST instruments mainly, I want to be able to quickly map MIDI controls to FX parameters. REAPER has this capability but I've always found it too limited for my use cases. Even with the new MIDI link feature added to the mix, I found there were many things left to be desired (I think MIDI link is tailored to other purposes).

Of course, in REAPER there's always a way: With a little bit of JS preprocessing and MidiToReaControlPath, most things turn out to be possible at the end. But it's fiddly to set up.

That's why I wrote ReaLearn. It's a REAPER-only VSTi plug-in (like Playtime). You load it exactly like other VSTi's - although I recommend to load it into the input FX chain instead of the normal one.

Here's a screenshot:



Some basic wording before I introduce the features:

• Source = MIDI controller element (fader, encoder, note velocity, etc.)
• Target = Controlled parameter (FX parameter, action etc.)
• Mode = Absolute, relative or toggle mode (along with its settings)
• Mapping = Source + Target + Mode

Features:

• You can use REAPER's built-in MIDI routing capabilities to route MIDI events to ReaLearn. That's for example useful if you want different mappings depending on the song you are currently playing.
• You can preprocess incoming MIDI events before they are routed to the target.
• If you put ReaLearn into the normal FX chain (not the input FX chain), you can also route MIDI items on the track itself to ReaLearn. (I prefer not to do that and instead write automation in latch mode while recording already - track envelopes are much easier to edit and have a higher resolution than MIDI CC.)
• You can group mappings and activate/deactivate them group-wise simply by instantiating multiple ReaLearn instances and enabling/disabling them as desired in the FX chain window.
• You can save a bunch of commonly used mappings as preset and reuse it.
• You can map to actions on a per-project basis (vs. only globally). So you don't need to pollute your global action mappings just for the needs of one project.
• You can map to track volume
• You can map to track send volume
• You can "squeeze" the target values into a specific range
• You can use buttons for increasing/decreasing values (use a switch-like source combined with a relative mode)
• You can map multiple controllers to one parameter (e.g. necessary for the previous feature)
• You can react to just a sub range of a control. For example, you can use one knob for multiple parameters depending on the knob position
• In relative mode, you can let the parameter values rotate
• You can reverse the direction
• ReaLearn tries to guess the character of MIDI CCs when learning them (character = rotary encoder, switch or fader etc.)
• ReaLearn automatically detects and chooses useful modes (if enabled)

Technically, some of those things were possible already before by using a mix of Jeffos' MidiToReaControlPath and (JS) MIDI plugins. But it's a workflow killer because you would need to map one MIDI message to another one before actually mapping it to a parameter. Plus, MidiToReaControlPath forwards to the global control path which can lead to unintended side effects with existing global action mappings (I had that quite often already ... it's messy).

Following features are not part of ReaLearn yet:

• 14bit CCs (except pitch wheel)
• Soft takeover

For the developers among you: I'm planning to release the source code of ReaLearn later this year.

Cheers
Benjamin

Amazing job! Good to see another project from you excellent

[Jae.Thomas]

is this something which would link plugin parameters en masse to enable mirrored presets for the same plugin?

[helgoboss]

Originally Posted by memyselfandus

Amazing job! Good to see another project from you excellent

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Jason Brian Merrill

is this something which would link plugin parameters en masse to enable mirrored presets for the same plugin?

Can you please explain in more detail? What are mirrored presets?

[Jae.Thomas]

I think I've totally misunderstood what this does.

What I'm looking for is something to link ALL parameters from one plugin to another to automatically copy plugin parameters -

for instance, if you want the same exact eq or guitar/cab combination or something.

after reading a bit more, I don't think this is what your plugin does, I'm sorry.

[helgoboss]

Originally Posted by flyshe

If there is paramater-linking going on somewhere in the project and i use
the "learn target" function in realearn, it always detects all "parameter-linked" parameters, even if those parameters are not changeing.

This is fixed in beta3 ... which I'm going to release in some minutes

[zacki]

Thank you, that is looking interesting. Will check it when I have my AKAI Advance back from repair.

[helgoboss]

Released ReaLearn 1.0.0-beta3

Changes:
#9 Added new target 'Track pan'
#8 Added option 'Ignore out-of-range source values' and disable it by default (this only has an effect if you restrict the source range using the min/max sliders)
#5 Fixed bug that caused ReaLearn to misinterpret parameter modulation and automation as 'touch' events

[DruMunkey]

Good grief! This needs to be rolled into Reaper! Amazing work!

** Do you see any issues or performance hits if I just add this as a default input FX? In other words, if I have 100 instances of this, do you think it's gonna cause problems?

[DruMunkey]

I think I've found an issue...

My controller is an APC40 MkI
I have it set up as midi in, but NOT a controller in Reaper's MIDI settings.
However, I have a dedicated "input" track where the APC is the input device, in the FX chain I do a metric crap ton of remappings, etc., then use MidiToReaControlPath at end of chain to send all the CC's out into Reaper Control Land

This works 100% fine for learning using reaper's built in learn, but it doesn't seem to work with ReaLearn. If I have reaLearn on another track (input FX or regular FX) it doesn't pick up any knob twiddling... However, if I explicitly have the APC as an input on the track ReaLearn is on, it works...

So why is ReaLearn not picking up the control signals from another track even though I have verified that the APC is sending control messages?

[DruMunkey]

Track volume also seems to have a weirdly non-linear behavior. I map a knob in relative mode, and when the volume slider is around 0dB, it's linear, but below like -20 dB, it makes really big jumps...

I have step size as low as it will go @ .01

[DruMunkey]

FR's:

• Please get rid of all that white space between the mappings in the list.
• If possible, make the VST window resizable so you can see more. I've got 64 mappings and scrolling through them as-is is kind of painful.
• Make it possible to sort mappings based on source or destination.
• Build in more powerful mapping/translations. Kind of like Hubi's Midi CC Map.. The ability to have response curves etc within this plugin would be killer.

The more I'm using this little beast, the more I'm LOVING it.

I REALLY recommend you all throw a little money Benjamin's way for this. It REALLY has potential to change the way Reaper can be used.

An AMAZING feature is the ability to map midi notes to inc/dec a VST param or CC. I've had to cobble multiple JS's etc. to do the same thing that is done with this plugin

[DruMunkey]

Bummer... I just tried reloading a project that had reLearn on it... Crashes Reaper on load. Verified 100%. Event Viewer points out it's ReaLearn...

Faulting application name: reaper.exe, version: 5.2.1.1, time stamp: 0x57675257
Faulting module name: ReaLearn.dll, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x577965b9
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000011916a
Faulting process id: 0x1718
Faulting application start time: 0x01d1e4408d970056
Faulting application path: D:\Programs\Reaper\reaper.exe
Faulting module path: D:\VSTs\Utility\ReaLearn\ReaLearn.dll
Report Id: c5aa8fd1-969a-4cc0-a5f6-04dfe19bb4d3
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID

Damn...

[G-Sun]

Very cool.
Thanks!

[lowellben]

Is this similar to this concept?

http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products...RemoteControl/

[albatteur]

Hi,

I installed the bêta 3 version and I can't find the vst on Reaper. Not in my vst folder. I found it everywhere on the Mac but there is nothing.

OSX Yosemite.

Thx for this good project.

Tcho .

[helgoboss]

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

** Do you see any issues or performance hits if I just add this as a default input FX? In other words, if I have 100 instances of this, do you think it's gonna cause problems?

I didn't try with that many instances but it should work. At least I programmed it with performance in mind. If you have super many ReaLearn GUIs open it could affect UI performance - but why should someone do that.

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

I think I've found an issue...

My controller is an APC40 MkI
I have it set up as midi in, but NOT a controller in Reaper's MIDI settings.
However, I have a dedicated "input" track where the APC is the input device, in the FX chain I do a metric crap ton of remappings, etc., then use MidiToReaControlPath at end of chain to send all the CC's out into Reaper Control Land

This works 100% fine for learning using reaper's built in learn, but it doesn't seem to work with ReaLearn. If I have reaLearn on another track (input FX or regular FX) it doesn't pick up any knob twiddling... However, if I explicitly have the APC as an input on the track ReaLearn is on, it works...

So why is ReaLearn not picking up the control signals from another track even though I have verified that the APC is sending control messages?

This is by design. ReaLearn totally ignores REAPER's control path. It only picks up normal track MIDI messages.

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

Track volume also seems to have a weirdly non-linear behavior. I map a knob in relative mode, and when the volume slider is around 0dB, it's linear, but below like -20 dB, it makes really big jumps...

This is a known issue and it's fixed in beta4, which I'm going to release later today.

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

FR's:

• Please get rid of all that white space between the mappings in the list.

Yeah that annoys me as well. I have to work on that (issue #20).

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

FR's:

• If possible, make the VST window resizable so you can see more. I've got 64 mappings and scrolling through them as-is is kind of painful.
• Make it possible to sort mappings based on source or destination.

I'll do that at some point. I'm not 100% satisfied with the mapping overview window right now anyway.

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

FR's:

• Build in more powerful mapping/translations. Kind of like Hubi's Midi CC Map.. The ability to have response curves etc within this plugin would be killer.

Glad you're asking, I'm actually working on something like that Not as fancy as drawing curves but powerful ...

Originally Posted by DruMunkey

Bummer... I just tried reloading a project that had reLearn on it... Crashes Reaper on load. Verified 100%. Event Viewer points out it's ReaLearn...

Faulting application name: reaper.exe, version: 5.2.1.1, time stamp: 0x57675257
Faulting module name: ReaLearn.dll, version: 1.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x577965b9
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x000000000011916a
Faulting process id: 0x1718
Faulting application start time: 0x01d1e4408d970056
Faulting application path: D:\Programs\Reaper\reaper.exe
Faulting module path: D:\VSTs\Utility\ReaLearn\ReaLearn.dll
Report Id: c5aa8fd1-969a-4cc0-a5f6-04dfe19bb4d3
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID

Damn...

Can you please send me the project file?

Originally Posted by lowellben

Is this similar to this concept?

http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products...RemoteControl/

Don't know that software but after reading the summary, I think it goes a little in that direction (especially with the upcoming response curve stuff) but integrated into REAPER and without the fancy GUI stuff.

Originally Posted by albatteur

Hi,

I installed the bêta 3 version and I can't find the vst on Reaper. Not in my vst folder. I found it everywhere on the Mac but there is nothing.

OSX Yosemite.

Should be in /Users/<USER>/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ReaLearn.vst

[helgoboss]

Released ReaLearn 1.0.0-beta4

Changes:
#11 Added new source '(N)RPN' for MIDI (N)RPN messages (both 7 and 14 bit)
#13 Added support for 14-bit CCs
#14 Added 'Max jump' slider to absolute mode for controlling soft-takeover behavior (also known as 'pickup')
#10 Fixed bug that caused volume control to be non-linear (now behaves exactly like the volume control action)
#12 Fixed action target so user interface stays responsive while loading actions
#15 Fixed REAPER freeze on project load when putting a plug-in in front of ReaLearn which sends MIDI messages
#17 Fixed weird behavior after duplicating mapping with FX parameter target (and probably also other target types)
#19 Fixed bug that caused mapping list to be out of date after duplicating tracks

[G-Sun]

This is looking classy

[Piszpan]

Helgoboss,

we put all our hope in you. Looks that you're the chosen one to bring MIDI feedback to Reaper.

[Diego Roinich]

Amazing work. Really useful. Thank you !!!

[xbitz_]

hi, an FL like mapping formula between the in and out would be nice someday



thx

[snooks]

Nice work on this, thanks!

One very inconvenient feature request could be to have a MIDI filter companion effect that filters any MIDI currently being used for learned things.

[Diego Roinich]

I found some problems with some Control Changes such as cc 6 or 100 and 101. I did not try them all. Realearn detects them but then does not control anything...

[MW1]

First of all awesome work! My question would be about Program Change messages. From my footswitch (that I would want to control Playtime with) I control a lot of global custom actions. But they are all with PC messages. I thought ReaLearn could allow me to get past the fact that Playtime cannot accept PC messages. It does in fact detect and learn them when I click source learn. But perhaps I am missing something. Because there is no value assigned with the learned PC message(that I can see). Is this normal?
Basically lets say I learn PC 21 to the source learn. It just says Program Change, and no "21". Additionally after seemingly successfully learning the target, it just doesn't control anything.
Any input would be greatly appreciated! I am really really interested in Playtime but it would be a deal breaker if I can't get my PC messages to trigger things in it.
Thanks!

[MW1]

For real though, if anyone would be able to offer insight as to why when set up as recommended. I can learn a Program Change message and learn a target trigger in Playtime, all instant with ReaLearn. But then nothing happens when trying to trigger with the controller?

I have tried even with 1 mapping only (below) in case it was taking all program change messages to be the same, and thus multiple different mappings would somehow interfere. Still nothing.

[jm duchenne]

Whoah, it's fantastic !

I was desperatly searching for a way to automate the sends volume with MIDI objects, and now it is so easy !

It make it also a lot easier to link the ReaSurround parameters to MIDI controllers, so Thank you very much :-)

[Piszpan]

I thought that the most elegant MIDI controller linking solution is the one inside Presonus Studio One - until now.

It seems that ReaLearn has some big advantage: it can store different sets - just as VST presets. This can be useful e.g. when using u-he Diva or some modular soft synths, where you can change your building blocks inside the same VSTi. So for every "mutation" of the synth you can just save a separate preset with ReaLearn. Great.

(But still... Studio One supports MIDI CC feedback. )

[Piszpan]

@helgoboss,
I am aware that probably most of your time is dedicated to Playtime at the moment. However, I still hope that you will develop ReaLearn further. While it is already a HUGE improvement over Reaper's native MIDI learning, jumping parameters after you load a preset that doesn't match current hardware knobs positions is still a problem.

I guess that implementing proper MIDI CC feedback is not an easy task (otherwise someone would already do it years ago). So, could we have e.g. a hook mode and/or a scaled mode? As in this video:
https://youtu.be/QWnvxvHg67U?t=237

[hwhalen]

helgoboss

I've set up ReaLearn with eight Custom actions and it does not remember the settings.
The first one is remembered, but not the other seven.
On top of that I've tried to saving the preset and also exporting/importing the vst bank/patchfile.
None of these alternatives will reset the ReaLearn vst.
I would have to recreate them every time!

Before



After