Announcing Playtime, a Session View for REAPER

[plamuk]

Any chance of implementing something like Live/Bitwig's follow actions? That's a pretty important feature in my experience.

I also think it would be nice to have better undo support in the future.

seconded. follow action are a must, and i had some weird undo stuff happen

I'll be following this closely and highly considering a purchase.

i've been in such need of this feature (and for so long) that i bought it before even trying it.

[Jed]

LOL me too

[Viente]

Originally Posted by PitchSlap

This looks pretty neat, though I have mixed feelings as I hope it doesn't prevent native implementation of this long-awaited functionality.

Actually i hope it will. There are more important things to be done. Fix a lot of bugs left and polish all theese great features its already has. No need for another half-baked feature. We have ableton live and bitwig which are great for this task. I'd better see implementation of long awaited editing features and new modern UI. Just my 2 cents...

P.S. I always wonder if people need session view so badly, why they choose Reaper over Ableton Live and Bitwig?

P.P.S. Great work helgoboss! Another good example how flexible and customizable Reaper can be!

[gwok]

ok, checkin this out on parallels.

so is one meant to dedicate 8 tracks in reaper for playtime playback? Because although this is super cool, right away I wonder if all sorts of data can possibly get over written. I'm running a really primitive setup in paralells though, so I can't run any projects I'm familiar with to get an idea how it works, but it seems to me playtime wants to just charge ahead and overwrite anything anhead of it. Hence I wonder if it's meant to have 8 tracks dedicated to it.



Also, I notice playtime always disables looping, which is kind of what I want it to be able to do. I mean, is playtime meant run on an indefinately long timeline (hence overwriting as it goes along), or is also possible to work in sections/regions/loops as well.

It seems to me that working on a section/region in reapers arrange while running loops in Playtime along with it isn't really all that functional right now? or am I missing something? Why is it starting on bar 2 all the time?


this looks wicked, just trying to get my head around it and get an idea of the intended workflow

cheers!

edit: ok, i see nothing is getting over written, though I am still wonderig how one is meant to work within the form of an arrangement, having Playtime cycling loops within the section of a song. PLaytime seems to want to start playback from bar2, so right now to work within a specific section, i have to start reaper first - ahead of the bar, trigger the loops to start with the beginning of the section, the re-enable cycle/loop. I can't just seem to drop the play marker on a bar, and hitplay on a clip in playtime and have playback start at that time, with the loop.

[rvman]

It sure looks better than Ableton. LOL. I don't think I need this now but I might later at some point. Thanks for your work. Bravo.

[Jed]

Ben,

Please please please provide a midi cc mappable button that will allow us to record into whatever slot is currently selected (as per Live 9)

This means you can record on the fly without having to click with the mouse on the individual slot record button before and then after recording the loop (which is a total workflow killer)

Also if you click on this button to end your slot recording, the clip should automatically enter play mode so you can hear what you just recorded straight away (as in Live)

Cheers
Jed

[sinkmusic]

Originally Posted by PitchSlap

[...]I hope it doesn't prevent native implementation of this long-awaited functionality.

+1 !
Cockos, do you hear us ? it's been a FR for a while, and now we have a very good and working first step in the right direction... It's quite exciting, but nothing beats proper native integration

[todd_r]

Wow! This looks amazing. Can't wait to try it out. Fantastic someone took the initiative on this

[Lawrence]

Exceptionally clever.

[jpchartrand]

WOW! This is amazing. I want it on OSX!

[BenK-msx]

had a little fun with this yesterday - few observations .

its good.

heres an FR!:
(you realise developing anything for reaper means users expecting cockos/sws/s&m-like delivery on updates and FRs! )

--------

*looper-like functionality*:

e.g switch a group to a looper 'mode' -

1st slot's (rounded) length sets the length of the subsequent slots, (or is set manually) with option of multiples of that length for subsequent slots.
recordings are punched in and out at that length.
exclusive mode off so all clips can play out.
recorded clips start playing automatically.

possibly auto fill slots per loop-pass:
e.g one pass occupies slot 2, 2nd pass occupies slot 2, previous pass moves to occupy slot 3 etc.

combined with regular existing behaviour of groups/scenes could be pretty powerful if feasible.


seems the difficulty of achieving what you have already is way harder than adding such capabilites!

-
anyones thoughts on the above would be welcome..


more general request:

ability to route/output (i.e move) a clip to a different track from the playtime GUI. for example r-click clip > select a track. item is moved and therefore is routed through different track.

seems we have to select a record track at the actual moment of recording a clip, this should be set first so we can hit record and actually record straight away. you prob know that.

thanks for any consideration and the efforts.

[PitchSlap]

Originally Posted by Viente

Actually i hope it will. There are more important things to be done. Fix a lot of bugs left and polish all theese great features its already has. No need for another half-baked feature. We have ableton live and bitwig which are great for this task. I'd better see implementation of long awaited editing features and new modern UI. Just my 2 cents...

P.S. I always wonder if people need session view so badly, why they choose Reaper over Ableton Live and Bitwig?

As great as this is and as happy as I am to see it, it can only ever be a "half-baked feature" compared to what Cockos could do natively (I'd love to be proven wrong), and based on your logic, no DAWs should ever advance and implement innovative features from each other.

Why would I want this in Reaper when I could just go spend another $800 on Ableton Suite or $450 on Bitwig just to lose all the great unique things Reaper has to offer? No thanks, I think I'll keep hoping Cockos finally includes this much requested functionality that nearly every DAW geared towards modern music production has added in one way or another.

Not everyone has the same wants and needs, but I'd be pretty disappointed to see Cockos ignore this to spend more time on a "new modern UI" when they already spend god knows how much time on WALTER for 4.0 and there are dozen's of themes and customizations to chose from. Why should they waste time on that? If a "modern UI" is so important to you, go buy the DAW that already has one, and if you want more editing features, just go buy a Pro Tools rig.

[mehmethan]

I was looking for this for a long time. Thanks for this great plug-in. It works perfectly here

Just a FR :

is it possible to add show/hide for settings under the session view. So plug-in will have a smaller view which is nice for laptops

[plamuk]

more important things to be done

subjective. conversely to what you proposed, why would one want "long awaited editing features" or a "modern ui" when they're already apparently available in other hosts that are for whatever reason less desirable to whomever? as are the features others want?

continuing the subjective trend, the most "important thing" is having a host which i can use to produce and perform. i am forced to advocate for anything that advances that, at the hypothetical expense of other features

that said, i don't know if whether or not it's native is ultimately that important. for better or worse, the midi editor is an extension. it's all about how well it's folded in, sometimes with some unexpected benefits along the way (see playtime's user guide). playtime will evolve and improve if it has support commercially and continued support from the reaper API

sws is not native, but i can't tell the difference. off planet mining.

[helgoboss]

@sinkmusic and all other feature requestors
Please use the issue tracker to propose the features. You don't have to register there, so just one click on the "Create issue" top right on the screen. Thanks!

@PitchSlap
About the follow actions: Please also propose it on the issue tracker. I will consider it if it gets a reasonable number of votes. Currently, it's not on the top of the list because it's not that trivial to implement and I want to fix/add the things first that hurt most.

Better undo support is already on my list.

@gwok
You don't have to dedicate 8 tracks for Playtime playback. Playtime is very flexible concerning the tracks. It's not like in Ableton where each column corresponds to one track. You can have all 64 slots trigger items in one track (one extreme). Or you can have 64 slots trigger items on 64 different tracks (the other extreme).

The looping (cycle mode) is disabled whenever you start triggering a clip because Playtime achieves the looping by extending the items and the traditional cycle mode would get in its way. The looping in Playtime is more powerful than the one you get by simply enabling cycle mode. You see, every clip can have a different number of bars. In cycle mode, this fact will be just ignored. All clips will be repeated after the same amount of time. In Playtime, each clip is repeated according to its length.

Nonetheless I'm planning to support cycle mode in future - of course with restrictions because naturally these two approaches of looping don't fit.

Oh, and nothing will be overwritten on the timeline. The reason why Playtime always starts at bar 2 in your case is that your project ends on bar 2. The rational behind this is the following: If transport is stopped and I trigger a clip, I expect only that clip to be played and nothing else which is already on the timeline. I think that's also the case in Live, isn't it? So Playtime just seamlessly jumps to the end of the project where it has empty playground. If you want to "jam" along with the items already on the timeline, you just hit the normal REAPER play button and then trigger clips in Playtime.

@Jed
The first feature you requested should be very easy to implement. Please propose it on the issue tracker. The second feature is already on the list

@BenK-msx
Interesting ideas here! Please also use the issue tracker.

@mehmethan
Not possible yet to hide parts of the GUI. That's a candidate for the issue tracker again

@all
Thanks for the feedback and praise.

Ben

[jpchartrand]

What is the target release date for mac osx? Just so I can stop checking this thread 1000 times a day lol

[fixerdave]

@mehmethan... you can drag the window so the bottom is off the screen leaving just the top visable, a workaround but usable dave

[gwok]

Originally Posted by helgoboss

If transport is stopped and I trigger a clip, I expect only that clip to be played and nothing else which is already on the timeline. I think that's also the case in Live, isn't it?

I will take more detailed discussion to the issue tracker, but to be clear, no, that is not how ableton works. Ableton will play both the session view and the arrangement together, and triggering a clip in session view will still play any audio from the arrangement view along with it, so long as the relevent track is set to play audio from the arrange view.

Now obviously were not going to get the exact same behaviour as Live, although certain aspects are very beneficial. As I say, I'll take more details to the issue tracker, but I think it would be a shame not to have a tightly integrated flow with both Playtime clips and Reapers arrangement view in terms of sections/regions and arrangements. I think the case usage of a person wanting to jam out indefinately versus wanting to work on specific sections in an arrangement is probably much less (imo). I may speak for myself, but one of the main advantages of Live is not just being able to have loops of different lengths, but being able to utilize them if one chose to within the context of an arrangement.

[MotionMindz]

This is super great as a development... BUT 3 things to mention:

1. there are also a lot of MAC users. Why are they left behind?!
I so hope this gets done soon asap. VST before AU if you please.

2. each loop needs to be individually editable in loop length: 1,2,4,8 bars etc

3. each loop needs to be midi/CC controllable (triggers)


Of course, we must be able to edit each loop by double clicking on it.
For the rest, full marks, cant wait for it!


EDIT: COCKOS needs to implement something like this fully native in Reaper 5. Cockos, are you listening?

[jpchartrand]

Originally Posted by MotionMindz

Cockos, are you listening?

And....+1

[sonnie]

Originally Posted by MotionMindz

EDIT: COCKOS needs to implement something like this fully native in Reaper 5. Cockos, are you listening?

Would be fair by Cockos to buy his idea and make him rich.

[helgoboss]

Short reply concerning Mac OS X: I'm working on it these days, top priority. All other feature requests need to wait. It's hard for me to name a release date though. My guts tell me, I will have it ready in early December. It's not my intention to discriminate against OS X users It's just I'm a Windows guy so I finished and released the Windows version sooner.

Thanks for your patience.

The OS X ticket is here. You can register at Bitbucket and watch the ticket (there's a watch button) in order to be notified about updates by email. Then you also don't need to check this thread 1000 times a day

[sinkmusic]

Originally Posted by helgoboss

Then you also don't need to check this thread 1000 times a day

I understand that for you it might be easier to use bitbucket, and i have made a couple of FR there.
But for discussing about features, it seems more easy for Reaper users to discuss this on the Reaper forum, than having to register, login, and follow another forum, isn't it ?

[Vendetta V]

OSX ?!?!?!?

[jpchartrand]

Originally Posted by Vendetta V

OSX ?!?!?!?

+9999

[EvilDragon]

Guys, read what the developer wrote. Don't just mindlessly +1 posts.

[jpchartrand]

I don't think it hurts anyone if we show excitement for an OSX release...

[Breeder]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

Guys, read what the developer wrote. Don't just mindlessly +1 posts.

+1

[Argle]

Originally Posted by EvilDragon

Guys, read what the developer wrote. Don't just mindlessly +1 posts.

yeah, at least +2 them.

[vanhaze]

Many thx for this but OSX FTW please !

[EpicSounds]

wow never knew there were so many OSX users... So many that can't read OSX support is already top priority.

[jpchartrand]

Originally Posted by EpicSounds

wow never knew there were so many OSX users... So many that can't read OSX support is already top priority.

I really hope OSX becomes a priority

[EpicSounds]

Originally Posted by jpchartrand

I really hope OSX becomes a priority

Post #64

[EvilDragon]

Mac users really can't read, it seems.

[edkilp]

No doubt! My god it's one of the first things he said! Bunch of illiterate whiners, you OSX people! Hahaha! Just kiddin of course, but it probably doesn't speed things along by clogging the thread with repeated desires and +1's for OSX support. Cool things come to those who chill.

[jpchartrand]

Just kidding guys of course I saw that it was a priority. Geez...what's wrong with getting excited about software?

[jpchartrand]

Originally Posted by TonE

It is better if Justin or Cock Corporation gets excited about this feature.

hahahaha indeed

[todd_r]

Hello Helgoboss

Just wondered why it was implemented as a VST, seems it would make more sense as a Reaper extension?

It would be good if we could select items from the project bay to load into a slot.

Why are items loaded muted to the start of a track? could they be loaded into the project bay and retained?

Thanks again for your work

[Dannii]

I must admit, I've never used Ableton Live and have never really worked with that style of workflow but upon investigating Playtime, I am VERY curious to give this a shot. I've just downloaded the demo and will have a play around with it tomorrow when I get time to sit down and map things to my controllers.

[plamuk]

this has big implications for external midi controlled devices/software

tempo-synced midi files ready to get blasted to various midi outputs at a buttonpush?

my mind immediately jumps to vjs

you don't see many "midi samplers." piz midi looper was one of the only ones and it's not really suited to this (nor is it as user friendly)