ReaClassical: Open Source Classical Editing Tools for REAPER

[chmaha]

I've been working on various ways to improve classical music editing in REAPER (without the need to buy any add-ons) and I feel that I've arrived at something worthwhile and professional. It builds on some existing actions and scripts but I've tweaked a lot and ended up creating much of it from scratch. I've added my own flavor to things including a very workable crossfade editor mode that adds two-lane functionality close enough to Pyramix and Sequoia that the edits can be very precise and fun to work through. I also have dedicated markers for source/destination in/out (different colors and names to visually stand out) for those of us who enjoy single-window S/D (3- and 4-point) editing. I'd obviously love to talk about things here too but for now you could do worse that to read the latest version of the PDF manual here or visit reaclassical.org/.

To get started straight away, see the installation guide. Join the ReaClassical Discord server here.

To just use the scripts and jsfx plugins without any customization of keymaps, toolbar etc, import my repository into ReaPack by copying and pasting this link. Search for "ReaClassical" and install the main ReaClassical package. Search for "RCPlugs" and install the "RCPlugs" metapackage. Use the ReaClassical project template for your new projects (you can set this in the REAPER preferences) and change to the ReaClassical theme (Options > Themes).

For the complete experience: on Linux, MacOS and Windows you can download and run a single script that does everything for you (all OSes and architectures supported by REAPER):

Linux (including Raspberry Pi)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chmaha/ReaClassical/main/Installers/ReaClassical_Linux.sh | sh

MacOS

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chmaha/ReaClassical/main/Installers/ReaClassical_macOS.sh | sh

Windows
Download ReaClassical_Win64.exe (64-bit) or ReaClassical_Win32.exe (32-bit) where you want to install ReaClassical and double-click. The source code for the installers is here.

For other operations including updating ReaClassical, adding ReaClassical to an existing REAPER install etc, please see the installation instructions and/or PDF Manual.

Finally, if you feel like donating, you can now do so via PayPal, Liberapay or Stripe.

[bjohn]

This is huge, and very much appreciated by those of us who work with this kind of music (I don't actually record classical music, but traditional music in mostly live settings and the classical recording and editing approaches work well for this). A big thank you to you and to those who contributed the earlier foundations of this effort.

[Spookye]

I do plan on creating some videos to demonstrate things (if a picture's worth a thousand words, what's a video?) but that might take a little while.[/QUOTE]

I was going to ask just that. If you could attach something visual to understand. Thanks in advance .....
Spookye

[chmaha]

Nothing new in the actual scripts and custom actions for now but I've fixed quite a few typos and added various extra details and clarifications in the PDF guide (the link at the top of the thread will always open the latest version available).

[rncwalker]

@BethHarmon,

Maybe you could add some screenshots in you PDF for now, until you make the videos!


Robert

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by rncwalker

@BethHarmon,

Maybe you could add some screenshots in you PDF for now, until you make the videos!


Robert

Sure thing. That will be my next update...

[anomar]

Hi Beth
Is there a chance that yours Classical Editing Tools will sometime go to Reapack?
I am a bit scare to download from Github.
Thanks!

[Tobbe]

I do plan on creating some videos to demonstrate things (if a picture's worth a thousand words, what's a video?) but that might take a little while.

Looking forward to your videos. I'm a novice about this, but I want to learn.

Thanks for your absolutely awesome work.

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by Tobbe

Looking forward to your videos. I'm a novice about this, but I want to learn.

Thanks for your absolutely awesome work.

I'm on it! I downloaded OBS Studio and made a first pass at recording some tutorial videos. I'm discovering that it is better if I create some written scripts so I don't veer off course! I think 6 or 7 videos should cover everything from setting up REAPER, creating folders and source groups, recording, preparing and auditioning takes, S-D editing, fade editor and razor editing. Any extra to do with mastering, DDP etc can come later.

[chmaha]

Thanks for being patient. Here's the first tutorial video:



I should have several more up by the end of the day. Over the next few days, a complete set of 7 videos covering all my scripts will be available.

As a side note, the video was completely edited in REAPER.

EDIT: Here are a couple more:

[MonkeyBars]

GREAT Scottish accent, lass! So delightful to hear. Thanks so much for the tutorials

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by MonkeyBars

GREAT Scottish accent, lass! So delightful to hear. Thanks so much for the tutorials

Why thank you Here's one more for the day:

[peter5992]

Originally Posted by BethHarmon

Thanks for being patient. Here's the first tutorial video:



I should have several more up by the end of the day. Over the next few days, a complete set of 7 videos covering all my scripts will be available.

As a side note, the video was completely edited in REAPER.

EDIT: Here are a couple more:

Very cool! Thanks for doing all this.

Love your accent, by the way.

[anomar]

Hi Chmaha! Long text, please be patient.
I've been tried to use your ReaClassical in a context a little bit different, a more jazzy hybrid context. The scenario.
The recording was made in a studio with some musicians together in same room and some isolated (the piano player or drummer for example).
After some takes the group have an audition, and choose mainly take3 , but the piano player resolves to do some corrections so only that channel(s) is punched recorded here and there.
Ok, now I have the piano channel with several items, not a single strip anymore (but no xfades yet)
I usually make a rough stereo mix of the session to serve as a guide that I will be placing on the folder track. So far so good.
Opened a new ReaClassical session I import all the material and prepare the takes taking a horizontal approach.
The problem arises when I try to S/D the region that contains the piano inserts, please see the attached Reaper Project, it is complicate to describe here.
Another problem I have saw is with the guide on the folder track, I have muted the item but that causes some problems with the audition script (shortcut A), my workaround is put a "JS:Channel Mixer" on the item(s) and blank the pins so the audio goes nowhere leaving only the visual clue.
Sorry to bother you with such corner cases.
Cheers
Win10 Reaper 6.79+dev0508

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by anomar

Hi Chmaha! Long text, please be patient.
I've been tried to use your ReaClassical in a context a little bit different, a more jazzy hybrid context. The scenario.
The recording was made in a studio with some musicians together in same room and some isolated (the piano player or drummer for example).
After some takes the group have an audition, and choose mainly take3 , but the piano player resolves to do some corrections so only that channel(s) is punched recorded here and there.
Ok, now I have the piano channel with several items, not a single strip anymore (but no xfades yet)
I usually make a rough stereo mix of the session to serve as a guide that I will be placing on the folder track. So far so good.
Opened a new ReaClassical session I import all the material and prepare the takes taking a horizontal approach.
The problem arises when I try to S/D the region that contains the piano inserts, please see the attached Reaper Project, it is complicate to describe here.
Another problem I have saw is with the guide on the folder track, I have muted the item but that causes some problems with the audition script (shortcut A), my workaround is put a "JS:Channel Mixer" on the item(s) and blank the pins so the audio goes nowhere leaving only the visual clue.
Sorry to bother you with such corner cases.
Cheers
Win10 Reaper 6.79+dev0508

Thanks for writing! Would you be kind enough to zip up a complete new project ("Save project as...") with the audio converted to something lossy (lowest quality mp3 or ogg etc) like so?:



It is then easier for me to play around and figure out what is happening without errors about missing files. However, I suspect that the layered take system approach is the thing that is complicating matters. For classical music recording, if we have to patch, it is always a new recording further along the timeline (if using horizontal approach) or in another empty folder (if using vertical). This avoids having to deal with take lanes given we do not record to a click (same for Jazz) and where S-D editing or vertical razor editing comes into its own.

As for the muted guide track issue, I can't recreate that. Muting any or all items on the folder track works fine here. When I hover over the folder track and press A everything underneath plays back in proper stereo. Could you explain further?

BTW, this is all good to hear. Corner cases make things interesting The patching using takes is something for me to think about. Maybe I can get it to work within ReaClassical somehow but it does run counter to how classical folk do their recordings.

[anomar]

Hi chmaha, thanks for your answer. I upload a reduced projet with MP3 audio, but it is still 200mb, so if you think is too much please let me know.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oWH...ew?usp=sharing
I was thinking that maybe the best method to deal with audio punchies is to freeze the edits, so all items become of same lenght and in a continuous flow.
As regard the playing case, what is happening is that my guide track is a bounce of all instruments so its contains all the channels. In classical recordings normally you would use a AB stereo as your guide track in the folder, so it does not duplicate any channel, right?
I can use my Stereo Bounce as a muted guide, but the problem arises when playing using the auditioning script, what happens is that the guide is unmuted along with the children tracks so it doubles the output, combining the folder audio with the audio in the children tracks. As a test I zero down the faders of the children and obviously the audio coming from the folder itself continues to play.
Thanks again!

[chmaha]

Sorry...away from my machine until Monday. But in brief, mute the items themselves not the track. Select all on that first track, right click etc.

[anomar]

Yes Chmaha, is exactly what I'm doing, I have muted the guide's items not the track.
Thanks, have a nice weekend!

Originally Posted by chmaha

Sorry...away from my machine until Monday. But in brief, mute the items themselves not the track. Select all on that first track, right click etc.

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by anomar

Hi chmaha, thanks for your answer. I upload a reduced projet with MP3 audio, but it is still 200mb, so if you think is too much please let me know.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oWH...ew?usp=sharing
I was thinking that maybe the best method to deal with audio punchies is to freeze the edits, so all items become of same lenght and in a continuous flow.
As regard the playing case, what is happening is that my guide track is a bounce of all instruments so its contains all the channels. In classical recordings normally you would use a AB stereo as your guide track in the folder, so it does not duplicate any channel, right?
I can use my Stereo Bounce as a muted guide, but the problem arises when playing using the auditioning script, what happens is that the guide is unmuted along with the children tracks so it doubles the output, combining the folder audio with the audio in the children tracks. As a test I zero down the faders of the children and obviously the audio coming from the folder itself continues to play.
Thanks again!

OK, I downloaded your project. Nice playing!

1) For the muted guide track see:



I muted the items on the folder track itself and audition works perfectly no longer doubling the volume etc. Hover over the folder and press A for your full mix and over individual tracks for soloed auditioning. It was unclear from your previous response whether you were already doing that or whether you had started to do it after my suggestion. What's nice is that any S-D editing from that material automatically retains the mute on the new item. Does that solve things for you? There's nothing odd happening on my machine.

Side note: For people who use portable recorders that produce polywavs containing all mono or a stereo main pair + multiple mono, a reminder to use the new ReaClassical_ExplodeMultiChannel function: https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=682

2) I think I also solved your piano "takes" issue. First, they are not actually takes. To convert use "Take: Implode items on same track into takes" in the actions list (?):



Maybe also check Options > Show all takes (when room). Then you can comp your best take as per various REAPER comping video tutorials. Not sure how you did the punch recording to begin with but ideally you should record as takes from the beginning. Certainly this happens on my machine when I record-enable the piano track. Obviously I'm not using my ReaClassical Take Record function here. No doubt there will be even more options for this in a future version of REAPER with the new take lane behavior etc.

Hopefully this gives you a way to use ReaClassical in tandem with other comping workflows that suit your hybrid genre.

[anomar]

First of all thank you very much for your care. If you think that I have to send you such questions in private please let me know, I do not want to mess up your forum.
1) Regarding the Audition Script, everything works right except when I hover over the following item (after the xfade) then the guide is unmuted. When I hover over the previous item or over the empty spaces all is functioning accordingly. I will try to make a realtime video to easy the compreenhension of this question.
2) About the piano shots. This recording was done in the studio using a Logic workstation, it's a nightmare! I had to export as AAF from logic, then convert AAF to PTools (for client) and AAF to Reaper EDL using the AAT converter program...
Alternate shots were on separate tracks below the main tracks that contained the full shot.
Chmaha, I will investigate a new workflow after your observations and directions, ReaClassical is fantastic and with some more work from my side I will be able to use it without any trouble in a hybrid context.
I will keep you posted on my progress.
Cheers

[ea.roberto]

Hello

Firstly. Thanks for ReaClassical! Great job!

I installed ReaClassical manually to work with Reaper 6.8. Currently, it is available Reaper 7, thus I have two questions:

- Is ReaClassical compatible with Reaper 7 ?
- (If you answer is yes) After installing Reaper 7, Do I have to repeat all manual instalation steps or only ones? It will be fantastic to get a PDF document with a clear explanation.


Regards,

Originally Posted by chmaha

I've been working on various ways to improve classical music editing in REAPER (without the need to buy any add-ons) and I feel that I've arrived at something worthwhile and professional. It builds on some existing actions and scripts but I've tweaked a lot and ended up creating much of it from scratch. I've added my own flavor to things including a very workable crossfade editor mode that adds two-lane functionality close enough to Pyramix and Sequoia that the edits can be very precise and fun to work through. I also have dedicated markers for source/destination in/out (different colors and names to visually stand out) for those of us who enjoy single-window S/D (3- and 4-point) editing. I'd obviously love to talk about things here too but for now you could do worse that to read the latest version of the PDF guide here or visit reaclassical.org/.

To get started straight away, see the installation guide.

To just use the scripts and jsfx plugins without any customization of keymaps, toolbar etc, import my repository into ReaPack by copying and pasting this link. Search for "ReaClassical" and install the main ReaClassical package. Search for "RCPlugs" and install the "RCPlugs" metapackage. Use the ReaClassical project template for your new projects (you can set this in the REAPER preferences) and change to the ReaClassical theme (Options > Themes).

For the complete experience: on Linux, MacOS and Windows you can download and run a single script that does everything for you:

Linux

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chmaha/ReaClassical/main/Resource%20Folders/ReaClassical_Linux.sh | sh

MacOS

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chmaha/ReaClassical/main/Resource%20Folders/ReaClassical_macOS.sh | sh

Windows
Download ReaClassical_Win.exe where you want to install ReaClassical and double-click (It might require Win10 or higher). Source code is here and built using ps2exe module.

Alternative script version via command prompt(Win+R and type "cmd"):

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chmaha/ReaClassical/main/Resource%20Folders/ReaClassical_Win.ps1
powershell -executionpolicy bypass -File .\ReaClassical_Win.ps1

If you want to do something beyond a portable install including adding ReaClassical to an existing REAPER install, please see the installation instructions and/or PDF Guide.

Finally, if you feel like donating, you can now do so at https://liberapay.com/chmaha/.

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by ea.roberto

Hello

Firstly. Thanks for ReaClassical! Great job!

I installed ReaClassical manually to work with Reaper 6.8. Currently, it is available Reaper 7, thus I have two questions:

- Is ReaClassical compatible with Reaper 7 ?
- (If you answer is yes) After installing Reaper 7, Do I have to repeat all manual instalation steps or only ones? It will be fantastic to get a PDF document with a clear explanation.


Regards,

Yes, ReaClassical seems compatible with REAPER 7 but it will not be official until the next release in January. I highly recommend installing ReaClassical as a portable install so that everything is immediately in place as designed including keymap, default ReaClassical theme set etc. Also, you can then use the 3rd-party REAPER update utility I include via shortcut Ctrl+U to seamlessly update (or downgrade) between REAPER versions.

There is a PDF document included with every ReaClassical install. It's H shortcut if you are running the portable install otherwise just find the ReaClassical_Help.lua function in the action list (shortcut ?).

[ea.roberto]

Hello

Thanks for your response.

I didn´t know about the 3rd-party REAPER update utility. Fo this reason I installed Reaclassical manually.

Now I will use the portable version.

Thanks....

Originally Posted by chmaha

Yes, ReaClassical seems compatible with REAPER 7 but it will not be official until the next release in January. I highly recommend installing ReaClassical as a portable install so that everything is immediately in place as designed including keymap, default ReaClassical theme set etc. Also, you can then use the 3rd-party REAPER update utility I include via shortcut Ctrl+U to seamlessly update (or downgrade) between REAPER versions.

There is a PDF document included with every ReaClassical install. It's H shortcut if you are running the portable install otherwise just find the ReaClassical_Help.lua function in the action list (shortcut ?).

[chmaha]

I'm hoping v23.22 (23Q4) has been well-received. There were no major updates but there was a significant fix when inserting with time-stretching and also bringing that function in line with regular source-destination editing by maintaining the colors of the source material.

I keep trying to revisit tutorial videos and will get there eventually. Setting aside time is difficult right now. As always, let me know if you come across any bugs or generic REAPER error messages that I can squash. Also let me know any bright ideas for ReaClassical in 2024. There comes a point where the feature set is not going to change much and I feel we are almost there. Look at Pyramix and Sequoia...the classical music editing functions haven't changed in years! Certainly I'm not lacking for anything in my own projects and while I hope my workflow is representative of many classical engineers out there, still let me know if you ever think something along the lines of "hmm...if only ReaClassical could do X, it could save me lots of time". If you haven't tried the "Create CD Markers" function yet (track starts based on items with a take name) then you will be pleasantly surprised. No other DAW does it this way. It saves absolutely bucket loads of time in the mastering phase and is reliably recreated and is always based on the item names/positions themselves versus worrying about keeping markers and items all aligned while editing. But describing it doesn't do it justice and that's why I have to make videos

As mentioned previously, the detailed crossfade editing while improved from the generic REAPER one is what it is. Any further improvements should probably come from the REAPER devs (unless they want to hire me to help them bake in S-D editing and a proper classical workflow including pro crossfade editor, multiple timelines etc).

That's it for now. I'll post any dev versions as I go but I suspect them to be few and far between for the remainder of 2023.

[theorbe]

[QUOTE=chmaha;2734348]

As mentioned previously, the detailed crossfade editing while improved from the generic REAPER one is what it is. Any further improvements should probably come from the REAPER devs (unless they want to hire me to help them bake in S-D editing and a proper classical workflow including pro crossfade editor, multiple timelines etc).

it's perfect for you and for us

[DerTonmeister]

Originally Posted by chmaha

...from the REAPER devs (unless they want to hire me to help them bake in S-D editing and a proper classical workflow including pro crossfade editor, multiple timelines etc).
...

this please @devs!

[anomar]

Thanks for your care with the multiple sessions marks.
In forty years using sequencers and daws I never have had a experience so good with a community of users and developers as I have now with Reaper.
Cheers!

[chmaha]

NEW: Linux Installer

• Prefer printf to echo -e
• Show REAPER architecture

Just a tiny update of the Linux installer in order to use printf instead of echo -e which isn't in the POSIX spec. Also, I now print the architecture of the REAPER which will be downloaded (matches your system architecture). e.g.

Versions: REAPER 7.14 (x86_64), ReaClassical 24

[chmaha]

NEW: MacOS & Windows Installers

• Show REAPER architecture

Now MacOS and Windows installers get the same treatment as Linux e.g.

For example, on MacOS:

Versions: REAPER 7.14 (arm64), ReaClassical 24

It's the small things

[ea.roberto]

Hello Chmaha

I have a question.
I have a session recorded in another DAW.
Could I import audio tracks into Reaclassical to edit (source - destination)?
I mean, Can I join tracks for editing although the tracks were recorded in another DAW?

[chmaha]

Originally Posted by ea.roberto

Hello Chmaha

I have a question.
I have a session recorded in another DAW.
Could I import audio tracks into Reaclassical to edit (source - destination)?
I mean, Can I join tracks for editing although the tracks were recorded in another DAW?

Yes, absolutely. Just set up your horizontal or vertical workflow (F7 or F8) and then drag in your imported audio where you need it. Run Prepare Takes (T) and you should be ready for editing. Works just as well as if you'd recorded in REAPER.