Open Reaper more for theming

[Pink Wool]

Reaper is amazing! How two developers can handle the workload is beyond me!?

(Well, there's also a great community behind them! Testers, coders, themers etc.)

I know it's been suggested MANY times before (many moons ago too...) that parts of Reaper would be opened up for theming. The main issue being the windows on Windows and the FX that come with Reaper (Rea and JS). I know Linux people have it much better with the windows! Good for you! 💖

I know there's probably an equal amount of people here who like the way Reaper looks, who know their coding, who are more about function, not looks. That's fine. They are lovely people! I'm sure the devs are very similar.

But is it the only thing Reaper can be? I mean, Reaper is a software but it's also a community. This forum is a living proof of that! And inside a community there's all these different people with different preferences.

I'm hoping that the "looks matter some or more" group could get to enjoy their Reaper experience too. This would also benefit the newcomers who always seem to be scared about the looks. Well, okay, Reaper is also intimidating in other ways, but once you've done the customization...😁

So should Reaper in your opinion be opened up for theming more? If yes, post +1 and your reasoning below.

To Justin and Schwa:
I have NO knowledge how any of Reaper works! I think an increasing number of Reaper users don't. Therefore we don't know what's possible. It would be nice if you could once in a while shoot down our stupid ideas on what's possible and what's not. Like, I don't know if the request to open up the Reaper windows for theming is even doable! I'm sure you guys do. If there's other reasons behind NOT doing it (like stability etc.), that's fine too! It just would be nice to know anything! 🙂
Anyways, Thank you for the tool you've given us! You guys are amazing!

[Pink Wool]

This discussion inspired me to post the FR:

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=250915

And this: https://www.behance.net/gallery/1017...ins-concept%29

[Phazma]

+1!

It is remarkable how much we can already do in the main window but the un-themable parts of Reaper just disrupt even the most carefully done theme.

A first step IMO could be even just letting all windows which are currently OS drawn follow the window background color (like action list, MX, scripts/sws etc already do).

Being able to theme these parts would not only help with consistent looks but also workflow and having an easier time finding things. For example in many jsfx and reaplugs there should be knobs instead of sliders for some values which would give better control over some parameters and more space for an intuitive GUI. There are possibilities to skin jsfx via the @gfx part in the code but that is way more difficult than it should be.

[bFooz]

+ 1

[strachupl]

+1 from me

[nikki5000]

+5000

[thevisi0nary]

+1 please

[dovah33]

+1 here. I have tried let's see :

Pro Tools
Cubase
FL Studio
Studio One
Ableton

And NONE of them come close, they all lack in some way and you CANNOT customize it. Like FL Studio, you can't undo removing a plugin. You remove a plugin, it's just gone? WTH?

Pro Tools is just ugly and clunky and disgusting.

Studio One is nice but the special things about it, really aren't necessary.

And Cubase, you need a freaking iLok USB. Piss off Cubase.

I love Reaper and whichever way the theming goes will always continue using it.

That being said, the little bar on top of VST's that have the preset selection, and the "param" and the "UI" buttons and the wet/dry knob. If we could just have the option to take that off. And then, allow theme makers to get in and create their own title bars and VST wrapper windows (like FL Studio does, or Darktable does). That would be tits, just tits.

Winamp was always my go to for YEARS, and now Reaper. These dev's are incredible.

[inglar]

+1

[User41]

I really like the stock plugins. Would be cool if their GUIs were themeable. Some with very few sliders are fine, but others with more options (like reacomp) are incredibly clunky, imo.