Dear all, welcome to this new tutorial! In this video you will see
everything you need to start using Reaper in just 13 short minutes!
Reaper is a complete multi-track Digital Audio Workstation or DAW, a
great product to manage, edit and combine samples, recordings and MIDI
compositions in one place. It is available for Windows, MacOS and Linux
and can also be tested for free for 60 days, before needing a proper
license.
As you open Reaper its main interface shows up, with the timeline (or
Arrangement window) on top and the Mixer at the bottom. The timeline is
the place where you manage and edit audio files through time, measured in
bars and beats on top and in seconds at the bottom.
This interface can be changed in colors and style by going to Options,
Themes. In this video we will stick to the Default one.
To import samples just drag and drop these files on the timeline. You can
import videos as well and check their frames from View, Video.
All these files are shown as blocks called Items with their name and sound
waveforms per each stereo channel, representing how their volume
changes in time. They are collected within rows called Tracks that can be
extended with your mouse wheel while holding down the CTRL (or CMD) key.
To check your items you can use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the
green playhead position and hold down the ALT (or Option) key as well to
scroll in time.
Before making recordings with Reaper you have to set the input sources by
going to Options, Preferences... If you click on Device you can set the
Audio system (or driver), such as WaveOut for the default audio settings or
ASIO if you want to use a professional driver that reduces latency and
lags. Below select the Input device - such as your microphone or any
external instrument you want to connect - and the Output device, in this
case the default audio speakers.
At this point you can right-click on the left to insert a new track and
click on Record Arm to enable the track for recording. Check if the
microphone works, if not make sure that the input source is selected.
You can keep Record Monitoring ON to listen to the microphone input
directly. Pay attention that this causes resonance in case input and output
sources are too much close-by.
When you are ready click on the timeline to set the starting point and
use the Record button to start and stop recording.
To put the timeline in playback use the player on the left. You can also
press the Space bar key to play and stop and the Enter key to play
and pause.
Whereas to playback a defined portion in loop just click and drag above the
timeline to create a loop region and enable Toggle Repeat.
On the right you get all the project settings. Set the project tempo in
BPM (beats per minute), converting your beats in seconds and adjusting
the playback rate. Define the time signature, such as the number of beats
per bar and use the Rate knob to force a different playback rate.
In addition click on the i button for other advanced settings such as
sample rate and recording options.
Now let's see how to edit each item. Click and drag any to move it in time
or in another track. This gets snapped to the timeline grid defined on
Options, Snap/Grid, unless you move while holding down the Shift key. For
more precise movements press the N key and use the nudge dialog box.
Click and drag the item edges to adjust its length. This cuts part of its
content when shortened or puts it in loop when extended, every time you
see grey markers on it.
Moreover if you drag the edges while holding down the ALT (or the Option)
key you can adjust the item length by changing its speed rate instead.
If the item get shorter it is also played faster, viceversa slower.
In addition you can pull down the top line to adjust the item volume and
drag from its corners to add fade transitions that change the volume in
time smoothly. This transition is also applied in case two items overlap
in time within the same track.
To cut, copy and paste any item click on it to select it and press CTRL
(or CMD) and X, C and V. Cut items to remove these quickly and perform
fast copies by moving any while holding down the CTRL (or CMD) key.
If you make any mistake use CTRL (or CMD) and Z to undo or go backwards
with the History panel on top.
To split any selected item place the playhead and use the S key. Whereas
to check all the item properties just double-click on it.
You can select multiple clips by clicking on these while holding down the
CTRL (or CMD) key. This is very useful to move and edit these together.
Whereas to manage all the items inside each track you get several options
on the left side and at the bottom, on the Mixer panel. Enable the M
button to mute the current track and the S button to solo it and mute all
the others.
Make sure to check the volume level with the deciBel meter in order to
avoid any distortion coming from red levels of saturation. You can adjust
the whole track volume with the main bar and balance the left and the right
stereo channels with the panning knob above. If you apply these corrections
to the Master track, the whole audio output gets affected.
With Route you can set audio routing by specifying sends and receivers.
We won't see these in this beginner tutorial.
Whereas to add, remove or duplicate any track, just right-click on it.
To add professional effects click on the FX button. This list includes
VST and JS (Jesusonic) plugins that use an EEL2 language to edit sound.
You can even create your own effect by coding with this script. Check our
video description to learn more.
Apply Reverb, Saturation, Pitch, Delays and filters with EQ. These effects
affect the whole track and can be adjusted with their interface. On the
left click on the checkmark to disable and enable any effect and click and
drag any to change the order. Click on Remove to delete the selected
effect from the list.
You can also disable all the effects applied to any track with the I/O
button next to FX.
In addition you can click on trim to enable several envelopes that can be
used to change the track or effect properties in time. These are shown as
secondary tracks with an envelope line that you can pull up and down in
value and edit in shape by holding down the CTRL (or CMD) key as you brush
on it. Whereas click with the ALT (or the Option) key over any point to
remove it instead. To disable and hide any envelope click on Bypass on the
left.
Now let's see how to manage MIDI files. These are compositions with notes
that become audible when you attach any instrument. You can connect any
external hardware by going to Options, Preferences and then to MIDI
Devices... Otherwise you can simply attach any virtual synthesizer (or
synth) within Reaper itself. In this video we will use synths only.
Drag and drop any MIDI file to import it. Reaper may show options to
extract all its tracks inside or change the project tempo to match the MIDI
tempo. Then select again if you want to extract all MIDI tracks and get
your MIDI item on the timeline.
At this point you must assign any instrument to each track collecting MIDI
files. Click on FX and then on Instruments. Choose ReaSynth to add a
melodious synth or ReaSynDr to add percussions and drums.
You can manage and edit these synths like effects, with the difference
that they act on MIDI items and ignore the rest of the track samples.
If you prefer to make new compositions right-click on the left and go to
Insert virtual instrument to create a new track with a ready synth to use.
At this point click elsewhere to deselect any item and then hold down the
CTRL (or CMD) key and click and drag to drop a new vacant MIDI item. You
can compose within it with the E key or use the main Piano Roll by
double-clicking on it.
Click on the piano on the left to test the synth notes or percussions and
click and drag on the Piano Roll to drop notes with the correct length.
You can manage these notes just like the items: click and drag these to
move in time and pitch, drag their edges to adjust their length and pull
down the line from the top to adjust volume (or velocity). Use CTRL (or
CMD) and X to cut and remove any note. Make sure to make a loop playback
to check your modifications live.
At the bottom adjust the note properties, like velocity or pitch. Hold down
the CTRL (or CMD) key and draw an envelope that you can adjust on each
single point. Whereas use the ALT (or Options) key to remove
points instead.
To save your Reaper project go to File, Save project as... These .RPP files
store your entire timeline content and options, so that you can modify
these later any time.
Whereas go to File, Render... to export your project as an audio file.
Select Master mix to take the whole master track output and select what
to export with Bounds, such as the Entire project, the current loop region
as Time selection or a precise time range.
Below set directory, file name, sample rate and stereo channels. Select
the proper file format including WAV, FLAC, and MP3 to export audio and
GIF, AVI, FLV and MP4 when rendering videos, with full control on bit rate,
frame size and rate.
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