[RWP] introduction and a question?

Fri Mar 16 22:28:39 EDT 2012

Scott, please don't switch to any of my work flows, which don't flow 
very well  yet!
I'm just a beginner, discovering as I go, no users guide yet for Reaper 
with  ReaAccess.
I keep notes on whatever I find, and on whatever anyone else says, and 
I'm hoping for a Wikki style users guide, so others can do edits and 
simplify my over complicated methods. smile.
I did try rendering into several formats; like I thought I'd reduce the 
80 meg .wav file by half  by rendering to flack, but Reaper has some 
peculiar ways of doing things, as you know.
To get a .flack file and not just a .flk.rpp file, which won't play in 
anyone's Winamp, I had to choose render custom, instead of render entire 
project.
But, the end time for the custom setting seems to stop at a loop point 
in the midi file I was using, so my flack render suddenly cut off before 
the actual end of project.
I had measures, beats selected in my project settings, but in the render 
dialog I only got the project length displayed in minutes seconds.
So, I'd need to look at the minutes/seconds end time of the rendering of 
the entire project, jot down that figure;then render custom and type in 
the project lentth in minutes/seconds; then I assume I would have got 
the whole track into flack
I'm hoping there easier ways to do these things I haven't discovered yet.
I don't really understand why ; if I set my Project settings to 
measures, beats,why isn't that setting reflected in  all Reaper dialogs?
Also, other peculiar things, when I tried to render to MP3, Reaper went 
through the process, and produced a .mp3 file, which wouldn't play in 
Winamp.
I tried again, and Reaper announced that it needed to download lame mp3.

Since My daw is off line, so I can't download anything from the web.
I copied Winamp's mp3plug into Reaper's program files/plugs folder, 
hoping those would suffice; but Reaper still said it needed to download 
that lame mp3.
While I was in the program file/plugs folder in Reaper, I noticed 
there's already a plug in there named Reaper Mp3.
Well, Reaper refused to recognize Winamp's mp3 plug, so today I 
downloaded the latest lame MP3,  with this computer; hoping I can stick 
into a Reaper folder somewhere and it'll be happy; and will do renders 
to mp3 that actually play.
The .ogg files play fine in Winamp, but when I did a recording in the 
compressed lossless .wv foremat, Winamp couldn't play it.

Thanks for any clues,
Indigo L

On 3/16/2012 8:33 PM, Scott Chesworth wrote:
> Wow, how weird that those two versions would sound different. I
> would've thought that they'd both be shoved through the same OGG
> encoder with both methods, and that that'd be the stage where the most
> butchering gets done. Don't worry, I'm not expecting you to know the
> answer as to why it sounds different and I certainly won't be the guy
> to question your ability to hear the difference, just musing on the
> strange and interesting times we live in.
>
> If you get a chance and you're half as curious as I am about this,
> maybe try recording that audio version of the MIDI file down in 24bit
> wav, then try rendering a version with the exact same settings and see
> if you can hear the difference. If you can, even when it's not set to
> spit out a file in a lossy format and no dithering is taking place,
> I'll definitely be switching to your workflow.
>
> Scott
>
>
> On 3/17/12, indigo<33indigo at charter.net>  wrote:
>> Well, Scott, I'm sure it's not easier or quicker, but I was told that
>> there are losses during rendering down, while there are no losses if you
>> simply record in the format that you want to begin with.
>> I'm just experimenting to learn what works best.
>> I'm fairly sure that there are unavoidable math compromises made during
>> rendering down to a lower bit rate format.
>>
>> I recorded an audio track from midi files at 24 bits 44.1K that turned
>> out 86 megs, I think it was, kind of large to post anywhere.
>> I tried rendering it to 16 bit ogg, and other foremats, and I certainly
>> could hear the losses.
>> So, instead, I just changed the Project recording format to 16 bit ogg,
>> recorded a new audio track, and saved it, no rendering, no dithering
>> required, and it's 5 megs or so in .ogg, not as clear as the .wav
>> version, but much clearer than when I rendered down from .wav to .ogg.
>> Indigo L
>>
>> On 3/16/2012 5:38 PM, Scott Chesworth wrote:
>>> Hi chaps,
>>>
>>> Forgive me, but I don't see how this is any simpler/quicker than
>>> rendering down to a file, particularly as rendering is done quicker
>>> than in realtime. What am I missing?
>>>
>>> Scott
>>>
>>> On 3/16/12, indigo<33indigo at charter.net>   wrote:
>>>> Well, here's the way I'm working in Reaper right now.
>>>> Instead of rendering, you can insert an empty track.
>>>>     Arrow to the empty track to select it, hit the I key to go to IO
>>>> routing, tab to add returns.
>>>>     Arrow down to the bottom selection, add returns from all tracks.
>>>> This will cause all the tracks you've already recorded to send their
>>>> output to your blank track.
>>>> I believe you will need to add a send from your empty audio track to
>>>> your sound card, so you can hear it during recording and playback.
>>>> There is no okay button in IO routing, just hit escape to return to
>>>> track view.
>>>>
>>>> With the empty track selected, tab through its track properties.
>>>> Select all channels if your already recorded tracks are on several midi
>>>> channels.
>>>>     Select record mode as input, record arm on.
>>>> Hit enter to save your settings.
>>>> Now here's something I found works to make sure you get a stereo
>>>> recording, if your already recorded tracks are in stereo.
>>>> Select the empty track.
>>>> ctrl+up arrow, then press applications key.
>>>> You will get another menu with more detailed properties for your empty
>>>> track.
>>>> Arrow down and you will find record mode input already checked.
>>>> Arrow farther down and you'll find a selection called Input Stereo.
>>>> Hit enter on it, then hit enter on okay, and you'll be sure to record a
>>>> stereo audio track in the empty track.
>>>> You may not need this extra step, so, if you don't, ignore it, but I
>>>> ended up with a mono track without this step.
>>>> Here's how to record your empty audio track in several different media
>>>> formats, so you don't need to render in Reaper's file menu.
>>>> Press alt+enter for Project settings.
>>>> Get on the Audio settings tab.
>>>> Arrow down to the format you intend to use for recording.
>>>> Select whatever format you want your empty track to record in, .wav,
>>>> flack, whatever, though I found mp3 doesn't work until you go online to
>>>> import lame MP3 into Reaper.
>>>> Select your bit rate, etcetera, then hit okay; and you are returned to
>>>> track view.
>>>> Select your empty audio track, press W to go to beginning of project,
>>>> press R to begin recording.
>>>> Hit spacebar, or press R again to stop recording.
>>>>     Press ctrl+up arrow.
>>>>     Press alt key and arrow down in the file menu to the selection: Save
>>>> Output to Disk Bounce.
>>>> Press enter and you get a very complete menu for saving your audio track
>>>> in its selected format.
>>>> When you are sure your settings are correct; tab down to Start; Press
>>>> enter and saving begins.
>>>> Now, I'm not saying you may not find easier ways, I hope you do; but
>>>> these steps are intuitive enough, and are working for me.
>>>> As I understand Reaper better, I'm sure I'll find quicker methods, I'll
>>>> probably eliminate steps that aren't actually required in all instances.
>>>> Don't let Reaper's complexity spook you.
>>>> You don't need all its thousands of selections to do simple recording,
>>>> but they're waiting until you need them.
>>>>
>>>> Indigo L
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 3/16/2012 12:01 PM, Joe Paton wrote:
>>>>> Hi,,
>>>>>
>>>>> Mine is beautiful right now, at least I can't hear any delay working 2
>>>>> guitar parts and 2 vocals four tracks. simple music, but still timing
>>>>> critical.
>>>>>
>>>>> Great you guys, thanks indigo. I know i'll be back with more.
>>>>> so here's more.
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's a quickie, can I save the four recorded tracks to say 1 stereo
>>>>> tracks, I know I can render the four down to a saved file, and I guess I
>>>>> could do a media file import to bring the song back to a stereo track
>>>>> but that seems round the houses a little bit. How do you use master
>>>>> tracks?
>>>>>
>>>>> seems like a life times work this stuff, and I've had more than I've got
>>>>> left.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Joe
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
>>>>
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