[Rwp] OSARA, an open-source ReaAccess replacement in development

Wed Feb 4 14:30:22 EST 2015

Believe it or not, those 0.01 DB steps for increasing and decreasing
volume are hard coded, so not something Jamie can change. Boo!

One alternative is ReaConsole, which is part of the SWS extention.
It's worth having SWS installed just for this tool IMO.

A very quick guide to how it works:
Hit the C key to activate the console. If you're using ReaAccess,
you'll need to reassign either this command or something to do with
tempo markers to clear up a conflict, but with OSARA, you should be in
business straight away.

To change the volume on a track, make sure it's the most recent track
you've touched, hit c to get into the console, then type a lowercase v
directly followed by the number of DB you'd like to increase or
decrease the volume by. So, v2 will increase the volume by 2 DB. v-7.5
will decrease the volume by 7.5 Db.
I mentioned the lower case v because if the V is uppercase, that sets
the track to a specific level. For anyone who isn't following me,
let's say we've used ReaConsole to drop our track volume down to -15
DB. Now, v0 (with the v being lowercase) would leave the volume
exactly where it is, but V0 (with the V being uppercase) will set the
volume back to exactly 0 DB. One more example would be that on our
track which is currently at -15 DB, v3 (with the v being lowercase)
would bump the volume up to -12 DB, but V3 (with the V being
uppercase) will bump the volume all the way up to +3 DB.

Pan works similarly. On a track that starts out panned central, p25
(lowercase p) will pan 25% right. If you did p-25 (lowercase p),
that'd get you back to central, because negative numbers pan to the
left, positive numbers pan to the right.
The same trick with uppercase letters applies to pan as well. So P-100
(with an uppercase P) will pan that track 100% over to the left,
irrespective of what it was set to before you typed that command.

You'll need to press escape when you're done to get back out of
ReaConsole. There's a setting or command that changes this behaviour
and closes the console window automatically, but I'm not in front of
Reaper right now and can't for the life of me remember how it's done.

It's easier to grasp than it sounds, believe me, I'm absolutely
rubbish at command line stuff, but this sank in fairly quickly. There
are plenty of other commands too, and when you get the hang of using
the wildcard and having good track naming conventions, this thing
comes to life. It's ended up being quicker than using that tab thingy
here anyway.

For anyone who's interested, there's more explanation to be found here:
http://www.standingwaterstudios.com/reaconsole.php

Hope this helps somebody.

Scott

On 2/4/15, Jim Snowbarger via RWP <rwp at bluegrasspals.com> wrote:
> I do use that tab key thing, for volume and pan, as Patrick mentioned, to
> check on those settings, or because you can change them so much more quickly
> there.  Alt up and down arrow is painfully slow, going in 0.1DB steps.  And,
> that tab interface is the only way I know to just get with it, and jump to a
> radically different new setting.
> The rest of it I don't use.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: RWP [mailto:rwp-bounces at bluegrasspals.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Perdue
> via RWP
> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2015 7:18 AM
> To: Reapers Without Peepers
> Subject: Re: [Rwp] OSARA, an open-source ReaAccess replacement in
> development
>
> I use the tab thingy a lot, mostly just to adjust track volume/pan, or to
> look at where it is without changing it. If everything else in that
> disappeared, I don't think I would miss it too much, but I do like having
> those there.
>
>> On Feb 4, 2015, at 7:49 AM, Scott Chesworth via RWP
>> <rwp at bluegrasspals.com> wrote:
>>
>> One thing to keep in mind is that the approach CakeTalking and JSonar
>> both use loosely represents Sonars GUI. Bringing the same layout over
>> to Reaper could probably be done, but it'd mean we were using a
>> totally different layout to anyone who's using Reaper without a screen
>> reader. I wouldn't be keen on this, mostly because there are people
>> out there who use magnification alongside their screen reader, and
>> they wouldn't know whether they were coming or going.
>>
>> On a vaguely related note, does anyone here make heavy use of that
>> virtual view thingy you get when you press tab with a track or item
>> selected? Personally I haven't ever seen the point of it, but I've
>> never been sure whether that's because I'm being reluctant to use an
>> alternative interface.
>>
>> On 2/4/15, Jayson Smith via RWP <rwp at bluegrasspals.com> wrote:
>>> You won't get any argument from me on those points. Not to mention
>>> that CakeTalking requires probably the most expensive screen reader
>>> on the market, and unless something recent has happened, hasn't been
>>> updated in a while, because of major changes made to Sonar itself.
>>> However, for my DAW, that is what I use, but I always welcome
>>> alternatives. When Reaper and ReaAccess first came on the scene, I
>>> played with it, but really couldn't get into it. Hopefully that will
>>> change.
>>> Jayson
>>>
>>> On 2/4/2015 7:13 AM, Hrvoje Katić via RWP wrote:
>>>> Yep, but CakeTalking costs too much as well as Sonar. Reaper is far
>>>> more cheap and accessibility solution is freeware.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> LP,
>>>> Hrvoje
>>>>
>>>> Private email: hrvoje.katic at yandex.com
>>>> <mailto:hrvoje.katic at yandex.com>
>>>>
>>>> Web site: Click here <http://hrvix.wordpress.com/>
>>>>
>>>> Facebook: Click here <http://www.facebook.com/hrvix>
>>>>
>>>> Twitter: Click here <http://www.twitter.com/hrvix>
>>>>
>>>> Skype Id: hrvojekatic
>>>>
>>>> Mobile: 095/585-7034
>>>>
>>>> 4.2.2015. u 13:04, Jayson Smith via RWP je napisao/la:
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I, too, would be in favor of single-key commands for the most
>>>>> common actions. Cake Talking for Sonar, which is for me the gold
>>>>> standard of DAW accessibility, uses single-key commands for the
>>>>> most common actions. Mute, solo, arm, etc. And it has a standard
>>>>> view where you use up/down to move between tracks, and left/right
>>>>> to move between parameters on a track such as name, mute, solo, arm,
>>>>> volume, pan, etc.
>>>>>
>>>>> Jayson
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/4/2015 3:37 AM, Hrvoje Katić via RWP wrote:
>>>>>> Well, personally I don't like default Reaper keymap. Some
>>>>>> important actions are not assigned to any keystroke by default
>>>>>> (move by beats and bars is a good example), and you have to hold
>>>>>> control and alt while navigating tracks with up and down arrow,
>>>>>> and also
>>>>>> control+alt+arrow keys have a conflict with some graphics drivers
>>>>>> where these keystrokes are assigned to rotate screen.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> LP,
>>>>>> Hrvoje
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Private email: hrvoje.katic at yandex.com
>>>>>> <mailto:hrvoje.katic at yandex.com>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Web site: Click here <http://hrvix.wordpress.com/>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Facebook: Click here <http://www.facebook.com/hrvix>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Twitter: Click here <http://www.twitter.com/hrvix>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Skype Id: hrvojekatic
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mobile: 095/585-7034
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 4.2.2015. u 0:44, Zack Benton via RWP je napisao/la:
>>>>>>> Agreed, I admit that the re access keymap is a bit harder to learn.
>>>>>>> On 2/3/2015 18:16, James Teh via RWP wrote:
>>>>>>>> Anyway, I didn't mean to start a debate on what is "best";
>>>>>>>> everyone has their preferences. My point is that if even I (as
>>>>>>>> the primary author) am using something different to the
>>>>>>>> ReaAccess key map, I'd be very reluctant to include a ReaAccess
>>>>>>>> based key map as the default. At the very least, that key map is
>>>>>>>> harder to learn initially. This is why I haven't included a key
>>>>>>>> map at all at this point. Perhaps we could include a ReaAccess
>>>>>>>> key map as an option, but I'm reluctant to make it a "default".
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Jamie
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 4/02/2015 7:19 AM, Scott Chesworth via RWP wrote:
>>>>>>>>> I have alien length fingers, so this might not work for
>>>>>>>>> everyone, but I've found non-separated F keys a lot easier
>>>>>>>>> since I started treating them as an extra row rather than
>>>>>>>>> counting along them. The experience is a little different from
>>>>>>>>> laptop to laptop, but with a wee bit of practice to get the
>>>>>>>>> muscle memory locked in I can comfortably hit mute, solo, arm,
>>>>>>>>> phase etc without leaving the touch typing position or
>>>>>>>>> counting. This is coming from someone who fought pretty hard
>>>>>>>>> against those keys being used for those functions in the first
>>>>>>>>> place, so I guess you could say I'm converted now.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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