Reaper

Reaper is very track focused.  If you were looking under the file menu, all of those options are dedicated to the files created from your project.     There are a number of ways to import external audio, though.  The easiest is to just drag the audio file from your computer into the Reaper track panel.  Reaper will create a new track for you and insert the audio.    You can also use the Import->Media File menu.  Or the media explorer.   

I know you guys are comfortable with Audacity, but it is a toy, and I mean that in the nicest possible way.   There is nothing it can do that Reaper can't, and there are about a thousand things Reaper can do that it can't, and it does everything better.   Reaper is a professional audio tool on par with ProTools.   It is more complex than Audacity simply because it does way more that Audacity.   Russ, for someone doing the quality of work you are doing, I honestly believe it is holding you back.    Even if you don't like Reaper, there are literally dozens of better options out there.  Logic, CubeBase, Cakewalk....  They can all do live VST, native MIDI sequencing, non-destructive punch-in/out, everything that you would expect in a professional workstation is out there.   From a feature and quality standpoint, Audacity is at the bottom of the list in almost every way.   You have exceeded the level of your tools, man!  Upgrade!  The learning curve isn't that steep, but it is well worth it when you're done.

I'd still be happy to do that, although I think I might use Google Hangout or WebEX.  In fact, I'll set something up this week, seeing as how I got nuthin better to do. 

Thanks Guys for the input and, Jerome, as I still have it on my laptop and I will give it another look.

Roger

Of course.  In fact, since I'm gloriously unemployed at the moment, I can stay up late and use you as my guinea pig. 

What hours do you work?

YouTube video

.................but I bet you already figured it out!

Roger

hi rog, having read your post i thought i'd give reaper a try, i've had it on my PC for a while, but couldn't do anything with it. so i tried it again as i've now become more conversant with my USB interface (scarlett) and found that there is a few choices when you start it up the first time. i know that input 1&2 are for mics, 3&4 are audio sources and there are others for midi etc. these will be different for other interfaces.

so go to the start menu

click reaper which should give you a drop down

go to "show audio config"

then set bit rate, audio ins and outs etc

this is what i did and i had no problem getting a track in from my MD.

hope this helps, if i can clarify for you give us a call

phill

I just found after all this time some great vids on REAPER
this is the first and its for us who know nothing.  Jerome worked hard to get us all educated but I was not able to join back then due to my sked.  So this is the next best thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdO2YvzKLm0

a different one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlJlP8x … dO2YvzKLm0

I installed the 32bit on my win 7 which is 64bit my question is can reaper only open wav files? there is no option for importing wmv or mp3 formats I am unable to open folders containing songs I stored it seems the only option is "open project"

Those are good videos.  The difference between the 64 bit and 32 bit are negligible.   Internally, Reaper treats all audio as 64 bit, so the only gain is if you're running 64 bit VST plugins.  And even then, only if you're running a lot of them.

Reaper's internal file format is WAV (AIFF is an option on Macs) and that is what you'll want to use as it's lossless.  When you start running audio through equalizers and other effects, those "unhearable" frequencies that MP3 removes become relevant.  You can render to pretty much anything, though.   If you want to render to MP3, you'll need to install LAME, as that is what Reaper uses to convert.

http://lame.sourceforge.net/

I've installed Reaper also..... really early in this section.  Back in the Genesis chapter of the recording forum Russell & I played around with a few different pieces of software to see what would work or not.  If memory serves, our criteria was to come up with something that was easy to use for those that were not too tech savvy, and it had to be free..... I did mention FREE!

We always knew that there were better tools out there and assumed that as folks got comfortable with recording and sharing their music, a natural migration to better tools would happen.  Software has evolved, there is better training available (especially via youtube), and there is still Audacity out there for starting with.

So whatever flavor of software you prefer, keep it up!  Several sections of Chordie are better for having this one..... So I would like to take this opportunity to aknowledge and thank Russell Harding for coming up with the idea and taking it to fruition.

Thanks Russ!

Doug