Reaper and REN the Super Team

This combination continues to be absolutely magic.

How I'm using it is as follows:

I run the MPC's 16 outs thru Reaper then buss things together like drums, bass, pads/strings, vocals, etc...

On these busses I mix and balance the sound the way I want it. Reaper handles this brilliantly with the ability to save FX Chains so I can always have a chain of plug ins lined up in a flash then just go about tweaking things to suit the material.

Once that is set up I'll setup sends on some sounds to aux fx channels where I have things like reverbs and delays and once I get the overall sound right for these I'll setup various parameters to respond to midi control data so I can automate these live as I'm recording for added movement and non staleness.

Once this is all set up and sounding tight, I record.

With Dazastah's template I now have audio files for eveything from the MPC so, in theory, I can get stuck in to further editing of those audio files, create other sounds, render and begin again.

I've yet to go deep down that rabbit hole as Reaper's audio commands and how-to is new to me, but I will! Thanks again for letting us in on this mega combo. Things have changed here immensely for me.

The MPC is no longer limited, I can use the plug ins within Reaper as opposed to straining the (single core) MPC software. I can acquire a professional sound very, very quickly and consistently. For a long time recording artist this is essential!!!!

I have immense flexibility. I mix as I go but, once I've recorded the song I instantly have every single audio file on an individual track ready to go. Multi-Tracking at it's finest!!!

Basically, I love it.

Reaper 4.7 is up and running.

How good is that changelog list for each release.. You actually see what the developers have been working on..What they add, what bugs they fix.. It just makes so much sense having a really good organised forum with a pre release cycle as well. where you can actually beta test the beta releases and suggest features and bugs that may happen with your setup. You feel like your apart of the development, instead of being kept in the dark and fed what ever your given... It's like all users of reaper are treated the same.. It doesn't matter how much experience or status you have within the industry, you get the pre release beta, and can post in the bugs submissions..
(By no means any disrespect to the beta testers for the mpc software !! Really appreciate what you guys do for the mpc software)

I have just had a massive mixing session over the weekend with reaper.. Not one crash.. 50 + tracks with plugins on each track.. running on a quad core laptop... Breezing through it...

Also for any of those who dont have it installed, make sure you install the sws extensions... Very usefull stuff... This contains the region playlist editor.. It is quite similar to mpc song mode...

http://sws.mj-s.com/

i've been busy the last couple of weeks mixing tracks i made in mpc software through reaper, just finished yesterday. it was great getting back into the feel of reaper. i was running at most 35 tracks but yeah, totally stable, running lots of instances of reafir with no problems (i can't stop using reafir! it adds latency so you have to wait til mixdown to start using it, but reafir is like the ultimate eq/dynamics tool it's insane)

so many of the built in JS effects are great, one of the neatest tricks i used the other day was using JSDrumTrigger and ReaSamplomatic to do some drum replacement on some old tracks i have. js drum trigger is basically a gate that triggers a midi note, so you can use it to layer samples on top of an isolated audio track.

in my case i had a drum part i had recorded from an old dr sample hardware unit so i had the kick drum and snare on one audio track. i completely replaced those terrible quality drums with clean recorded samples that match the rest of the tracks for this release by routing the old audio into two separate tracks and doing a really sharp low cut on one and a high cut on the other then put drum trigger and reasamplo loaded with your new sample into each tracks chain. drum trigger usually needs a bit of tweaking, the timing offset is particularly good to dial it in for perfect feel.

yeah reafir is my eq to... When im mixing.. Can't use it live... But it's incredibly powerful.. Can be use for everything you can think off.. Desser multiband comp.. filter cut.. Endless shaping control..

I do exactly what you do with drum replacing..
Yeah..Reasampler has had some major improvements... I haven't tested it yet, but apparently you can drag/import a bunch of multisamples(like say a multi snare) and it automatically maps the samples according to peak values.. ie maps each file to velocity range based on it's peak value...
I like layering drums... You can just copy and paste the reasampler to add a layer.. then scroll through samples in that directory.. Good stuff!!!

yeah i like to put one reafir in compressor mode for de-essing, then another one in eq mode for the sharpest low/high cut you'll ever get plus sweetening

Now, things are going well. The next thing that I need to learn is how do I sample what is coming out of Reaper into the MPC Ren to reuse in a song???

When I go to sample the Ren doesn't show any incoming signal as it is routed to Rearoute. Is it possible to have MPC sound come out of Reaper and then resample back into the MPC Ren or do I just have to sample within Reaper and drag it into the Ren?

if you hit the I/O button on the master track and add a send to ReaRoute 1 & 2 stereo, you will be able to resample the master output into the ren. i don't know of an easier way of getting audio out of the master by dragging and dropping but dazastah might

for any case where you would want to resample just from one track, i'd suggest isolating the audio in reaper and drag n drop it into mpc by holding ctrl + alt while you click and drag from reaper. when you hold ctrl + alt while clicking and dragging a clip you can render it as a new file into a folder, directly into another program or even into vst samplers etc.

if you have effects in reaper that you want to apply to a clip before dragging and dropping it, you can right click it and select apply fx as new take, then after you're done moving the clip you can revert back to the old take so that the fx don't double up on that section, or just ctrl z back.

Brilliant!!

Totally works and super easy. Now it's on like...well u know;)

Thanks for the help once again...things are going to get super messy around here

****. i am new to mpc and honestly ive read the thread from page 1 to this. and i have no idea what most of yall are talking about.
but i installed and i wana use it to rap over some beats

so do i use this program inside of mpc or use mpc inside of reaper?

man i installed reaplugs but when i scan for new plug inz they all come out red when scanned. im assuming this means i cant use it? i downloaded the 64x version too! ugh.
i need an eq damn it

what we're talking about is running mpc software in standalone mode, and reaper is a DAW that is also running by itself.

for the audio device in mpc software, you select ReaRoute which is an optional install when you install Reaper. ReaRoute works like Jack, Soundflower etc., it's basically a virtual sound device that routes audio back to Reaper. then for Reapers device i like to use the ren, but you can use whatever interface you like.

once you've set this up the mpc software has 16 outputs to work with (sending audio to tracks in reaper), so you should set your drum programs so they output kick snare hats to 3 separate ReaRoute tracks, which you can group/bus within reaper. now route your other instruments to other tracks, and you can do stuff like sidechain the bassline using the kick, etc.

you can now mix instruments consistently, reaper is serving as a global mixer, and mix levels within mpc software are edited per sequence, so it all makes sense. using Reaper you can run any vsts that are too heavy for the mpc software to run smoothly, and route midi from the mpc to those tracks.

Reaper can assign basically any command to any key combo or midi trigger, which means you can fully map out your Ren in midi control mode to control any aspect of Reaper, depending on how you would want to set it up. thats on my to do list next.

when you're ready to mix down, you can record directly into reaper which has excellent tools for advanced arrangement such as regions, non-destructive editing, fantastic automation for effects, markers, crossfades. or you can export the stems from mpc software and import them into the tracks that you've already set up for them

and of course you can add however many audio tracks you like at that stage for instruments or rap or vocals whatever. i like to play bass lines on guitar and fill in random details live over a track, works a treat.

i installed reaper and got license

reaplugs and reaper dont show up on my mpc under vst or internal effects. neithere does it show up in preferences>audio device.

ugh
i feel so **** dumb. i hate my self!
stupid mpc.
they better put audio tracks in 1.7

just checked my msgs.
got one from dzasta.
so a lot of the stuff yall are speaking about doesnt apply to me
cuz im just trying to lay some vocals over a beat.
so he pmed me some things to try.
i will try them out

Nubian Mindz wrote:This combination continues to be absolutely magic.

How I'm using it is as follows:

I run the MPC's 16 outs thru Reaper then buss things together like drums, bass, pads/strings, vocals, etc...

On these busses I mix and balance the sound the way I want it. Reaper handles this brilliantly with the ability to save FX Chains so I can always have a chain of plug ins lined up in a flash then just go about tweaking things to suit the material.

Once that is set up I'll setup sends on some sounds to aux fx channels where I have things like reverbs and delays and once I get the overall sound right for these I'll setup various parameters to respond to midi control data so I can automate these live as I'm recording for added movement and non staleness.

Once this is all set up and sounding tight, I record.

With Dazastah's template I now have audio files for eveything from the MPC so, in theory, I can get stuck in to further editing of those audio files, create other sounds, render and begin again.

I've yet to go deep down that rabbit hole as Reaper's audio commands and how-to is new to me, but I will! Thanks again for letting us in on this mega combo. Things have changed here immensely for me.

The MPC is no longer limited, I can use the plug ins within Reaper as opposed to straining the (single core) MPC software. I can acquire a professional sound very, very quickly and consistently. For a long time recording artist this is essential!!!!

I have immense flexibility. I mix as I go but, once I've recorded the song I instantly have every single audio file on an individual track ready to go. Multi-Tracking at it's finest!!!

Basically, I love it.

do you have any sample work?

Im just now reciving the golden ticket on the reaper + MPC Ren combo and im pretty excited about the news.. I just have to find out how to integrate it