Dog watching TV, I mean, Reaper - Page 2

unimogbert · #16 03-12-2015, 09:45 AM

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MikeBmusic · #17 03-12-2015, 01:41 PM

Stem - this is a track that has been frozen (rendered in Reaper) with all of its plugins.
You would stem-render a track that has had EQ, reverb or other plugins applied to it so that it couldnt' be changed, or to free up computer system resources being used by the plug-ins.
Stem rendering in Reaper automatically mutes the original track, but you need to go in to the muted original track and de-select the plugins so they are not still running in the background.

unimogbert · #18 03-12-2015, 02:03 PM

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runamuck · #19 03-12-2015, 10:13 PM

A stem, as I know it, is a number of tracks grouped together and sent to one bus.

One stem in a project might be drums and all the other percussion stuff. The rhythm guitar tracks might be on another stem, etc. and then these and others are sent to the stereo out.

MikeBmusic · #20 03-13-2015, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unimogbert

I actually understand that. Thank you!

The bit about clearing the settings in the original though - that seems like a trap for the unwary/noobie. (just noting it and sure I'll forget it if I use stems)

Another I've hit many times reading forums - "cross-fader"

I know what a fader is. What's being crossed? Or ganged together?
How is this different from the master fader control?

Crossfade is a fade out from one track (or take) to another that is faded in at the same time. There are ways in reaper to set the takes on a track so that this happens automatically, and can be adjusted.
For example you start fading out take 1 at 10.0 seconds so that at 12.0 seconds it's volume is zero, and at the same time you fade in take 2: at 10.0 seconds it's volume is zero and at 12.0 seconds it's at full volume.

Quote:

Originally Posted by runamuck

A stem, as I know it, is a number of tracks grouped together and sent to one bus.

One stem in a project might be drums and all the other percussion stuff. The rhythm guitar tracks might be on another stem, etc. and then these and others are sent to the stereo out.

True, a stem can also be a few mixed tracks sent to a single output track (stem), but the OP's quesiton was regarding Reaper's terminology.

runamuck · #21 03-13-2015, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

True, a stem can also be a few mixed tracks sent to a single output track (stem), but the OP's quesiton was regarding Reaper's terminology.

Sorry I posted something that cause confusion. I didn't know Reaper uses that term differently.

unimogbert · #22 03-13-2015, 10:45 AM

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Joseph Hanna · #23 03-13-2015, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runamuck

Sorry I posted something that cause confusion. I didn't know Reaper uses that term differently.

A stem is a pretty defined, articulate description in the audio world, particularly in Post Production. It is what many have described here in that it is a combination of multiple tracks representing a category. It can be a rendering (or bouncing) of multiple drums tracks into one stereo file. It can be (in my business) a rendering of 40 dialog tracks into a stereo stereo dialog stem. It can be a rendering of 100 FX's tracks into a single stereo FX stem. It's fairly common for a video guy (or gal) to ask for "stems" for reference so as not to require importing hundreds of tracks into their Avids. It also extremely common for television production facilities to ask for a final stereo bounce for air and some pre-determined spec that requires various stems to be laid back to tape (if they're using tape) for archival purposes.

Long story short I'd be REALLY surprised if the Reaper folks decided for some odd reason to change the fundamental description of stems. That'd be like Ford suddenly deciding to call tires, wings. It wouldn't make any sense in the industry or for the end user.

MikeBmusic · #24 03-13-2015, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joseph Hanna

Long story short I'd be REALLY surprised if the Reaper folks decided for some odd reason to change the fundamental description of stems. That'd be like Ford suddenly deciding to call tires, wings. It wouldn't make any sense in the industry or for the end user.

Reaper calls it 'stem rendering' when you freeze a single track.
You can also render any (mixed) combination of tracks to a final file (they just don't call it a stem).

MikeBmusic · #25 03-13-2015, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unimogbert

That's not very encouraging..... the terminology I don't understand is also non-standard?

Small progress - last night I figured out how to fade in and fade out a track.

Other non-progress- found a download for drums on the Reaper site. Downloaded it. Even made a template with it after nearly losing it in the labyrinth of possible directories it could have gone to.

Then following the (sketchy) instructions brought up a MIDI track and .... I'm back to dog-tv. I've gone so far as to make it put marks on the track using the virtual keyboard which I guess is a victory of sorts but there's no sound.

Back to reading since bashing around just upsets the dog.

Not knowing what you downloaded, is it a drum VSTi (virtual instrument), and have you selected and enabled it in the FX section of the track?

unimogbert · #26 03-13-2015, 03:26 PM

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unimogbert · #27 03-13-2015, 04:48 PM

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unimogbert · #28 03-13-2015, 08:56 PM

After searching the Reaper forums and watching some videos I've concluded that I'd better set the drums idea aside for awhile.

There seem to be a number (the number is unknown to me) of moving parts that are required. They seem to have funny names, and don't come in the initial installation of Reaper. And it seems like few people are using the same named pieces. Everyone has their favorites.

Tutorials are given by folks who have already assembled the pieces and so are just showing what they do to make their collection of pieces go. Then they compare their solution to ProTools which doesn't help me at all.

I now have a login at the Reaper forum and will hang out on the Newbies forum there where I don't even understand the newby questions.

(book is helping a little but...... dang!)

2023 EDIT - Folks tried to help but it just didn't work. No MIDI drums.

Some folks are helpful. Some, very few, are not. I'm not going to ask questions here any more.

KevWind · #29 03-14-2015, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unimogbert

That's not very encouraging..... the terminology I don't understand is also non-standard?

Small progress - last night I figured out how to fade in and fade out a track.

Other non-progress- found a download for drums on the Reaper site. Downloaded it. Even made a template with it after nearly losing it in the labyrinth of possible directories it could have gone to.

Then following the (sketchy) instructions brought up a MIDI track and .... I'm back to dog-tv. I've gone so far as to make it put marks on the track using the virtual keyboard which I guess is a victory of sorts but there's no sound.

Back to reading since bashing around just upsets the dog.

Don't worry everybody who is brand new to audio recording and mixing in general and digital audio recording mixing in particular goes through a learning curve. That most definitely includes learning the lingo. And unfortunately each software company uses both universal terminology and their DAW specific terminology. Thats the bad news. The good news is if you persist eventually you will begin to get a working grasp of both. And often once you become familiar with the basics of universal terminology it is usually less difficult to figure out what the DAW specific terms mean
Unfortunately I don't use Reaper so can't help much

MikeBmusic · #30 03-16-2015, 08:46 AM

On the VSTi synth - are you using a MIDI keyboard to input to it (or a virtual keyboard)? Track monitoring should be ON to hear what's coming out of the VSTi. I have no idea what recording enabled/disabled refers to! If you click the red 'record' button of the track (but not the record button of the transport) you will hear what you are playing on the keyboard. If you want to play along with previously recorded tracks, but not record the MIDI keyboard, just hit the 'play' button on the transport, but have the track's red 'record' button selected and track monitoring enabled.

Sorry I can't help you with ReaDrums. I use EZDrummer, which has all the samples preassigned, and you get a stereo track out when inserted into a VSTi track (but there are also templates to send each drum/mic to separate tracks).
If you ask over on the Reaper forum for the basic steps to set up ReaDrums/ReaSamp, someone will help you!