Yeah. That upgrade/change point IS a sod.
And I have to say I have no bad opinions on other DAWS.
If puish came to shove, Reaper would be my choice, and it wd be on cost grounds.
All I do know is persistence and lots of friends who already run what ytou get is THE best starting point.
Yeah, that was my main reason. Less than the cost of an upgrade.
I’ll have a play with Reaper later and see if any pointers come to mind.
I think you’ll like Reaper and the price you can’t beat.
I would watch ken’s videos. Here is the link if you want to save them and open them up in reaper just rt click on them and save to your computer. Then open them up in reaper and try what he’s doing out…
Also… if you used a lot of keyboard shortcuts in Cubase, you can configure them to be the same as you are used to in reaper. I’m sure someone has already done it and posted it on the reaper stash
have fun
rich
Wow, thanks everyone. Lots of great ideas. One thing I’m having issues with is when I open a plug, I can only see part of it in the dock. When I uncheck the dock in the View menu, the dock and the plug are gone. Have to figure out how to float them so I can move them to my second monitor. It was working at first, so I must have changed something along the way.
You probably have “dock fx in docker” checked as a default. I prefer to have plugin windows float (reaper default). Then I can position them as needed or resize them if they support resizing.
You may have dragged a plugin window into the docker inadvertently . Every once in a while, my mouse sticks and I end up screwing up my master track position and such.
But I have my preferred layout stored in “screensets/layouts” and the fix is a keystroke away.
Once you have a comfortable layout, save it as a layout or screenset.
Totally: right-click everything is a really good advice for me!
Plus, reading the manual which is a long list of all function available… and there is a lot!
It’s not very sexy but learning some shortcuts really speed up your workflow IMO.
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another tip. After installing sws extensions, one handy thing I like to do is just go to the actions window and search for stuff. Usually if I want to be able to do something but don’t know where to find it, searching in the actions window finds it for me.
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I think you’re actually thinking of Right-clicking and selecting “Stereo Pan.” That brings up a pan position and a “width” knob. I love using that on stuff like drum overheads and room mics.
“Reaper 3.x” is an old thing that i’m not even sure how it works.
I just wanted to touch up that detail because I use Stereo Pan a lot and didn’t want others to be without it.
Reaper’s awesome. I’ve used a few others - Reaper has worked the best for me. That’s it!
I think a lot about going to Logic or Studio One because of control surface integration (Console1 from Softube, for example, has a lot more functionality with certain DAWS than others) and Harrison because of the sound but, you know, I just can’t get away from the simultaneous streamlined feel with simultaneous access to EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF in Reaper.
Nope, believe it or not I actually meant exactly what I said. Ive never used ‘Stereo Pan’. I set most of my tracks on ‘Reaper 3.x’
That being said, after just now goofing with “Stereo pan” I dont particularly see any difference with that and “Reaper 3.x”. I checked one of Kenny Gs vids and he said that it wasnt recommended to use Reaper 3.x…but gave absolutely no explanation of that statement lol.
I started out in Cubase and switched to Reaper because of the price, the business model (totally free if you ignore the nag screen, very cheap for us non profs and still cheap for those of us making money with it), and the good reviews. Too many tricks to mention (other than those already mentioned). One that I really find useful is how you can set up a shortcut using F7 and F8 (or any other key combo) to switch between a tracking template and a mixer template. I use it all the time. Maybe because I too often find out during the mixing fase that I have to repair things in the track, or maybe do some automation. I think I got it from one of the vids on the Reaper site.
So, I investigated.
I just tried to use “Reaper 3.x” and it only gave me one knob (balance) in the mix window.
…but it gave me the two knobs (balance and width) in the “track view” window.
Sorry for the accidentally-unnecessary clarification attempt!
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true, I just checked that aspect of it. Like I said, ill probably check out “stereo pan” some now.
ive never paid much notice to “3x” only giving one knob down in the mixer view along the bottom of the screen since I use the track view along the left side to do 99.9% of my mixing
…and that seems so crazy to me. I do 90% of my mixing in the mixer window.
I wonder why our processes are so different. Did you start out running live sound?
I think that might be why I gravitate towards the mixer window. I get all my editing and prep done in the track view then I try like hell to never switch to that view again (unless I need to find something or write in automation).
…I guess that just speaks to Reaper’s flexibility!
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It’s funny. I almost never use the mixer window. I’m not even sure why. I just don’t see what benefit it gives me that I can’t get from the track view. I guess it’s because I’m always jumping around in time when I’m mixing, and the mixer window doesn’t provide a good way to do that, so I just don’t bother using it.
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I always use the mixer window with the tcp on the left side and the master on the right.
I have screensets for tracking/editing and mixing and never use them. I even have the ability to use 3 separate monitors and send to my bigass flatscreen. But 99% of the time I use the same layout when editing I MAY hide the mixer to get more real estate. But this is what I see most of the time.
Dunno, seems more logical to me. Once you get 50 tracks going it seems stupid to scroll a million miles back and forth to find tracks. I usually adjust the track volume in the mixer view but most everything else is done in the track view. (I assume we r referring to the same thing here. “Mixer” stuff is along the bottom?)
Half the time I hide tracks along the bottom once they are more or less set where I want them
I use a lot of different EZ Drummer kits etc so i have had to build a lot of templates once I break them out to multitrack. So most of that is happening in track view since its all right there together. So in my mind thats where all of the business takes place.
Track view is smaller so theres much less scrolling as opposed to me getting arthritis trying to find something along the bottom where I have to scroll 3 feet.
Probably since the waveform itself goes horizontally, that is how I better relate to things.
Not trying to convince anyone of anything, its just how I do it
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oh, I just realized that automation is another reason I don’t use the mixer window. It certainly is nice to be able to see all the tracks in on one screen without having to scroll. I think I’m just too stuck in my habits to make use of it.
I have started doing that. I like keyboard shortcuts, and it’s Ctrl+M (Windows) to show or hide the mixer window. It only takes a second and it’s out of the way, or another second and it’s back.
Just curious, how do you get the Master to fill the whole right side of the screen? I can’t seem to get it to push the track window to the left, it’s only on the right side of the mixer. What setting/menu or shortcut did you use to do that?
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You put it into the docker and then drag it across to the middle of the right side and let go. Once you get it, save it to a screenset or layout, just in case a stray mouse motion messes it up in the future. It happens to me all the time… 
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