Reaper

Reaper is a Digital Audio Workstation. We have been working with Cockos, the creators of Reaper (reaper.fm) to add a number of specific Rock Band Network additions that will make creating MIDI song information simpler and more intuitive.

These are basic guidelines as to how to use Reaper when Authoring. This document does not cover all of Reaper’s commands or functions, but rather provides tips to get started and how best to use this program for our specific purposes.

Other Reaper Information

• Reaper Key Shortcuts This page has all the Reaper RBN specific shortcuts, plus a link to a handy .pdf reference.
  
• Reaper for Beginners Chil wrote an excellent post with some very basic information about Reaper and Digital Audio. We'll add to this page as we find more helpful topics for you.
  
• Reaper for Macs There are some specific settings and issues when using Reaper on a Mac.
• Reaper Actions Actions are a very powerful way of customizing and automating behaviors in Reaper.
• 64 Bit Reaper Explains the issues of using the RBN Reaper add on installer on a 64 bit system.

Installing Reaper and the RBN Script

The installer for the most current version of Reaper can be found here: http://www.reaper.fm

After Reaper has been installed, you will then need to run the Custom RBN Script. This will install our colormaps, text event list, custom key commands, RB Preview Window, and change certain settings within Reaper for optimal use when authoring for RBN. The RBN Script can be found here: http://creators.rockband.com/tools/download

Note: Please close all other audio applications before installing Reaper, including any audio extensions that run in the background, as this can sometimes interfere with the Reaper installation

Importing and Exporting Audio

How to get your files into and out of Reaper. Importing and Exporting Audio

Tempo Mapping

An accurate Tempo Map is vital to allow your song to play correctly. Tempo Mapping

Creating a Count-In in Reaper

A Count-In is the small snippets of audio, usually a hi hat cymbal, that let the player hear the beat of the song before gameplay starts. For most songs, you will need to edit together this Count-In out of audio that's already in the song. Count In

Colormaps

There are 3 colormap variations that should load by default when you start with the template. If for some reason the colormaps do not load correctly:

• Open your midi editor,
• right click > file > load color maps from file,
• pick the color map pertaining to that instrument > open.

Also make sure that your color dropdown is set to Pitch in the midi editor window.

Authoring

The RBN Template has been set up to cut down on any authoring confusion. All MIDI notes that are not needed are hidden. All MIDI notes that are needed are named and properly labeled. Note names can be seen on the left hand side of the MIDI Editor, as well as on the notes themselves.

Drawing MIDI Notes

There are a number of ways to draw and move MIDI notes in Reaper. First of all, the Snap to Grid functionality is already toggled on, so all notes will be written on a grid line. To Draw a note the size of the smallest grid unit, Double Left Click. If a VST Softsynth is assigned to the track, the first click will produce the pitch of the note about to be written. To Draw a note with duration, use Left Drag.

Moving MIDI Notes

To select multiple MIDI notes at a time, use Right Drag. When a note/notes are selected, the can be moved by Left Clicking on a note and Dragging. Also, Num 6/Num 4/Num 8/Num 2 can also be used to move selected notes one grid unit Right/Left/Up/Down.

Navigation

Navigation throughout the MIDI Editor window can be accomplished in a number of different ways. The cursor can be stepped through the grid using the Ctrl+Left Arrow/Right Arrows command.

Scrolling horizontally through the MIDI Editor is easily done by using the Shift+Mousewheel command. If you want to jump to a certain section of notes, use the Right Drag to select the notes you want to hear, and the use the L command, the cursor will jump to the left of the selected notes, or simply Left Click where you want the cursor to be.

Zooming

If a wider view of the MIDI Editor Window or Project Window is needed, Ctrl+Mousewheel will zoom vertically and Alt+Mousewheel will zoom horizontally.

Checking Consistency

Wondering if a Green/Yellow chord is the same at bar 12 as it is at bar 32? Select the first chord, and use the Alt+Spacebar command to hear the chord. Then, scroll to the second chord, select it and use the same command. It’s a fast, easy way to compare notes and chords on the fly.

Copy/Paste

There are a number of different contexts and methods in the authoring process for copying and pasting notes.

• Copying sections of notes within a song: When copying identical note/chord patterns from one part of the song to another, we have a few options.

If you’re copying from one bar to the next, the easiest way is Right Drag, to select the notes you wish to copy, then use the Ctrl+Left Drag command to copy and drag these notes to the desired spot.

If you wish to copy a larger section of notes to a different part of the song, it’s best to use the Ctrl+C command to copy selected, then Ctrl+V to paste the notes at the appropriate measure.

• Reducing parts to easier difficulties: When ready to reduce notes for easier difficulties, select the notes you want to move down, and use the Alt+C command. This will take any notes you have selected and drop them down one octave to the next difficulty. The cursor doesn’t even need to be at the head of the selected notes.

• Copying notes from Expert to Left Hand (LH) Animations: To copy notes from the Expert parts down to Animations, use the Shift+C command, and all the selected notes will be copied into the bottom of the Animations section of your MIDI file.

• Deleting Double Notes: It is very easy, when authoring songs to end up with double notes. Double notes occur when a note is directly on top of another note, or overlapping another note. Double notes will cause the game to spit out Notifies, so we want to make sure that we get rid of them. Generally, one will not be able to see when a double note occurs, so when finishing a part, before testing it, select all using the Ctrl+A command, and then use the Shift+D command. This will remove all notes that are right on top of one another. If, after doing this, Notifies still appear, scan through the MIDI part, and look for notes that may be overlapping.

Kick and Snare Drum Track Automation

The Autodrum Template

• This project is designed to automatically generate a great starting point for expert kick and snare authoring when you have separate kick and snare stems

How to use:

• Insert your kick stem into the track labeled Kick, and your Snare stem into the track labeled Snare

• Insert any other tracks you need for tempo mapping into other tracks

• Tempo map your song

• When your tempo map is set, open the fx channel for the Kick and Snare Tracks, you’ll notice a ReaGate plugin has been setup on each track.

• You’ll need to adjust the threshold value on these plugins (the leftmost slider) so that the slider is set a little below the volume of that drum being hit. As you play the kick and snare track, you’ll notice a green meter around that slider that follows the volume of the track.

• Click on the timeline just before the first hit in your drum tracks and hit record.

• At the end of your song, hit the record button again. You notice that you’ve recorded a bunch of MIDI notes on the PART DRUMS track

• You should quantize those notes by selecting them in the MIDI editor window and hitting Q, which will bring up the quantize menu (I recommend quantizing to 32nd notes, or perhaps even 16th notes if your drum part is simple enough.

• You can then set about cleaning up your expert drum part and adding cymbal gems to it.

Automatically Creating the Vocal Track

FauxRock_Entertainment wrote this excellent forum post on using Reaper's plugins to get you a first pass of the vocal track. Automatic Vocal Track

Using Fake Plastic Guitars to Create the Guitar/Bass Track

NOLOGO documented a process for using your current Rock Band instruments to create a 1st pass of your guitar or bass Midi. Plastic Guitar Authoring

Soft Synths

Soft Synths are simple synthesizers built into Reaper, and can play back MIDI notes for any track. Playing them back as you author can make your job easier. Soft Synths

Overdrive

Overdrive authoring is detailed in each Authoring doc

• Guitar and Bass Authoring
• Drum Authoring
• Vocal Authoring.

There are a few functions in Reaper that will make it easier to create proper Overdrive phrases in your song. Overdrive Authoring

Text Events

Text Events are set as Markers at the bottom of the MIDI Edit window. As described in the Authoring Docs, we use these to control play states, animations, directed cuts, etc.

To enter a Text Event:

• Double click in the Text Event Window on the gridline where you wish the event to occur. This will open an Edit Text Event Window.
• Type in the text event you wish to place (ie: [play]), or select it from the drop down menu and select okay (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Creating a text event in Reaper.

Lyrics

Lyrics will make up a large portion of the text events in a Rock Band MIDI file. For more information on how Lyrics should be formatted, please see the Vocal Authoring doc.

Lyrics can be imported from a plain text (.txt) file directly into your Reaper project. Before importing, be sure to format your lyrics correctly for the game, and separate each syllable with a space, including any plus signs you'll be using (like this: sep- ar- ate each syl- la- ble + + with a space) To import lyrics select the notes in your vocal part, and run the action "Import lyrics for selected notes from file" (Mapped to Shift+L in the RBN Keymap) This will import your lyrics and align them with the notes you've selected in your vocal part.

Once you’re imported all the lyric events for your song, you may realize that you've forgotten some lyrics or plus signs. If you need to make any changes, you can make room for more lyrics, or move back other lyrics after a deletion by shifting your lyric events. To shift any selected lyric events, highlight them and hit < for a left shift and > for a right shift. This will shift all lyric events forward or backward by one vocal note.

You can then add any additional lyric events you need by double clicking in the text event field to add a text event manually. Be sure to set the text event type to "lyric". You can then align any remaining lyric events by highlighting them and running the "Align all selected lyric events with notes" action (Mapped to Shift+A in the RBN Keymap). This action will align the selected lyric events to the closest vocal note.