These are my recommended settings for optimal reaper behavior, or behavior that you may be used to from using other DAWs. Some of these will provide the best results when operating solely from a keyboard. Others are by no means definitive settings and feel free to customize to your workflow as you get to know the program better. Also, don’t hesitate to to send feedback with suggestions.
General
We’ll skip over the language settings here and move right to the Undo settings. The maximum undo memory use is a matter of personal preference, and the default should be sufficient. Also whether Undo points are created for:
- track/item selection
- time selection
- edit cursor
are all a matter of personal taste, but in my opinion selecting them will clutter up the undo list as it will keep track of each track selection, edit selection, and every time you move the cursor. However, dependent upon how much control you want over the undo function and undo history. as a non visual keyboard user, selecting all or any combination of these can help you get back to a familiar point in a project quickly with a few presses of the undo shortcut should you get lost in a large project.
i would strongly suggest selecting:
- When approaching full undo memory keep newest undo states
- Save Undo History with project
- Allow load of undo history
These will always ensure that you have the most recent list of actions in the history list should you need to go back and undo them, and allow said list to persist across saving/save as, and/or exiting and relaunching of Reaper. Nothing more annoying than coming back to a project a day or so later, deciding you no longer like something but not being able to undo it easily.
Start up Settings
I strongly suggest unchecking the following:
- Show Splash screen on start up
The others you can set to your personal taste.
Keyboard
Under this section uncheck:
- Commit changes to some edit fields after one second of no typing
Paths
If you been using reaper for any amount of time, and been navigating through a project folder you have probably encountered ReaPeaks files. These are the tiny image files Reaper uses to draw the waveform views and as such one will exist for every piece of audio in the project. It’s also possible for them to show up in your sample or loop library folder if you browse them from the media explorer within Reaper. Though tiny in size, they can take up a lot of space if you work on a lot of projects and don’t keep an eye on them. You can actually delete these as reaper will regenerate the ones needed when needed and it only takes a few seconds usually. The best way to do that is to force reaper to store all ReaPeak files in one folder; which you can easily empty from time to time. to do this:
- Open preferences and go to Paths under general in the tree view on the left.
- Navigate over to the third checkbox that says “Store all Peak Caches (.reapeaks) In Alternate Path”
You can use the browse button to point it to a folder, like a folder name ReaPeaks in your main reaper folder or a folder on your desktop if you want to be able to access it quickly to empty it out. You will also need to jump down to Media in the tree view to check the box that says “Store Peak Caches In Alternate Path…”
Project
Under the Project section I recommend checking:
- Prompt to save on New Project
- Also (Side Note) When in the Save dialog, check create sub-directory for project
- Open Properties on New Project
The Project properties is where you can set project tempo, time signature, sample rate, bit depth among other settings that relate to the project as a whole. Under the media tab of this dialog type the word “Tracks” or “Audio” into the field labelled “Path To Save Media Files”. This ensures that all recorded audio ends up in its own folder inside the project folder. This is handy for organizational purposes. Also feel free to click the button labelled “Save as default Project Settings” to have this be default for all projects.
For the rest of the Project Settings dialog, I recommend checking all options available here with one exception.However you will have to decide between keeping Multiple Versions or time stamped back up.
- UnCheck Save to project file (not recommended)
Also if you want to keep a copy of the time stamped backups in a secondary location you can Check Save Time Stamp File in additional directory. recommended). This Could lead to cleaner looking project directory should you choose to keep the time stamps back up in their own folder.
Playback
Check the following:
- Stop playback at end of loop if repeat is disabled
This ensures that when you have a selection pressing play will only play the selected area of the project. Handy for confirming you have made the correct selection. If repeat is enabled in the project and this checkbox is checked, it will play the selection repeatedly or on a loop until you press stop. If this checkbox is unchecked it will be difficult for a blind user to verify the selection start and end points as it won’t stop at the end of the selection automatically.
Recording
For every file recorded in reaper a file name is generated. By default this file name will be the track number, followed by the track name finally followed by the time stamp. If you are switching from another DAW and would like your recorded files to take on a more familiar naming scheme, you can change this under the Recording option in preferences. Select recording from the left tree view area then navigate over to the “File Name Format For Recorded Files” drop down box. From this box select Track Name.Time Stamp to maintain familiarity.
Editing Behavior
Check
- Move edit cursors to start of time selection on time selection change
This ensures that whenever you make a selection, the cursor will move to the start of that selection. This in conjunction with the playback setting “Stop playback at end of loop if repeat is disabled” allows a blind user to easily confirm selections are made in the right areas of the project.
Also you may want to consider unchecking “Move edit Cursor when pasting items”. If this remains unchecked then the playback cursor remains where it is when you paste something. This allows you to audition what was pasted with out first having to move the cursor back to the beginning of said new item.
Media
Under Media in the tree view, (not the one under appearances, but the one further down under midi Editor), check:
- Copy Imported Media to project media directory
This ensures that your project folder will have all the files used in the project. Handy for when you say import a drum loop, or a instrumental, or karaoke backing track. If you don’t check this option, those files will be played back from where ever on your hard drive they are, and when you zip up the project folder and send it off for someone to mix; it won’t include those imported files.
Setting Up A New Project
When you open reaper and press CMD+N or CTRL+N on mac or windows respectively to create a new project, if you follow the above advice it should prompt you to save the project. By default this will be in the Reaper Media folder with in your Documents folder. This is Fine if you plan to only work with small projects only involving a few tracks. You should strongly consider making this a folder on a different HardDrive than the one that windows or mac is installed on if you plan to work with larger projects. This could be a second internal HardDrive or an external USB/Firewire/Thunderbolt Drive. Also as stated above, check the “Create Sub-Directory for Project “checkbox within the save dialog.
In the project properties dialog, you can select the Media tab and type the name “Audio” or “Tracks” in the field labeled “Path To Save Project Media Files”. This will tell Reaper to store all the recorded audio in their own sub folder of the Project folder. so it can be better organized. Also suggest selecting Wav as the “Audio Format for New Recordings” Option, and, 24 BIT PCM for the Wav Bit Depth option. Save these as the default for all projects and you can skip having to make these selections every time you create a new project.