r/Reaper • u/Hefty_Sock_2945 • 3d ago
help request Looping and devamping
Hello! I've been using Reaper as a recording/editing software for years but I'm trying to do something new with it. I am designing sound for a musical, and would like to implement loops and devamps in Reaper the way that Qlab does it (playback is going as normal, enters a loop, stays in the loop until you hit "devamp" and then when it reaches the end of the loop it keeps playing what's left of the file/s without any jumps in the audio).
I've found some things online but was curious if anyone here has done this before.
Thank you in advance!
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u/mctaylo89 3d ago
Are you wanting to use Reaper to trigger audio cues instead of Qlab?
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u/Hefty_Sock_2945 3d ago
Yes. At least for rehearsals, it gives us much more freedom in working with multitrack sessions that are still a work in progress and lets us make choices like mute/unmute instruments or sounds per sections, quickly adding sounds that need to be matched to the beat, etc.
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u/KS2Problema 5 3d ago
My first ambient loop act (c. 1990) was built around a DigiTech 7.6 second echo loop box. It had pretty much no features - except a little toggle switch that locked the loop until you flicked it off and then it would go back into regenerative / decay mode. That offered some interesting possibilities. I tried not to overdo the loop - locking, though, because too much repetition makes me a bit crazy.
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u/spearmint_wino 2 3d ago
I love this. Back around the same sort of time, my friend and I filled up many a C90 running a mic through his guitar fx, using the feedback at about 90% so things trailed off eventually (unless you deliberately went back to 100% for a while) and it was great fun. I'm sure there are usable loops and samples in those old tapes!
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u/KS2Problema 5 3d ago
Yep. I was working for other people doing production so I had some decent recording gear including a YamahA DAT - but a 2-hour DAT blank was 10 bucks, so, I too, filled up a lot of C90s. If you're curious, here's the album me and a friend came up with: https://calmdot.com/cdblg/rothmeyer-frippenstein/ - but, for sure, no pressure. I'm on synths and my buddy, Michael rothmeyer, is playing guitars. It's all live; we recorded three tracks on a Sunday afternoon. That was our first get together and after that we played a bunch of shows together through that decade.
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u/spearmint_wino 2 3d ago
This is beautiful. Especially considering it's improvised...it sounds really polished. A very different league from what we were coming up with :)
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u/KS2Problema 5 2d ago
Why, thank you very much! Neither of us had played together before - although we knew each other from the local scene. (I had produced some earlier recordings by his dream pop band.)
The thing about getting better with improvisation is doing more of it, just like most stuff. But I think we were lucky, too, because, despite the difference in our music, we were both sensitive to each other's playing. (Later I got together with another friend who did some improvisation on a midi saxophone. I was thinking that it would come together the same way. But it really did not. It just didn't fit together, for various reasons. So much, for assumptions.)
For what it's worth I was initially inspired by the Fripp, Eno collaborations of the mid-70s. In 1980, I think it was, I saw a lecture performance by Fripp at Tower records in Hollywood and was deeply impressed by his calm approach.
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u/spearmint_wino 2 2d ago
My fun Fripp fact, I sat behind him and his CC pals and also Van Der Graaf Generator on a flight back from Munich once!
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u/KS2Problema 5 2d ago
Were you able to behave yourself - or did you go all ga-ga on him, fan style?
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u/KS2Problema 5 2d ago
Btw, when I came up with the band name, Frippenstein, I never expected it to get outside of my local Long Beach coffee house scene, which is where both me and Mike Rothmeyer cut our teeth.
If I'm ever sitting on a plane with them or writing an elevator with him, I'm going to have to gently apologize. First time I saw Frippenstein alongside Frippertronics in some internet listing, I was just a little bit horrified.
;-)
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u/spearmint_wino 2 17h ago
TIL about Frippertronics. I'm useless when it comes to music discovery, so I will delve into that with joy! And yeah, I was a little bit giddy meeting him and his brethren. They were all very cool about it. My family were all oblivious!
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u/KS2Problema 5 15h ago
Enjoy the discovery process!
And if you're feeling more mutant-pop oriented, be sure to check out his more conventional collaborations with Brian Eno and others. The Eno 'pop' albums from the 1970s - which often feature Fripp - are often highly prized by adventurous outsider pop fans.
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u/Financial-Koala6995 3 3d ago
For a single loop in a continuous file, try normal Repeat: set the loop boundaries, start before them, then toggle Repeat off when you're ready to leave. Playback should continue past the loop end. In Preferences > Playback, disable the option that stops at the loop end when Repeat is off.
User guide, section 2.19: https://www.reaper.fm/userguide.php
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u/Hefty_Sock_2945 3d ago
It's not only one loop in one place. It would be several loops across a session. Sometimes more than one in the same file. Do you know if it's possible to set the repeat boundaries via custom actions so they get set and turned on/off automatically?
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u/Financial-Koala6995 3 2d ago
Yes, SWS Marker Actions can run a custom action when playback crosses a marker. You name the marker with ! followed by the command ID and enable SWS marker actions. That gives you a way to trigger the loop setup at different points in the session. The devamp still needs your cue, since Reaper cannot know how long the performers need to stay in the loop. I haven't tested a complete multi-loop setup for a show, so I wouldn't give you an untested macro as a finished solution. SWS docs: https://sws-extension.org/markeractions.php
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u/starplooker999 2 3d ago
I use both those softwares, I’d suggest creating the loops and revamps in reaper and playback in Qlab.
I love how Qlab lets you keep playing one sound while piling others on top. Perfect for theater !