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Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:51 pm
by ppytprs
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I'm confused about how to set up Reaper with HW.

I've got the basics, and I can make organ and reverb come out of my speakers. But all I've managed to do is make the same 2 channels come out of all the 5 pairs of speakers. How do I set up the multichannel part, mixdowns and so on?

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 2:20 pm
by josq
Could you perhaps share a few screen shots of what you already have done?

One important but easily overlooked thing is that you need to uncheck the "Master send" option in the routing screen of each track.

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 2:29 pm
by ppytprs
I've unchecked the master send boxes. Didn't seem to make any difference.

What I don't get is, how does it know what to make what channel?

How do I make 1 pair a mixdown, for example, and my other pairs a multiple output group like I would normally in HW's output routing page.

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 4:15 pm
by josq
You can use the send/receive options in the routing screen.
What audio groups did you create in Hauptwerk?
Again, a couple of screenshots is the fastest way to solve your problem (but then, uploading images to this forum appears to be excessively difficult... sigh...)

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 4:34 pm
by ppytprs
I didn't create any audio groups in Hauptwerk.
I tried to make several VST outputs, but that didn't work.
Do I need to make normal audio groups in addition to the VST one?
I assumed that it was the VST link that created the pipe between the two programs.

Screenshots are too hard!

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 4:52 pm
by josq
Can you please describe what needs to go to which speaker? For example, are you using a surround sample set with front and rear samples, which you want to send to front and rear speakers?

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:04 pm
by jbittner
I hit the same road block in trying to use Reaper. Could only get the same two channel mix going to all six channels, even though the individual channels came up on their own faders. Gave up in frustration when the free trial ran out. Too cheap to risk the full purchase price without the confidence that I could make it work. There were some other minor disadvantages I discovered along the way to using Reaper for my installation that contributed to this decision as well.

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:09 pm
by josq
Reaper has a steep learning curve, but once you master it, it is extremely versatile and rewarding, especially combined with the plugins. I consider it a must-have.

I am confident that I can help you through the process (provided that third-party hardware works well), but I'll need to know what you exactly want to achieve as a first objective.

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 5:36 pm
by josq
jbittner wrote:I hit the same road block in trying to use Reaper. Could only get the same two channel mix going to all six channels, even though the individual channels came up on their own faders.


OK, so let's suppose the following situation:

You have a six-channel sample set with direct, diffuse and rear samples.
You have a surround set-up, consisting of a pair of front speakers and a pair of rear speakers
You want to send the direct and diffuse samples to the front speakers and the rear samples to the rear speakers
Or you want to send the direct sample to the front speakers, the diffuse to the rears, and to mute the rear samples.
You want to be able to switch on the fly between those two situations.

Skipping some details and preferences that are not directly necessary to get things working:

Creating and using Audio output groups in HW
*In Hauptwerk, go to General Settings>Audio output groups
*Click insert, and type "direct" in the Name field. Repeat to create "diffuse" and "direct" groups
*Click OK and OK the message
*Go to General Settings>Audio outputs
*Click Insert. Choose "Hauptwerk VST Link" for Audio output device. For Device Channel 1, choose [01/02](L) and for Device Channel 2, choose [01/02](R). Optionally, choose an alias. "Go to the Routing and Aux mix tab" and choose "direct" in the Audio output group field.
*Go back to the other tab and repeat the previous step, choosing [03/04] as device channels, and selecting the "diffuse" Audio output group in the second tab
*Repeat, choosing [05/06] and selecting the "rear" group.
*OK, and go to organ>load organ adjusting... Select the sample set from the list
*Select all the direct ranks and select "direct" as the audio output groups. Repeat for the diffuse and rear ranks. OK to load the organ

Routing audio groups in Reaper
*Open reaper and create a new project
*Select insert>virtual instrument on new track. Locate and select the Hauptwerk VST Link. OK the message. 32 new tracks will be created.
*Play the organ. Probably you won't hear sound yet, but you will see the meters of the first three inserted tracks go up.

At this point, you may click the routing button of each track and select the hardware output corresponding to your front/rear speakers. But if I find time, I'll describe some routing tricks...

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:29 pm
by ppytprs
Right, so that's if you have several groups, that makes sense. And I could set it up that way I suppose (Paramount 341). But what if you have one group with several speakers in it?

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Wed Mar 28, 2018 6:51 pm
by josq
ppytprs wrote:Right, so that's if you have several groups, that makes sense. And I could set it up that way I suppose (Paramount 341). But what if you have one group with several speakers in it?


In that case, within this single audio output group (probably the default Main output group in your case), you can make multiple audio outputs. This works exactly the same as described above (so selecting ch [01/02] for the first output, [03/04] for the second output, etc), but under the "routing and aux mix" tab, you select the same audio output group (Main).

So Hauptwerk will take care that your ranks/pipes are cycled between multiple audio outputs, and will send them separately over the VST link. Reaper will receive these audio outputs on separate tracks (as I just described above), which will enable you to send them to separate hardware outputs (=speakers/speaker pairs).

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 3:46 am
by ppytprs
Ok, well that's what I assumed would be the case to start with. But it wouldn't let me make multiple VST outputs. I forget what the error message was. I'll try it again later.

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 4:42 am
by josq
Perhaps redundant... everything works using a single Hauptwerk VST link only. Over this single VST link, Hauptwerk sends all the audio outputs that have "Hauptwerk VST link" as the output device. , which then can be received in Reaper on separate tracks.

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:03 am
by ppytprs
Ok, I've done it. Making the VST link in Hauptwerk multi channel worked today where yesterday it threw an error. So who knows what's going on with that. I've made separate groups to be doubly sure that it's working as expected, and it does seem to be.

Thanks very much for your help.

Incidentally, I asked Milan support for help with this, and they were very quick to tell me that they don't help with Reaper, despite the fact that the bit I was struggling with was the Hauptwerk side evidently. It's not at all clear in the Reaper tutorial that they've done how you make multiple outputs work. Turns out it was how I expected all along!

Re: Multi channel Reaper

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:39 pm
by josq
Glad to hear it works! Not a typical response from MDA, I would say